SA actor Greg Kriek talks about new movie starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson

Cape Town-born actor Greg Kriek plays the role of Nasa launch director Henry Smalls in Fly Me To The Moon. The film, which recently had its world premiere at the AMC Lincoln Square Theatre in New York City, released in South African theatres over the weekend.

Fly Me To The Moon is a romantic comedy directed by Greg Berlanti and is a co-production between Sony Pictures and Apple Studios. It centres around Nasa’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969.

Recruited to fix the organisation’s public image, strong-willed marketing maven Kelly Jones (played by Scarlett Johansson) gets in the way of Nasa launch director Cole Davis, played by Channing Tatum.

Johansson’s character is directed by the White House to stage a fake moon landing as a backup in case the high-stakes mission doesn’t go as planned.

“It was a tremendous honour to be part of such an epic scale of a production,” Kriek told the Sunday Times. “Greg Berlanti was an amazing director to work with. I’ve been very lucky that Greg gave me wings to add a bit of my own spin in my role as Dr Henry Smalls.

“My favourite memory while working on the film was walking onto the set and literally stepping back in time. Apple [Original Films] is renowned for the detail and the scale of their productions, and spared no expense for that,  recreating all the details of the 1960s, the costumes, the props, colours, nuances and recreating Nasa literally. I was very lucky I got to be part of the Nasa headquarters scenes.

“I’m part of a funny gag sequence between Ray Romano, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, and it was a departure from some of my recent characters. I get to play a ‘brainiac’ this time, instead of someone with brawn,” laughed Kriek, referring to his previous villain role of Marcus in the sci-fi film Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire directed by Zack Snyder and released in December 2023.

Kriek has been lauded by international media as one of South Africa’s biggest and brightest Hollywood talents, with more than 100 international screen acting credits, including the Emmy-winning The Serengeti Rules, the Oscar-nominated Incognito and The Recce, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the Los Angeles Film Awards in 2023.

A former director on SABC 3’s Top Billing, Kriek pursued acting seriously in his mid-20s,  considered late in the industry.

“My parents were instrumental in terms of sacrifices they made for me along the way, and my late uncle Danie helped to open things up for my American chapter.

“My grandmother used to take care of a lot of HIV/Aids orphans, and she used to take me all across southern Africa and Zambia. She started in Orange Farm, just outside Johannesburg, and expanded to Lesotho and  Zambia. I visited a villages and more than 1,000 orphans, but my earliest memories were when she kicked off in Orange Farm.

“How she inspired me was that I’d go with her to help out with any tasks. She always had me play soccer with the orphans, which I loved. During lunchtime with the orphans, my grandmom encouraged me to tell the children stories.

“At first, I was like: ‘What are you talking about, grandma?’ But she nudged me on and through interpreters in the different regions  I would tell stories to the kids. It was there I realised how powerful storytelling is to connect with different cultures.

“I was head boy at Paarl Boys’ High School, and I had a drama teacher and English teacher who encouraged me to pursue the arts and acting, though it only sort of materialised after the Top Billing presenter search.”

Kriek was in consideration for an Emmy Award this year in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his role as Karl Stromberg/The Swede in Die Hart 2: Die Harter.

Among the names who ended up making the final short list in the category announced on Wednesday last week were Robert Downey in The Sympathizer, Tom Goodman-Hill in Baby Reindeer and Larmorne Morris in Fargo.

“Being considered for an Emmy has inspired me to go even harder, to go deeper and to not quit. As a South African, being able to work in the Hollywood sphere and getting to carry my country’s flag internationally is a tremendous honour, and I am excited for what’s next on the horizon.”

Fly Me To The Moon is in local theatres, followed by Apple TV+ streaming in October.