Acting takes a back seat for ‘chauffeur’
Film star lives, drives in LA
AFTER starring as slain photojournalist Ken Oosterbroek in the hit movie The Bang-Bang Club alongside a Hollywood cast, East London-born actor Frank Rautenbach thought his foot was firmly in the American film industry door.
But after driving 9 600km to scores of auditions in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife Leigh, Rautenbach, 43, failed to land a single role.
Having become a household name in South Africa as the hunky Tiaan Terblanche in 7de Laan and starred in Faith Like Potatoes and Hansie, the former Selbornian and Rhodes University student was suddenly jobless in LA. And, although he was offered parts in 12 movies, all the deals fell through due to financing problems, casting disagreements or other industry calamities.
“I even auditioned for Superman and got a call back, but it went no further,” said Rautenbach, who was in East London this week as part of a Christian speaking tour of South Africa.
“I went from the red carpet to being a limo driver. I wore the same pants and waistcoat as a driver that I wore on the red carpet at the premier of The Bang-Bang Club at the Toronto Film Festival. “LA is a very tough city.” Instead of sharing movie credits with Hollywood’s A-list, Rautenbach became their chauffeur and gave lifts to Morgan Freeman and Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto.
But adjusting his career expectations was a walk-in-thepark in comparison to the desperate heartbreak he and his Capetonian wife experienced in their attempts to start a family.
“Like any couple we had expectations and dreams, but we lost four babies [to miscarriages] over about 12 years.”
Rautenbach speaks with measured ease about his struggles and disappointments because they form the basis of his talks on the Life After Faith Like Potatoes tour as a World Vision ambassador.
The talk tours came about following a chance limo meeting between Rautenbach and his now-manager Anton Bekker, a former South African based in Melbourne.
“He got into the limo in LA and I said to him ‘What’s your story’ and he told me and then said ‘What’s your story’?”
The exchange in February last year led to a partnership that has taken the duo to Australia, New Zealand and now South Africa, where Rautenbach has told his story in a variety of churches.
“I speak about what has happened to me since the film and about the lessons I’ve learnt.”
“I wouldn’t be able to do this if it hadn’t happened to me. I discovered that without my faith in God I would struggle to find meaning.”
An important part of his ambassadorial role for World Vision is to encourage people to “adopt” children in need by paying a monthly sum to support them. The actor and his wife have signed up to this programme, having “adopted” a child in the Congo and another in Uganda.
He is co-writing a screenplay based on the Bible story of the prodigal son as well as another about a real-life adventure in which he and two Selborne schoolmates were marooned at sea on a yacht for three days.
“I am never not writing. I am never not working.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za