Idris Elba was rushed to hospital after suffering an asthma attack on an aeroplane bound for South Africa. The 41-year-old actor had been due to fly to Johannesburg to attend a press conference for his new movie, Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom, but was instead rushed to hospital in the United Kingdom after having the attack.

However, the film’s producer Anant Singh said he was expected to appear at a planned red carpet event last Sunday. “Idris is in hospital after an asthma attack on the plane last night,” Mr Singh told reporters at the conference. Elba stars alongside fellow British actor Naomie Harris in the film. Speaking previously about getting into character for the movie, Elba told the Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye’s that he spent a night on Robben Island, locked in a cell next to the one where Mandela was jailed for 18 years.

He said: “I wanted the audience to know what it was like once Mandela and his colleagues were jailed and the crowds dissipated.” The actor travelled around South Africa researching the role and wrote to the authorities on Robben Island (now a heritage site) to ask if he could stay in the jail. Initially, they turned him down, but later they recanted. The film will be released in the United Kingdom on January 3.

— Daily Mail