Brain dead dolls 
Wellington's Weta Workshop will create practical and creature effects for American director Kristoffer Aaron Morgan's independent horror film, The Home. "The Home is going to be an amazing film that we are thrilled to be part of," Weta director Richard Taylor said. "We've enjoyed a fantastic career creating films for a number of directors, and now it's time to make Aaron and [screenwriter] Eric [Vespe]'s film come to life." First Showing writes: "Seriously, when was the last time you saw vacant-eyed dolls gnawing on an old woman? The artwork obviously depicts one of the nightmares preying upon the elderly residents at the nursing home wherein the story takes place." Weta co-founder, Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, is delighted with Weta's participation on the film. "The project is exciting to us," Jackson said. "It's the type of film we really like; it's the type of film we used to make when we were younger. The gang down here are very enthusiastic about being involved in another wonderful little horror movie." Weta Workshop is a 65,000 square foot facility in Wellington suburb, Miramar and is best-known for work done on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 
(9 February 2009)

NZ's film bonanza 
Wellington's Weta Digital will develop the effects for upcoming 3D motion-capture trilogy, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the sequel of which Peter Jackson will direct in New Zealand. Recently announced is that Martin Scorcese's next film Silence will also be shot in the country. "The Hollywood influx to New Zealand has been extraordinary after the success of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro is also relocating to work on The Hobbit," writes The Australian. In other film news, Peter Jackson's next film, the adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones, is due for release in the United States on Boxing Day. 
(28 January 2009)

Zoë the turncoat 
Auckland stuntwoman and actress Zoë Bell, 30, stars in American web action series Angel of Death alongside fellow New Zealander, Lucy Lawless. Bell plays a mafia assassin who suffers a catastrophic head wound and subsequently decides to kill the people who once ordered her to kill others. "Besides the elation I feel about having a project I wrote actually being filmed, which is huge for any writer, I'm just as thrilled about having Zoë Bell signed on to star in Angel of Death," said Angel of Death creator/writer Ed Brubaker. Bell began her career leaping from a car in soap Shortland Street before going on to star in Quentin Tarentino's Kill Bill films. She and Monica Staggs (Daryl Hannah's double) won Best Overall Stunt and Best Fight for their fight in Budd's trailer in Kill Bill 2. In 2007 she was cast in the lead role in Tarentino's Death Proof. Angel of Death will premiere in 2009 on www.crackle.com/angelofdeath.
(23 December 2008)

Demanding justice 
Wellington actress Kerry Fox plays a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal in thriller Storm, a film set in Bosnia with a suspected Serb war criminal on trial after three years in detention. The trial is short-circuited by a behind-the-scenes deal involving the judge, the Serb's defense counsel and the prosecutor's pragmatic boss. "I think it's definitely worth hauling up the horrors for what they are and exposing them to the world," Fox told a news conference. She won a Silver Bear for best actress at the festival in 2001 for Intimacy. Storm is a competition entry for this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Fox's work in the film came at a time in which she has been trying to hone her craft. "I suppose I've been trying to recently work in a much more natural way to try and really eradicate any falseness. That was the focus, or my sort of acting aim," she said. Fox next stars in the Jane Campion film Bright Star, a drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Fox plays Fanny Brawne's mother. 
(7 February 2009)

Not very boring 
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie of the Flight of the Conchords discuss silly songs, the sweet tooth of success and why Australians are always in the cross hairs, with CNN reporter Shanon Cook. Asked whether the pair consider themselves worthy cultural ambassadors for New Zealand, Clement replies: "I think in some ways our characters are typical of New Zealanders. New Zealand has a reputation as being one of the most boring peoples of the world. You don't know of that?" While McKenzie says: "I think they're famous for being friendly." And in an interview with Ok! Magazine, the two ponder their own fame. They say the best way to describe sudden notoriety is like being in one of those terrible naked nightmares. "It depends if you're feeling cool," Clement said at a screening party for the second season of the show. "If you're in a confident mood, then it might be pretty good. If you're not, then you feel like your fly's undone." The second series will screen in New Zealand on Prime later this year. 
(28 January 2009)

