Francois Coertze hits the big screen with new film

All South Africans grew up with Van Der Merwe jokes and the brunt of those jokes is now the star of a full-length feature film.

Van Der Merwe, played by the well-known and very talented, Rob van Vuuren, will be coming to the big screen on 28 July.

Setting the scene for all sorts of problems and challenges, the film centres around Van’s daughter, Marike, who returns home from a gap year in England with a new fiancé, George, a British medical student, much to her father’s chagrin.

The film has some local flavour in the form of Francois Coertze (38), who plays Piet, Van’s want it all neighbour.

Francois was born in Primerose, Johannesburg, but lived in Toti for 13 years.

“I started school in Kuswag, but then hopped in and out of a few schools in Johannesburg, before returning to Kuswag in grade 9 until I matriculated,” said the actor, who denied there were any similarities between him and the character he plays in Van, except maybe the sarcasm.

Shooting took place in and around Philadelphia in August and September last year. “It was a laugh a minute. On set with Rob (van Vuuren) and Melt (Sieb) was absolutely hilarious. Some fond memories will be taken from behind the scenes,” said Francios.

“I have always had a big love for acting. From a young age I would end up in school plays and performances. I tried to study drama after school but rugby got me side tracked. After I left Toti, I lived in the UK for three years playing a bit of rugby before I moved back to Johannesburg.

“When I lived in Toti it used to be small village, with a big heart.

People became family and the rugby club a second home. So there were loads of ups and downs. My best memory of Toti was perhaps the one where we stole the parent’s car during exams or the Toti braai area shenanigans.”

Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/Phoa25fAZRg

Francois has recently been touring the winelands with his theatre production company THATWACCo preforming TWIST by Miles Tredinnick.

He has appeared in Modder en Bloed as Os le Grange, and Suidooster as Mike Duff.
He also played the lead in a Nagligte music video ‘Vir Nou’.

He is now in pre-production for a new Afrikaans paranormal thriller by the award-winning writer Martyn Le Roux called ‘Die Pelsloper’ playing the lead, George Coetzee. Shooting starts next month.