However one has to wonder how MacNeillie and his team will treat or avoid the inevitable ending if a franchise of two or more films results. ‘The principle of animation,’ explains Rice, ‘forces you away from an absolutely faithful adherence to the original narrative. For one thing, the animals can now talk and the story is told from Jock’s point of view rather than Fitzpatrick’s. What we have is a film that is completely faithful to the spirit of the book and largely faithful – as far as possible – to the narrative of the book, with some new stuff written for it. I would say that around 60 to 70 per cent of the story comes straight from the book. But of course, with animation, you are a substantial leap away from reality.’ To voice his characters, MacNeillie drew from a pool of wellknown South African theatrical talent. Jock is voiced by Damon Berry, who has distinguished himself as an actor, writer and director on screens and stages both at home and abroad. Theo Landey, a South African actor with an impressive track record in British and South African television, is the voice of Fitz, Jock’s master and best friend. Anthony Bishop, known for his roles in the local dramas,
“While Jock of the Bushveld certainly contains themes that ensure its universal appeal, it is first and foremost a South African story” Isidingo and Jacob’s Cross, plays the story’s primary antagonist, George the baboon. In addition to the main cast, a number of celebrities have come on board for cameo roles. Radio DJ Jeremy Mansfield plays a pontoon driver in the service of Seedling, the movie’s main human villain, while Archbishop Desmond Tutu voices Tata, a spiritual leader with the ability to speak to animals. The 1986 film featured Johnny Clegg’s song ‘Spirit of the Great Heart’, which has become a classic in its own right. ‘People always ask us if we’re going to use “Spirit of the Great Heart”,’ says Rice, ‘and there’s a good chance that we will – perhaps over the end credits.’ However, MacNeillie called for all-new music to be written for the film. Clegg is writing and performing new songs and Craig Hinds (of Watershed fame) has written a duet, which he is singing with Namibian-born singer Nianell. An extremely exciting development occurred when Rice’s brother flew over from the United Kingdom for a holiday. He was shown some of the footage from the film and expressed a desire to get involved. This is a real coup for the project because the brother in question is none other than Sir Tim Rice, one of the world’s most successful lyricists. He has worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John and has won three Oscars for his work on The Lion King, Aladdin and the 1997
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film version of his and Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita. He has written lyrics for the six major songs in Jock of the Bushveld. His collaborator on a number of Disney projects, composer Alan Menken is also contributing songs to Jock. An eight-time Oscar winner, Menken has scored many of the biggest animated films of the past few years, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King among them. He has not written the actual score for Jock of the Bushveld, however. That honour went to respected South African composer and producer Marius Brouwer. Some of the songs from the film are to be showcased for the first time at the Starlight Classics concert at Country Club Johannesburg on 11 September. Originally scheduled for release in December of this year, Jock is being held over for an Easter 2011 release as MacNeillie is currently in talks with two major American studios that have expressed an interest in distributing the film overseas. ‘People say “but it’s South African, it won’t travel”,’ says Andy Rice. ‘Well it’s no more South African than The Lion King was east African. We have no reason to believe that it can’t do well overseas and if you have never heard of Jock of the Bushveld and know nothing about the story, I really don’t see that as a major hurdle.’ And surely, in the wake of the international box office coups of District 9 and Invictus, the myth that South African content has no appeal overseas should have been well and truly dispelled. Since the animated film will be the third cinematic adaptation of Jock, there can be little question that Fitzpatrick’s story is more than suitable for this medium. However, few people would have thought of it as good material for a stage musical. Around two years ago, playwright and director Deon Opperman, displaying the visionary talent that has made him one of the most respected practitioners in the South African od stage, hit on the idea of bringing the story to the theatre. There must be something about the story of Jock that resonates with the country’s current Zeitgeist because the simultaneous development of the stage musical and the animated film is completely co-incidental. Addressing members of the media at a briefing held in July at the Joburg Theatre, Opperman explained how the idea for the stage show came about – a process that owes as much to insightful market research as to artistic inspiration. ‘I did a lot of research… on the primary drivers of the purchase of tickets for entertainment in South Africa. And I found that the biggest thing that drove people to buy tickets was that they were able to take their children, that it was a family show. That is the strongest driver in the South African entertainment industry by far. [The question of] who is in the show comes last. And the reason for that is that South Africa never developed a star system, so we can’t just slap a name on a billboard and automatically expect ticket purchases. Another important driver was familiarity. So if you say The Sound of Music, for example, people know what it is, and they know it’s family entertainment.’ So Opperman and his collaborators started racking their brains for local content that would satisfy the primary requirements of being family friendly and instantly recognisable.