Truly awesome victory 
Lower Hutt-raised Hollywood starlet Anna Paquin, 26, has won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama, awarded for her performance as Sookie Starkhouse in HBO's vampire series True Blood, beating A-list competitors Sally Field and Kyra Sedgewick. In 1993, at the age of 11, Paquin edged out Winona Ryder for the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Piano. As Sookie Starkhouse in True Blood Paquin said: "I was the pale brunette from New Zealand, and I'm playing the Southern tanned blonde, essentially a Hooters waitress," Variety quoted her as saying. "It wasn't the most obvious casting choice, but I just really wanted it and I didn't stop until they said yes." In 2008, Paquin was nominated for an Emmy for the TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New Zealand's Prime Television will screen True Blood "shortly". 
(13 January 2009)

Fantasy land 
ABC's new series, Legend of the Seeker, is being filmed in New Zealand, taking advantage of the surreal midland setting. "They have a real respect for nature,"says the shows star, Bridget Regan. "We film on Maori land and everybody really respects it and keeps it with a lot of reverence, which is so cool. On our first day of shooting we had a blessing from a local Maori elder — it was just amazing. I don't think it could work anywhere else." The show is based on the books of Terry Goodkind, and has already been picked up for a second season.
(4 March 2009)

Two Globe nominations 
New Zealand-raised actress Anna Paquin has been nominated for two best actress Golden Globes in her roles as Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood and playing the lead in made-for-TV movie The Courageous Heart of Irena Sandler. "It's very flattering and a great honour," Paquin said. "I'm very happy with what I have. If anything else comes of it, that's wonderful, but it's really wonderful already." The roles are vastly different — in True Blood, which is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris, she plays a telepathic waitress in small town Louisiana. Meanwhile, she takes on the part of a Polish social worker who smuggles Jewish children to safety during World War II in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. As defending champion in the drama-series actress category, Paquin will compete with The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick, Damages' Glenn Close, Mad Men's January Jones and The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies. 
(15 December 2009)

Return to self 
Flight of the Conchords duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement have ended their HBO series after two seasons. On their website, the pair said: "We're very proud of the two seasons we made, and we like the way the show ended. While the characters Bret and Jemaine will no longer be around, the real Bret and Jemaine will continue to exist." Flight of the Conchords won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album for their Distant Future EP. 
(10 December 2009)

Bevan honoured in NY Queenstown-born, London-based Academy Award-nominated film producer Tim Bevan will be presented with a career tribute at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York on November 30. Bevan has worked as producer or executive-producer on more than 40 films including: Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Love Actually and Atonement. In the early eighties, he co-founded Working Title Films in London with Sarah Radclyffe, now owned by Bevan and Eric Fellner, who will also be presented with a career tribute in November. 
(November 2009)

Poetic challenges 
Bright Star director Jane Campion, 55, says she was always terrified of poetry. "It wasn't poetry that brought me towards this story; it was my ignorance about the subject. I hit 50 and decided to educate myself about it. I read a biography of Coleridge and then I found Andrew Motion's book on Keats. I could not believe that I hadn't heard of this great love story before. It was like Romeo and Juliet, only it was true." Perhaps the few years in the wilderness have done Jane Campion some good. Though imperfect in many ways, Bright Star looks like the work of an auteur back in firm control of her material. Unlike Holy Smoke or In the Cut, the picture is very acute and precise in its focus. Bright Star has brought her back into the world. Now let's see what that world makes of it. "Yeah, you never know what wave you'll catch — a small swell or a big fat one that will carry you all the way to the shore," Campion says. What an appropriate metaphor for someone born under the Southern Cross. 
(30 October 2009)

