Carl Beukes and Ari Kruger on taking viewers on a wild ride in ‘The Shakedown’
“The Shakedown’s” lead star Carl Beukes, and director Ari Kruger, believe that divine timing played a role in their being part of the new local movie.
Beukes, who starred in several productions such as “Lioness” and “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”, admitted that he went through several challenges while living in Los Angeles in the US.
“Having lived in Hollywood for six years now, I have had to eat a mountain of humble pie and really get real with myself,” he said.
“Hundreds of rejections can slowly bleed doubt into your mind and once that settles in, the artist might as well give it up and find a cosy office desk to die behind.”
He said he had since “knuckled down and really worked on me.”
“I had no way of becoming the actor I wanted to be if I wasn’t at least trying to be the man I wanted to be and so today, I find myself a happier man and a better actor for it.”
Meanwhile, this is Kruger’s first feature film, after directing television shows and music videos.
“It's been quite a zigzag path to get to this point of making a feature film and as a film-maker, a feature is the epitome of what you want to make.”
The Safta-winning director said that after season 2 of “Tali’s Diary”, which stars his wife, Julia Anastasopoulos, who also features in “The Shakedown”, he put his energy towards making a feature film.
“The timing worked out in the way that it did and Amazon were looking for a film to be commissioned and everything just clicked.”
“I am feeling good, I have ticked off the boxes of the things I want to make and everything that comes from this will be amazing opportunities that will present itself.”
“The Shakedown”, which is Amazon Prime Video’s first South African original film, premiered on the streaming service recently.
Set in Cape Town, the crime-comedy also features “Warrior” star Emmanuel Castis as well as South African rapper Jack Parow, rising talent Berenice Barbier, Milton Schorr, who starred in “One Piece”, David Isaacs from “Spinners” and James Borthwick from “Hotel”.
The film centres around Justin Diamond (Beukes), a well-respected medical aid broker who gets mixed up in the Mother City’s underworld after his mistress threatens to reveal the secret of their affair.
This leads him down a path filled with dangerous criminals, mistaken identities and comic mishaps as he desperately attempts to maintain his reputation and regain control of his life.
Beukes said that playing the lead was “probably the most fun I’ve ever had on set.”
“I knew I wanted to play Justin about a quarter of the way through reading the script,” he admitted.
“It’s a great story about redemption and the dry subtle humour is right up my alley.”
He described his character as a determined man in both his personal and professional life.
“I would say I share his determination but Justin is quite unpredictable in the way that he reacts to issues.”
“He cares a great deal for his image and so often his intentions are good but fuelled with empty values and ego feeding so he finds himself in some precarious situations.”
Kruger wrote the movie with his school friend and fellow Safta winner, Daniel Zimbler.
“With this film, I just wanted to make something that would be really fun, entertaining, a little outrageous and very South African but that also has a lot of heart.”
He said it was a mix of experiences from his own life, his love for crime comedies and that some of his favourite films also influenced it.
“I haven't seen many films of the crime comedy genre come out of South Africa so I think that from that perspective, perhaps we are offering local audiences something fresh and I hope that globally, it gets a good response because I have always believed that South Africa has the potential to be on the global map.”
He said that the main theme of the movie is about family.
“You have a guy who turned his back on his family, he's having an affair, he's put his priorities in the wrong place and through having to team up with his brother, who is an underworld guy, he eventually realises what the most important things in life are, which is family.”
Beukes said there are many things about “The Shakedown” which would surprise viewers.
“The plot is unpredictable and the characters are spontaneous but I also think they’ll be surprised with the overall production quality of this film.”
And while Kruger is thrilled about how the movie turned out, he admitted that they faced several obstacles during production.
“The most challenging part was shooting during Cape Town’s winter storms.”
“But getting to make this film and to do it on this level with a top crew and talent was such a fulfilling experience.”
“For the most part, I’m very happy with the film and I feel a lot of pride in the way that it came together.”
∎ “The Shakedown” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.