READ AN INTERVIEW WITH WRITER-PRODUCER-ACTOR ROSS GARLAND

In our fresh and bracing democracy, comedy is a tool for survival and analysis, a way to access difficult issues, but mostly to release the pressure valve. Big Fellas brings the key issue of identity in South Africa today into the public arena through the medium of broad comedy.

In the words of Kagiso Lediga "we need to poke fun at ourselves to make sure it all doesn't explode." Big Fellas is a fresh, irreverent and original quirky comedy film, full of the random and ironic humour that is truly South African.

Big Fellas references early Wooden Allen films like Bananas that satirised Latin American dictatorships and the US manipulation of the continent through off the wall comedy.

Stylistically the film borrows from the production design of Wes Anderson films like "Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." The use of primary colours in wardrobe and set dressing are juxtaposed with a de-saturated texture. The grading in Big Fellas has a 70's style retro Adidas feel. This is to reinforce Zed and Jake's harking back to the easier years of the decade of the birth. They are two guys detached from the reality of their time.

ROSS GARLAND / ROGUE STAR FILMS - WRITER, PRODUCER
Rogue Star Films is an independent feature film production company founded by Ross Garland. The company is based in Cape Town, South Africa. The company works with key creative and business partners to develop and produce critically and commercially successful independent feature films.
Ross's credits include Co-Executive Producer of THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN FARM (Armin Mueller-Stahl, Richard E Grant); Executive Producer / Producer of U-CARMEN EKHAYELITSHA, for which as Producer he was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the 55^th Berlin International Film Festival, the first film from Africa to ever win this prize; producer of CONFESSIONS OF A GAMBLER, based on the award winning novel by Rayda Jacobs about a muslim woman with a gambling addiction; producer / writer of BIG FELLAS, a comedy about BEE starring Colin Moss, Hakeem Kae-Kazeem, Lee-Anne Summers, Carling Erntzen, Cokey Falco, Kagiso Lediga, Marc Lottering, Louw Venter, Minki van der Westhuizen, Gina Athans, Grethe Fox, Lesley Mongezi.
Rogue Star Films is in development on SPUD, an adaptation of South Africa's best selling novel in history, published by Penguin and written by John van de Ruit; an adaptation of World War 1 novel IRON LOVE, by Marguerite Poland, written and directed by Ingrid Wylde; CORNE AND TWAKKIE, SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN TRUTH, a film by the country's most popular comedy brand; and ALFONSO THE MOVIE.

PHILIP ROBERTS - DIRECTOR
As Director, Philip Roberts was responsible for a 13-part television series CRIME INTERNATIONAL and has directed programmes for the BBC, ITV Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the UK.  He started out as a first assistant director in Australia on feature-films such as the award winning feature film WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD and progressed to UK productions like A PEAK PRACTICE.
As Trainer, Philip taught the Writing and Directing component of the UNESCO Film and Television Training Project and was in charge of developing the curriculum. He has also given classes on television directing to Ravensbourne School of Film and Television in Kent and at various workshops around Southern Africa.
In recent years he has directed a series of television commercials for SCHWEPPES, the LEO BURNETT agency and  the YOUNG AND RUBICAM agency amongst others.
As a screenwriter, Philip Roberts has written two produced feature films. The first of these, FLAME, was selected for the 1996 Director's Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival and received a number of prizes at international film festivals. The second, THE FLYER was released in South Africa in April 2005 to local critical acclaim and is currently being distributed in Europe after being selected for the Locarno, Rio, Rome, Los Angeles and London Film Festivals amongst others.
Three of his original feature film screenplays have currently been optioned for development by South African and UK producers and he has recently completed a one hour television drama pilot for Curious Pictures, now being re-developed by them as a stand-alone feature-film. One current feature film project he is slated to direct is his original screenplay ONE LAST LOOK which is now in development with Vox Pix and Muti Films. Another original screenplay is CATCHING A GLIDE for Maxi-D productions. Philip is also currently working on an original script A FORCE OF NATURE for a Dutch/South African co-production to star Rutger Hauer. Past feature screenplay credits include MELODY and THE RWANDA MANDATE.

