Djimon Hounsou Discusses His Lengthy Career, Working With Steven Spielberg On ‘Amistad’ & His New Production Venture At AfroBerlin

“They only gave me a couple of pages of dialogue. I thought it was an audition for an extra role,” actor Djimon Hounsou said this afternoon when quizzed on his 1997 breakout, Amistad, during a keynote session at this year’s AfroBerlin conference. 

Hounsou was the headline guest at this year’s AfroBerlin conference. The wide-ranging keynote session was hosted by Deadline. Hounsou spoke about his childhood in Benin, moving to France as a teen, where he became a fashion model before moving to Los Angeles to chase acting roles. 

After featuring in a few smaller productions, Amistad was Hounsou’s largest production at the time. He told the audience in Berlin that he was the first actor to be brought in for an audition. And when he arrived, the casting director, unbeknownst to all the actors, began asking whether they could speak any African language and, if so, perform their assigned scenes in the dialect. 

“I was trying to interpret the scene. But all I could think of was how rude it was that they were trying to have people audition in a different language without asking us beforehand,” Hounsou recalled. 

Hounsou added with a chuckle, “I paused to try and process the scene, and she started asking me if I needed more time. I was so frustrated that I began the audition by cussing her out in my language.”

The production of Amistad was a popular topic of discussion during the keynote session. Directed by Spielberg from a screenplay by David Franzoni, Amistad was the first film the ET filmmaker directed for his newly-launched DreamWorks Pictures. Later during the keynote, Hounsou shared an interesting nugget about the film’s budget when asked by an audience member about the difficulty of getting period films about the African diaspora off the ground in Hollywood.

“It took a respected white man to do a film like Amistad,” Hounsou said. “It’s such a hurdle, and Steven Spielberg couldn’t get funding for Amistad, so he used his own money, 40 million, to make the film.” 

Hounsou added: “And even after he made Amistad, people told him off. They said to him, Why would you do that? Why tell that story? And for decades, people would see me in the grocery store and say, Why would you bring that story back? As if we’re not worthy of telling our stories in profound ways.”

Active across three decades, Hounsou’s other acting credits include In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), both of which landed him Oscar noms. He also starred in Gladiator (2000), The Tempest (2010), Furious 7 (2015), A Quiet Place Part II (2021), and, in recent years, has featured heavily across both Marvel and DC Universe titles, including Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. 

We reported earlier today that Hounsou has now also launched a production banner, Fanaticus Media Group (FMG). The company is an offshoot of Hounsou’s previous company, Fanaticus Entertainment.

FMG’s first feature title, Calabash, screened this week in Berlin as part of the AfroBerlin programme. Directed by Omar S. Kamara, the film is described as a “culture-clash comedy that peels back the veneer of a seemingly perfect wedding to reveal the chaos simmering underneath.” 

The synopsis reads: When two families with distinct traditions, expectations, and unspoken agendas come together for a celebration meant to unite them, anxiety-fueled scenarios quickly spiral. 

“Calabash is pretty much the vision that I have for my foundation: creating the connection between Africa and its diaspora,” Hounsou said. “This is a story about Africa meeting Afro descendants in the States, and showcasing the differences and how we look at each other.” 

Discussing his decision to launch a production banner, Hounsou told the Berlin audience that he believed purpose-driven storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in shaping contemporary life. 

“Most of our rich business Africans have not understood the importance of investing in this industrial revolution. And so how do we uplift the spirits of the youth of Africa if you don’t have tangible media or content,” he said. “This is what my company, Fanaticus Media Group, is driven to do.”

The veteran actor also has a project at the EFM with WestEnd Films titled Zealot. Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) directed the film from a script by Bennett Fisher, based on the play Damascus. Hounsou stars alongside Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog). Vertical will release the film Stateside this year, while WestEnd is selling internationally. 

Confirmed international deals on the film include France (The Jokers), Germany (Plaion), Spain (Madfer), Ex-Yugoslavia (Investacommerce), Poland (Galapagos), Bulgaria (Beta), the Middle East (Front Row), Israel (United King), and Turkey (Aqua/Pinema Group).

The film’s synopsis reads: Based on the award-winning play Damascus, Zealot follows Hassan, a Somali-American airport shuttle driver in Minneapolis struggling to survive. When a stranded young man offers cash for a late-night ride across state lines to Chicago, Hassan accepts. As the miles pass, cracks begin to show, and Hassan realizes his passenger may be far more dangerous than he imagined. Trapped on the road with no way out, Hassan must make an impossible choice—escape, or risk unleashing devastating consequences.