Movie break for ‘distracted’ actor
Achildhood diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia was the cue for South African actor Robbie McLean to focus on his strengths – and his stepping stone to a role in the new Steven King sci-fi horror movie, Dark Tower. Parts of the movie, starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba and directed by Nikolaj Arcel, were shot in the Karoo.
McLean’s story starts at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, where his parents, Bruce and Callie Fields met as aspiring actors in the early 80s. Fast-forward to Johannesburg in the 1990s, when McLean attended St Stithian’s Boys College.
“My time at school was a struggle,” McLean said. “I was never good at academics and as a kid struggled to keep up with mainstream schooling.”
In 2003 he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and dyslexia and left St Stithian’s to attend a remedial school. “I saw children with disabilities far more challenging than my own,” said McLean, who returned to mainstream schooling at St Stithian’s two years later, at the beginning of his Grade 5 year. “I grew a lot from those years and became more determined to do what I was good at and try and get through academics as best I could.”
At the end of his Matric year, McLean had achieved triple Honours in Culture for Music, Drama and General Culture and Best Actor at the school’s final awards ceremony. He also attained a Bachelor’s de- gree pass for matric. “From a young age I knew I wanted to act,” he said. It had a lot to do with his mom, Callie Fields, who was his high school Drama teacher. “I suppose it was the smell of backstage during my mom’s school productions as a young child, and realising the power there was to creating and telling stories. I was hooked. By high school I wanted to do anything I could to fully emerge myself into performance.”
Cracking the audition into the school’s elite chamber choir, the Duke of Cornwall Singers (“The Dukes”) at the age of 14, McLean proceeded to involve himself in every play, short film and project he could get his hands on. After school came an apprenticeship with production company ZikkaZimba, founded by Rhodes University alumni Jaques De Silva, Ryan Dittmann and Timothy Redpath. “I was able to travel with them to Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival each year and did stage managing and technical for them as a way to gain experience and witness the industry first hand.”
In 2015 McLean came to Rhodes University to study Drama and Music. “I loved Rhodes – from the people who attended the university to the productions I could lose myself in. However, I didn’t feel like this was the right choice because my self-consciousness with academics that had been with me from a young age made me focus on productions and performances rather than my studies. “So halfway through my first year I dropped out of University.” Once home, he caught the attention of agent Moonyeenn Lee. A string of commercial shoots were followed by the offer of a role in the new Steven King film to be shot in South Africa.
“The only problem was they wanted a 50-year-old man, not a 20-year-old boy for the role! But she wanted me to audition anyway.” Next thing he knew, he was in a call back, then another one. “And then it was between me and one other person and I got the role, just before my 21st birthday.” Shooting started and McLean was flying back and forth between Joburg and Cape Town. “I learnt about prosthetics, make-up and visual effects and worked under the incredible direction of Nikolaj Arcel. I was in my element.
Then things got bigger. “I got a call saying they needed to fly me out to New York City to do some scenes.” So he went. “Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe what I was going through. I learnt and I grew so much from my time on the film.”
McLean met and worked with celebrities such as Matthew McConnaughey, Kathryn Winnick and Idris Elba. After filming, McLean’s first job was to lose the 106kg body he’d had to acquire for his role as Toby.
“I went on a diet and started exercising everyday with Crossfit and managed to lose 23kg in four months and expand my acting to play completely different roles.” McLean attended the premiere at the Noma in New York “The Dark Tower was my first major role and I couldn’t be happier with it! It has changed my life forever and has proved to me that sometimes taking the road less travelled with hard work and perseverance for what you love can really pay off.”
McLean’s younger sister Emily Fields is completing matric at St Stithian’s and plans to attend Rhodes University next year.
What’s with the name?
McLean is Robbie’s stage name. “When I had my meeting with Moonyeen about representing me she said there was already an actor named Robbie Fields in the US who had done more work than me. “So we brainstormed and came up with McLean which was my ancestral clan name. It had a nice ring to it and so it just stuck.”
The movie
The Dark Tower is rated on the International MovIe Database as PG-13 and the 95-minute movie falls under the genres “action, adventure, fantasy.
The storyline: “The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black, determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.”
What should have summer blockbuster fizzled at the box office. Speaking about it, Stephen King said it had been a challenge to do a film based on a series of books – “about 3 000 pages”.
Doing a PG-13 feature adaptation of books “that are extremely violent and deal with violent behaviour in a fairly graphic way” was also difficult, King said in an interview with ew.com.