‘Noughts + Crosses’ star Bonnie Mbuli says filming series in post-apartheid South Africa was ‘very cathartic’
Bonnie Mbuli is best known to American audiences as Zindzi Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s film, 'Invictus'. But she has had a thriving career spanning 27 years since she was discovered when she only 13 years old. She spoke to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) about how it is difficult to find quality projects while based in South Africa, even if you've made a mark internationally. This is why the BBC production 'Noughts + Crosses' based on Malorie Blackman's beloved YA novel and being shot in South Africa felt like such a dream assignment. "I've always been careful about what kind of projects I choose, which means I'm not always getting the work I want. The higher you go, the more international work you get in a third world country, like South Africa, your choices become limited, right? Because the more international work you do... you want more of the same type of work. So when this audition came along, I thought, well, this is incredible. This is what I've been waiting for!," said Mbuli. Prior to 'Noughts + Crosses', she was feeling increasingly frustrated by how many international projects being shot in South Africa would only feature "brutal, traumatic stories" or roles of a domestic worker or slave.
She first auditioned for the role of the Prime Minister and when she didn't hear back she was thought she wasn't "Prime Minister material". But soon after, she was called in to audition for Jasmine Hadley, the unhappy wife of segregationist Home Ministry official Kamal Hadley, who uses alcohol and love affairs to distract herself from her depression. As one of the elite 'Cross' race, she shares a close but unequal relationship with Meggie, her 'Nought' housekeeper, who she frequently confides in but also fires from her position when things get tough.
Mbuli revealed that she has an affinity to playing "troubled characters" like Jasmine Hadley, especially after she wrote a best seller on generational depression in families. "I've been drawn to troubled characters who are trying to work out their mental health, emotional wellbeing, their relationships. So I was so blessed to have gotten a chance to play this character. There are so many social issues that the story is trying to tackle. The focal point is the love story but there is so much more -- from race, class, and gender issues."
Mbuli read the book after she was called in the second time to audition for Jasmine and said it was central to how she approached the character. "Reading the book really just cemented for me what I could bring to the audition and what I could bring to this character -- what I could relate to. I really just fell in love with the story after reading the book." So much so that she also used the book and the show as tools to talk to her sons about race relations and South Africa's particular history with apartheid that percolates into everyday racism even now. "'Nought and Crosses', funnily enough, explains to them, what it is that they can do to grapple with racism and oppression because South Africa ranks like in the top 10 of the most unequal societies in the world right now. So raising children in this climate, it's difficult when you're trying to explain to them that, 'hey, you are not going to have normal development in this world.'"
Playing the part was also a "triggering" for Mbuli because it hewed so close to her country's history but reversed it. "It was very cathartic for me because racism is such a difficult thing to traverse because at some point it will challenge your identity. I believe that a nation which goes through oppression -- it is almost like the land has a memory of those events that are easily triggered by moments of oppression. So for me, standing in the place of my birth, having fought certain battles and then having to retell the story off that battle had a very emotional trigger for me. Like I was consistently triggered on the set in ways that I couldn't even explain to people." But bringing the story to life was worth it all, according to Mbuli.
'Noughts and Crosses' is available to stream on Peacock.