Montana actress
Chantal Stanfield writes a special guest column for us about her experiences on the show. Chantal plays rich-witch Dalene Phillips, who uses her cash to promote her dubious, often sex-andalous agendas. Here's Part 7 of her column: The Wicked Witch of Montana ...
Oh, bathong! Last week’s episode! I love watching Montana because, although I’ve read the script and kind of know what’ll happen next, I haven’t seen the performances.
Vatiswa (Ayanda Tini) was crazy-good last week - crazy in that she tried to kill herself but good with her finally, finally, telling Richard to phuma! Oh, and she did it so well from that hospital bed - that smug-mug of Richard’s fell so wonderfully when he realised she was talking to him and not Malusi (Chumani Pan).
Things really start falling apart for Richard now. Nolitha’s little cat-and-mouse games are also getting far too close to home with her fiancé smelling a big, fat, ugly rat - does anyone else think Victor’s being too much of a nice-guy, being so accommodating of Nolitha?
He should remember good guys always finish last.
Then there’s the side-story that no-one’s paying enough attention to - detectives Skillie and Yvonne are still trekking up and down looking for the culprit who killed the poor sod in the plastic at the sod-turning ceremony (excuse the pun!) at the Khula Cultural Centre at the beginning of the series - and they have some very promising leads …
Then of course, Charles paid a most unwelcome visit to Dalene’s house. And Winston came within a whisker of uncovering all of Dalene’s dealings. In the weeks to come, she’ll see (and feel) that Charles' threats are not empty. Like he said, she messed with the wrong guy, she doesn’t know what he’s capable of.
I mentioned before a long-winded scene (my fault!) was coming up. Winston will be forced off the road this week (I think?), enters the salon in a state and Dalene has her misgivings and suspicions swirling around her head.
We’ve seen Winston, thus far, as being a bit aloof, unaware and oblivious to what his darling wife is up to. The kind of guy who doesn’t see anything. Maybe that’s just the front he’s put on. Maybe he suspects far more than he lets on… It’ll become clearer in the weeks to come that Winston is every bit as powerful as his wife - he just uses his connections differently.
Right about now, also look out for the smooth-talking, gorgeous Bruce Hall. He will make Dalene a business offer she can’t refuse - we all know Dalene’s eyes are far too big for her head! She falls for his good looks and charm (who wouldn’t) and believes that his plan will save her from Charles’ retribution and vengeful nature. That remains to be seen …
Now, I promised to chat about some of my fellow actors. One lovely lady I met for the first time and instantly liked was Ayanda Tini, who happens to play my lover’s wife. Funny, that!
Ayanda’s been working at Good Hope FM for a while and, to my knowledge, is now trying to break back into the acting world at the same time as the radio gig. Incidentally, she’s not the only one - Az (Winston) is also a dj for Heart Fm.
Ayanda is did so well, I believe. Her character is one of the most difficult to play in Montana because of all the heavy emotional turmoil Vatiswa goes through. Can you imagine how traumatic it is for an actor to ‘try to commit suicide’ for a job and then go home and be ‘all good’? It ain’t easy at all. You need to have a strong coping mechanism in place to ensure that it doesn’t affect you on a deeper level.
Ayanda and I got on like a house on fire. I think it’s partly because our characters were so crazy that we were able to find common ground as actors. And the girl is fun-ny!
We’d be comparing our wedding rings (the characters’!), talking in American accents like, “Girl, you best be steppin’ off my man, don’t make me take my ring off”. Then we’d go into a fake-fight - you know how they do it in those music videos - taking off the rings and earrings and shoes and putting our fists up! Hilarious!
Behind-the-scenes:
• Like Beyonce’s song - I’m a Diva. I am! And if you give me a character like Dalene, of course I’m gonna act out. But in a funny way so that everybody knows I’m not being serious.
One such instance was when we started shooting at Richard’s house. I’d just sat in the make-up chair and was getting done up. And I pulled out that American accent and started a’tirade’ which went like this, “Who are all these other people? What is your job? What? You wanna know why ya here? You know ya just here for me! Ain’t no-one else here more important than me! Y’all just here for me! Gimme ya paycheck, I’ll take it cause ya just here for me!”
It really was stupid-funny. I hope nobody outside of make-up heard me and thought I was being for real…!
Okay, I have it on good authority that the rest of Montana’s episodes won’t be interrupted by the kicking of soccerballs and the blowing of vuvuzelas. So, from here on out, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. Best fasten your seatbelts and strap yourselves in tightly.