While viewing the Jaguar F-Type at Ellerman House Wine Gallery in Cape Town’s Bantry Bay, Screen Africa’s Andy Stead also got to meet Sharlto Copley – who was in South Africa for a few days as a brand ambassador for the iconic sports car.
An intimate media lunch at Ellerman House provided such an opportunity, not only to get to know Copley a little better and to meet his wife, international supermodel Tanit Phoenix, but also to savor a delicious meal created according to themes from Copley’s movies – and to see the delectable Jaguar F-Type.
All this and a brief one-on-one with the star rounded off a perfect function organised by Jaguar and Copley’s producing partner and international media liaison Stephanie Macrides.
District 9 was Copley’s introduction to international stardom as this pioneering production became a world-wide success. Released in 2009 and directed by Neill Blomkamp, it was nominated for four Oscars and Copley’s leading role as harassed bureaucrat Wikus van der Merwe was instrumental in the film’s success.
Copley then starred in 20th Century Fox’s version of The A Team. In 2013, he played fictional astronaut James Corrigan in Europa Report and in the same year he portrayed Agent Kruger, the secondary antagonist in Elysium, and also played villain Adrian Pryce in Spike Lee’s Oldboy.
He then starred opposite Angelina Jolie in the 2014 Disney film Maleficent and played Chappie in his first motion capture performance role, also directed by Blomkamp, shot in South Africa for several months in 2014.
Copley discussed his latest film, Hardcore Henry,“The studio films like The A Team, Maleficent and Elysium are important and do well at the box office – but my new movie Hardcore Henry, which I also executive produce, is ridiculously pioneering and regardless of what it does or does not do at the box office it will make a big impact on filmmaking.
“It’s a small indie movie that we sold at Toronto and it won The Audience Choice award at Midnight Madness at the Toronto Film Festival and got picked up for wide release in the US. It is different in that the audience is the central character in the entire movie.”
Hardcore Henry is shot in Russia and targets gamers and action fans alike – it is clearly a significant movie as the industry is talking about its pioneering spirit – as they did with District 9. Post-production is now complete and the movie releases on 8 April in the USA and is out in South Africa on 8 July 2016.
“What I’d like to do next is to direct something I write and even better to act in it as well just to see if I can tell myself what to do,” Copley laughs.
“But getting back to why I am here. Being a Jaguar brand ambassador has big upsides. I had some great fun this morning with Championship racer Deon Joubert – even did doughnuts in the F-Type!
“Even though the Jaguar F-Type was launched some time ago – they have been meaning to get me back with a really professional driver who could teach me some of the awesome stuff this car is capable of.”
Copley is something of an enigma. He now lives in the hills overlooking Los Angeles and works in the heart of the Hollywood dream factory. Yet he remains true to his roots, unlike many other South Africans who have made this move. Even as his film work goes from strength to strength he appears to remain an easygoing South African guy, characterised by his sense of humour and friendly personality.
He is philosophical about the differences between his two home countries: “I find that I need to be in LA when I am not working. So I don’t know if that means that I am based there – but in my head I am always based in South Africa,” he says. “At times it has been tempting to live as an American – you know, the accent, etc, but I just felt I was losing myself and my sense of myself so I am still very South African.
“The beauty about being in LA is that the respect and the support for creative endeavors there is incredible. This was always and area of frustration for me in South Africa. I guess it’s that we (South Africa) are essentially a gold mining country – and so it’s not really a country that has grown a thriving entertainment industry. It’s become powerful because it has the minerals. So it’s a different ethos, and if you are going to spend $225 million dollars based on a piece of paper it’s quite a different business mindset that is required than when you are pulling something from out of the ground.”
