What an unlikely topic for the female driven The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency pilot and television series?! But where you have women, you always have men (getting in their ways).
So who are some of our No. 1 men? Let me introduce them:
Alexander “Sandy” McCall-Smith (creator and author of the No. 1 set of novels). This is a photograph of Sandy when he joined us on the set of the movie in June, 2007. It must have been an odd moment for him, after pulling these characters from the vestiges of his imagination, to see them tangibly before his eyes. He has often said that he knows everything about a character from his books how they act and how they think but he doesn’t really know what they look like. However, when seeing the characters, it is immediately recognizable who they each are. This happened when Sandy walked onto Set for the first time, and saw the Apprentices fooling around. Sandy is the epitome of grace, goodness, generosity and genius. We owe everything to him for bringing these characters, this life, this vision into our lives.
Lucian Msamati (JLB Matekoni) Lucian is a most commanding man. He plays the tongue-tied love interest of Mma Ramotswe in the movie and series, JLB Matekoni. This photograph is the first kiss from Mma Ramotswe. In real life, Lucian is not shy. Intelligence, words, generosity and grace flow from him. He grew up in Zimbabwe and now lives in London. (Currently, he is performing at the National Theatre in London.) Most recently, he adapted Bertolt Brecht’s Hitler satire The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, changing the setting to an unknown African location.Lucian is collaborating with Cinechicks on Amani: Legend of the Shadow Warrior.
Desmond Dube (BK) Desmond plays the gay hairdresser in No. 1 Ladies, a role that does not appear in the book but which Anthony Minghella felt very strongly about including. Being gay in Botswana is illegal, so this role is challenging on another level. Des, like his character BK, has a heart the size of a giant African full moon. Someone once commented on Set that you can see Des’ goodness when you look at him. He’s funny. And he’s kind. But he drives too fast!
David Oyelowo (Kremin Busang) A show stealer, with an irresistible set of hips: his character, Kremin Busang drives Mma Ramotswe crazy and leads her into some dubious moral territory. In real life, David is sweetly modest. During the BBC premiere, in the lobby of the BFI building, he was encouraged to show off his swirling and sexy hip movement…. Bashfully, he said he would never do something like that in public….
Colin Salmon (Note Makoti) Colin is FABULOUS, funny, truly a gregarious soul. One night on set in Botswana (while shooting the series), he exuberantly announced that he had had coffee with Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean who beat Robert Mugabe in the 2008 election. Colin said hello and pulled up a chair. He loves to talk to everybody. Colin looms 6’5″ tall…he’s a modern day James Bond…and when he walks into the room, EVERYBODY notices. In the movie, he plays Mma Ramotswe’s abusive ex-husband, Note Makoti, who comes back for a visit (and some money.) Colin is the antithesis of Note, who hates women. Colin has loads to say on the subject.
Paterson Joseph (Cephas Buthelezi) Paterson has lightning bolt energy. He gave an extraordinary performance in O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones at the Olivier Theatre in London. In the No 1 Ladies’ series, Paterson plays a character women are all too familiar with in real life: the sexist, low-life loser, who steals their effort and good work and diminishes them because they’re threatened and insecure. Mma Ramotswe can deal with Buthelezi. If only in real life, these men who ride on women’s laurels and cut them out at every turn would get their comeuppance. Amazing, too, when these men have daughters.
Harish Patel (Patel) In 2007, Harish starred at the National Theatre in London, in the role of Eeshwar Dutt in Rafta, Rafta…, a comedy written by Ayub Khan-Din and directed by Nicholas Hytner. It was pretty fabulous, selling out with critical acclaim. Harish had pure joy and enthusiasm on set from the first day he arrived. It was 108 degrees (in the shade) and he could not be stopped. He plays the controlling daddy who does not want his young teenage daughter to date “Jack.” When he returned with us, after a short hiatus in India (at which time Mumbai suffered the terrorist attacks), he brought a gift to everyone on production. He is the best of both a “global” village and of a “small” village.
John Kani (Daddy Bapetsi) John is a maverick and an institution. He plays the “Dubious Daddy” of Happy Bapetsi in the movie. One of his most memorable roles was in Sizwe Banzi is Dead (a play he co-authored with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona) in New York for which he won the Tony Award. Originally Winston Ntshona was going to play Obed Ramotswe in the movie, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
Thabo Malema (Charlie) and Tau Maseramula (Fanwell) (the Apprentices) These two men are hilarious, always in motion, and write very funny letters. They’re like all four Marx Brothers in two.