‘Ballade’ actor Armand Aucamp digs deep
Not a lot of local stories get a chance to be rebooted and revamped for the modern day South African audience so when Ballade Vir ‘n Enkeling first announced it’s release, we had a feeling it would make some serious noise.
There’s no denying the fact that Afrikaans language films have soared on the South African box office previously and continue to peak the interest of local audiences. In this case it’s a modern story with the right amount of intrigue, mystery, romance and thrills.
When we got a chance to speak to one of the lead actors in the film, Armand Aucamp, we jumped at the opportunity to put him in the hot seat discussing all matters related to local film, his booming career as an actor and what it was like shooting Ballade almost a year ago around Johannesburg.
Aucamp plays the central character Jacques Rynhard, a new writer who is awarded the sought-after Basson prize for his début novel, Die Enkeling. He fails to appear at the prestigious awards ceremony to collect the annual literary prize honour – in fact, he seems to have disappeared and this catapults the film into gear.
“Jacques is quite a central character in the film but not so much of screen time,” he laughs. “The story starts with Jacques being at a literary prize giving but he doesn’t show up at the event and he’s disappeared so this investigative journalist, who works for a tabloid, is instructed not to find where he is but why he left as in to get some dirt on him i.e is he a coke addict, does he have Aids, what’s the deal with him,” says Aucamp.
“Through her interviews with his parents, friends, we get to know the character but in essence Jacques has a had a very deeply complex upbringing,” continues Aucamp.
It’s always difficult for the cast of any remake to forget about the original actors or characters especially when the original actors were names like Gavin van den Berg, who previously played Jacques and Karin Retief who played Carina Human in the 1980’s TV series. Aucamp says he tried not to be too aware of the 1980’s series when he approached the role.
“Because I don’t remember it. I spoke to a bunch of people to ask if they remembered the story and I asked what they remembered and they said ‘Gavin Van Der Berg’, so I felt very pressurised. I remember one day on set I was having a little moment and the director came up to me and he said ‘I know what you mean, you think you got pressure, imagine me’, so that put everything into perspective,” he says.
“But then I was very conscious about not trying to do better than what he did and not try to compete with the original but making the story contemporary and your own, so I didn’t want to meet the actor because subconsciously I would’ve tried to emulate him,” says Aucamp.
He continues to add that what works in 1987 is not necessarily what works now and the statements couldn’t be more honest. In the contemporary world of film, there’s a constant rehashing of old tales in an attempt to write the wrongs of the past instead of giving older stories a fresh newer audience and Ballade seems to have succeeded in bringing interest from both fans of the TV series in 1987 and new fans who not even born when the series first came out. Aucamp is one of those people who was born in the same year as the series aired.
The actor had to add his own signature to the character but also keeping in mind that he had to act in-line with the character’s younger version played by Edwin van der Walt. “We share the character so in the flashbacks you’ll see him and in some you see me,” he says.
“It was very important for me and my “younger self” to sort of have the same energy and we had to make sure that we had the same character even though we never really spent time on screen together. We did chat and made sure we have the same character,” he says.
He admits that it came as advantage that he has worked with director Quentin Krog previously so that added to a somewhat collaborative atmosphere on set. “The director and writer were so open to collaborating and to finding out what worked for you and if we wanted to change it, we would change it. The director is also an actor so he knows what it’s like across the board and very supportive, which was a massive privilege,” he says.
The film also stars Christia Visser as Lena Jnr, Rolanda Marais as Lena Snr, Jacques Bessenger as Jan-Paul Snr, who all form part of the mysterious love triangle that’s at the center of the story.
“It’s essentially a love triangle, that’s what the story is actually about. Jacques is best friend’s with this girl and they’re caught in this deep love triangle and the mystery of what happened to them,” he says.
Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling has been touring and reaching out to fans all over the country preceeding its release in cinemas countrywide from 20 March.
Aucamp is currently in the US TV series The Book of Negroes, which was partly shot in South Africa and he has also appeared in Showtime series Homeland starring Claire Danes and is currently filming Die Book Club on Kyknet in the coming months.
Watch the trailer for Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling below:
Just when we thought everything had been revamped for the digital age, an Irish team has come up with a skip rope that tracks your skips just like wearable trackers count your steps.
It not only counts, it also measures your jumps, speed and calories burned to help you create workouts based on different fitness goals and the corresponding app that keeps everything on record is available for iOS and Android devices.
The device, whose one-month battery life eliminates the need for constant surveillance, integrates with Apple Health and Google Fit, and enables users to share their results with their friends.
Magnets in the handlebars keep them together when you’re not skipping, making the device highly portable and it doubles as a fitness tracker that will count your non-skipping steps.
Called Sophia, a white and purple version of the jump rope can be preordered for US$44.50 with delivery expected from May; shipping is available worldwide.
Founders beat their crowd-funding goal of 28, 500 euros and are likely to enter the production phase in days.
Sophia could be a game changer in the crowded wearables market, for it’s not only a wearable, it also works a gym.
A similar smart jump rope from start-up Tangram launched its Kickstarter campaign this week and has achieved over $47,000 of its $60,000 goal with 36 days to go.
Smart Rope, as it is called, comes with a corresponding app called Smart Gym and its rounded, pill-shaped, metallic handlebars give it an aesthetic appeal.
These devices call themselves active wearables and could give way to a whole new Quantified Self.
