PLAN B has all the elements of a hit series: A few of the beloved early characters born in the imagination of the international best-selling crime writer Deon Meyer. A screenplay by the award-winning Tertius Kapp. Jozua Malherbe (Devil’s Peak) in the director’s chair and some of the country’s best actors in front of the cameras. Among them is Arnold Vosloo, who has been working in Hollywood for 33 years. After his excellent performance in the local feature film Griekwastad, also made by Kapp and Malherbe, he is back in a meaty Afrikaans role.
Plan B is the story of a man with a military background, Ivan Malan, and his partner, Paul Schmidt, who rob a gangster and steal The Fire Maiden – a painting by the Dutch master Vermeer worth €30 million. Meanwhile, Ragel Bergh is swindled out of her inheritance by the slick conman Joshua Lansky. All seems lost for her, but then she crosses paths with Ivan and Paul via an art appraiser. All three of them want the same thing badly: The Fire Maiden.
“The casting choices were a discussion among the producers, including Deon Meyer, as well as Jozua Malherbe,” says Tim Theron, who not only acts in the series but is also one of the producers. “From the start, we knew we wanted the best possible people for each role. For certain characters, we knew who we wanted to approach, like Amalia Uys, but in other cases, we had more than one strong option, and these candidates auditioned for Jozua. Everything worked out perfectly, and we got the opportunity to work with a host of excellent actors, some of whom we hadn’t worked with before, like Armand Aucamp and André Jacobs.”
Interestingly, the role of the villain Zeev Lansky (Joshua’s father) was initially offered to heartthrob Armand Aucamp. “He asked to read the scripts and told us he would rather play the role of Joshua, as he had already portrayed several characters similar to Zeev before,” says Tim. “It was, of course, easy to agree to his request.”
Plan B has plenty of action, but just as much humour. It’s a caper with a lot of daring adventure, quips, high jinks and charming villains. Filmed in and around Cape Town, Plan B has five episodes, the first episode of which airs on Tuesday 26 March at 8pm on kykNET (DStv channel 144). It will also be available on DStv Stream.