In 2001 Chris Beasley earned his stripes as bad boy Len Cooper in SABC3’s Isidingo. You know, the kind of guy who is a mother’s worst nightmare and a daughter’s dream guy. After over a decade in front of the camera, his appetite for a different challenge saw him straddle the acting and directing world on Isidingo. Debashine Thangevelo found out why he has now cut the umbilical cord and moved to e.tv’s Scandal…
CHRIS Beasley’s love of adventure sports certainly lent spontaneity and freedom to his role as Len Cooper in Isidingo. He brought this real-life confidence that pepped up his story arcs as the new troublemaker in town.
As bad as Len was, that enigmatic personality wooed viewers into pardoning all depraved behaviour.
But, in the world of soaps, actors need to grow. For Beasley, that meant exploring his interest in being behind the camera.
He says, “It was sort of two-and-a-half years ago when I started directing on Isidingo. I was acting at the same time – they had put me on a call basis. So at one point I was doing 10, 12 and 15 days as Len and then directing eight episodes. I think we were in a crisis and short one director at the time. Normally, there are four and each get six episodes. It was wild, working at that level. It was unsustainable. This move has been good.”
Beasley continues, “I think it is unhealthy to stay in one place for too long. Particularly at the beginning of a director’s formative years.”
Although a fellow director friend hinted that, after two years of directing, he would retire his acting shoes, Chris says that hasn’t been the case for him. However, it has given him a different slant on how the two worlds can work in creative harmony.
“It has made me want to act with great directors,” he says. “It has also made me very aware of how much a director’s hand can affect and push your work one way or another.”
Blessed with a maturity that can only be harnessed through familiarity, the affable Beasley says, “I like to act and direct. Isidingo was the perfect training ground. If I look at directors I enjoy, a lot act and direct, like Clint Eastwood for example. They are in a very fortunate position. They get to call the shots. I think that happens a lot less in this country. I have been lucky enough to get that.”
If you’re wondering what has become of Len, he has once again ridden off into the sunset on his bike to escape the shackles of the law and being in a witness relocation programme.
“He hasn’t been written out. I’m sure if there was some meaty story, he would return. Probably to shag some gorgeous babe. The Len character works best if he does that.”
It was in July this year that he jumped ship and moved to e.tv’s Scandal.
“I wanted to do directing without the distraction of acting and Len. An opportunity came up and I thought, having been with Isidingo for as long as I have, it would be a nice change to get to know a different cast and set of characters. And so I jumped at it.”
With a new directing play- ground, there have been a few curve balls.
“The challenge has been to get to know all of the characters and their history. There are also a lot of interpersonal rela- tionships between the characters and that goes back years.
“Another huge test is getting to know the actors playing the characters. How you deal with each person requires a different touch. It is like learning to play different musical instruments.
“For the most part, because the actors know their characters and history, I nudge them along, tweak something here and there. When you have a good cast, a lot of the danger is in over-directing. I have come in gently and am learning instead of simply imposing my ideas.”
Although he admits it is too early to talk about his favourite actors to direct on set, saying, “ask me in another two years”, he is maximising the chance to hone his craft further.
Beasley adds, “The next step is something written and dir- ected by Chris Beasley. Part of making this move was to give me a chance to rest and recover from the last two-and-a-half years. And to slowly give me a chance to develop my projects, of which there are about three or four bubbling together. One is a feature film and the other a TV series.”
If that statement is anything to go by, it looks like Beasley’s rank has been elevated to multifaceted. Sometimes life is rosier through a new lens.
- Scandal airs on e.tv at 7.30pm on weekdays.