Trailer Tuesday: Spud - The Movie

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Truly the End of Days is nigh if I'm profiling a South African movie as part of the Trailer Tuesday feature! However Spud: The Movie isn't just another AIDs drama / "klein dorpie" fliek / Afrikaans musical / soapie adaptation / urban crime drama or *cough* local Twilight/Blade/Daybreakers wannabe. Spud is based on one of South Africa's most beloved, bestselling novels of recent years, John van de Ruit's Spud.


Heavily autobiographical, Spud is set in 1990 (the same year as Nelson Mandela's release from prison) and centres on scrawny 13 year old John Milton (Troye Sivan) who is about to begin his first year at Michaelhouse, an exclusive boarding school in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Nicknamed Spud because of his size, Milton begins his high school experience as a miserable, frequently bullied outsider. Things change however when he is befriended by eccentric, foul-mouthed English teacher The Guv (John Cleese), is gradually accepted by his crazy class and housemates, and becomes involved in a theatre production of Oliver Twist - which brings plenty of attention from the ladies!

Coming-of-age comedy Spud is probably one of the most highly anticipated South African movies of all time, given that thousands of locals alone have read the Spud books since the first was published in 2005 - to instant acclaim and popularity. For the record, the book has been available in the United States and United Kingdom since 2006-7, and you can buy it from Amazon right here.

Now I admit I've never got around to reading Spud. Still, I can see the appeal of the book, just as I can see the appeal of the film adaptation. Pretty much everyone can identify with tales of pubescent high school hi-jinks, whether you went to a single sex boarding school or not.

Spud looks very slickly made and it certainly doesn't hurt that the filmmakers managed to score the big name casting coup that is funnyman Cleese. Cleese's presence will naturally ensure far more attention for the film, locally and abroad, than if he wasn't involved in the project. Anyway, I do also kind of feel obligated to punt a movie set in my home province of Natal. And Michaelhouse is maybe an hour or so's drive from my home.

Spud opens in South African cinemas on 3 December. The film will apparently debut in various regions around the world from early 2011.

Comments

NiteFenix said…
Noelle, your video is no longer playing.

I've taken the liberty of grabbing you another one from Youtube, if you wanna fix it.

Keep up the fantastic blogging hun.
6:47 PM
Pfangirl said…
Hi NiteFenix, thanks for commenting. I've replaced the YouTube trailer with one that does work:)
10:25 AM
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