Heart of the Hunter is a tense and dramatic adaptation of the novel by South African author Deon Meyer. Set against the backdrop of a post-apartheid South Africa and filmed almost entirely in the country’s Western Cape, the movie follows a retired assassin who is drawn back into action when a secret conspiracy is uncovered by his old friend.
With Heart of the Hunter being set in South Africa, it was always going to be made there, with most of the shoot taking place in the Western Cape. There are plenty of sweeping shots of some of the stunning landscapes found in South Africa, and the crew made the most of the vistas, as we watch our lead on a motorbike, racing across the wide open roads and mountain tracks with a backdrop of the Swartberg Mountains.
The city of Cape Town was utilized in filming and you can easily pick out the iconic Cape Town City Hall on Darling Street. The film itself opens with scenes set in Waterkloof, an upmarket suburb of Pretoria. The action then shifts to scenes set in Vlottenburg, located in Cape Town, as a covert operation takes place at an abandoned villa. Eagle-eyed location seekers will have noticed the striking venue used for filming the scenes with Zuko having a meal, and the shots were filmed at Louisvale Wines in Devon Valley Rd, Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa. The strangely shaped building was used for this scene, and is also used in the trailer. It is so unique it can be easily picked out as the filming location.
One other major filming location in Heart of the Hunter is the city of Maseru, which borders both South Africa and Lesotho.
Who produced Heart of the Hunter?
Heart of the Hunter is a Scene 23 production. The named producers are Tim Theron, Tracey Lang, Cobus van den Berg, Deon Meyer, and Jorrie van der Walt. Deon Meyer was also the author of the book that the film is based on, and is one of the writers of the screenplay, and Tim Theron plays the part of Tiger de Klerk in the film.
Production timeline
From page to screen, here’s a brief timeline of how Heart of the Hunter came to be:
- The book that Heart of the Hunter was based on was published in 2002, and once a production deal with Netflix was struck, it became a focus for adaptation.
- It was reported that filming had begun on the project in September 2022, wrapping up in November of the same year.
- In September 2023, Netflix announced a full rundown of all of the upcoming projects in collaboration with South Africa, including the film Heart of the Hunter and other South African-based films and TV series, such as Blood and Water Season 4 and A Soweto Love Story.
- Heart of the Hunter dropped on Netflix on March 29th, 2024.
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