The South African native spoke with actor Brendon Daniels at a screening of M-Net's international co-production film White Lies, in which he plays titular detective Forty Bell.
The screening was held on Friday 1st March at Forum Embassy Hill in Constantia, Cape Town.
Brendon Daniels plays Forty Bell in “White Lies''
Forty Bell, a former Hawks detective, is demoted after failing to investigate a high-profile murder case.He subsequently suffered from the following symptoms:
He had a mental breakdown and became addicted to drinking and gambling. Edie Hansen was the one who publicly exposed her own mistakes, which led to a bitter feud between the two.
Q&A with “White Lies” star
What can viewers expect from your character?
Forty Bell is a detective. It's not necessarily his life choices that he's questioning, but the ideology that was laid down in the first place. So he finds himself in his family structure and has to play the role of his father as well and how that affects the work he has to do. It doesn't have to be. So you see Forty Bell is contradictory in that sense, but at the same time he feels very strongly about what he represents and the integrity that he has.
40 years old is mentally deteriorating. What was it like playing such a profound role?
I think it all starts with a good script. And if the creative team around you is tapping into certain truths of certain teams. It's very easy to get there, yes you have to work. However, a lot has been discovered at the moment. You have to do yourself a favor by dropping everything you're thinking about a particular character and letting it happen naturally in that moment.
Like I said, if the script is strong enough, it will take the audience there.
What was your favorite scene to shoot?
There were a lot of them, but both for the character himself and for the character's arc, it's when the audience gets a sense that he and his family are going to be okay. There's a very special moment in the TV series where you see that change happening. The light shines on a particular person and you can see that he is happy now.
Where was your favorite shooting location?
In fact, you can see the more affluent areas and shoot in the so-called areas of how the other half lives. But again, it comes down to the character's attentiveness to their surroundings. And I felt the whole environment. Because it wasn't the “who did it” aspect, but the house, which was removed from the storyline in such a way that he could hang up his jacket and eat with his family.
It was filmed in Belleville.
Who is your favorite character other than yourself? white lie?
Morgan's character, a security guard. It's like a fly on a wall, he becomes almost a spectator, he sees everything around him as the spectator sees, almost the spectator becomes the eyes of the spectator. He just happens to be taking care of people in this world because he's not from this world.
