Another South African director makes headlines in Hollywood...
WIKUS van der Merwe is an unlikely name for a character in a Hollywood blockbuster. But — played by South African actor Sharlto Copley — he is the main character in the film District9, which was shot in Soweto and the Johannesburg inner city, and bagged the No1 spot in the US box-office rankings this weekend. District 9, made on a budget of 30-million (R245-million), made $37-million (R301-million) in its opening weekend — thrashing GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which cost $175-million (R1.4-billion) to make, and earned $22.5-million (R179-million) during its opening weekend. Now District 9 director Neil Blomkamp — who is a protege of Lord of the Rings trilogy mastermind Peter Jackson — has beco me one of the few South African filmmakers to hit the Hollywood big league. Copley, who is also a film director and Blomkamp’s friend, seems set for a career in Hollywood. He told Vanity Fair magazine that he loved playing roles in which he has a “bit of room to improvise on the character” . “Just...