FROM alien to robot, Capetonian Sharlto Copley has had his work cut out for him.
Portraying unique characters in South African contexts, Copley has been tasked with being the centre of stories that question our humanity.
Chappie opened in South Africa on Friday, marking the third Neil Blomkamp-Sharlto Copley team-up.
There were high hopes for Chappie, a film that drew in big Hollywood names Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel star Dev Patel.
Then there’s South African zef outfit Die Antwoord star too, playing a version of themselves who turn to crime.
The story revolves around Chappie, a police robot in a future Joburg where robots have been created to deal with crime.
Chappie, played by Copley, is stolen and re-programmed to become the first robot to think and feel on his own.
Amid a rather busy schedule of film premieres and promotion, Copley answered Weekend Argus’s questions via e-mail from Los Angeles.
Copley said he believed he was far from being typecast. “I have been lucky to play a wide range of characters, from the Afrikaans Wikus in sci-fi (film District 9), to the southern American Murdock in The A-Team, an action film. There’s an English villain in Oldboy, a drama, a Scottish king in Maleficent, a fantasy film. I just completed my first family comedy playing a mid-west American and my first American cop show called Powers. So, it’s fun to come back to sci-fi with Chappie.”
Although there are similarities in setting and genre between District 9 and Chappie, Copley said playing Wikus and Chappie were very different experiences.
“The characters are very different, save for the fact that both of them have a lot of heart. I loved playing a child for three months with Chappie – he’s definitely one of my all-time favourites – but Wikus changed my life. I owe that guy a lot.”
Playing Chappie came with its own challenges. The character’s look was created during post-production, leaving the cast to interact with Copley as Chappie during filming.
“We used performance capture: I wore a tight grey suit on set, and the animators then animated over me. Because this tight-fitting suit was not very ‘gangster’, I wore shorts with a belt over the suit. When Chappie ‘goes gangster’ I would loosen the belt and ride the shorts halfway down my backside. It helped me to embody his gangster physicality. The other actors could buy into Chappie by having me on set, rather than having to talk to tennis balls as is sometimes the case in CGI-heavy films.”
Playing Chappie did not involve any robotic movement. Blomkamp designed the robot to move like a human.
The film has many South African nuances and the setting of a future Joburg plays a big role in this.
“I guess it’s the crime rate that made Joburg perfect for a city that needs police robots. The city feels like a character to me in that it’s got a lot of heart on the inside, but it’s capable of stealing your car before you know it.”
Ninja and ¥o-Landi Vi$$er (Die Antwoord) take on parent roles for Chappie, and he’s not unfamiliar with them.
“I had met them before the movie. I used to use their music to get into character for Kruger, the assassin I played in Elysium.”
Copley’s brother Donovan lives and works in Cape Town, and is the lead singer of the afro-fusion folk band Hot Water.
“When I’m not working I live in LA, I try to come to Cape Town for at least a month a year.”
Weekend Argus