SA actors on their Homeland experience

With the fourth season of Homeland being shot in Cape Town at the moment, production ends in December, it has been the buzzword on the entertainment scene. More so with the Hollywood TV giants soaking up the culture off set. For South African actors Meren Reddy and Zahir Bassa it holds special significance as they bagged support roles among a handful of other locals. Debashine Thangevelo got the lowdown on their experience.

Meren Reddy plays the role of Parvez on Homeland took him out of his comfort zone, but in a good way. He explains: My agent (he is with Owen S Management) got wind of auditions happening around April and sent through a whole bunch of head shots to Moonyeenn Lee. And, from what I understand, they picked out a couple of people they thought would be perfect for. It was a gruelling one-and-a-half-hour audition.

In the storyline, Parvez and Qadir (Bassa) are recruited by Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) and Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) in Islamabad.

We sort of help out on surveillance. And with all these missions that Carrie does, Quinn brings them in to help out, he shares.

On sharing the limelight with Durban-born Bassa, he praised: It was the first time we met and we became quick friends. Usually, you bond on set and afterwards it fizzles out. He was good. A bit nervous in the beginning and then he slipped right into it.

He was equally impressed with international actor Friend and his down-to-earth personality.

Reddy laughs: We were on these two nice shoots some three weeks ago. And there we were chatting about that. His profile has just blown up and he is more interested in the craft than the fame aspect; picking his roles carefully.

And Danes as well as Nazanin Boniadi (Fara Sherazi) left an indelible impression on him, too.

Given the context of the story - Reddy had to grow a beard - and due to continuity, his character ended up featuring in several episodes instead of one, which was the initial plan.

They shaped the beard and gave both of us middle path school boy haircuts. And there was a moment in episode five where we had to speak Urdu. So they brought in a vocal trainer and we spent two hours with her .

In the meantime, writing and producing has been monopolising Reddy's time. And he hinted that his production house is writing the next instalment of High Rollers, but on a bigger scale and as a daily drama .

ZAHIR BASSA - QADIR

HIS physical intensity lends heaps of authenticity to his role as a Pakistani intelligence hacker. The 28- year-old actor initially pursued a career as a chiropractor because it was a more practical and solid profession. But his overwhelming magnetism to the world of film-making saw him abandon his studies. Instead, he enrolled for a motion picture production course with Damelin.

Armed with the basics in camera operation, lighting, sound and editing, he ventured into the world as a photographer-cum-videographer as the founder of Ambassador Media.

That became the catalyst in him landing his TV break on Homeland.

He explains: I was contacted by Sasha Nirmul of Go Big Productions to do a screen test with an Arab accent.

He went through and used a comparable scene from Zero Dark Thirty as a guideline to also perform in front of South Africa's most renowned casting director - Lee.

Bassa recalls: She seemed very intimidating at first, but was very accommodating once I auditioned.

She said she could see potential in me. Those words were very comforting as the film industry has been a passion of mine since high school.

Not long thereafter, he was coached by Angela Val Verde, a Hollywood acting coach, to fine tune his performance and accents and the rest is history as we now know it to be.

He notes, with unmistakable humility: It was a moment of gratitude to the universe where it showed me that no one should ever give up on a dream no matter how unattainable it may seem.

On working with Hollywood's heavyweights, he offers: It was an honour to share scenes with Claire Danes, Rupert Friend as well as the talented Nazanin Boniadi.

He continues: The experience was out of this world. I always dreamt of working on a Hollywood set, but to be in the centre along with A-listers was more than a childhood dream come true. So far I appear in four episodes of Homeland, which tested my ability to adapt (to whatever was required).

His highlights aren't contained to being in front of the camera, though.

Bassa offers: The highlight of being in different episodes was to work with different directors: Lesli Linka Glatter, Michael Offer and Charlotte Sieling. I also had the honour of meeting and chatting with writer Meredith Stiehm (The Bridge, Cold Case) as well as co-executive producer Patrick Harbinson (Person of Interest and 24).

Having started his own online sardonic offering on YouTube called GlayingSA, Bassa also appeared in a short film for an Afdda student from Cape Town. And he wrote a director a seven-minute short film for the 48 Hour Film Project.

With his energy feeding his two passions: acting and filmmaking, Bassa favours one mantra: Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it will achieve. These are the words that motivate me each day.

With one big dream realised, it's full steam ahead for this enthusiastic talent.

Homeland airs on M-Net (DStv channel 103) on Thursdays at 9.30pm.

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