People: For Luke, the ‘Fire’ began in his belly

Derek Luke faced a problem when he arrived in South Africa to star in “Catch a Fire,” in which he plays anti-apartheid hero Patrick Chammusso.

He looked healthy, and no one would buy the notion of a black South African man looking healthy in 1980.

“I had been told that I had to lose weight to play the role,” Luke says.

“My method for losing weight is to hop on the treadmill. But when I got to South Africa, they said I looked too lean and muscular.”

So he went on a crash diet that took off 20 pounds of muscle.

“The people in South African weren’t thin because they went to the gym,” Luke says. “They didn’t have enough food.

“The psychological challenge (of going without food) does something to you,” he adds. “It was prep work for the role that I couldn’t do any other way.”

Luke also conducted lengthy interviews with Chammusso, who was arrested as a suspected member of an anti-apartheid military operation.

He wasn’t part of the group then, but the beatings he received in prison turned him into one. When he eventually was released from jail, he joined the armed struggle against the repressive white rule.

“I went to him with a list of interview questions, but he started interviewing me,” Luke says. “The first thing he asked me was if I know Beyonce. I said, ‘No, I don’t. And that’s not what I’m here for. Let’s get serious.’ “

Luke, who was only 7 when Chammusso led his first mission, didn’t know much about the history of apartheid when he arrived in South Africa. But he quickly immersed himself in the subject, including visiting Robben Island, the infamous prison where Nelson Mandela was held.

He went into the tiny isolation cell in which Mandela spent most of the 27 years of his incarceration and lay down in the spot where the civil rights leader had slept.

“As an African American, it was very difficult to relate to the way so many paid for their freedom with blood and pain,” he says.

“In America, we enjoy such a comfortable life. It’s not until you go to a place like South Africa that you realize how blessed we are.”

Luke has played several real people onscreen, beginning with the title character in “Antwone Fisher.” For the most part, he has followed the conventional wisdom that an actor should avoid spending time with their subject because of the danger of becoming just an impersonator, rather than someone who fully inhabits the role.

He decided to ignore that advice when it came to playing Chammusso.

“To me, this movie isn’t so much about the person as it is about the message,” he says. “It’s about having heart. It’s about the human spirit.

“It’s about a guy who says, ‘I’ve taken enough. Now what can I do to change things?’ “

The birthday bunch

Singer-actress Melba Moore is 61. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 59. Actress Kate Jackson is 58. Singer Randy Jackson (The Jacksons) is 45. Actress Joely Fisher is 39. Actress Winona Ryder is 35. Actress Gabrielle Union is 33. Actor Brendan Fehr (“Roswell”) is 29.