Oscars 2021: George Floyd's death prompted actor's movie role

Andrew Howard: "Our film breaks into the psyche of what it's like to be a black person living in America"

A Welsh actor says he was motivated to take part in a film about the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer following George Floyd's murder.

Andrew Howard plays the officer in the film Two Distant Strangers which won an award at Sunday's Oscars.

He said he was "enraged" by Mr Floyd's death and asked the film's eventual writer about what they could do.

The Oscars comes days after an officer was convicted of Mr Floyd's murder.

Derek Chauvin, 45, was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes during his arrest on a Minneapolis street last year.

It prompted protests about police use of excessive force against black people across the US and led to worldwide demonstrations.

Writer Travon Free began work on Two Distant Strangers - which won the award for best live action short film at the Oscars - after Mr Floyd's death.

His central character, Carter, played by rap star Joey Bada$$, is stuck in a time loop, waking daily following a run-in with the officer played by Cardiff-born Howard, who kills him.

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Howard said: "As a white guy living in America for 20 years, I've never been stopped by the police, I've never been harassed whereas all my black friends, all of them bar none, have all been stopped for nothing.

"Our film breaks into the psyche of what it's like to be a black person living in America.

"I think that's what's really important about the film

In a bumper night for Welsh stars, Howard's "hero", Sir Anthony Hopkins, also won the Oscar for best actor for his performance as a man who loses his grip on reality, in the Father.

At 83-years-old, Sir Anthony, has become the oldest acting winner of the academy award.

Sir Anthony Hopkins was not at the ceremony and was thought to be home in Wales