Funny bones

Oh shucks – Schuster’s done it again!

When it comes to Leon Schuster, the stats don’t lie. In the Noughties, four of his films held the top spots on the SA Box Office list for the highest grossing local film – respectively, Mr Bones 2 (2008), Mr Bones (2001), Mama Jack (2005) and Oh Schucks...I’m Gatvol (2004). The average takings were an impressive R29 674 505 per film.

Leon has set the comedic benchmark impossibly high in the film industry, but his success, originality and innovation have certainly been well-earned.

“I have been very lucky, and I thank God for that,” he says. “I started off 30 years ago, and it took a very long time to build an audience consisting of all demographics. For a young guy to hit it instantly is very tough – much tougher here than in the States. It can happen, like with Neill Blomkamp [director of District 9], but I believe you’ve got to go through the hard school to get to the success school.

“The audience is out there – they will go and see movies that appeal to them. Just cut this whole thing about political movies based on the past and find original, challenging ideas. If you can make them laugh and you can make them cry, you are 90% there!”

Keen observer

South African actor and blonde bombshell Josette Eales plays the PA of the minister of tourism (played by veteran Schuster collaborater Alfred “Shorty” Ntombela) in Leon’s upcoming movie Mad Buddies (due to hit screens in SA in June). Ask her what she thinks is the secret behind Leon’s success, and she’ll rattle off a list of praises as long as his impressive portfolio.

“What Leon is better at than anyone else is observing people and the country he lives in,” she explains. “He’s brave enough to show the truth, and to show it satirically, so that we laugh at ourselves. I think he’s doing a lot for this country in that regard. He’s helping us not to take ourselves so seriously. You know, we live in a very funny place here in South Africa, and he puts that on screen. He’s also created his own style. His comedy is like American sitcom, more heightened and with a lot more physical humour.”

Add controversy to that list, and you’ve covered quite a few of the comedic bases that Leon has mastered. The filmmaker is adamant that he doesn’t “go for ‘politically correct’,” and says that even though he likes to keep the dialogue to a minimum, he always includes some of the “risky stuff” which forms the talking points in his movies.

“South Africans love visual humour and so do I,” he says. “I minimise dialogue, because I get tired of watching ‘talky’ comedies. The prank-style movie has always been a favourite of South Africans, and you will always find visual pranks in my movies, whether they be candid or narrative. There’s actually very little dialogue in Mad Buddies because the pictures tell the story.”

Action hero

There might be very little dialogue, but the action is as over the top as ever, as Josette will testify. “Leon’s not young anymore, yet he does most of the stunts himself!” she says incredulously. “His work ethic is something else. He’s twice my age, and he just throws himself in, rolling on the floor, having Alfred pull his face back, tumbling in hay.

“His brand of comedy is timeless. He is everything you imagine him to be, and he really does have funny bones.”

Leon’s talents when she was a little girl, through his famous candid camera stunts. Even today there’s an element of this candid camera work in Leon’s latest film, which revolves around sworn enemies Boetie (Leon) and Beast (Kenneth Nkosi) who are forced into a road trip as the unwitting participants in a reality TV show.

“I love road movies where characters can’t get along, but they’re stuck with each other so the opportunities are endless,” says Leon. “It does have a feeling of my candid movies in the sense that the one is constantly trying to prank or take revenge on the other, and this snowballs throughout the movie.

“Our two guys on the road don’t know that they’re being filmed, so they don’t hold back. They say what they want to say and do stuff to each other which they would never have dreamed of doing, had they known that they are being filmed. So hopefully I’m not letting my fans down who like me to do the candid stuff.”

First time for everything

South Africans will instantly recognise Josette, who plays Sarah van Reenen in the M-Net drama The Wild. Drama is her forte, and she is insistent that she doesn’t consider herself funny, yet the experience of working on a Schuster set still has her in awe.“I very rarely do comedy, and when I do, it’s invested with a huge amount of truth. But this character is ridiculous, and I was excited about the freedom to explore that.

The most important lesson I think I learnt from Leon was that you’re never bigger than the movie and the industry. He’s huge in South Africa, I would even argue that he’s one of the most famous people in this country, and he has always had time for people. That level of humility and understanding of your place in the industry was humbling and important to learn. I think that will stay with me forever.”

This was a learning experience for Josette, but surprisingly enough, for Leon too. “There’s always something new to learn,” he admits. “I play a character that I’ve never played before – a quiet, somewhat subdued guy called Boetie, who has a nasty underbite. I practised this for months, because I don’t like playing myself.

“Even though there’s no prosthetics or special make-up which turns me into someone completely different, the underbite idea just helped me feel like someone completely different and adds a little edge of sympathy for Boetie. I also learned that Alfred is a master of visual comedy – with his short frame, he did stuff that I never thought he could pull off in a million years.”

Local is lekker

Josette has just finished shooting a small part in the movie Inescapable, starring Joshua Jackson and Marisa Tomei, and has her sights set on Hollywood, not because she wants to leave South Africa, but for the opportunity to work with the likes of Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. Leon, however, dreams of keeping our local talent on home soil.

“Unfortunately some of our best actors have become Holywood-bedonnered,” he says. “I’d love to see the likes of Charlize ‘Therron’ and Arnold Vosloo come back to their country of birth and inspire young filmmakers. I’d love to do a South African-based movie with Charlize – I even wrote her a long e-mail expressing my desire, but she never responded. Maybe her PC has a virus, like most things in LA.”

If anyone can lure the Charlize Therons of the world back to South Africa, it’s Leon. His scripts are the foundation upon which much of the energy in his films is based, and he plans to be in the movie making business for many more years to come.

“Don’t think because you’re getting older – I’m 60 now – you’re necessarily going to lose your following. Clint Eastwood and Robert de Niro, plus the late George Burns and Walter Matthau, are perfect examples of ‘older’ actors still finding their audience.

“The challenge for me will be to find the right parts for myself – certainly not those where I get klapped all over the show,” he laughs. “Maybe I’ll think of a romantic comedy! the only problem is, will I find a beautiful, young, sexy lady who will be interested in being this ou toppie’s love interest?”

*This article first appeared in the April issue of Sandton magazine. Photographs supplied.