Fukunaga, who made the Mexican-American thriller **Sin Nombre **before switching gears for his more recent work on Jane Eyre and series one of True Detective, here creates tension and tragedy in a film about the brutality of war and the effects of conflict in an African state.
Beasts Of No Nation follows nine year-old Agu (Attah) who escapes the slaughter of his family and is recruited to the rebel militia of an unnamed country ripped apart by civil war. Elba plays the commander of that militia, who commands the fierce loyalty of his young and traumatised troops. The 14 year-old Attah spoke to **Empire **about playing football and rapping with the Luther star off-set. “He’s 6ft tall and I’m afraid of him,” joked Attah. “But it’s normal to work with him on-set.”
Elba, not present at the gala, came in for praise from producer Daniel Crown who told **Empire **about the gruelling shoots in jungles and remote parts of West Africa that the cast and crew had experienced.
“This was one of the most difficult sets that you could possibly work on,” Crown explained. “There was no green room, no air conditioning; it was in the jungle with minimum in the way of amenities. He [Elba] showed up ready to go to work and he stayed in character almost the entire time. He’s absolutely amazing.”
The film, which is Netflix’s first original feature, will have a limited released in Curzon cinemas across the UK as well as being added to the streaming service on October 16, making it the first to be distributed in this way. “At the end of the day, to potentially be in 61 million homes... a lot more people will see this movie because of Netflix,” Crown said.
**Beasts Of No Nation **is released in Curzon Cinemas and on Netflix on October 16.
*Reporting by Anjali Mandalia, with thanks to Go Think Big and O2. For amazing work opportunities go to Go Think Big.co.uk. *