{"id":15741,"date":"2022-06-22T17:20:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=15741"},"modified":"2022-06-22T17:36:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:36:06","slug":"no-more-mr-nice-guy-qa-thapelo-mokoena-on-playing-against-type-in-pulse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2022\/06\/22\/no-more-mr-nice-guy-qa-thapelo-mokoena-on-playing-against-type-in-pulse\/","title":{"rendered":"No More Mr Nice Guy – Q&A Thapelo Mokoena On Playing Against Type In “Pulse”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the Showmax Original horror series Pulse<\/a><\/em>, launching on Thursday, 23 June 2022, Thapelo Mokoena plays Errol, a game producer who discovers that survival is no longer just a game when an electromagnetic pulse bomb fries every electrical circuit in his office high-rise \u2013 and people\u2019s heads.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Wright caught up with the SAFTA-winning Trackers <\/em>and Wild At Heart<\/em> star to find out more about his role in the freaky show, which was picked <\/strong>by The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> as one of the 25 buzziest series at this year\u2019s MIPTV, a leading global TV market in Cannes, France.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Thapelo Mokoena<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What is your claim to fame?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m just an individual trying to live a life of purpose. I\u2019m somebody who grew up on a farm, in a small farming town, where everything that was exciting was heard about, read about or seen on TV. All I ever wanted to do was go out and see, go out and touch, and go out and take some. I\u2019m somebody who\u2019s really been adamant about conquering and unveiling those dreams, making them become a reality. I am like my people, the Crocodile Clan, otherwise known as the Bakoena. We are resilient and we are seekers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you describe Pulse<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulse<\/em> is a journey that introduces you to the different types of people we interact with on a daily basis \u2013 their strengths and weaknesses, the highs and lows, the securities and insecurities \u2013 through the world of gaming. Every member of society is revealed to us through the world of these games, and heightened after they\u2019ve been changed by the electromagnetic pulse bomb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What attracted you to the project? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read this and I said, \u201cMan, this is crazy. What the hell is this?\u201d But man, I love it. I care. I\u2019m interested. I like what they are saying and how they see it. Most of all, I like this character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you like about Errol? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s not trying to be a pretty boy. He\u2019s not trying to be a nice guy. He\u2019s not trying to be a \u201clike me\u201d guy. He\u2019s just himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was trying to step out of doing these safe roles that we normally see on our screens. I get a lot of offers to do romcoms, to play the ladies\u2019 man or the guy who ends up with the girl, but it’s not what I’m about. I\u2019m an actor and I\u2019m always looking for a range of diverse extremes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had called my agents locally and internationally and said I\u2019m not doing any nice guy roles for another two or three years. I\u2019m not interested. I\u2019d rather go without work if it\u2019s not the right kind of bad guy or crazy guy. And this character was exactly what I prayed for. I was like, \u201cLord, this is what I\u2019ve been asking you for, for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Errol is complex. He\u2019s got so much range. He doesn\u2019t mean any harm but all he does is harm when he opens his mouth. He doesn\u2019t mean to be an asshole, but he just happens to be. He\u2019s a straight shooter. He doesn\u2019t think before he speaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a gamer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My brother is into gaming but I\u2019m not. I\u2019m a nature baby. I\u2019m outdoors cycling, running or whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of my trade and part of my skill set as a performer is to step into different worlds and into the shoes of different people to make them come to life. So going into this world of gaming that I know absolutely nothing about, that challenge was already special for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a kid, seeing kids who love to game and play Street Fighter<\/em> and Mortal Kombat<\/em> at the spaza shop was always fascinating. I used to enjoy Street Fighter <\/em>a bit, but it wasn\u2019t for me. I\u2019d always get out early and go play football or whatever outside. But I always found those kids interesting; they\u2019d do anything to get a fifty cent coin to go to the arcade machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Errol is determined. He is driven. He is resilient. He\u2019s a fighter. He\u2019s a winner at heart. There is no question of how far he\u2019ll go to make sure that he succeeds, wins or gets his way. For me, that was what took it to the next level, where I can identify with this guy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt like there was so much I could offer him as a black performer, especially because of the world of gaming in the township, in Soweto, in ekasi, compared to the rest of the world. That\u2019s his backstory. He grew up in a time where there was that one spaza shop in his township area that had one machine that all the kids came and played on. There were no TV games. One rich kid in the township had a TV game console, but that was it. So I know this kid. I saw versions of him every day. So I wanted to tap into that world to bring him to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much research did you do to prepare for the role? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you develop or build characters, you borrow from what is familiar and you marry that to what the story is trying to say. You accessorise and garnish with the gems you pick up from research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, Sallas [multi-award-winning director Sallas de Jager of Dominee Tienie<\/em> and Free State<\/em> fame] shared as much as he could and I took to the internet from 2019. I was reading up on stuff. I started watching a lot of content based around gaming, the dark web, the dark internet \u2026 those types of shows. I started watching a lot of gaming shows I\u2019d usually not watch. Now, I can\u2019t stop!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was like: \u201cHold on, we\u2019ve never seen this from an African point of view.\u201d There is no show like this from an African point of view. There isn\u2019t anything like this, period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaming is a global concept but we\u2019re telling that African story. It\u2019s a gaming world set in the thick of Johannesburg and these characters we can identify with, taking on such a big concept. I started marrying that to the world that is Newtown, Maboneng (which is where Pulse<\/em> is set). I know the space. I made Ayeye<\/em> there for a year and I lived there every day. I was there. I know the way of those streets. I know the taxis. So the research got me excited because we are actually telling an African story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research became so easy for me because I thought, \u201cNow forget everything you\u2019ve seen about gaming; just go back home to your background as a black South African child in the townships. Go back there and all the answers will be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Showmax Original is the result of an international collaboration between global production and finance company Media Musketeers, UK-based ForLan Films and SA\u2019s Red Mirror, co-produced with CANAL+ and The MediaPro Studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulse<\/em> is the third co-production between Showmax and CANAL+, building on the success of the first two seasons of Crime and Justice, <\/em>which earned Sarah Hassan the Best Lead Actress in a Drama prize at the 2021 Kalasha Awards in Kenya, and the upcoming epic Blood Psalms<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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