SA’ s Bonnie & Clyde take Durban Poison
by LATOYA NEWMAN
If you’ re going to make a comeback after 20-odd years in the film industry, it better be good because all eyes will be on you.
Writer and director Andrew Worsdale can rest easy after his new film Durban Poison screened at the Durban International Film Festival( Diff) this week to wide acclaim.
The film is a fictionalised offering inspired by a couple who became known as South Africa’ s Bonnie and Clyde in the 1980s. They were Charmaine Phillips and Pieter Grundlingh who went on a killing spree in the Orange Free State in 1983. In Durban Poison Worsdale creatively opts to tackle the story from the point of police investigation through an investigative road trip, where the killer duo point out to police the different scenes where they killed four men and proceed to give an account of what took place.
Tying in with this are flash-backs that offer insight into the dangerously passionate relationship between the characters Joline and Piet.
What unfolds is an interesting account of the lovers’ relationship as it develops from their once solitude of brokenness – her being a prostitute mistreated by men; and him a gangster wannabe, looser type who longs to be acknowledged as“ the main man” – to their journey into self-destruction and crime.
After the opening screening on Sunday night Worsdale said the movie is not a murder movie.“ It’ s about not turning one night stands into relationships,” he said.
Commenting on his choice of cast – Brandon
Auret and Cara Roberts, who makes her film debut – Worsdale said the film came close to production many times over more than a decade with leads ranging from Marcel van Heerden to Patsy Kensit and Richard E Grant. But it never happened in that time.
However, he said when he saw Cara’ s black and white portfolio picture and after they met, he just knew she was the one.“ Brandon is a very enthusiastic guy. I phoned him, asked him to read the script, then we met. I just knew I had the guys.”
Auret said the beautiful thing about working on Durban Poison was that Worsdale had already worked on the movie for 20 plus years and he had a clear vision of what he wanted.
“ This allowed Cara and I, as actors, an amazing opportunity to work more with the director on the characters,” Auret said.
Auret added that they spent a lot of time working on their character studies and had studied a lot of footage to better understand the characters and their mannerisms.
Asked whether the movie would be distributed soon, Worsdale said while nothing was on the cards just yet, he hoped the screenings at the Diff would lead to a deal.
In addition to Auret and Roberts, Durban Poison features Gys de Villers, Marcel van Heerden, Danny Keogh, Drikus Volschenk, Ronnie Nyakale, Marie Human and Frank Opperman.
Cinematography by William Collinson gives the movie a 1980s feel, with an original score as well as songs by acclaimed Durban-born musician Jim Neversink.“ Jim’ s amazing, he is Durban-born, lives in Copenhagen. We have similar sensibilities,” said Worsdale.
ORIGINAL Publisher
Durban Poison
42 | WGSA MAG July 2013