Get to know your faves ahead of the premiere…
Busi Lurayi who plays the character of Tumi…
Glamour: How excited are you to be a part of the amazing production?
Busi: Excited is an undertone. I am beyond excited to be a part of a global network such as Netflix. It's such a lovely extension to my career so I’m excited to move internationally and to do a body of work that is entertaining, fun and relatable.
Glamour: The series is a Netflix original, what does it mean to you to get a stamp from Netflix?
Busi: Firstly, the cast and crew that I worked with, are phenomenal, and already of an international standard. It’s wonderful to be affirmed by the people you work with. The affirmations are the people you looked forward to working with, who’ve been stars for years. For Netflix to say, “yes, we choose you,” I mean…it’s a lot of pressure but welcomed.
Glamour: Let’s talk about your character, would you say Tumi is the black sheep of the family, can you relate?
Busi: I think at some point, most of us do. We’ve lived a life of being misunderstood by family. This is what creates the dysfunction of family, not everyone is alike. Boitumelo Sello is refreshingly flawed but she’s relatable in a sense that she’s a bit of a mess at times, she’s quite the rebel but at the end of the day, she’s a sister, daughter and friend. Black sheep? I’m not so sure I’d take it that far, slightly bad mannered? Yes I’d agree! She’s enjoyable and fun. Misunderstood and complex characters are really enjoyable to play and watch.
Thando Thabethe who plays the character of Beauty…
Glamour: It’s been a big year for you with regard to your acting career so what does it mean to you to be a part of such an exciting production, endorsed by Netflix?
Thando: ‘How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding’ is going to be seen by 195 million subscribers in 190 countries so I think it’s about time we take South African stories to the world. For too long, we’ve had everyone else, except us telling our stories, and to be affiliated with Netflix is really awesome!
Glamour: What went into preparing for this specific role and what would you attribute your great comedic timing to?
Thando: I’ve been fortunate in doing a lot of comedy, I’ve done a few romantic comedies and feature films in the same genre, including the Ramaphakela siblings’ very first series, ‘My Perfect Family’, for three seasons, so I think I’m pretty seasoned in this genre. It was exciting to come back from something intense (Housekeepers) to making people happy. I’m really excited! What went into preparing for the role? I think the whole set up of how we shot it was preparation for it. You’re quarantined with some of the funniest people in South Africa, probably the greatest director, Johnny Barbuzano to do it, and an incredible script! It’s all set up for you; you just have to show up!
Glamour: Can we talk about the colorful family dynamics? The storyline is relatable and crazy in the most beautiful way...
Thando: I think we can all relate, we all have either the drunk uncle, the misfit cousin, or the sister you know will mess everything up…it really doesn’t matter where in the world you’re from, you’re able to identify either yourself or somebody in your family. It’s the dynamics that make the show so colorful.
Sandile Mahlangu who plays the character of Sbu…
Glamour: We’ve seen you on our screens before but would you say this is your biggest role to date?
Sandile: Most definitely! This is one of my biggest roles and I’m definitely excited for the world to see what I’ve done with Sbu Twala. People have seen me so they’ve seen the previous things that I’ve done but this character is completely that way. I wanted a role that could stretch my range, and show it to the people out there so Netflix is just helping me out.
Glamour: Please take us through the process of preparing for your role?
Sandile: I first needed to understand the type of person Sbu Twala is; he’s from a political family who are now regarded as the new money of the place. He was born into the money so he’s a little different from the rest of the family. His family throws money at everything, when all he ever wanted was love but wasn’t getting it. They just kept giving him money so he tried to look for love elsewhere, and found the love of his life in Beauty Sello. She’s also going through her own stuff... trying to be the perfect bride and everything to her family. I understood that, and where the character was, so my main goal was to find love and that’s how I adapted it inside of me…what is love? Where is it? How do I find it? How do I work through the script, and how do I produce that? That was my process.
Glamour: There are a lot of funny moments in the series, were there times where you absolutely couldn’t contain your laughter?
Sandile: Definitely! But because we’re very professional actors, we remained in the scene, which is very important. The show is a romantic comedy and very dramatic as well. It has strong, dramatic influences, and because of that, we don’t play slapstick when we’re in character, we’re really focusing more on the scene itself. I’ll be honest though; there were lots of moments where you think to yourself, I might crack up here!
Don’t miss the premiere of How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding on Netflix, on the 16th of December.
