By Christine de Kock
Good-natured "mean guy" Hennie Bosman lets fly with his fists in the movie Number Ten, being shot in Sea Point.
It is the karate world champion's first major talking role, topping appearances in Wesley Snipes's The Painter and Jean-Claude van Damme's Wake Of Death.
The film stars Colin Moss as James, a gifted rugby player, and Mandoza as Mzi, James's best friend. The film is directed by Darren Roodt (who also directed Yesterday).
Bosman's prize scene in the movie takes place in a bar when Moss makes moves on one of "his girls".
In the ensuing fight, half of James' rugby team tackle the nameless thug Bosman plays. Chairs are broken over his back, punches are thrown, but Bosman remains standing.
It is not as impossible as it sounds, considering Bosman is 1,95m tall and has the controlled power that comes with being senior Kyokushin World Champion.
"It is the kind of role that I like," Bosman said. But he quickly adds: "No, no; I'm not a masochist!"
Bosman, 48, is the second instructor outside of Japan to receive the honour of Instructor of Instructors, or Kyoshi, in the sport. He runs a Kyokushin dojo in Bellville and is sensei to 1 300 students in 35 Cape Town schools.
Acting comes second to Bosman's love of karate, but it is a career that is growing for the stunt man.
He flies to China this year for a Chinese fight movie.
"I fight a young Chinese man. The movie is similar to Blood Sport. The young man has a number of fights and then ultimately fights me. I lose in the final scene, y'know, it is a Chinese film," a resigned Bosman explains.
He first appeared on the silver screen in 2003 in Wake Of Death. Since then he has grown in confidence but says he still has some way to go.
"I just need three or four more smaller parts. It takes time to get comfortable in front of the camera.
"In my first two films I was really nervous.
"There was a scene on the Van Damme movie that was in front of 200 people in a dining room. You can cost people a lot of money if you have to reshoot it.
"You also have to be careful of the actors. If you knock the star's teeth out, he can't play for a week and that could cost the producers millions.
"You have to make it look real but you also have to control the punch."
Bosman's passion for movies has spilled over into the area of script development. He and Andre Jacobs (star of SABC1's Interrogation Room) with producer Anton Ernst are writing and plan to produce a South African martial arts movie. The working title of the film is Last Man Standing.
Bosman hopes that his entry into the Chinese movie industry will be the start of a profitable career. "I thought of China as a future," he said.
His acting agent based in China is said to know Jackie Chan and he hopes to develop contacts with the martial arts expert.
"Everybody agrees that Jackie Chan is the best movie maker and actor in martial arts movies."
Bosman is taking acting lessons but is a bit hesitant about learning Chinese.
"I'm good at playing a baddie. I would most love to play a villain in a James Bond movie."