Tracking Morrison 
Actor Temuera Morrison stars in the Ian Sharp film Tracker, set in New Zealand in 1903. Tracker also stars Ray Winstone (The Departed, Nil by Mouth) who plays Arjan, an ex-Boer War guerilla sent out to bring back Maori man Kereama (Morrison) accused of killing a British soldier. Gradually they grow to know and respect one another but a posse, led by the British Commanding officer, is close behind and his sole intention is to see the Maori hang. Empire's Alex Billington said: "This is the first time I've heard of this film, but it's now on my radar, and I'll definitely be seeking it out at an upcoming film festival, most likely. I like both Winstone and Morrison enough to be interested in seeing how this story plays out." Tracker is a UK/New Zealand co-production by Eden Films and T.H.E. Film in association with Phoenix Wiley & Liberty Films. Filming began in early November. 
(26 October 2009)

Spontaneous breeze 
"In person, Campion is neither gorilla nor goddess," writes Guardian correspondent Peter Conrad. "The breeze derives from her quirky humour and the mercurial play of expression on her face; her greying hair and her black clothes suggest severity, but the woman herself is a riot of frank, flushed emotion. 'I found myself sobbing,' she said about reading John Keats's letters to Hampstead seamstress Fanny Brawne, on which her latest film Bright Star is based." Conrad remembered [Harvey] Keitel's description of Campion as a friskily spontaneous breeze. "'I'm someone who loves to play,' she said. 'I make films so I can have fun with the characters.' At the very least, she is a breath of fresh air, reinventing an art staled by commercial cynicism. The wind she stirs up is also a manifestation of the creative spirit, which in less grudgingly democratic days was known as genius and in even remoter times was attributed to God, or perhaps to a goddess. During our conversation, she described herself as 'a visual person'. But New Zealanders are modest to a fault and I'd prefer to call Campion a visionary. On the set of Bright Star, she told actor Ben Whishaw that for her poetry means 'openness to the divine'; her films open us all to that possibility that such a realm might exist." 
(18 October 2009)

Meeting of minds 
New Zealanders director Jane Campion, 55, and actress Kerry Fox, 43, tell The Independent on Sunday how they both came to meet. Fox recalls: "I walked into the audition for An Angel at My Table nervous but very determined, knowing that I had to figure out what the director was looking for but also feeling overwhelmed by the other people and the camera in the room. It took a while to dawn on me that this woman with the dark-red beret, who I hadn't seen at first, was the director. I kind of remember her now as a shadow." And Campion: "Then this young woman came in. One of the characteristics of girls in New Zealand at that time was that they didn't shave their legs, so like the rest of them, Kerry had lovely hairy legs. She was quite strong, 'I'm me' and all that — great. She started to audition, and for the first time I saw someone real. She was this true spirit. I remember thinking 'and you're beautiful'." Campion's Bright Star is in UK cinemas now. Fox is also in Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre, London WC2. 
(6 December 2009)

Saving grace 
New Zealand-raised cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh is praised for his work on the Mira Nair-directed film Amelia, about pioneering American aviatrix Amelia Earhart. The Observer's Philip French writes that the film is "beautifully photographed" by Dryburgh and the California Chronicle goes as far to say that: "It's not the stars of the movie who shine in this dull biopic about Amelia Earhart — the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic — it's Stuart Dryburgh, Stephanie Carroll and Kasia Walicka-Maimone. They are the cinematographer, production designer and costume designer, who earn their wings and most of the praise. Top marks go to them for making a technically sumptuous looking movie but in terms of story and direction Amelia fails to take off." Dryburgh earned an Oscar nomination for The Piano. His credits include The Perez Family, Lone Star, The Portrait of a Lady, Bridget Jones's Diary, Kate & Leopold, In My Father's Den, The Painted Veil and Nim's Island. Dryburgh's next film is the 2010 American production of The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren and David Strathairn. 
(15 November 2009)

Not taking punches 
New Zealand-born Charlotte Dawson, 43, co-host of Australian reality boxing show The Contender, talks candidly to The Age about the programme and what she knows about the opposite sex. "Women want to be open and communicate; they want closure," Dawson says. "Men can just walk away." Dawson then describes Contender: "Look, it's a contact sport, and it's about inflicting violence physically on someone with your fists. That's the mindset, and it must be extremely hard on their wives and girlfriends [she calls them BAGs, the boxing equivalent of football's WAGs], for eight weeks before a fight, because that's the preparation time. They go into some crazy zones." In New Zealand, Dawson has hosted Getaway, How's Life? and Charlotte's Lists. She was recently a judge on Australia's Next Top Model. 
(3 November 2009)

