After surviving a near-death shooting, renowned local actor Vuyo Dabula will make his return to acting in “The Butcher’s Soul”.
The African Movie Academy Award nominee joins a star-studded cast for the Showmax Original film. They include the Saftas-winning Melusi Mbele in the lead, who returns to the screen after leaving “Scandal!” in June.
The rest of the cast includes fellow Saftas winner and “Gomora” star Katlego Danke, Zinhle Mabena, who featured on “Shaka iLembe”, and Bokang Phelane from “Blood Psalms’.
The action movie is directed by Kagiso Samuel Leburu, who won the Made for TV Film Golden Horn for his debut feature, “Okae Molao”.
His latest movie “Month End” recently made its debut at the Durban International Film Festival (Diff). In addition, four-time Saftas winner Adze Ugah, who also worked on “Shaka iLembe”, is the stunt director.
The flick centres on a butcher (Mbele), whose family suffers a deadly attack. He is then granted seven days by the Angel of Death to bring her the guilty souls in exchange for his daughter’s life.
Meanwhile, Dabula, who is no stranger to the industry after starring in various productions such as “Five Fingers for Marseilles”, “Queen Sono” and “Generations”, returns to acting after being involved in a gun violence incident in December 2022.
He took a one-year hiatus from the entertainment industry and spent much of it recuperating.
“I’ve been hitting the gym quite hard, and I am now fully recovered. I’ve also been focusing on recovering mentally and spiritually from that horrible near-death experience,” he told “The Citizen” last month.
He added: “The most fulfilling part has been having time for myself to introspect and figure things out, as well as reconnecting with important relationships.
“The entertainment and film industry can be demanding, so having this time to solidify and anchor relationships has been invaluable.”
Dabula, who is also a model, also bagged a leading role in a SunBet advertisement.
On his role in “The Butcher’s Soul”, he said: “After the ad, I worked on a film for ShowMax, playing a cool character who is a baddie. He starts as a good man but becomes quite bad.”
∎ “The Butcher’s Soul” will premiere on Showmax from August 2.