Comic Con Africa 2024 is just over a month away (sorry for the reminder, crunching cosplayers), and that means an opportunity for meet-and-greets with various celebrities and special guests, like upcoming international attendees Joe Manganiello and Dan Fogler. That said, even if you don’t commit to a paid photo or autograph slot, you can see these stars interviewed on the Main Stage, and, typically, ask them questions when it’s the open floor portion of the segment. You gotta shoot your shot, after all.
To give fans some inspiration, we thought we’d revisit that time we sat down with actress Lesley-Ann Brandt at Comic Con Cape Town earlier this year. South African-born Lesley-Ann is probably best known for playing Mazikeen (AKA Maze), the Devil’s loyal right-hand demon in six seasons of Lucifer (2016-2021). With various other genre fare under her belt, ranging from Spartacus and The Librarians to The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Lesley-Ann is now Los Angeles based, and maintains a very active, entertaining and insightful Instagram account, where she invites fans into her life.
Thanks to the Comic Con organisers and PR team for setting up this interview.
Noelle (Pfangirl.com): Ice breaker question: what’s the first local food you eat when you get back to South Africa? Is there anything when you’re LA that you absolutely crave?
Lesley-Ann Brandt: I do make curry at home, but usually a family curry [is that first SA meal]. I’ll go to my family’s house, or my aunts and uncles.
Could you tell us in your own words the story of how Afrikaans became the language of hell in Lucifer?
Lesley-Ann Brandt: Well, I’ve personally never thought it was the most eloquent language it’s not musical like French, you know. It’s got a different sound, it’s quite guttural. Initially, they just wanted me to sort of make some weird sounds, which didn’t feel authentic to me. So, I said I’m going to use Afrikaans and this is what it sounds like, and they were like, great. I changed the octaves in my voice, and that’s how it became the language of hell.
That’s magical! Did you get any backlash from it? Us South Africans loved it.
Lesley-Ann Brandt: No! If I did, I didn’t see it.
It’s quite interesting, looking at your filmography. Between Lucifer, Spartacus, one of the new Walking Dead spinoffs, you do a lot of genre fare – the kind of thing that gets you invited to Comic Con. Was that something that you go looking for?
Lesley-Ann Brandt: I don’t actively set out to do that; they’ve somehow just sort of found their way to me.
I think in Hollywood there’s some amazing storytelling in comic book shows and films. I actually find sometimes through them you can touch on – in a way that doesn’t feel as confrontational to an audience – some real themes of acceptance. You know, for Mazikeen she’s a pansexual character, and that was just innately who the character was. We didn’t make a meal of it, it was just who she was. So you get to tell these real human stories; it’s just set in this fantastical world of a demon and the Devil.
Going further, are you really going to blame every bad decision you make in your life on a guy in a nice suit who runs a bar in Los Angeles? It doesn’t track. So, I think it made people question, “Maybe it’s the choices I make?” in a way.
Obviously the actors’ strike caused everything to stall for quite a while, is there anything next up for you?
Lesley-Ann Brandt: There are some things in play, but I am shooting a movie here in South Africa. It’s a comedy that I’m producing as well and starring in, so while I’ve been here I’ve been having some casting sessions for actors and looking at the local talent which we obviously want to highlight. That will probably be my next big thing.
Now here we are, dressed up to speak to you, and all around you are people dressed up as cosplayers. So, if you were in this environment, and you where dressing up as any character, who would it be? And you’re not allowed to say Mazikeen.
Lesley-Ann Brandt: Oh my gosh, and I have some costumes at home I could very easily just slip into it! Who would it be? Probably Storm, that’s always a fun one.
