Zimbabwean comedian and online content creator King Kandoro recently dropped a trailer for a Mukoma Bruce, a local adaptation of what it would be like if Batman was Zimbabwean. I’m a DC fanboy and this piqued my interest. Batman is, after all, one of the most popular comic book characters even though he comes off like a domestic terrorist.
I was curious about how the concept came about and luckily Kandoro was game to answer some of my questions.
1. How did you arrive at a Batman of all the characters?
“Oh, that was the easiest part, of all the “superheros” Batman doesn’t have the stress of figuring out supernatural things like flying, or shooting webs. He’s basically an overzerlous guy who took matters into his own hands. So now make that any guy from Mabvuku.”
“Budget wise, it’s the cheapest hero to execute hahaha”
2. What sort of preparation did you do to adapt the characters in Batman to all things Zimbabwe?
“None at all. 😂 Because we didn’t want to restrict ourselves and be judged on how well we interpreted the actual Batman story. So beyond the basic Batman story, and character names we just made the whole thing as Zimbabwean as we can.”
“What we wanted to do was just tell a fun story that people could enjoy, maybe provide a little distraction from the day to day. That’s really it.”
3. Are you adapting Mukoma Bruce from any particular Batman comic or movie?
“Not any Batman movie or comic book in particular.”
4. What was the production cycle like? And how long did it take to make it?
“This concept of a Batman parody started as a joke on my Twitter back in 2018. I was just goofing around trying to imagine what a Zimbabwean batman would be like.”
“The tweet went viral and people were also throwing their own suggestions and it stuck with me. I started developing the pilot script which I then pitched to Shumba Money and fortunately they liked it.”
“So here we are. It took 8 days to film the 9 episodes in season 1.”
5. What sort of budget were you working with for the production of Mukoma Bruce?
“I’m not sure I can get into the specific amounts, but I am confident to say there hasn’t been a startup corporation that has supported a creative project in Zimbabwe on that level in recent memory, maybe ever. This is why it’s very important to me that startups like Shumba Money are protected.”
“Very rarely do you come across a project where everyone walks away from a production set having been fully paid their dues? I hope this inspires more corporations to show up to the party, the creatives are ready. Big up Shumba Money!”
6. What challenges did you face making Mukoma Bruce?
“Hmmm, nothing beyond the ordinary to be honest, ZESA cuts here and there, transport issues. Someone stole the battery of the kombi we were using to get around, hahaha. But really the principal, Shumba Money made sure that all the basics were taken care of, so we could focus on executing the idea.”
7. What did you learn about yourselves, the production process, location scouting etc while filming Mukoma Bruce?
“For me personally, this was an exciting pace to step away from my usual world of political satire. In that world you have to come correct, fact checking and teleprompters, and research. So I took this as an opportunity to show my range as a writer and performer, so I am very excited to share this body of work with the people.”
“And I think I speak for everyone I worked with on this one when I say, the thing we realised the most was just how talented we are as a people, we are so able. We have the talent to content internationally if ever the opportunity comes.”
8. Was it easy or difficult to find the talent that met your vision for the project?
“Meeting the vision was probably the easiest part because I was working with some incredibly talented individuals. The entire College Central team handled production, I’ve always been a fan and I’m glad we got this opportunity to work together.”
“Casting wise I don’t think we could have done any better than Musa Saruro, Michael K, Stella Chimunda, Kim Kute and Kizito Mawoko. These are brilliant brilliant people, some of whom I had worked with before and jumped at the opportunity to do so again.”
9. Is this the start of a Madhorofiya Cinematic Universe?
Hahahha whose nose man, whose nose! Maybe. (And no, that’s not a typo)
Let me what you think about this project from a content creation perspective as well as a fan of DC. I know there are a lot of movie and TV fans in the Techzim community and we would really be interested to hear what you guys think.
Mukoma Bruce will be on YouTube on the 22nd of June 2022 and you can check it out (when it’s out) with the link here.
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Last month we were able to catch up with King Kandoro to talk about the goings-on in Zimbabwe primarily the Economy. You can listen to or download that conversation with the player below. Alternatively, you can click the link here
If you prefer to watch it then you can click the link here to go straight to YouTube. While you are watching please consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, our stats show that most of our viewers are not subscribers and we would very much like to have you in our community. Also like, leave your thoughts in the comments and if you enjoy the content, share it with a friend.
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3 comments
haha mukoma bruce wayne😂😂i cant
“tell me captain mfombhi do u bleed?”🌚
“tell me captain mfombi do u bleed?”