The South Africa Tonight Website – Friday 7th November, 2003

By Tanya Farber

http://www.tonight.co.za

“I liked the idea of playing a fake Irish conman.”

And suddenly, Richard E Grant found himself on a dusty little road in the Karoo – somewhere between Matjiesfontein and the ends of the Earth. He was now Bonaparte Blenkins in The Story of an African Farm.

You are from southern Africa. Is it strange being here again as an international actor?

No, it is not weird at all because I have been back regularly to this part of the world. I have been back to Swaziland every year in the 22 years that I have been gone. I also did some Lipton commercials here and last year acted in a French film which was shot here.

I have been living elsewhere in the sense that I have been physically gone, but my connection to people here has been on-going. So, I am very connected and it is not like I disappeared for years and now I am back for the filming, and walking around going: “Oh my God, this is like Mars!”

Did the fact that the film is set in South Africa influence your decision to be in it?

No, I wouldn’t say that. Where it is being shot would not have a huge influence on my decision to act in a film. It is more about reading the script and being impressed by it and wanting to be part of the production.

I liked the idea of playing a fake Irish conman who tries to seduce the obese farmwoman. When I read the script, I just felt it was well-written and I knew it was something I wanted to do. The other cast members have also been fantastic, especially Karin van der Laag, who has a great sense of humour.

Olive Schreiner’s novel is set in the late 1800s. South African’s political landscape – just like the geopolitical landscape – has changed immeasurably since then. How do you put yourself into the headspace of the era in which the story is set?

That was very easy actually, because the physical landscape hasn’t changed that much and so we are in an environment that looks exactly as it did when the story was written. It is so isolated here.

Shooting on location here means that we do not have all the 21st century distractions, and when you are in the farmhouse, you get the feeling of being of the place where the story happened . Besides which, human traits like greed and envy are timeless and remain no matter what.

Is there anything about Bonaparte Blenkins to which you can relate?

Well, he is extremely deceitful and I believe that everybody during everyday life may be deceitful on some level. It may be in order to avoid hurting people, or getting what you want, but you duck and dive around the truth. In fact, if there was a court that tried people the world over on the grounds of deceit, we would all be found guilty even if our reasons for being deceitful had not been malicious.

In the case of Blenkins, he is such a prolific liar that – like any good actor, I suppose – he actually believes what he is saying in the moment. He just blots out the truth and lies so much that he doesn’t even know what his own truth is anymore and he initially does get what he wants on account of this.

Often when international stars play a role in a South African movie, it is difficult for the viewers to see the character instead of the actor. How have you played the part so that people see Bonaparte Blenkins and not Richard E Grant?

I have a huge advantage in the type of clothing my character wears and the fact that I begin looking like a tramp and finally like a scrubbed Calvinist – a minister of the church.

Plus, my character is a British man putting on an Dublin accent. This accent helps you get away from who you are and leaves you much more open to recreation.

Have you enjoyed the experience of filming Story of an African Farm?

It is a fantastic part and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Out here, the cast and crew become a complete community, or family, but without the responsibility of a family, where you feel obliged to chat or eat together. You can choose who to be friends with and all the stresses of city life are taken away from you.

But, I remember this feeling from living in Swaziland. You make the best of it, and there is a great atmosphere here as well.

How do you feel when you watch yourself in a movie?

It is like listening to yourself on a tape recorder…no matter how it comes out, there is an element about it which makes you cringe. A film is not like a play where you can improve on your performance. Any shortcomings you perceive in your own performance you can’t fix.