Leandie du Randt on stepping into Veronika’s shoes in Koek Season 2

In a star-studded cast that includes acclaimed veterans Sandra Prinsloo and Frank Opperman, alongside strong performances from Cindy Swanepoel and Jacques Bessenger, Leandie du Randt delivers a standout performance in the second season of Koek, now streaming on DStv Stream.

What first appears to be the role of a glamorous woman on the arm of Bellville’s dangerous Tjoppie Terreblanche (Frank Opperman) soon reveals far greater depth. As Veronika’s story unfolds, audiences discover a layered character that challenged Leandie in new ways.

We caught up with the actress to find out more.

The second season of Koek is already past the halfway mark. Are you someone who watches your own work? And what goes through your mind when you see yourself on screen?

I usually wait until all the episodes are out, but it’s also such a love-hate relationship between watching yourself or not. I really want to watch this one because it’s the first time I’ve worked with Christiaan Olwagen, and that has been one of my biggest dreams for a long time.

I watch my work 100% to learn from it. I’m an incredibly honest person, and I’m not sensitive, so I love it when a director tells me: “That was c*ap, you can do better.” Tell me how I can do it better so that I can be proud afterwards, rather than trying to spare my feelings on the day. Ultimately, it’s my job to listen to you, the director. That’s why I’m an actor and not a director. I want your vision to be realised because it’s not about me. It’s about that character and the story, and us telling it together as best we can.

What was challenging about Veronika?

Christiaan tried to explain to me one day that I, Leandie, am a labrador, but my character is a cat. So, I first have to completely change animal personality before I step into Veronika, because Leandie kept coming out. And that’s actually something I do a lot with my roles. Yes, it’s inevitable that you plough a part of yourself into your roles, you simply have to do it. But the parts of you that match the character, you have to turn up, and the parts that aren’t the same, you have to turn down.

Coincidentally, I’ve always played roles that are more or less very similar to me, but this one is quite different, and Veronika also expresses herself completely differently. We match in that we are both strong women who believe in standing up for yourself, but we live and express it in completely different ways.

Actors are rather insecure creatures. We always and constantly want to hear: “Well done! Lovely! Here’s a round of applause for you, you did it right.” But that’s not how TV works. So, TV is actually a very thankless job, and that’s why you have to work very hard on your self-confidence and your motivation, because you don’t necessarily get that direct feedback or approval from the director on set or even from the public.

That’s actually also why I’m only going to watch the series once all the episodes are out, so that I can get feedback from people I look up to and trust. I will look at what viewers have said, but ultimately I have to decide for myself how I feel about it, rather than letting their reaction influence me.

Tell me about the evolution of your relationship with Veronika. How did it change between the time you met her on paper and the day you filmed your last scene?

I always wish one could shoot a series a second time, after the character and the story have sat with you a bit.

Because really, as you get to know her, it’s like the friend at school who you first thought was rough, but then you get to know her, and you realise how much compassion you have for her and how sweet she is and that she also just wants love and is just a normal person. But you judged her so much at first. That’s exactly how it was for me with Veronika. And it takes me a while when I play a character who is so different from me, to just go: “It’s okay, it’s okay. You can’t judge her.”

I asked Christiaan a lot: “Why the fck is she sleeping with this guy if she can just run away? It doesn’t make sense to me. Is she stupid? Why doesn’t she just get into her car and f** off?”

And then he says: “It’s good that you ask such questions, because you aren’t going to be able to play her if you keep judging her. You are going to have to decide why, if she is so strong, she acts like this. You are going to have to find a reason. You are going to have to convince the person watching it of what that reason is.”

I remember Brümilda van Rensburg told me years ago: “If you ever play an antagonist, you must play her in a way that people can like her. They must be able to understand why she is there. Even if she is such a sh*tty person as she is, there is still someone who loves her. Or there is still a reason. So that viewers start to feel sorry for her and understand her rather than hating her.”

And that’s a fine line when you play someone like that, because I think it’s one of the biggest challenges in acting. What I found in my work is to first go: “Okay, I’m not going to judge her. I’m going to try to love her and have empathy with her and see how I can sell her to the viewers.”

Tell me where you think your work as a presenter, actress, writer and motivational speaker overlaps the most?

It’s like a body. Your heart needs your blood, needs oxygen, needs this or that. And sometimes we break our ankle and then we learn to walk without it. When one part is unavailable, you use the other.

Like with the motivational talks, I learn how important it is to be grateful for the people who show up at my talks and that I realise they are the people who watch my show and ensure that I can stay on TV.

When I’m on set again and I’m doing TV work, then I realise again how grateful I am to just be able to be myself, because you are so in someone else’s life all day that when you’re at home and you wash the make-up off, you realise the nicest thing is to be yourself.

When I talk to guests on Gesels, I learn a lot about other people again. Sometimes, I see something in someone that I can remember to use for a character.

My social media helps me to market all these things. And I wouldn’t have my social media platform without my TV work.

It’s like the body of Christ, that’s how my works all connect. I think the Lord knew I was going to get too bored with one thing. With my life I am very blessed, because one hand truly washes the other.

What are you currently working on that you can share with people?

I am in the process of writing a book together with my father. He has already taught me so much, and I have been asking him for a long time now when he is going to write a book.

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