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That's right. A Captain Zeppos movie!
It's been a long time coming as it was initially announced as a
forthcoming production in January 2008 but the film, Zeppos: Het
Mercatorspoor (Zeppos: The Mercator Trail), finally
received its Belgian premiere on 30th March 2022. As was suggested
in 2008, this proved to be a completely new story and was not a
straight remake of any of the 1960s
Captain Zeppos serials.
Out of necessity, the
film featured a completely fresh cast, with the consequence that for
the first time someone other than the late Senne Rouffaer played the
character of Captain Zeppos. Whereas Rouffaer had been in his late
thirties and physically active when playing the part between 1964
and 1968, his successor, Carry Goossens, was in his late sixties,
the idea being that Goossens is an older version of the same
character seen previously. Considering that Senne Rouffaer was so
identified with the role, it was likely considered sensible to age
the character rather than draw direct comparisons by making the new
Captain Zeppos too much like the Rouffaer version.
Goossens had a long
and successful career in Belgian film and television prior to making
his debut as Captain Zeppos, with his screen career having commenced
in 1982. He had originally trained as a publicity designer and
worked in that field for two years prior to attending an acting
school in Antwerp. He is best known for De bossen van Vlaanderen
(The Forests of Flanders, 1991), De zonen van Van As (The
Sons of Van As, 2012) and F.C. De Kampioenen (F.C. The
Champions, 1990).
Alongside Goossens in the movie are young
actors Nathan Naenen as Benjamin Kurrel and
Britt Scholte as Slien Sleyp, with
Nicolas de Pruyssenaere playing an older Ben Kurrel from the
original serials.
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Making a welcome return was the
Captain's Amphicar, which was considered so synonymous with the
original series, despite only featuring in the 1968 episodes, that
it was incorporated on the
film poster. Arguably it is the
only recognisable element depicted in that poster. There was also a
nostalgic return to the iconic windmill location at
Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek. These inclusions in the film prove that
the filmmakers were keen to pay tribute to the fondly remembered
television source material.
Zeppos: Het Mercatorspoor - its running time a modest 90
minutes - was written by Wouter Van Haver and
directed by Douglas Boswell, and was noted for its affectionate
homages to 1980s action films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark
and Back to the Future - reputedly a directorial signature of
Boswell's. Filming commenced in June 2021 and the cast attended
a gala premiere at the Kinepolis cinema in Antwerp nine months
later, where the film was shown for the first time...
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