Theresa Smith
Reading the Abraham script in a hurry, the day before his audition, DJ Mouton didn’t immediately snap what the word “riel” was, glossing over it as a reference to “film reel” in Afrikaans.
Born in Windhoek, Namibia, he is more used to the idea of Nammastap, and felt a bit embarrassed when he realised the script was referencing the character dancing.
But, once he got the role and was on set, he quickly adapted his own version of the dance to the character’s needs: “So, I brought a bit of myself into it,” he smiled.
The 28-year-old rolls his eyes as he describes falling asleep half way through the 160 script pages because he had so little time the first time around: “But, I fell in love with the character. Something about him reminded me of myself in terms of having a dream and being able to under-stand I’m good at what I do, but I needed reassurance from someone else that I was on to something. I think Abraham spoke to me in that way and I fell in love with the screenplay because I know Abraham. I myself am an Abraham.
“Dis ’n menslike verhaal. We know this story because it’s in our face all the time, the difference now is that people are talking about it. Back then people didn’t because in a way people are ashamed to speak about our circumstances and our ambition.”
Mouton’s acting background is in stagework, having started with Magnet Theatre in Cape Town, with Abraham as his first taste of a movie set.
Though now based in Joburg, he is in Cape Town for a small role on director Meg Rickard’s next feature, being shot around Muizenberg. Mouton also recently worked on the period piece Noem my Skollie, directed by Daryne Joshua.
“Abraham opened doors for me and made me feel much more comfortable in the medium and I learnt a lot from Oom Jans and Oom Koos (Roets). It made me a little bit more relaxed about how I worked, because some people think ek werk te hard.”
He spent several weeks in the Vlakteplaas area during pre-production, getting a feel for the community, trying to find people who knew the real Abraham (whose surname is not Soetlander, as in the film). Ek het in die pad gestap, kaalvoet.”
But, it was difficult teasing out truth from myth about something that happened 30 years ago, especially since people knew a film was being shot around the would-be artist, though Mouton was gratified to discover the man’s daughter grew up to become an artist in her own right.
Mouton soon realised he couldn’t imitate this person he was trying to research, but had to create someone new for the screen: “The most difficult thing when you are playing a person who existed is to get to the truth of this person, his physical representation, his way of speaking, the words he chose, his mannerisms and gestures. I never had those references so I had to work from myself, outwards.
“That was Oom Jans’s focus, that the innermost landscape was more important than the exterior, that what was inside had to influence what was outside. He came to me through the riel, because I could understand what it meant to him, that was his way of expressing himself. Through the dance he could tell you exactly how he was feeling, happy or sad, excited, he didn’t have the vocabulary to articulate how he felt, so he could only do it through the dance. He used the riel to charm Oom Jans and would say to him: ‘Ek dans ’ie net omdat ek gelukkig issie, ek is honger.’”