5th June, 2015
Funsho Arogundade
While it has been described as “method madness”, for British-Nigeria actor, David Oyelowo, he is breaking new personal grounds as he takes a daunting role in HBO’s film Nightingale.
The film, a psychological mind trip which premiered on 29 May on HBO, sees Oyelowo take on seven different roles in it.
Nightingale, directed by Elliot Lester and written by Frederick Mensch, follows Peter Snowden (Oyelowo), a young Army vet who commits an unspeakable act that sets off an explosive descent into his own irreparably fractured mind.
Nightingale’s force rests solely with Oyelowo —it’s a one-character, one-location film. His performance is nothing short of stunning.
He went full method for the role, staying in character for the entire shoot to deliver a performance that’s peerless. Literally, Oyelowo has no-co-stars in the film.
“It’s a demanding part that requires the textured skill of a seasoned actor like Oyelowo,” a critic wrote about Oyelowo in Film Factory.
Hollywood’s history with representing minorities is a dismal one that most recently came to a head during the great #OscarsSoWhite fiasco of the 87th Academy Awards, when critically acclaimed black actors like Oyelowo, who played Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, and Selma director Ava DuVernay, were snubbed.
“The question of being pigeonholed in race-specific roles is something Oyelowo thinks about but isn’t focused on. What he’s looking for is a challenge —a role that will make him “break into a cold sweat,” that will push him to try new techniques like method acting, that will present to an audience a three-dimensional person, flaws and all, regardless of skin colour. And he found all of the above and much more in Nightingale,” the critics summed.