Nelson Mandela has seen Invictus - but no one knows if he was happy with how he is depicted in the film.

Morgan Freeman, who was just nominated for his portrayal of the former South African president, admits he was left frustrated as the freedom fighter refused to give his opinion after being treated to a special big-screen showing.

“Yes, I know that he has seen it. You know, he won’t say what he thinks of it. So you have to kind of gather from his reactions,” Morgan said over the weekend at the film’s London premiere. “I was sitting next to him and when I first came on the screen he said, ‘I know this fellow.’”

However, the 72-year-old star did confirm that South Africans accepted him playing the legendary historic figure, and even called him by the honorary title bestowed upon elders of Mandela’s clan - Madiba.

“You know, South Africans starting calling me Madiba. I was totally accepted. I remember getting out of a car one time and I was walking into a stadium and someone shouted, ‘You walk like him, you walk like him!’, people were giving me lifts,” Freeman recalled.