In director Reine Swart's supernatural thriller The Hex, a grieving woman discovers that her mother's murder has ties to a South
African witch doctor's curse.
We spoke with the actress who plays said witch doctor, Mari Molefe van Heerden.
Why acting? What is it that draws you to performance-art, Mari?
I guess as a child I always enjoyed entertaining my family and being
silly. Always the joker and performer. I naturally drifted
into acting, because with acting you are never only one thing or
person. You can explore the entire world and be a different
character or person everyday.
And was it a particular film, TV series or filmmaker that motivated
you to move into the profession?
Like said before, acting found me at a very early stage of my life,
before I even knew who and how films were made. I always wanted to
perform and studying acting was the best thing I could do.
The Hex is a wonderfully creepy horror movie. Is it the type
of film you’d normally be attracted to doing?
The Hex was my first horror feature that I was involved
with, but I’ve always dreamed of being in one, as it is one of my
favourite genres. Now, I'm even more hooked as I understand a little
more of how it is done.
Though entertaining, it’s also a very grounded movie. Was that part
of the appeal?
Thank you. Yes, it definitely was. It's a slow burner with down to earth
characters dealing with extraordinary situations. A theme in the movie
that makes it grounded is looking at various ways different people deal
with loss, making the audience pool a bit bigger as different people
will be able to connect with the film and its characters.
It must have been a real hoot playing the witch doctor, too?
I enjoyed playing the witch doctor the most, even though it was hella
challenging. Being transformed with the makeup and wardrobe made it easy
and fun to portray her. Our super talented makeup artist, Lieschen de
Koch, put prosthetics on my face and a lot of makeup and it made me look
completely different.
Was this one of the first films you’ve been in that’s been widely
released in the U.S?
Yes, this is the very first, but hopefully not the last.
Has it started to open doors for you as both an actor and
producer?
With Covid really changing the way our industry performs in South
Africa, and how it challenged the entire film and television industry,
it's hard to get acting and other opportunities. As
The Hex only released a couple of months ago, I am hopeful
that it will definitely open doors.
The Hex is on US VOD now. A
UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.