COSTA J THEO  - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Costa is a qualified lawyer with investment banking experience and is now raising finance as an executive producer for film productions out of SA, USA and the UK and specializing in International Co-productions. His first film Out on a Limb, a SA / UK co-production which he was executive producer won best film at the 2004 Wine Country Film Festival.  Costa is also associate producer on Blind Dating a US film staring Chris Pine, Eddy Kaye Thomas and Jane Seymour and directed by James Keach, a romantic comedy about a young man born blind and searching for love. Confessions of a Gambler is a South African film about a Muslim woman with a gambling addiction. Costa is the executive producer who identified the best selling novel and secured the finance. He also is executive producer on Big Fellas a South African road trip comedy about two guys searching for a BEE partner. Costa is currently working on a film fund across a slate of South African films.

THE CAST

COLIN MOSS (JAKE)
He started out as a soap star, as Stewart in Isidingo. He was the MNet presenter of Fear Factor in 2002, co-presenter of Idols 2003, presenter of Idols 2005 and 2007. 
Last year he played the lead in No 10 and a geek in Crazy Monkey's "Straight Outta Benoni" and landed a major role in an American / SA collaboration on a horror movie called Cryptid. 
He just completed filming with an international cast - a production in which he plays a 1950's Apartheid era cop in the movie version of the award winning book "World Unseen," which will premiere at the Sundance Festival in Toronto in September.
What a lot of people don't know is that he started his career as a stand up comic. It was when he was living on fruit in the garden of his commune in Johannesburg, that he started performing comedy - in order to make enough money for toothpaste, beer and petrol. Comedy is a lifelong passion.  And so, he continually goes back to his roots and regularly works the comedy circuit - both locally and in the UK and Ireland. 
In Big Fellas, he plays the co-lead Jake.

ROSS GARLAND (ZED)
Ross was born in Durban, South Africa. He obtained a BA Drama and LLB Law at The University of Natal and a Masters in Law at Oxford University. A South African Rhodes scholar and qualified barrister, he moved into film after working as an Associate at Lehman Brothers in New York, as an investment banker in the entertainment sector, with clients that included AOL Time Warner, Viacom, Disney and Sony.
Ross spent a number of years as an actor and writer in theatre in South Africa, England and Japan, and has had three plays performed on stage. He is also published in the academic and popular press. He was a writer / actor in the prestigious Oxford Revue, the sketch comedy group that produced Monty Python and Rowan Atkinson.
In Big Fellas, he plays the co-lead Zed.

COKEY FALKOW (ALFONSO)
The Mail and Guardian pronounced him "Raunchily Hilarious" and the Independent on Saturday declared "Absolutely bloody hysterical."
Cokey Falkow is at the forefront of the new guard of comedians .Not only is he one of the country's funniest comics but he has worked in the US and the UK and has earned rave reviews on the international stage.
Last year saw successful forays into the film world, with Cokey starring in the US action thriller "Blast!", opposite UK bad-boy Vinnie Jones. He also completed the film "Consequence" and was the Lead in 15 international shoots.
He is renowned for his loose improvisational style and ability to morph his body into many different characters. A hard-hitting comic with an innate sense of inherent funniness in the world around him, his following in Cape Town has achieved cult status.
He's coming into his own as an actor too and landed the enviable role this year as the quirky cook in the movie Star Troopers Marauders.
In the movie Big Fellas, Cokey draws from both his acting and comedy skills to portray a paranoid schizophrenic serial killer Albino - "He's black. … but he's white."
Although Alfonso is terrible, you can't help but love him and it's no wonder that there are rumblings of a "Free Alfonso" campaign. After all, he only kills men in pinstripes who wear ties … and we all know … there are enough of them around.

