SA filmmakers show their class

The agency Fort was responsible for the South African leg. They offer complete creative, content and production services and facilities across the African continent.

Hart © Kobby Dagan via 123RF

Amr Singh, co-founder and chief creative officer at Fort, along with general manager Craig February formed part of the team. Singh was the director of photography (DOP) and explains how the project came about. “A representative of Universal in Los Angeles contacted us and outlined the scope of the project potentially.”

This was after a chain of contacts and referrals. “It was also top secret. In fact, it was so confidential that we have a code name for the project,” he adds.

When the project did happen, he says the timelines were a lot shorter than expected. “We had some quick meetings with the executive producers and then we began.

Singh worked with one of the directors from LA, Leslie Small in this regard. “Small does not normally work with another director, so us working together was unusual. He had a bigger view which is the simultaneous release of the movie on digital, television and cinema channels.”

He explains that it was their job to bring his vision to life. Singh found it interesting how Hart and Small, both of whom are very familiar with mass big sets in LA and London, push for a smaller highly skilled agile crew to bring their vision to life. “They are also very outcomes based. It’s all about making it happen.”

February was the producer of the South African leg, making him responsible for putting all the moving parts together. This proved to be challenging in some instances. “The logistics were challenging, for example we had to get a helicopter at very short notice for filming at the Valley of a 1,000 Hills, in KwaZulu-Natal. It also proves that with a bit of arm wrestling you can pull off anything over the Easter weekend and if you have the right crew in place, then you can achieve anything.”

The result was that the pair learnt a lot. “We got real value out of the way that the Universal crew worked, but what was really interesting was how close our local production people are in the quality of their work to their US counterparts,” says February.

He believes this lifted South Africa and its industry’s ability to produce films. "Our section of the film was well received and they were impressed by our ability to execute within the tight timeframe we were given. We hope it means that they will come back to the region and do more stuff, not only with us, but also with others."

Singh adds that in Hollywood, South Africa has the reputation of having a good technical crew impact. “Mad Max was filmed in Namibia with a South African crew, but what was different with this production was that our input was more than technical and we were allowed to run with our interpretation of the film and how we wanted to tell the story, which is great for South Africans as storytellers and producers,” says Singh.

The film features two main parts, a spy story and a comedy performance at Lincoln Financial Field, a NFL stadium in Philadelphia. The film cuts back and forth between the two. The film features the biggest stand-up comedy tour ever, spanning 151 shows and the sold-out NFL stadium. The film has received generally positive reviews and has grossed $23m.