A movie is to be made on the life of deceased former SA cricket captain Hansie Cronje.
Frans Cronje, the older brother of Hansie Cronje who died in a plane crash in George, 500km east of Cape Town two years ago, announced in Durbanville on Wednesday that the Cronje family had authorised a full length feature film on the life of the late cricketer. The film will be shot in South Africa, England, India and Australia in 2005.
Cronje was banned from cricket for life after he admitted to accepting money to fix cricket matches involving the South African cricket team. In 2000, after the completion of the King Commission, the United Cricket Board banned him for life.
The decision was endorsed by the world cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The film will be a co-production between the Johannesburg-based Out of Africa Picture Company and Frans Cronje’s Cape Town-based production company, which recently joined forces with a Los Angeles businessman.
The Cronje family has also commissioned a biography that will be authoured by Cape Town-based journalist Garth King. Well over 30 people have already been interviewed, including Hansie’s immediate family, his widow, Bertha, many of his closest friends, former Free State and South African teammates, international opponents and some of his worst critics.
Two former South African cricketers, Jonty Rhodes and Peter Pollock, have featured prominently in the early stages of the process. The book is due for release in April 2005.
The screenplay is currently in development and negotiations are under way to appoint a director. The producers of the movie apparently want to convey an accurate and well-balanced account of Cronje’s story.
Both projects have been in development over the past 12 months.
The Cronje family’s statement reads: ”There are many incredible lessons to be learnt from Hansie’s life, his victories, the mistakes that he made and the actions he took to redeem himself.
”We have been increasingly frustrated over the past four years by the often inaccurate, out-of-context and one-sided interpretations of Hansie’s life and therefore we would like to see the story told as accurately as possible.
”We still receive a great deal of communication, both local and international, from people wanting to know more about Hansie’s life and pledging their support. We hope that both the book and film will help those to attain some kind of closure regarding Hansie.”
Frans Cronje said he often mentioned to Hansie the need to write a biography and produce a movie on his life. Hansie replied at the time that one cannot tell a story until it is finished. ”As a family, we realise that the story is now ready to be told,” said Frans Cronje.
Lance Samuels of The Out of Africa Picture Company who have recently completed the epic BBC production To The Ends Of The Earth said: ”We as a company feel honoured and privileged to be involved in such an exciting and important project. We feel this is a great South African story with huge worldwide appeal.
”The idea of bringing the life of such an iconic South African to the big screen was the reason we got involved in this project.” – Sapa