A Bloody Stage

A BLOODY STAGE is an original comedy mockumentary feature length movie. Featuring a hilarious cast and with cameos from many top South African actors, the movie was produced, written and directed by 32 year old all-rounder Robert Delport on a shoestring budget (less than $500).

A number of South African celebrities make cameo appearances, including:
Comedian MARC LOTTERING, singer ALVON COLLISON and BATS member PAUL DITCHFIELD; Isidingo stars CHAN MARTI, TESSA JUBBER & JAN ELLIS; SOS actors DAVID ISAACS, VANESHRAN ARUMAGAM and MORNE VISSER; and top performers like ANTHEA THOMPSON (Fela’s TV), ANDRE ODENDAAL (Going Up, Skilpoppe), JANET DU PLESSIS (Westgate), GRAHAM CLARKE (Generations), JEROEN KRANENBURG (Scoop Schoombie), directors BRYAN DEUCHAR and SEAN HIGGS, SHIRLEY KIRCHMANN (Liquorice Allsorts Ad), TERRY NORTON (Mandela & De Klerk, Backstage), LA-based HAKEEM KAE-KAZIM (Pirates of the Carribean 3, Hotel Rwanda, Soul City, Fresca), ROB VAN VUUREN (Corne & Twakkie), and PAUL DU TOIT (Backstage, Madam & Eve). They even roped in former Springbok rugby star, ROBBIE FLECK in their 40-strong cast.

After Robert’s script was completed they set about the arduous task of shooting around the free time of all the performers. With Anton leading the cast, Robert took on the unenviable role of being a 1 man-crew, as well as of course directing the movie. There are very few times when the leading cast in a movie is twice the size of the crew. In this case the cast was forty times the size.

Only 1 or 2 people in the cast got to read the entire 140-page script. Robert did a “Woody Allen” and gave the actors just their parts. Following “dogma-type” rules (closer to Steve Soderbergh’s digital rules than the Danes’) they shot over 6 months.
Robert wrote an article about the experience of making the movie, which was published in a number of magazines including the local AV Specialist.

The basic plot of the movie tells the story of MICHAEL ANTHONY, a fictitious former child-star from the hit 70’s TV show, The Vans of Vereeniging. Michael craves the fame he once had, and after unsuccessfully trying to make it overseas, he returns to South Africa to try recapture the fame he had twenty years ago. Robert explains,

”Without giving too much away, what it is, is a blend of fiction and non-fiction, obviously more fiction, but told in a non-fiction sort of way. And we’ve taken real people and thrown them into this fictional world, to make the fantasy seem like a reality. And that’s basically what a mockumentary is!”