Melkbosstrand’s Ivan Zimmerman plays a hippie in South Africa’s latest action comedy, Thys & Trixie.
The film is about police-officer siblings Thys and Trixie who go undercover as a married couple to investigate a crime syndicate on an exclusive golf estate outside Mossel Bay.
There are hilarious consequences as the two get closer to their list of suspects, including hippie swingers Ben and June Marais, who don’t shy away from physical contact with other people.
Zimmerman, who has lived in Melkbosstrand for16 years, says it was fun playing Ben.
“Just to be morally out of line was super.”
Many may remember him for his role as Koert Weideman in the M-Net soapie Egoli: Place of Gold.
In Thys & Trixie, his leading lady, June, played by Chanelle de Jager, was also his co-star in Egoli.
Zimmerman was confident he would get the part of Ben when he found out he was going to appear opposite De Jager.
“We worked on Egoli at the same time, and we are very comfortable around each other,” he says. Zimmerman is an avid mountain biker, surfer, stand-up paddle boarder and singer songwriter.
“I love living in Melkbosstrand because it’s close to the sea. I love the ocean.”
He started his career in the entertainment industry in 1999 performing on stage and television.
Besides Egoli, he also appeared in other television shows: 7de Laan, Interrogation Room, Dit wat Stom is, and Villa Rosa.
He has landed big-screen roles in Platteland, Die Spook van Union, and Die Pro among others.
Zimmerman also tackles challenging cycling adventures for the Can-a-Kilo campaign, which raises one can of food for each cycled kilometre to feed the hungry.
He has done cycling expeditions from Cape to Cairo and from Beijing to Istanbul, raising thousands of cans in the process.
Thys & Trixie is an “original film with great actors”, says Zimmerman. “It’s a relaxing movie to watch. It’s not heavy, and there is no political backdrop. People can just go and laugh their asses off.”
