Hotel Rwanda star overwhelmed by media

Hotel Rwanda star Sophie Okonedo was reduced to silence when questions relating to the film's bleak depiction of genocide in Africa were fired at her during a press conference - because she'd only prepared responses to fashion queries.

The British actress, who is of Nigerian descent, was expecting US journalists to quiz her about her favourite clothes and food throughout the promotional campaign - and was dumbfounded at being asked to express her thoughts on "America's foreign policy in Sudan".

Okonedo says: "When I was coming over to America to promote Hotel Rwanda, I hadn't done much press before. Other actors told me that they ask a lot of the same questions: 'Who's your favourite designer?', 'What do you eat for breakfast?'

“And I get here and I'm getting asked about America's foreign policy in Sudan and black-on-black crime in LA! The black-on-black crime question was the worst question. I didn't know how to answer it!

"That was in Washington. Of course it was in bloody Washington... The questions were just so frightening. If I don't know the answer, I'll just say: 'I don't bloody know!'"

Okonedo stars as the wife of a Rwandan hotel-owner who saved 1,200 people from certain death in Terry George’s harrowing true-life drama.