SHARLTO COPLEY
Elysium’s co-star chats to Tymon Smith about big movies, SA villains and Afrikaans nursery rhymes
What’s it been like for you in the four years since District 9 blew up? Much of my life has changed massively. For as long as I can remember, I had wanted to make Hollywood-style films, so D9 was the realisation of life-long dream. I have been working since I was 19 and had varying levels of success and many failures but, for the first time after D9, I finally felt peace. I still have a burning passion for my work, but before D9 I was obsessed with work, probably in a bit of an unhealthy way.
I have had much more free time and learnt to try to balance and enjoy my life more. I travel almost continuously and live in different countries and cities for months at a time while shooting. It gives you an interesting perspective on the world to actually live in different countries as opposed to just visiting them on vacation.
Generally, after D9, I found myself often feeling more powerful and content but also more anxious and vulnerable — the business is very competitive and fickle, and there is no room to rest on your laurels so you are always hunting for the right projects or trying to win the right kind of work.
There are also many amazing perks: flying in private planes or first-class, staying in the best hotels, getting to work with some of the most talented people in the business, getting accepted by the “inner circle”.
Have you gotten used to working with all these big Hollywood stars or is there still a bit of anxiety? I’ve had no anxiety working with any of the stars. I am very comfortable acting, I think its deep in my DNA. It also helps that the stars I have worked with have all been very down-to-earth and treated me as an equal, which is amazing given how little work I have done. When I met Matt [Damon], he said: “Dude, I voted for you at the Oscars,” and the two of us formed a great friendship grounded in our love of the movie business.
That said, I still have those “pinch myself ” moments. Every now and then, my brain will kind of kick and go: “That’s Angelina Jolie, you’re playing her true love, this can’t be real life!” Thankfully those moments don’t go on for too long.
Elysium is a much bigger film than
District 9. How was the experience different? The biggest difference for me wasn’t really the size of the film but rather that I wasn’t the lead. When you are the lead, you work much harder and carry much more responsibility for the success or failure of the film. On D9, I worked every single shooting day and the schedule was gruelling. I was also much more involved in giving ideas for the film and helping behind the scenes.
Elysium was made in a more traditional Hollywood way. The production was very well planned, so it flowed very smoothly. I would just show up on my work days and do whatever I could to add value to my scenes through improvisation. I had a lot of free time.
There are pros and cons to a bigger film. Bigger films are much easier and fun for me as an actor but something like D9 is a far more fulfilling experience.
I'm pleased that people get scared of
my villains
What South African influences did you draw on for the character of Kruger? For the accent and general sort of sarcastic humour, I drew on some stereotypes of guys from The South (of Joburg). It’s a specific accent that has never been used in a Hollywood film before.
I lived in Sandton but had friends from The South back in the day. For the military aspect, we drew on some of the guys from 32-Battalion — Neill [Blomkamp] and I are a bit obsessed with SA military history. The scene in the film with Kruger braaiing and drinking Castle in his PT shorts was inspired by images of 32-Battalion and other recce guys chilling out, braaiing in the bush.
In the film, Kruger is a black-ops guy who, from his perspective, is manipulated by politicians — I think many soldiers from 32-Battalion and other units from the old SA military feel the same way. Drawing on this kind of stuff, grounding him in reality, makes Kruger a more believable character, even though he is something of a caricature.
I actually wanted Kruger to be as entertaining and likeable as possible, so I did a lot of stuff in improv that was really funny or showed more layers to him but film editing is brutal — the villain has to serve the story and can’t be too popular or liked by the audience, so mostly you just see his bad sides.
You’ve said that Kruger and the character you play in the Oldboy adaptation are the darkest you’ve done and that you find such roles difficult emotionally but you’re good at them. Do you worry about being pigeonholed? I don’t because I’m very aware of not allowing it to happen. I’ve been extremely fortunate so far to play a massive range of characters — going from Murdock [ The A-Team] to the Oldboy villain is not something many actors will be given the chance to do, so I’m very far from being pigeonholed at this stage.
It also helps that I’m not a household name around the world. Many people don’t realise that the actor from D9, A-Team and Elysium are the same guy. That’s a good thing for me as it prevents people from having expectations of a “Sharlto Copley” role or character. Comedy is my first love, so I’m rather pleased and a bit surprised to see that people get scared of my villains.
Do you ever think about the response South African audiences might have to your films and how that may be different from US audiences? Yes, especially when playing a South African character, like in Elysium. Originally, I didn’t want to play Kruger as a white South African because, as Neill and I joke, we may be undoing all the goodwill we got for white South Africans around the world through the Wikus character [ D9]. For me, at a deeper level, Wikus represented what I and other white South Africans had done — doing the right thing morally and ethically for the country and giving up a position of ultimate power with nuclear weapons.
I actually shot tests of an American, a British and an Eastern European version of Kruger. At the end of the day, you’ve seen those versions of those characters so many times before, the South African was the most different, so we opted for him.
I also tried to give Kruger a kind of dark charisma and a twisted sense of humour, so hopefully people will see that and my friends from The South will forgive me that he had to be the villain in this one.
I must say that I did get to sing an Afrikaans nursery rhyme in a $100-million Hollywood popcorn film — I won’t say which one — and I think South Africans should go and see the film for that reason alone. Do you know how difficult it was for us to pull that off? It may never happen again in our lifetime. Hahaha. That’s the kind of scene where US audiences will be all terrified and South Africans will probably laugh or perhaps at least feel a perverse sense of pride that Neill and I smuggled it in there.
Tell us about the experience of working with Spike Lee on Oldboy. Spike and I hit it off from our first meeting. I was a little apprehensive at first, being a white South African, meeting Spike, who is very outspoken about racial and other issues in America. I wondered how he would receive me but as I walked over for our very first meeting, he stood up, opened his arms and said: “Hey, my African brother.” We gave each other a warm hug and then proceeded to make one of the darkest movies ever.
Is there something about sci-fi you find particularly appealing or is it just coincidence? I think probably somewhat coincidence. I do love sci-fi, but I love fantasy and comedy and really all genres of film. For me, it’s really about finding material that will allow me to play interesting and entertaining characters.
Any plans to do another South African film? Yes. I am heading back to Joburg in October to shoot Chappie with Neill — it’s a smaller budget, very creative South African project. I am writing another South African film that I will likely direct myself and also believe we will eventually get around to the District 9 sequel, so ja, no plans on turning my back on SA creatively.
What can we expect to see you in next?
Oldboy this year and Maleficent next year.