Flying SA flag in Hollywood
ARNOLD VOSLOO: STARS IN MANDLA DUBE’S NETFLIX PRODUCTION SILVERTON SIEGE
Prefers a braai to the caviar lifestyle of other actors from Tinsel Town.
WI am a low-key Afrikaans boy, that’s what I am
hile he has played the baddie on screen countless times, Arnold Vosloo is one helluva good guy. There is zero pretence, but positive energy in abundance.
The Hollywood-based actor was in South Africa to promote his new Netflix release, Silverton Siege, this week. It was filmed locally last year and gave Vosloo a great excuse to come home.
His love for South Africa knows no bounds. It was his third “home-based” production in as many years.
Vosloo was inducted into the Walk of Fame at Emperors Palace this week, immortalising his handprints alongside other South African stars of stage and screen.
After appearing in more than 90 productions, including several blockbusters like The Mummy series, Vosloo deserves a mountain of accolades.
Alongside Charlize Theron, he blazed the trail for South Africans in Hollywood.
Unlike many stars who demand five-star lodgings and caviar-like hoo-ha, Vosloo stays in Alberton with his sister and mom when in Mzansi.
He said: “I have lots of friends and family that I visit all over the place and spend most of my time with my mom and sister.
“My mom is 88 now and she’s still feisty.
“I also get to have all my favourite foods and have loads of braais.”
When in the US, Vosloo stays up to date with South African news, scouring online sites for information, and cheers for the Springboks.
At home in Santa Monica, he lives with his wife, Sylvia, and their dog, Zuzu.
Vosloo likes a simple life and enjoys walking the dog and reading. “I am a bit of a bookworm,” he said.
Most of his friends there are not in the LA set and he prefers it that way.
He has got a sharp sense of humour.
“Not to tempt famous last words, but I don’t suspect you would catch me with transvestite prostitutes on a street corner some day.
“I’m just not that kind of guy. I am a low-key Afrikaans boy, that’s what I am.”
Vosloo also shared an anecdote over a glass of wine.
A while back, a friend ordered a $400 (about R6 300) bottle of wine for dinner at a restaurant, and – as Joburgers do – he popped ice cubes into the pricey glass of red.
It was sacrilege, he laughed, – but that is how Vosloo enjoys wine and is one of the many idiosyncrasies that make him, and us, South African.
He said: “I love the sunsets, the people of South Africa. I love nothing better than walking around and just taking in the different accents, hearing some Afrikaans and Zulu or Sotho on the streets, eavesdropping on some gossip between tannies in the supermarket.”
Vosloo debuted in legendary filmmaker Jamie Uys’ candid camera flick Funny People 2 in the early ’80s, but his breakthrough role came when he took the lead in 1984’s Boetie Gaan Border Toe.
His first wife, actress Nancy Mulford, co-starred with him in Skeleton Coast and Acts of Piracy.
Love played a big role in his move to Hollywood.
During his three-decade long career Vosloo has worked alongside some of the biggest names in movies, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Pacino, whom he admires as an “actor’s actor”, saying he is in awe of Pacino’s process while starring opposite him on stage in Oscar Wilde’s Salome in the early ’90s.
He said he had never seen any performer immerse themselves so deeply into a role, almost becoming the character completely. Pacino was a perfectionist and consummate professional.
At 59, Vosloo shows no sign of slowing down.
Later this year, the first Afrikaans production on Netflix, Ludik, debuts.
Vosloo also starred in a World War II film, Condor’s Nest, due for release this year, where he plays a Nazi officer.
Then, there’s the upcoming film version of author Deon Meyer’s Heart of the Hunter, slated for direction by Mandla Dube.
It’s a movie he really wants in on – he would love to reprise working with Dube, who also directed Silverton Siege.
Silverton Siege was released this week on Netflix and is based on a true story.
Vosloo said: “The film is based on a real event that happened on 21 January 1983.
“MK [uMkhonto we Sizwe] guys were on their way to go blow up oil refinery, but they’d been tracked by the cops for months.
“I play one of the head detectives who knows all about the men and their doings, and their background, and they soon realise that we are onto them.
“A big chase ensues. We corner them and finally they run into a bank.
“Once they get in the bank, they ask, okay, how do they leverage this? What do they do to get out of this situation?”
It was one of the events that spawned the Free Mandela movement, with three mercenaries trapped inside the bank, threatening to start killing hostages should Mandela not be released.
“Instead of my character just chasing the crew, I become the de facto hostage negotiator that has to deal with them.”
Silverton Siege was released globally on Netflix recently, exposing local talent to the world.
Vosloo said streaming services have opened doors of opportunity for local talent, with many productions now filmed on home soil.
The internet has also made the world much smaller.
Almost anyone can post a selfmade video online and be discovered by film executives.
“Today, Hollywood can come to you, no matter where you are.”