MARIA McCLOY discusses fame with Molo Fish star David Meyer
‘I’m not very good at this, am I?” says Molo Fish’s David Meyer half-way through our interview. After three years as a TV presenter, five months on the series set as young Daryl Malgas and three episodes, he’s shocked that people in the street want either to talk, hug or go out with him or ask for an autograph. Never mind handling all of that and the press coverage Molo Fish has received — this is his first interview.
“Kaffir predikant” is what Meyer’s character is called in the series by a lighter-skinned, straighter-haired teacher. The scene illustrates the divisions apartheid caused. One of the series directors, Clarence Hamilton, said the role demanded someone who could carry off the role of a boy who looked black yet grew up as coloured and was able to bring meaning to the role. He says Meyer — “an amazing, natural actor” — definitely does.
Meyer, who smiles easily and is extremely polite, says people have told him they find the show original and one of the best they’ve seen, “that it brings out the way the coloureds used to live; it doesn’t hide anything … the accents … the way coloureds speak”. There have also been girls saying: “oh you’re so cute,” wanting to know if he’s got a girlfriend. “Please don’t write that,” he says, “people will think I’m arrogant.”
In the Molo Fish series he is thoroughly believable as someone growing in Noordgesig from age 13 to 18, not only because of his acting ability and his coloured accent, but also because of his slight build. It’s difficult to believe he’s 20.
One dissimilarity between Meyer and Malgas is that he has never had trouble at school or in the areas he’s lived in because of his colour. His mother is Swazi and his father is coloured. He speaks SeTswana, English and Afrikaans and grew up in Alexandra Township but has gone to Afrikaans-medium coloured schools. Today he lives in a mostly coloured area in Rabie Ridge in Midrand.
He says he is accepted by both “groups” of people he is in contact with and the notion of people being forced to choose a label clearly disturbs him — if asked to choose which “side” he is on he says he doesn’t know what to answer. And he means it when he says: “I just see myself as an ordinary person. I wouldn’t like to be labelled coloured or black — just a human being.”
We agree that Molo Fish’s message could teach people something. He notices that people still hang out in racial cliques or won’t learn African languages; how he’s heard “a few people still calling people kaffirs … people respond and call the person MaBoesman or something, and say that coloureds don’t have any tradition and they don’t know where they come from …” He’s not had an easy life. he was brought up, along with two siblings, by a single mother who worked in a sweet factory. When David had matriculated his mother wanted him to be a doctor and thought he was crazy when he said he wanted to be an actor. “But then she gave in.”
His agent, Boudine Hametner, attributes David’s success to his determination, saying he is driven because he wants to better his circumstances and his family’s and “be somebody”.
Religion led him to his acting career — David is a dedicated Seventh Day Adventist. he met KTV Presenter Gerhard Hametner in church, and through him met Boudine (Gerhard’s mother). Boudine took him on and gave him tips on how to behave in front of the camera. he landed the tele-school job, went for the Molo Fish audition and thus got a role in his first TV series.
David says being on set for five months was exciting. Friendships have been formed and his admiration for other actors is apparent. He was fascinated by the technical aspects of making a series and wants to learn editing and directing.
Now he’s looking for roles. He mentions wanting to be on something like Suburban Bliss — and he admires Joe Mafela and Morgan Freeman.
Hamilton laughed when he told me how David Meyer has a “very naughty side”. Sometimes he and his friend in the series would disappear from the set, only to be found with some “young lady fans” from Noordgesig. People would say: “we want to take your autograph now — before you become a star!”
Molo Fish is on SABC1 on Tuesdays at 9pm