Mist lifts on canning of ‘racist’ Vanilla Gorilla
JAMES Bond star Pierce Brosnan was about to get on a plane to Durban in 2008 when he learnt that funding had collapsed for Vanilla Gorilla, the film he was due to shoot there.
Eight years later, it has emerged that the Industrial Development Corporation pulled the plug on a proposed R115-million investment after being advised that the script about an albino ape being returned to the wild in Rwanda was racist and patronising.
Producer Michael MacCarthy and screenwriter Craig Gardner told the Sunday Times this week the allegation of racism was “ludicrous”, saying they still hope to bring their story to the big screen.
But for Tracey Roscher, who was fired by the IDC for “gross dishonesty” in the affair, there may not be a happy ending. Last week, the Labour Court in Johannesburg overturned a finding by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration that she should be reinstated.
Vanilla Gorilla, with a budget of $35-million, was to be the story of Gogo, the world’s only albino gorilla, which embarks on a “wild adventure” across Africa with a New York girl called Nikki.
MacCarthy signed Brosnan to play Nikki’s father. US actor Dennis Haysbert was named to play Gogo’s keeper, and Peter Elliott — star primate mimic from Gorillas in the Mist and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes — agreed to wear the $500 000 gorilla costume made for the movie.
“We were a week or two away from starting to shoot then the hurricane of the 2008 world financial crash happened and we lost our major backer in the US,” said MacCarthy.
He approached the IDC and Roscher, a R700 000-a-year manager in its media and motion picture unit, stepped in.
In her Labour Court ruling, Acting Judge Deanne Howes said the National Film and Video Foundation was asked to comment on the script, concluding it was racist.
“The writers have relied too much on stereotype,” the foundation said. “The result is a staggering array of caricatures.”
The review said the movie appeared to be aimed at the Western children’s market, adding: “Why should we be making films for this market with its clearly racist precepts about Africa and Africans?”
Roscher did not give this feedback to the IDC committee evaluating the funding request, telling it only: “The NFVF . . . view the script as average.”
Howes said this was “downright misleading”.
The whistle was blown on Roscher by IDC lawyer Prosper Chavarika, who accompanied her to the US when she went to meet executives from WalMart, which had indicated an interest in buying 1.2 million DVD copies for $15.9-million.
Chavarika told Roscher’s boss, Basil Ford, that WalMart’s expression of interest was “worth very little”. But Roscher continued to paint a “rosy picture”, said Howes.
MacCarthy appeared as a character witness at Roscher’s CCMA hearing, and said this week he had “the highest regard for her personally and professionally”.
The NFVF’s comments about the script were “codswallop”, he said. “We were in conversation with black actors of great stature, like Danny Glover, who would have voiced their concerns.”
The comments could only have been made out of “absolute ignorance”, said Gardner. “The film is as nonracist as you can get. One of the heroes is a black man.”
In an interview in Cape Town this week, Roscher, 44, said she planned to take her case to the Labour Appeal Court.
The writers have relied too much on stereotype. The result is a staggering array of caricatures