Ajax no match for ‘CIA agent’
AJAX Cape Town are patently no match for CIA agent Carrie Mathison.
The Premier Soccer League club have been forced to switch next Tuesday’s home game against Bidvest Wits from the Cape Town Stadium to Athlone because the World Cup venue and the gardens around it are being used to film scenes for award-winning US television drama Homeland.
Season four of the Emmy award-winning show, whose star Claire Danes plays the CIA character Mathison, had been filmed in and around the Mother City for several weeks now and the stadium and its surrounds had been booked for several weeks of shooting, official said.
The fast-paced TV drama is a world hit and the next series, which apparently sees the main character Mathison move to the Middle East as a CIA station chief, is on location in the Cape until November. The city markets itself as a cost-effective location with many varied options for filmmakers, and the Homeland producers seem to think the tip of Africa makes for a convincing double for the Middle East.
Ajax, who play away against Polokwane City tonight, have also moved their home game against Free State Stars from Cape Town Stadium to Athlone Stadium. That is scheduled for a night-time kick off on Saturday, September 13.
Ajax had been hoping to play all this season’s home fixtures at the Cape Town stadium, but the venue was pre-booked for the TV shoot, officials said.
Film star-spotting has also become a sport of sorts for Capetonians in recent weeks. Not only is the cast of Homeland on site, but so are Charlize Theron and Sean Penn, who are shooting a movie called The Last Face.