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PRESS RELEASE 3 19
June 2000 MAKING METAMORPHOSIS: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF GRANNY LEE Metamorphosis: The Remarkable Journey of Granny Lee is a 52-minute documentary exploring the life of one of South Africa's most outrageous characters directed by award-winning director Luiz DeBarros and produced by Underdog Entertainment. Metamorphosis will be broadcast on the 30th of July 2000 on SABC 3 at 9.00pm. The idea of producing a documentary on the life of Granny Lee came about when Director Luiz DeBarros was working on the development of an unrelated project and came across the story of Granny Lee. The more research he undertook on Lee the more he realised that her incredible story would make for a fascinating documentary. Thus towards the middle of 1999, together with Producer Marc Schwinges, Underdog Entertainment officially took on development of the project and began to present it to a number of potential partners and broadcasters. Eddie Manzingana of SABC 3 ultimately undertook to commission Metamorphosis: The Remarkable Journey of Granny Lee in March 2000. The only condition would be that it had to be on air by July of the same year. The race was on. The first step was to track down an audio interview of Granny Lee recorded shortly before her death. After securing the tape Luiz and Marc finally heard the voice of Lee. "I felt shivers down my spine when I finally heard Lee's voice. It very much made Lee a real person for me" says Luiz. The interview, in which Lee recounted her life story, was a valuable source of information for the project. Together, Luiz and researcher David Stein travelled to Kimberley and Durban and scoured the Johannesburg gay club scene for leads and contacts. It soon became apparent that Lee had fabricated much of her own myth and identity. "I was very interested in the idea of the character undergoing a change of identity, gender and even race. The project became very much about this notion of created identity. How Lee created her own legend", explains Luiz. Shooting began in May in Johannesburg and moved on to Kimberley and then Durban, finally continuing in Johannesburg. The project was shot on two completely digital formats helmed by talented young Director of photography Robert Malpage. One camera was a high-end broadcast format while the other mini-DV camera allowed for grittier and more atmospheric hand-held shots. During the shoot there was a sense of Lee overseeing the whole affair. "We started getting paranoid that the ghost of Granny Lee was making her presence felt," laughs Robert. "Equipment would mysteriously fail and then without explanation begin working again, records and documents often disappeared and one of Granny Lee's bracelets inexplicably turned up on the floor of a friend's house during an interview," Luiz explains. After the interviews had been shot with friends and family of Lee around the country, the crew hunkered down for the gruelling recreations. Ruth Barter was chosen to play the role of Lee, because of her resemblance to Lee as well as her dedication and enthusiasm. "We would pitch up at a club like Therapy or Stardust with Ruth in costume as Lee and just see what would happen" laughs Luiz, "Ruth was really into it. She threw herself into the crowds and they loved her. Many commented that she made for a very believable Granny Lee", he adds. Art Director Anton Noortman, who knew Lee himself, offered to take on the task of overseeing both wardrobe and makeup. "With a very limited budget, we had to depend on the kindness of strangers" he laughs. Nevertheless Anton was able to cobble together an impressive range of authentic looking, outrageous costumes, hats and feather boas in which to clothe Ruth Barter. When the production period came to an exhausting end, editing took place under the manic hand of hot, young, off-line editor Karen Bosch at Visual Assault together with director Luiz DeBarros. "It was a very extreme three weeks of late nights and take-aways to get it finished on time and produce a truly creative edit" explains Marc Schwinges. "We made use of the interview's and recreations we had shot, together with archive material including hundreds of photographs, video footage, newspaper clippings and the audio tape of Lee's interview. We also were able to use Lee's final farewell message which was played at her wake causing much confusion at the time," says Luiz. A voiceover script was written by Luiz based on Lee's own words from the audio interview, which would allow Lee to, in a sense, narrate her own story. "I stayed very close to the words she used, just adding small bits here and there to make it flow better," explains Luiz, "I think she would approve". Underdog Entertainment anticipates submitting Metamorphosis to the global festival circuit to promote the project internationally. "We believe it's a uniquely South African story, but from a fresh and outrageous perspective which we hope will surprise audiences around the word. Initial international interest has already been high - before the film was even seen," explains Marc. "I think we've been true to the spirit of what Granny Lee was about," says Director Luiz DeBarros. "It's not just a story of an outrageous or sordid character - it's about someone having the guts to be who they want to be and breaking all the rules in the process. It's about a truly unique and brave life. That's something to be celebrated". For more information on Granny Lee visit the entertaining and interactive Granny Lee website. Media professionals can access print quality images and press releases directly off the site in the "press" division under "the documentary" section of the site. The website can be accessed at http://www.grannylee.co.za Underdog Entertainment is an acclaimed, progressive, South African film, television and new media entertainment content Development and Production Company. Founded in 1993, on the cusp of the convergence of film, television, music, video-on-demand, advertising and the Internet, Underdog is poised to conquer a New World of entertainment opportunities. Highlights have included the production of the acclaimed two-hour television documentary Death (now distributed internationally). Death won three awards at the prestigious 1998 Avante Awards, including Gold in the documentary category. It was also the highest rated local documentary on SABC 3 in history at the time. Metamorphosis will be broadcast on the 30th of July 2000 on SABC 3 at 9.00pm. For further publicity material or more information on this project please contact: Producer Marc Schwinges at Underdog Entertainment Tel: +27 (011) 380-3232 Fax: +27 (011) 380-3233 E-Mail: grannylee@underdog.co.za WWW: http://www.grannylee.co.za -ends- < back to press release list >
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© Underdog Entertainment 2000