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White Wedding bells


The story of two best friends who go on a road trip days before the one of them is due to be married is nothing new to cinema. We saw a similar take on this particular form of male bonding in the 2006 indie hit Sideways, and the wedding movie genre has long been the source of rich avenues for relatable comedy. The continuing success of the genre is evident in recent releases such as Bride Wars and Mamma Mia! which have proved to be box office gold.

It comes as no surprise then, that White Wedding, a road trip comedy of errors that stars two of South Africa's most recognisable faces Rapulana Seiphemo and Kenneth Nkosi (Jerusalema, Tsotsi) has been such a massive hit since its release on 29 April. Thus far, the movie has raked in nearly R1.2 million at the box office, outperforming even big budget action extravaganza X-Men Origins: Wolverine at certain venues.

The genesis for White Wedding comes out of a cross-country road trip that director Jann Turner herself took with Seiphemo and Nkosi several years ago. Turner met the two actors while working on the daytime soapie Isidingo and a productive friendship developed between them.

Turner recollects how the seeds of the story were planted: "We talked about the work we'd like to do and one Christmas we were all going down to Cape Town [from Johannesburg] and started talking about friendships and romantic relationships ansd we found ourselves, two black guys and a white girl, driving through this beautiful country in a big car. We attracted a lot of attention as a result, which we found amusing."

At the centre of White Wedding's enduring charm is the relationship between bickering best friends Elvis and Tumi, helped no doubt by the fact that the roles are played by real-life friends Seiphemo and Nkosi. "They know and trust each other very deeply," says Turner of her stars. "But they're not playing themselves, they're channeling the great chemistry between them to bring Tumi and Elvis to life. It was also part of how to the story came together. They're also very skilled actors who were able to translate that chemistry they have to the screen."

Also joining the friends on their meandering trip around the country is a young English doctor named Rose, who finds herself hitchhiking to Cape Town after her plans for a holiday in Africa take a disastrous turn. Rose is played by up-and-coming British star Jodie Whittaker, who shared the screen with screen legend Peter O'Toole in the Oscar-nominated Venus. So, how did Turner manage to snag such a coveted talent? 

"We were just very, very lucky," she giggles. "She was always our first choice for the role and we literally Googled her agents so we could contact them. We flew to London to audition and met Jodie and she found time between shooting a BBC series and a movie to do our movie. She came over for two weeks and did such a fantastic job."

To see a mature, realistic and very funny movie like White Wedding continue to win over South African audiences has been particularly gratifying for the filmmakers (Turner co-wrote the movie with Seiphemo and Nkosi) who certainly weren't expecting it. "We’ve watched every kind of local audience watching our movie, and what every screening has had in common are the smiles on people’s faces when they leave the theatre. I am elated with the way SA audiences have received the film."

Of course, this overwhelming response can only mean good things for her next project. "It'll mean our investors will recoup the money that was put into it, which will hopefully mean that he will invest in our next movie!"

She and her production partners Seiphemo and Nkosi are already making plans to shoot their next movie this year, but remains tight-lipped on the details. Whatever their plans, it seems a certainty that proudly South African audiences will be as welcoming of it as they have been of White Wedding.

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