Maps Maponyane & Nomzamo Mbatha set to romance cinema audiences

01 September 2015 - 02:00 By Shanthini Naidoo
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Maps Maponyane and Nomzamo Mbatha on the set of 'Tell Me Sweet Something', the upcoming romcom by Akin Omotoso and Robbie Thorpe.
Maps Maponyane and Nomzamo Mbatha on the set of 'Tell Me Sweet Something', the upcoming romcom by Akin Omotoso and Robbie Thorpe.
Image: Raymond Preston

The local romcom 'Tell Me Sweet Something' hits the big screen on Friday, September 4 2015. We flashback to our visit to the film set last year when we chatted to director Akin Omotoso about his casting choices

Akin Omotoso might make a book out of his latest movie. So goes the joke on set of his South African romcom Tell Me Sweet Something.

The gag plays on  Omotoso’s upside-down formula for filmmaking. With a handful of would-be actors, he workshopped ideas for characters, rehearsing them into life, drama-class style. That was in 2010.

Only two years later did he come up with a loose script. Fast forward another two years to 2014 when filming started.

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“It’s about getting the actors to behave like the characters, rather than ‘acting’ them. It makes them come across more realistically,” Omotoso  explains.

If his last film, the well-received drama Man on Ground is anything to go by, it works. His production company Rififi was also behind the popular Material, which starred comedian Riaad Moosa.

Again, trained and proven actors have been shunned in favour of faces which, although recognisable, have limited experience in front of a camera.

And he allows them to improvise — provided it improves the script.

 

Telenovela actress Nomzamo Mbatha and presenter/model Masego “Maps” Maponyane play the leads, Moratiwa and Nat.

In explaining his approach, Omotoso deploys the current catchword that describes naartjies and creative projects alike. “By not casting established actors, we allowed the love story to grow organically, along with the stars.”

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On set at Constitution Hill for the day, we find the actress sitting on Maponyane’s knee in their make-up tent. They do seem to fit together nicely. “Organically.” Both are freakishly pretty, with canyon dimples.

It’s a generic, feel-good love story — the pair play an ill-fated, aspiring writer-cum-bookshop owner and her anti-literate love interest, a male model who is struggling to be taken seriously.

Mbatha’s previous role was in Isibaya and Maponyane appeared in Rockville — both huge TV hits. But their acting ability is probably not ratable yet.

Omotoso says: “People look at things the wrong way. It is not about casting people who have never acted in films before. Society puts pressure on what you can and cannot do. They are young people who have it in them — it was just about coaching it out of them. I am just a part of their life journey which right now, is acting in their first film. And they have more commitment and interest than any trained actor could possibly have, for that reason. It creates a chemistry that you cannot believe.”

Just two years ago, Mbatha was an accounting student at the University of Cape Town, where she was discovered in a video jockey search. “Akin likes saying, ‘Don’t think about it too much,’” she says. “It helps to not be weighed down by the technical aspects of acting that you might learn in drama school. We go on nature and instinct. With Maps, it has been easy, like tennis. He serves and I serve back, and it flowed really well.”

The son of soccer legend Marks, Maponyane said he had four years to get into the idea of acting. “I have always respected  Akin  and this environment, so when I got the call from him in 2010, it was daunting. But when I eventually had my audition in 2014 I was ready for it and I made sure I made a very good impression.”

Producer Robbie Thorpe thinks that a simple story enacted by young, fresh, well-known faces is the way to get bums on cinema seats — the perennial challenge for local movies.

The strategy worked well with Material, which turned comedian Riaad Moosa into a leading man. In Tell Me Sweet Something, comedian Kagiso Lediga and Thembi Seete of Boom Shaka fame also contribute their stardust.

“I mean, who knew Riaad could act?” says Thorpe. “But this is a unique industry. The plan is to start over every single time, and with a fair bit of luck a movie will do well. It is a sweet story shot in the prettiest parts of Joburg.”

Thorpe’s LoveJozi T-shirt featuring the Brixton Tower punctuates the thought.

He says the prevailing notion in marketing and business that black people do not go to the movies should be challenged.

“It is ridiculous. It is about finding the right combination of things to make people watch something, anyone. Audiences will get out there if we give them the right combination of interesting elements.”

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The movie also sets out to shun the serious tone that weighs down much local cinema. Supporting actor Thomas Gumede (Otelo Burning), who is delightful in his comedic role as Nat’s diminutive best friend, puts it plainly: “South Africans are tired of HIV stories, rape and ugly, ugly things in film. There are no young, black love stories. Why? As if people in Joburg don’t fall in love!”

Thorpe says the film must reflect society today — young, hip, developing. “Film shows who we are as a society. What are we becoming?”

Europe, he says, is dead. “They are always looking backward. We are the opposite of that. We cannot see our future because it is still unfolding. If we look back at ancient societies, it is usually through their art. Through our culture is how the next generation will judge us. In the future, people will watch Idris Elba and think that is how Nelson Mandela was. Are we happy with that?"

'Tell Me Sweet Something' hits cinema screens on Friday, September 4, 2015.

This article was originally published in the Sunday Times Lifestyle Magazine in June 2014.

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