Step into the bad side with actor Lemogang Tsipa

From a small town in KwaZulu-Natal to the big screens of the world is actor Lemogang Tsipa. Having graced our screens in Beyond the River and Netflix film, The Boy who Harnessed the Wind, he is now in Angus Gibson’s latest film, Back of the Moon.

Critically acclaimed and award winning, this film scooped the Best South-African Feature Film award at this year’s Durban International Film Festival. It’s a masterpiece that brings to light the struggles of the past. It was a change for Lemogang too as he tends to be the ‘good guy’ or the hero in a lot of his other films.

In Back of the Moon, Lemogang explores a road he had not yet taken in his portrayal of Ghost.

“Ghost is the baddest of the bad guys, he is just pure evil but he was a lot of fun to play,” he said.

“The film is set in Sophiatown the night before the forced removals and Ghost is the right-hand man to the lead who is a gangster but also the hero of the film, so it’s a different stance.

“He stirs a lot of things in the movie and one of my main references in preparing for the role was Iago from Othello.”

In preparation for this role, Lemogang had to dig deep and find his dark side.

“I feel like everybody’s got a dark side and you choose which one you feed or access by focusing on that specific emotion.

“You know it’s all mind power, if you think of happy thoughts then you will portray it. If you think bad thoughts then, of course, it will portray that, so that was one of the steps that I took to taking myself there.”

But he said he found there were no similarities between him and Ghost.

“Yoh, Ghost is very dark, you know. I’ve got a dark side, I get angry and frustrated but not as extreme as Ghost. “You know Ghost can take a life in the blink of an eye and I’ve never had to or never desired to be in that position, we’re very different.

So, he explained how the other way to prepare for such a role was to create a whole new person.

“I didn’t just want to be the dark side of myself, I wanted to try emulate a whole new person, a whole new entity with their own thoughts and movements.”

He started with his walk, by emulating a snake, and everything else followed suit.

“It was tough for a lot of people to see me in that light because in most of the films I’ve done, I was the good guy.” He got onto the movie in an interesting way.

“So I met up with Angus Gibson who was the director of the film and one of the writers and we just had a conversation. “I was just getting to know him, you know. I had just arrived in Joburg and there were a lot of producers that I just needed to meet. “He then discussed the prospects of the film with me and I pondered it for some time.”

Through that conversation, Angus was able to see that Lemogang could access his dark side which made him the perfect fit for the role.

“A few weeks later I got the call and we met up again. There wasn’t really an audition because of the nature of the movie. “It didn’t come about as a traditional movie. They had these amazing sets for a show and, as they were pulling the sets down, then one of the producers thought to make a movie while everything is still readily available. It all happened so fast, but I was up for the challenge.”

He loved how the story was all set in one night, explored the challenges people faced back then, the element of love and how it evokes emotion for anyone watching. Describing his craft as an extreme sport, Lemogang has definitely made a name for himself on home soil and abroad. As an inspiration to other actors, Lemogang has no plans of slowing down. Perhaps brought on by his latest role as Ghost, Lemogang just wants more peace and love in the world.

“It sounds like a hippie statement but like there’s a lot of it that’s short. The world’s problems, I feel, come from a lack of love. This, in turn, has a huge effect on society. It’s been rough in SA and the world for a very long time you know so we just need peace.”

While he is still trying to figure that out, Lemogang’s future plans are to make more movies through his art while making positive changes.