The actor recently produced his lockdown film The Underground. The film follows the life of Mike Stuckman, who is planning the funeral of his father and he also tries to resolve some family conflicts at the funeral.
The film features the likes of Andrea Dondolo, Leon Clingman, Shannon Esra and others who are part of the cast.
Speaking on how he decided to work on the film he says, “There was a call on Facebook from a well known filmmaker Tim Greee, when lock down began in March. Tim put up a post on on his Facebook page called Lockdown movie project 2020, that are any actors who would like to collaborate on something must work together and I did.”
Lukhanyo says he received an overwhelming response from the renowned actors who wanted to be part of the film. He says every character on the film is based upon his family, and the story-line is authentic because he wrote what i know he knows.
“I thought what would be intriguing about conducting a funeral online, that is a disaster already, through a family that is scattered across SA and don’t get a long and that is when the story was born.”
He says he wanted to create a story that people would still be able to laugh about than to only think about bad memories of the lockdown period.
The film was shot a video chat platform and it is set to be his biggest project. He says it was a process to direct others through a virtual platform, but because he worked with resilient people he managed to produce what he dream off.
“We would have virtual meeting and I will direct them through a video chat platfom. When we are done actors would then need to do a solo shoot with their own devices to make sure it’s 4k quality,and I would then have to look at the solo shoot to see if the actor executed what I said,” he explains.
Image Cred: Provided.
Lukhanyo says they encountered many challenges but they soldiered on.
“Wi-Fi would also be a problem, then we would have to wait until some have data or their internet connection stars working. Neighbors would make noise and you would find out that family members wants to occupy the space the actor is using”
The actor says they have had quiet an amazing feedback regarding their trailer and at the moment they are searching for distribution opportunities. Lukhanyo says actors have not been paid yet because, the first thing that you came into their minds was that they would be busy during the lockdown period.Lukhanyo says his music career was inspired writing songs for his church choir when he was growing up. He says he didn’t want to do gospel but fell in love with Afro Beat.
“My single is about woman appreciation , with Zizo winning Miss Universe and woman not being appreciated and all these killings that are happening back at home I just wanted to create a single about woman appreciation and let me be a dance song and not be about a bad mood only,” he explains.
Lukhanyo has worked on numerous international films including 6 Underground and Mama Jack. He says working on 6 Underground was the highlight of his acting career.
“Working on Six Underground was a highlight of my entire career as an actor, to be on set and be directed by Michael Bay it was a great feeling and finding an opportunity to sit down with people like Ryan Reynolds and talk about SA was my highlight.”
He said if his dad was alive he would tell him he made it because he was directed by Michael Bay.
Lukhanyo says his future plan is to turn a factory his father to used to work into Television studios. The actor says he is already writing an SA dance film and a sitcom.
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