A Zuma read The Script

07 August 2014 - 02:01 By Andile Ndlovu
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The Script. File photo
The Script. File photo
Image: Harrywad/ wikimedia commons

A Johannesburg man is the star of Irish band The Script's latest music video, Superheroes. But James Zuma has admitted that he didn't have the faintest clue who they were.

Zuma, 38, was spotted in Alexandra when the band - lead vocalist Danny O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power - watched a performance by the Alexandra Youth In Action Ensemble.

"I found it all odd when they asked to take two or three pictures of me and asked to meet me the following morning, because they didn't even know me or whether I could act," Zuma told The Times yesterday.

"When I met them, I found about 10 other men who had also received callbacks, which made me really nervous."

Zuma said he was told the same day that he had got the gig after impressing during his audition.

"I didn't believe it," he said.

Zuma's character is a single father of a seven-year-old girl. Every morning he kisses her and leaves in a suit - only to strip down to dirty overalls and head to his real job on a dump site.

The video - shot in Alexandra on July 10 and directed by Vaughn Arnell of One Direction, Robbie Williams and George Michael fame - aims to fete everyday heroes.

But Zuma is yet to see the final video, which was released on Tuesday and garnered 303000 views on YouTube in 24 hours.

He is a music fan but had never heard of The Scripts, whom he likened to the Backstreet Boys.

"They said they really liked that I wasn't fussy. I can't tell you how many times they said 'thank you'."

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