As reviews for Neill Blomkamp‘s "Chappie" made clear, not everyone is a fan of South African rappers Die Antwoord. The presence of Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser were a make or break component for many, and even for some of the people working on the actual movie. According to actor Brandon Auret, who plays the gangster big bad Hippo, Ninja had caused "tension" on the set, and reports from South African press last year suggested the rapper was causing no shortage of problems, even claiming he was written out of scenes (though upon seeing the final film, and how much of a central role he plays, it doesn’t seem like that was the case at all). But now, Ninja has responded.
In a piece over at Boing Boing, Ninja addressed the rumors in his own unique fashion, and offers his own portrait of what he saw on set, particularly when it came to his co-star Auret. Here’s an excerpt:
So just to be super clear, all the rumors about my ‘terrible behavior’ on set was written by 1 south african journalist, who has written many tabloid-style diss features on Die Antwoord (over the last 3 years) before his big Chappie feature. I have no idea who this dude is, but he seems to have a lil problem with us. some of his other features were called: ‘DIE ANTWOORD – NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT’ and ‘DIE ANTWOORD – SOUTH AFRICA’S WORST NIGHTMARE’
but this last feature he wrote titled: ‘NINJA – PURE EVIL’ (where all the funny Chappie rumors came from) was the juiciest 1 by far, my boy got really busy dis time :-P….
….i did bump heads a little with Brandon Auret (Hippo) who was juiced up on a copious amount of steroids during filming (to help him stay buff) and so he was on edge the whole time…
So there you go — they beefed, but it was all for the good of the movie, so win/win, right? [via FilmDrunk]
the film was great it has a good ending and the Die Antwoord song at the end the ninja is brilliant one of the best films i seen
@PTYRO How? How do \’you\’ know? Who are these fictitious crew members? You are so full of shit, probably the jelly-as-fok hack journo who hasn\’t even got the stones to put a face to his trash pieces about them.. And for all the haters: see the movie for what it is, its bubble-gum TV…its not Othello, its not seeking to suck the piel of the Oscars decisions board…just eat your pop-corn and stop looking for hidden meanings or the answer to life\’s questions in every piece of work published. If you care so much then make your own fokken movie
lmao@OLLISCHAEFER "very entertaining Elysium." xD
Just watched Chappie (theater replay) – great technical work – completely disconnected storyline – and I didn\’t figure out that "Ninja" and "Yolandi" were anything more than bit part walk-ons until 1/2 way through the movie. I kept thinking that no one in their right mind would cast these horrible actors in any kind of important roles….not against Jackman, Weaver and Patel…surely!!?? Everytime they showed up – I kept waiting for the "real actors" to come in, blow them away, and get on with the storyline. Didn\’t even know they were "rappers" until after I saw the movie and was trying to figure out what they were doing in the movie….(did Blumk owe them money? Hostage situation?) The script had a lot of problems – but these 2 were HORRIBLE!! Just sayin….
I had never heard of Die Antwoord before I saw this movie. The movie is one of my favorite and I\’m now a HUGE fan of Die Antwoord.
so much awesome!!
I\’ll tell you what. I\’ve seen all 3 Blomkamp films and I have to say Chappie is my favorite one. It wasn\’t quite as disturbing as D9 or as slow as Elysium. I\’ve seen it a few times and there seems to be an ever increasing interest around the film here in the US. I\’d say it\’s going to be a cult classic for a hell of a long time. I had NO IDEA who Die Antwoord were when I saw the film, but I\’m an artsie fartsy guitarist and I LOVED the music I was hearing being bumped in the hideout so I went home and googled \’chappie soundtrack\’. I was shocked and excited to learn that Ninja and Yolandi were actually the ones who made those dope tunes. Now I\’m not only a fan of Blomkamp but a fan of Die Antwoord as well. So to all the critics and haters of this movie and the band you can go suck it. It won\’t be the first time a movie was panned by critics that is actually bad ass and it won\’t be the last. Also I\’ve binged watched just about every interview and behind the scenes deal with Ninja and Yolandi that I could find online in the last few days and I have a bit of a hard time believing that these intelligent and thoughtful folks, who in my opinion did a fine job in Chappie, were actually the massive pain in the ass that the rumors claim. But even IF they were a problem it kinda adds to their rockstar gangsta persona anyhow. If I was their manager I would probably have paid to have all three of the negative articles referred to written. It\’s long been conventional wisdom since the early days of Alice Cooper that you WILL succeed in pop music if the parents really hate you.
How many big name actors do drugs on set!? who cares indeed, I loved this film It was edgy, fast paced and with enough touching moments and humour to keep it real. Die Antwoord made it as much as Chappie himself.
Absolutely love Chappie as did all three others who saw it with me. It is gonna be watched decades from now, a wonderful story and Chappie is totally convincing.
You don\’t like it because you don\’t understand it. The movie is a masterpiece and Die Antwoord are just amazing!!
Great movie ������������
Who cares. Except for the technical aspects the movie was terrible. Even better actors wouldn´t improve the dumb and incoherent story. I´m still baffled that Blomkamp released such a bad movie after the great District 9 and the a little bit flawed but still very entertaining Elysium.
its not just tabloids I\’ve heard multiple stories from different crew members at different times that confirm this behavior. He was doing driggs on set and sent a dick pic to Neil\’s sister.