Die Antwoord star ‘pure evil’ on set
Die Antwoord star Ninja was "pure evil" on the set of Neill Blomkamp’s Hollywood blockbuster Chappie, City Press reports.
The newspaper interviewed six sources – who spoke to City Press on condition of anonymity – who gave accounts of Ninja’s bad behaviour, which ranged from sending inappropriate photographs to crew members to feeding one of the film’s stars a marijuana-laced "space cake".
One source revealed that Blomkamp – who won critical acclaim for his work on District 9 and Elysium – said of the rapper: "I don’t ever want to be in the same room as him again."
Ninja – who in the film plays a gangster who abducts robot Chappie (played by frequent Blomkamp collaborator and local star Sharlto Copley) – was reportedly written out of a planned scene with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman’s character "because [Blomkamp] didn’t want Ninja back on set", several crew members claimed.
"The other actors were gatvol. [Ninja] told them how to do their scenes. He’d call and say they were doing it wrong and tell them how to do it," claimed a source, while one cast member described Ninja as a "pile of sh*t".
In addition sources claim that Ninja sent photographs of having oral sex performed on himself to at least one female member of the crew, and repeatedly flirted with cast and crew in front of his partner and Die Antwoord co-star Yo-Landi, inviting them to Cape Town and "telling them they would get a hotel room and hire prostitutes to join them".
City Press also reported that during a visit to Johannesburg suburb Fietas, Ninja allegedly gave co-star Dev Patel – who won global fame in Slumdog Millionaire – a "space cake" to eat.
"Dev ate some but then his bodyguard took it saying there might be marijuana inside. Dev was livid," a source said. Patel reportedly complained to producers about the incident.
In addition, a source told the City Press that Ninja refused to mingle with the cast and crew – unlike Jackman, who would "sit with the crew and eat whatever everyone else was eating" – while Die Antwoord "refused to eat the vegetarian food on set" and insisted on having their driver go into town to fetch special vegan meals.
City Press wrote that they had put all the allegations to Die Antwoord’s agents and the Chappie publicity office.
No response was received from Die Antwoord’s camp, but Susie Arons – who represents Chappie producers Media Rights Capital – released a statement saying: "Neill Blomkamp is hard at work getting Chappie ready for release.
"As with all things Chappie, our lips are sealed, but we are looking forward to sharing the final film with Neill’s fans around the world."
