Endgame is a political thriller based on a true story about secret talks that led to the end of apartheid.
We'd been interested in the story for a while, but it wasn't until we were out with the writer, Paula Milne, that David Aukin, my partner at Daybreak Pictures, had the idea of asking Paula if she knew of any good writers - 18 months later, she emerged with the first draft of Endgame.
Through exhaustive research, extensive interviews and a great deal of inspiration, she carved the historical material into something utterly gripping, intelligent and hugely uplifting.
Big historical events are best served by a weighty cast. And to get that you need a good director. Pete Travis had just broken his Hollywood cherry on Vantage Point, but had previously directed Omagh and so immediately engaged with the politics of Endgame, which to us was vital. At the heart of the film is a relationship forged between two enemies around a negotiating table. The scenes are a slow-burn built around political argument. We didn't want a director who would flinch from that. And Pete never did.
Finally, with all this in place, we secured the cast: William Hurt, Timothy West, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jonny Lee Miller, Mark Strong and Derek Jacobi.
Cut to January 2008, and we were in South Africa on our first recce looking for buildings to blow up and car chases to mount.
We shot the UK leg in April 2008 in a large country estate outside Reading before heading to South Africa for the six-week shoot - car chases, explosions and the odd bit of acting.
Halfway through the South African leg of the shoot, I climbed into my car with my driver, Cyprian, from Cameroon, and was greeted by a front-page photograph of a man burning to death in a Johannesburg township. Within 24 hours, anti-foreign riots had spread across the country, dozens of economic migrants, including those from Cameroon, were killed in a brutal display of anger and misplaced hatred. We were quickly reminded of Africa's propensity for unimaginable violence. I was worried for Cyprian.
And then it was over. The riots subsided, the anger was repressed. The shoot came to an end and we all said our emotional farewells.
I said goodbye to the Mount Nelson Hotel, fondly known as the Mount Nelly. I was going to miss the slightly grubby bubble-gum pink façade, and the memories of my six-foot-something hairy sound recordist trying to look manly in his very pink, chintzy bedroom.
Then it was back to London and the cutting room. The film was finished on Christmas Eve of 2008 and premiered at Sundance in January ahead of the Channel 4 transmission. I am hugely proud of the film and look back fondly on those months in Cape Town.
Endgame
Producer Daybreak Pictures for C4
TX Monday 4 May at 9pm on C4
Director Peter Travis
Writer Paula Milne
Producers David Aukin, Hal Vogel
Commissioning editor Liza Marshall
Summary Endgame is a political thriller in which a British business-man initiates secret talks between ANC exiles and white Afrikaners, to try to find a peaceful solution to the brutal conflict in South Africa. At stake is not only their safety and reputations, but the future of a nation.
Hal Vogel: My tricks of the trade
Valium - for the long-haul flight. The only way to fly is... out of it
A spare BlackBerry. One is never enough
A (very) waterproof jacket
Hiring the right people - with a great team you can do anything
Make sure you all want to make the same film
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