Another talented Benonian makes good
Former Benonian, Graham Weir, makes it to the big screen in the forthcoming film, Van Der Merwe, a comedy of SA jokes.
The movie, which will be released in cinemas on July 28, is produced by Bruce Lawley, Bruce MacDonald, Craig Jones and Murray MacDonald.
Our former Benonian, who plays the role of a doctor in the film, dates his love for acting back to his time in Benoni.
“Benoni was alive with amateur theatre back in the day. My parents ran one of the groups and this is what got me interested in theatre and acting,” he said.
The now Cape Town resident emigrated from Scotland to Benoni in 1964 and lived in the community until 1978.
The movie, Van Der Merwe, is a family comedy and Weir auditioned for the role after encouragement from his manager.
“Every country has a person who is the butt of all jokes and in South Africa, that person is Van Der Merwe,” Weir said.
“This film is about Van and how he handles his daughter getting married to an Englishman and all the chaos and family politics that comes with it.”
Weir said the community should watch the movie because it is proudly South African and funny. Although Weir is an actor now, it did not come with ease.
“I studied drama at Wits for a year and failed. There were 33 people in the class and I am the only one still working as an actor,” he said adding that he then went to Pretoria Technical College and finished a three-year course there.
“There were over 30 students in first year, of whom only three still act today, so mothers, don’t send your children to drama school,” Weir joked.
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