HAKEEM KAE-KAZIM (RAY WHITEHEAD)
Hakeem gained international attention for his role in the Oscar nominated, critically acclaimed Hotel Rwanda.
Classically trained in the UK, Hakeem first came to prominence sharing the stage with Brian Cox in King Lear and Sir Ian McKellan in Richard III for the Royal National Theatre. He made a successful transition to British television with leading roles in Trial and Retribution, The Bill, Grange Hill and Ellington and distinguished himself in the title role of Julius Caesar for the BBC. Hakeem then settled in South Africa where his work in film and television made him a household name.
Since moving to Los Angeles with his wife and two children, Hakeem has appeared opposite Noah Wyle in Librarian 2 and with Eric Stoltz and Sam Neill in The Triangle.
2007 has been an exciting year for Hakeem, who completed Pirates Of The Carribean III playing a pirate lord alongside Johnny Depp, Kira Knightly and Geoffrey Rush and has just returned from filming Lost in Hawaii. He's currently in New York filming an episode of Law and Order.
In Big Fellas, Hakeem plays Ray Whitehead.

LEE-ANNE SUMMERS (HANNEKE, YOLANDA, GERDA)
There's a new girl on the block in the South African acting scene and she's sizzling hot in both talent and looks!
She plays poker, loves muscle cars and did all the stunt driving in the movie Big Fellas, in addition to her role of identical but totally different triplets in the movie Big Fellas, Hanneke, Gerda and Yolanda.
Lee-Anne returned to South Africa towards the end of 2005, after studying acting at the New York Film Academy, where she scored top honours and starred in numerous short films.
Her first film role back in South Africa was in the movie Prey, directed by Darrell Roodt.  Recently she landed a role as a junior neurologist in a British production of the Chris Barnard story and she stars as the 1960 flashback in a new series for Dutch television, called "Stellenbosch". She is off to Australia for a few months next year to star in a psychological thriller alongside some of Australia's hottest acting talent.

CARLING ERNSTZEN (LOLA)
Carling Ernstzen graduated from Rustenberg Girls High School in 2002. She went on to do a three year Acting Degree at AFDA (Film and Drama School) where she graduated in December 2005 In her third year she was nominated for Best Actress in a short film "After Hours" by Elana Wetzler. She joined her first acting agency, APM, in February 2006. By March she had been cast in her first feature film role, an independent American movie based on a true story called Cambia Tu Vida. Directed by Don Taicher.
She played the role of a young Cuban prostitute a revolutionary in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution with whom the lead actor falls in love.
Carling's third project is a co-starring role in a new South African series called Shooting Stars. It is being produced for ETV by Penguin Films. "Shooting Stars" is based on a fictional South African football team covering their trials and tribulations. She plays "Sancha" a rich Johannesburg model who is the girlfriend of one of the main football players named "Ollie". Scheduled to air in August 2007.
She plays the female lead Lola.

KAGISO LEDIGA (MULA)
Star of Bunny Chow, the great little movie about comics on a road trip,  Kagiso is South Africa's very own famous funny man. He's as famous for his Television roles in the Pure Monate Show, Phat Joe and Quickies (among others), as he is on the comedy circuit, including the Smirnoff, 5fm Heavyweight Comedy Jams, Oppikoppie, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Festival and the African Kings of Comedy Festival in Nigeria. He's also a winner of a Smirnoff People's Choice award.   
Kagiso is political satire at its best, with lines like "I get stopped so often by security guards in Woolworths that my white criminal friends now hire me out as a decoy."
Kagiso is perfect in his role as Mula, the office golfing BEE official holding the purse strings for the grass roots film industry.

LOUW VENTER (BULLSEYE)
Louw is so amazing that if you could somehow liquify him and put him in an aerosol and sell him in the shops… He would always be out of stock. Honestly. In adition to co-creating The Most Amazing Show with partner Rob Van Vuuren, Louw is also a playwright, director, producer and actor on stage, screen and television.
He's completed 9 feature film roles (In My Country 2003 - Straight Outa Benoni 2005 and Bunny Chow 2006 to mention a few) and literally countless stage performances. He is insanely popular in Potchefstroom right now and has received a New York Festival Bronze medal for writing and has been named as one of the "100 Young South Africans you have to take to lunch" by the Mail & Guardian two years running. He's also very good with dogs and umbrellas.
Louw plays the part of Bullseye


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