'It was such fun to make': SA's Evan Hengst on performing with big names in Hollywood action movie 'Novocaine'

"Meet Nathan Caine. He feels no pain."

That's the tagline for the Hollywood Christmas movie Novocaine, which was shot in South Africa and features our own rising star, Evan Hengst.

He performs alongside Jack Quaid, son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, and Ray Nicholson, who is Jack Nicholson’s son.

Quaid is in the lead role of Nathan Caine, an assistant bank manager who avoids risk because he has the real-life syndrome called congenital analgesia, or congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), which means his body doesn't warn him about dangerous situations with a pain response.

When he meets his dream girl (Amber Midthunder), Caine turns this "superpower" into an unexpected strength to get her back when she is abducted during a heist.

Amy MacIver chats to the young actor about the experience of filming with international A-listers.

Hengst describes himself as 'just a laaitie from Klerksdorp whose first love is acting. Best known for his breakout role in The Kissing Booth franchise, the performer showed early promise when he began acting in the early 2000s, winning the award for Best Actor at the Tshwane Youth Festival.

In spite of his "humble beginnings", Hengst says he was made to eel completely at home on the set of Novocaine.

"It was insane to be honest, walking on to set and being welcomed with open arms by all these A-listers - they're all just lovely people, really talented in what they do and to be considered a peer amongst them in that space was wild."

Novocaine is an action-packed movie which was really fun to make for everyone, Hengst says.

He plays one of the baddies in a scenario where the bank robbers are kitted out like Santa Claus.

"We all really got behind this movie - from the directors and actors down to the producers, it was one of those movies where everyone was so on board and we could just go and push it as far as we could... We gritted our teeth and threw each other around and I think it will come across how much fun we had making it. I had the best time."

Novocaine premiered on M-Net and is now streaming on Showmax.

A #1 box office hit in the US, the dark comedy action thriller has an 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus says the film gets "an adrenaline shot from Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder's considerable charm while finding increasingly demented ways to utilise its concept." 

To hear more about Evan Hengst's acting journey, listen to him in conversation with Amy MacIver on CapeTalk's Weekend Breakfast below: