Gerrie's glory days immortalised

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OUDTSHOORN NEWS AND VIDEOS - Klaarstroom, one of the tiniest villages in the Karoo, this week hosted a glamorous group of high-profile Americans super excited to collaborate with South African filmmaker, Koos Roets on the biopic of world heavyweight boxing champ, our very own Gerrie Coetzee.

Roets, who spends time at his home in Klaarstroom whenever his hectic schedule allows, is the director of the upcoming US-produced and -backed film about the life and times of Coetzee, Against All Odds.

PHOTO GALLERY: Filmmakers take a breather in Klaarstroom

This week the moviemakers enjoyed a well-deserved break in the charming village following the introduction of the movie concept to the world in Cape Town on 26 January.

Even the vibrant, formidable former wife of boxing great Muhammad Ali, Dr Khalilah Comacho-Ali, is involved in the production process, while Kenddrie Macauley Utuk of Hartquist Productions in the US, is the executive producer.

Mahomed Akbar Khan, who knew Muhammad Ali well and is a close friend of Yusuf Islam, formerly known as the singer Cat Stevens, is in charge of promotions and marketing. And, just like the Boksburg Bomber, Khan hails from Boksburg, leaving South Africa at the age of nine.

Group Editors was invited to spend a few hours with this illustrious group at the Klaarstroom Hotel on Tuesday 1 February, and what a day it turned out to be! No journalist has ever been afforded a warmer welcome and made to feel more like a celebrity in her own right rather than a reporter. A typical example of "great people make other people look and feel great".

Against All Odds

South African kick-boxer and cage-fighter, Dricus (Stillknocks) du Plessis, has been chosen to play Coetzee, as Roets says a real fighter is far more believable than an actor could ever be.

He says the excellent script, written specifically for Coetzee, shows that the boxer faced four opponents every time he stepped into the ring. "First he had to beat the boxer in the other corner, secondly his painful right hand that he often broke, then the hatred and abuse of the public because of apartheid, and lastly his dad's obsession to over-train him, leaving him exhausted even before the start of a match."

Coetzee became South Africa's first world heavyweight title holder on 23 September 1983 when, against everyone's expectations, he knocked out WBA champion Michael Dokes in the tenth round - breaking his hand as he planted the powerful punch.

Big names

Training with American Jackie McCoy obviously paid off, and today Dr Comacho-Ali is courting her friend, the famous film star Robert de Niro, to play the part of McCoy.

Shooting is set to begin in South Africa in a few months' time with the last part of Against All Odds to be filmed in the US. Dr Comacho-Ali is finishing an autobiographical book about her 10-year marriage to Ali and a film about their decade together is also on the cards. The union produced four children and Ali's only son.

See a gallery of wonderful photos on all our websites of the media conference in Cape Town; the visit to Klaarstroom; as well as a must-see video interview with the filmmakers and the inimitable Dr Comacho-Ali at the Klaarstroom Hotel - an establishment praised by these five-star jet-setters as "one of the most charming in the world".

More articles about Roets and the filming of Against All Odds will soon appear online at www.oudtshoorncourant.com and all the other Group Editors websites.

The star-studded Klaarstroom Hotel fan club are, from left: US educator Dr Patricia Alldridge; US executive producer Kenddrie Utuk; power couple Eunice Visser and Koos Roets; New Millennium activist Dr Khalilah Comacho-Ali; Klaarstroom Hotel owner and Roets' Location Manager of 20 years, Jan van Deventer; and US agent to the stars, Mahomed Khan. Photo: Ilse Schoonraad