Elani Dekker, who plays leading lady and ‘bosvrou’, Karoliena Kapp, tells The Insider SA more about the production. “Toorbos is about a young girl who grew up in the 1930s in the forest and was a part of the forest people. They had their own culture, they lived and breathed the forest, and the forest was their identity. It’s about the love triangle that Karoliena has between the forest and this man that she meets and loves, and how to deal with social norms compared to what her own truth is and what she stands for”. On the other hand, leading man Stiaan Smith plays Johannes – a rich, city slicker who falls in love with Karoliena and tries to ‘civilise’ her through marriage, offering her a ‘better life’.
The chemistry was palpable both on and off the screen as the film’s two stars found themselves falling in love even after the cameras stopped rolling. Working together whilst falling in love came with its obvious challenges, so the couple neatly hid that they secretly liked each other. Now that the production has wrapped, Elani and Stiaan return to the scene of their romance – the forest.