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Spud's young stars
Mon, 08 Mar 2010
The screen adaptation of John van de Ruit’s best-seller Spud commenced shooting on 8 March in Michaelhouse in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Produced by Rogue Star Films and BLM Productions, the film is the coming of age story of a young schoolboy in a posh school at the time of Nelson Mandela’s release from jail.
Producers Ross Garland and Brad Logan cast the net far and wide to find talented young actors to bring Van de Ruit’s characters to light. “We are delighted with the superb cast we’ve put together - and we’re confident they’re going to do a fantastic job,” says Garland.
Logan is happy to see filming finally get underway. “It’s great to see the years of planning finally being realised with a full cast and crew on set at Michaelhouse,” says Logan. “We’re delighted to see a South African film being produced in the country with a host of local actors, put together by a local crew and funded by South African investors.”
The young actors playing the book’s “Crazy 8” school gang are headed by 14-year old Troye Sivan in the title role of John “Spud” Milton. South African born, Sivan lives in Perth, Australia and starred as the young Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sivan is represented on stage and screen by The William Morris Agency, Active Artists Management (AU) and Group III Management, Inc.
Grade 9 Glenwood High pupil Jamie Royal has been cast as “Gecko”. This is his first feature film role, having starred in a number of stage productions as well as two seasons on SABC3’s Creature Club.
“Rambo” is played by 18-year old Sven Ruygrok, who graduated from Beaulieu College in 2009 with two distinctions, one of them for Drama. This year he enrolled as a student at UCT where he had been accepted for a Degree in Theatre and Performance, but he deferred his studies when he won the role of Rambo.
Cast as “Mad Dog”, Josh Goddard is a Grade 11 student at Michaelhouse, where he is an active sportsman who plays rugby and water polo and participates in athletics. He only auditioned for the film at the prompting of his drama teacher.
Fifteen year-old Michaelhouse student and first-time actor Tom Burne plays Vern. Burne only auditioned for the film at the prompting of his drama teacher and couldn’t be happier to have landed the role of misfit Vern.
Byron Langley, a student at Glenwood Boys’ High in Durban, has been cast as Simon. A newcomer to acting he has only previously performed in primary school plays.
“Boggo” is played by Travis Hornsby from St John’s College. An Eisteddfod veteran, he received awards for poetry, poetry writing, mime and dramatised prose.
Blessing Xaba, a Grade 11 student from Berea, Durban, plays the role of “Fatty”. He has already performed in a number of professional theatre productions including Annie, School of Rock and Big River at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
For more on Spud: The Movie, see March issue of Screen Africa.
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