Oh Schuks I'm Schuster
By Daniel Dercksen

If ever there was someone who wished he wasn't Leon Schuster, it's Schuster.

The undisputed King of candid camera admits that he is firmly in the hands of his audience and would enjoy making a film that is unlike those that turned him into a legend.

"I do not necessarily want to make these type of movies anymore, but if my audience says: 'jump', I go sky-high!," says Schuster, who is on the forefront of a massive national campaign to kick start his latest film, Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa, now showing nationwide.

Although most people associate Schuster with 'funny', he is inherently a serious storyteller and he admits that we will eventually see the 'ultimate Schuster film'.

"I'd certainly like to do that. Not really full-on drama, but something like 'What women want', he says, hoping to intertwine romance, comedy and drama.

If there is one factor that contributes to the success of Schuster's work, it's that he knows his audience. Four of his films are at the top of the box office in South Africa with his only competition being James Cameron (with Titanic and Avatar).

"I've been with this audience for so long that I think I know them reasonably well by now," says Schuster, who agrees that they influence him greatly as a performer and storyteller.

"Ja, you certainly have to know your audience - that includes people of all ages and race groups. I do my little research bit by talking to people: what kind of movie would they like next? This time around there was no doubt in their minds that they wanted the 'old Schuster' back, ie. me in my different disguises pranking members of the public. I have to listen to them!"

Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa was shot largely on location in Cape Town and surrounds.

Leon himself is incarnated in the lead as Schuks Tshabalala and an array of alternate characters alongside his trusty sidekick "Shorty" (Alfred Ntombela). They are commissioned by the 2010 tourism body to produce a movie as a visual guide and aid for foreigners coming to SA for the World Cup.  What follows is a series of hysterical demonstrations of life in SA as they attempt to answer all the questions posed by potential visitors.

The comedic results range from South Africa's most famous celebrities being victimized by Tshabalala to a full stadium packed with soccer fans, where the controversial vuvuzela is applied as a tool to test any soccer fan's enthusiasm to the nth degree, and a squatter camp sprouting up on the Seapoint beachfront.   

The film also features some Bollywood-inspired musical numbers to allow Schuks to make fun of some of the country's most powerful and influential personalities.

"I just wanted to do something that was sort of linked to the World Cup," says Schuster. "I thought about S.A., and realised this is a country that needs to be 'survived' more than just living in it."

Schuster and director Gray Hofmeyer spent six months working the script, which ended up over 300 pages and had to be severely stripped down to its current shape.

"I started working in a little theme (the tourists) which gave us a nice vehicle to answer their questions and clarify certain things about this complicated piece of the planet."

Schuks Tshabalala was born when producer Lance Samuels came up with the idea, "mainly to let the black folks feel at home with the concept", says Schuster who finds that he can relate to the character and enjoys playing him because he is "just a lekka down to earth dude with guts and verve."

He also loved the "forthrightness, arrogance and huge framework" of Koert van Gepoessel, a Dutch TV reporter that gives Helen Zille and Alan Boesak some headaches when they are interrogated about crime in South Africa.

Schuster is clearly a proudly South African writer and performer and Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa showcases the uniqueness of South African history and culture with a healthy dose of humour.

Is it important for Schuster to show the world what we are about and who we are as a nation?

"Certainly - although they can't always relate to it," he says. "Racism is such a sensitive issue worldwide, but unfortunately it is alive and well in S.A., and I like to mock it tongue in cheek. This will send a chill down the spine of an overseas audience, but my audience became used to me being politically 'risky' and incorrect. I just have to follow the example of our ANC Youth Leader!"

Politics have definitely influence Schuster in his latest endeavor.

"Yip, no doubt. This is the first hidden camera movie I've made where there's a good amount of political satire interwoven in the gags, and I think my audience will really appreciate this."

Schuster really felt at home making Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa, returning to his former days as teacher.

After studying for a BA degree at the University of the Orange Free State, he spent two years teaching at a high school in Bloemfontein before joining the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1975 where he created the hit Afrikaans radio series 'Vrypostige Mikrofoon' - where he would disguise his voice and take the mickey out of unsuspecting victims.

He admits that his teaching days did influence the making of the film. 

Schuster was drawn to the filmmaking process at an early age and fondly recalls how, as children he and his brother would play practical jokes on his family and film their escapades with an old home movie camera. 

"I'm forever playing pranks. This is a part and parcel of my psyche, and will never change," says Schuster, who hopes to never lose the child within.

When he is not in the spotlight Schuster is just "a concerned dad who spends a lot of time with his kids", who range between 30 and 21 (four, twins boy and girl, 21), that keeps him "busier than my movies do!"

Schuster hopes that with Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa local audiences will have "sheer enjoyment, and a chamber pot under their seats in case of a laughing emergency!"

For him, "it was a heck of lot of fun" making the film. "I think my enjoyment of making it shines through the entire movie."

This is most definitely only the beginning of Schuks Tshabalala, as the film promises a sequel.

"I've got so many ideas up my sleeve but need to take time out first and get my head sorted out!"

Read more about Schuks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa

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Copyright © 2010 Daniel Dercksen