As celebrities prepare for the biggest night in Hollywood, a film producer pays tribute to the star of his Oscar-nominated film.
Triangle of Sadness producer Erik Hemmendorff recalled South African model and actress Charlbi Dean as a “one of a kind” performer as he prepared to attend the Los ceremony without Dean, who most recently died of bacterial sepsis Angeles to attend August at the age of just 32.
Dean had been acting perfectly normally and was spotted sparring in a boxing class just days before she was rushed to a hospital in New York City, where she shockingly died just hours later. Her family later explained that she had her spleen removed after a serious car accident in 2008, leaving her more vulnerable to infections like the one that took her life.
The news came just two weeks before the start of a planned North American press tour and five weeks before the planned US release of Triangle of Sadness.
The film would become Dean’s breakthrough role, in which she played a spoiled influencer named Yaya, who boards a superyacht for a luxury vacation, only for the ship to sink and the super-rich to be stranded on a desert island.
Critics hailed her performance, calling her “a star in the making” – and there’s little doubt she would have been among the stars on Sunday night’s red carpet.
Charlbi Dean was set to become a star for her role in Triangle of Sadness when she died of bacterial sepsis last August at the age of 32
She plays a spoiled influencer named Yaya, who boards a superyacht for a luxury vacation in the Oscar-nominated film Triangle of Sadness
Explaining how well she played the role of a spoiled influencer named Yaya, Hemmendorff told The Hollywood Reporter: “[Charlbi]was a bunch, a very easygoing, cool person. We were all talking about who this character might be, and then someone said, “That sounds like Charlbi.”
“So we reached out to her and asked her, ‘Would you come to Sweden for two days because we won’t give you a role if you don’t do an actual casting with Ruben in our office.’ And she just did. She flew over and I mean it was there right away. We have a very specific way of shooting and working.
Hemmendorff continues: “There are hierarchies, but we really work with people who enjoy working hard in such a creative environment. And she was just one of those people who always made everyone feel great.
“You can do as many takes as you want. She was always ready for the next one, a pro. The nicest, easygoing person, very hardworking. She was unique.’
Hemmendorff’s glowing praise for the South African-born Dean’s good-natured professionalism stands in stark contrast to the character she played in Triangle of Sadness.
Yaya, the model and social media star portrayed by Dean, is shallow and entitled, but the fictional diva gets into trouble when a free yacht cruise she accepts goes disastrously wrong.
The Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw later described Dean as “a star in the making”.
Triangle of Sadness is nominated at the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
It won the prestigious Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and received an eight-minute standing ovation from an ecstatic audience at the annual film event.
Dean was being revered as the “Star in the Making” at the time of her sudden death. She is pictured here at the Netflix Spiderhead premiere in June
Dean’s death came just weeks before the US premiere of Triangle of Sadness. She is seen here with her castmates Vicki Berlin, Woody Harrelson and director Ruben Ostlund
Triangle of Sadness won the prestigious Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and received an eight-minute standing ovation from a rapt audience at the annual film event
The film’s director, Rüben Ostlund, recalled how poignant it was to promote the film without the actress, telling Yahoo, “We were just about to go out and do this [press] tour together and go to Toronto and leave the whole cast there to present the film together.
“And suddenly there’s a job missing. Someone does not stand there and take part of the earnings for work. So that was something that felt really, really sad on an unexpected level.
Agreeing that the film would likely have boosted Dean’s career, he said, “She may have worked as a model and was an actress before, but it felt like this was a bit of a crossroads [her career] was on the way somewhere [exciting].’
Ostlund said he hopes the film itself will serve as a memorial to Dean, and revealed that he finds solace in knowing that Dean’s family was thrilled with her performance and the rave reviews.
Director Erik Hemmendorf, pictured last month, recalled Dean as a “one of a kind” actor in a recent interview
Dean is pictured here with her fiancé, Luke Volker, in a picture posted to his Instagram
Dean is survived by her mother, Joann Mueller, and her brother, Alex Jacobs (pictured).
Dean worked as a child model and attended the Waterfront Theater School in her hometown of Cape Town as a teenager.
She appeared in local television productions and the American superhero series Black Lightning before landing the role in Triangle of Sadness.
The sudden death of the young actress sparked a worldwide flood of tributes.
Dean is survived by parents Joanne Mueller and Johan Kriek, as well as her brother Alex Jacobs and fiancé Luke Volmer, a South African actor and model.