Cas Jansen on André Hazes' guest role in All Stars: 'At some point he was done with it'

The film All Stars was a big hit in 1997, so director Jean van de Velde decided it was time for a television series as a successor. Cas was not in the film, but had already had a good connection with Jean after their collaboration in the thriller Lek . Antonie Kamerling was also interested in a role in the series, but he did not want a permanent role. The director knew what to do with that.

"How cool would it be if Hero, played by Antonie, had a little brother, Nemo," he suggested, according to Cas, who was enthusiastic about the 'wink in the names'. "Hero, that means everything and Nemo means nothing." The rest is history.

Cas thought All Stars was a 'wonderful time'. Shooting with the guys made for a period of 'nothing but fun'. "It was such a talented cast. One actor knew how to make a funnier joke than the other actor."

"There was a lot of improvisation," Cas continues. "I think a lot of what you've seen on television is made up on the spot." There was a relaxed atmosphere on the set and according to Cas, you can see that in the episodes. "And at the end of the day, we always had a beer with all the actors."

Cas says he embraced his alter ego Nemo from the very beginning. "The nice thing about the role is that Nemo lets everything slide. He looks at everything from the positive side." As an actor, Cas is used to bringing heaviness to a character, but with Nemo that wasn't necessary. "There were no problems with Nemo." The writers always managed to come up with something new for his character. For example, Nemo converted to Islam in All Stars 2: Old Stars . A stroke of genius, according to the actor.

However, he also has a critical note: "Nemo couldn't play football at all and I'm a fanatic footballer." In the series, the character Mark, played by Peter Paul Muller, was swearing when Nemo had to go onto the field. During the match scenes, Cas had to restrain himself: "I wasn't allowed to play too well."

About colleague Roeland Fernhout, who played Bram, he says: "He wasn't good at football at all. He had to shoot a penalty for a scene. That took the whole afternoon," he says laughing. Thomas Acda (Willem), Raymi Sambo (Paul) and Dirk Zeelenberg (Bram) were also 'not talented with the ball at their feet', according to Cas.

Cas played Antonie's television brother for years. He was at work when he heard that Antonie had died. "I was shocked. It was very sad. Even when I still think about it." The two saw each other regularly on set. "He also worked on Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden . There were parallels in our careers."

Cas was 'very upset' by the death. In the second All Stars film, a special tribute was paid to Antonie. "That was very emotional when we shot those scenes."

The late André Hazes Sr. was also a fan of All Stars . "He asked himself if he could be in All Stars ," says Cas. More famous Dutch people hoped to get a role in the series, but a storyline was actually written for André. "If André Hazes wants to, we'll write something for him," the producer had said.

The Blood, Sweat and Tears singer arrived a few hours late on set. His scenes with chairman Willem, played by Jack, started out nice, but the atmosphere on set quickly changed. "At one point he was completely done with it." He disappeared into a bar and never returned. Eventually Jack, of whom the folk singer was a fan, managed to convince him to shoot the last scene after all.

After three seasons, the men were done. "After season one, several actors were already saying: 'We're quitting. It's never going to get better than this.'" The series won a prestigious award, which prompted the broadcaster to order another season. At the end of the second season, the cast members had agreed to make a third season, because secretly they also thought it was 'really fun'.

In 2020, there was another reboot: All Stars and Sons . Cas is not in it, because his character was run over by a truck in the second All Stars film. The soap actor admits not to have watched the reboot.