Ask Spling – Episode 7: If you had to recast a Hollywood film with SA actors set in Soweto?

In Episode 7 of ‘Ask Spling: Reel Talk and Real Life’… Spling answers: “If you had to recast a Hollywood film with SA actors set in Soweto?” – a question from Ronald M.

Welcome to Ask Spling. So if I had to reccast a Hollywood film with South African actors and set it in Suetto, well, I kind of think of Nosipho Dumisa’s remake of Rear Window called Nommer 37 or Number 37, which was set in the Cape. And I actually think that she did such a brilliant job with that that it’s so entirely possible.

I would see it going the way of another classic with The Magnificent Seven, which is based on The Seven Samurai. And instead of samurai or cowboys, I would go with a modern sort of neo-western type thing where we… maybe a little bit like Five Fingers for Marseilles was doing… and actually have like an area in Soweto where a group of vigilantes, seven of them decide to basically lock down and work their way outwards getting rid of gang leaders and drugs and all that sort of thing.

I think that would be epic. And in terms of the casting, I would love to see people like Siv Ngesi, Bongile Mantsai, Vuyo Dabula, Vusi Kunene, Bonko Khoza, Israel Matseke Zulu, Paka Zwedala and Warren Masemola being in that film because they are just such excellent actors and cool actors as well… that would really just make so much sense in an action movie of that stature. Yeah.