On the Conchord cult 
Actor and Conchord Jemaine Clement talks about his latest film Gentleman Broncos and the future of 'Hiphopopotamus' and 'Rhymenoceros' with Paul Fischer in an exclusive Moviehole interview. Fischer asks Clement about his reaction to the cult-like status of The Flight of the Conchords amongst Americans. "Well, it's made the live shows a really pretty amazing experience for us, because we started off playing to about ten people a week and — for a very long time," Clement responds. "Our biggest audience was, like, 20,000 people." Though the pair have decided not to continue with a third series, Clement says they haven't ruled out a film or a "finale". Clement has recently finished recording a voice for the computer-animated Despicable Me and New Zealand film Predicament, based on the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, which was published posthumously in 1975. Predicament will be released in New Zealand and Australia next year. 
(2 November 2009)

Bones for the Queen 
Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones has been selected to screen at November's Royal Film Performance in London's Leicester Square. Jackson said he is "honoured" it has been selected, adding its making has been "an extraordinary journey". The movie, based on Alice Sebold's 2002 best-selling book, stars Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz, and Mark Wahlberg. The charity premiere is the only time in the year the Queen visits the cinema. The Lovely Bones is released in the United States on December 11 and New Zealand on Boxing Day. 
(15 October 2009)

High expectations 
"If [Peter Jackson's] sheer workload weren't enough to keep the 47-year-old filmmaker on edge, he's also grappling with lofty expectations," writes Sandy Cohen for Associated Press. "Chief among them, his own. 'You're always imagining the best, and then you always have to compromise for what you get in the real world,' Jackson said. 'It's a process of constant disappointment,' he added, 'but somehow you have to hope that you set your goals high enough that even with the disappointment, you still end up with something that other people enjoy.' Jackson finished the screenplay for the first Hobbit film in August. He wrote the screenplay, directed and produced The Lovely Bones, set for release in December. And he produced and served as mentor on the recent box-office hit District 9. 'I get involved in films I'm inspired about,' he said. 'I get involved in movies that I want to see. That's really the bottom line.'" 
(23 September 2009)

Preoccupation with love 
Jane Campion's Bright Star, which recently opened in New York, won much praise at Cannes, some from unlikely sources. "I'm not really into poetry," said Quentin Tarantino, who also said he believes Bright Star is Campion's best film. Though Campion purists were less persuaded, and the film may disappoint female filmmakers emboldened by her David Lynch-inspired early work, for her part Campion is following her heart and her imagination wherever they take her. "I think the job when you're a young person is to be wild," she said. "I think I did my job." It's love that preoccupies Campion these days, but she remains exhilaratingly tough-minded about the trouble love can get you into. Which may be why her next film will be an adaptation of the title story in the Canadian writer Alice Munro's collection Runaway. Few artists grasp the unintended consequences of passing passion better than Campion and Munro. 
(10 September 2009)

All in this together 
The Age of Stupid producer Auckland-born Lizzie Gillett, 31, spent five years working on the climate change drama-documentary with McLibel director Briton Franny Armstrong "working through obstacles as they come up: from difficult Iraqi border officials, to Nigerian hostage situations, to raising all the money ourselves, to making and producing animation, which I knew nothing about; to running a crew of 105 people in six countries for two years, to distributing and promoting the film ourselves, to public speaking." The Age of Stupid stars Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in a devastated world in 2055. He watches archive films from half a century earlier and asks himself why we didn't do something about climate change before it was too late. London-based Gillett was executive producer on McLibel. She is a list candidate for the Green Party and was educated at Otago University where she won the award for top performing female student.
(1 September 2009)

Henderson signs with ABC
Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson, 34, has reportedly signed a six-figure deal with network ABC. According to Hollywood Reporter, Henderson is expected to topline an hour-long project for the network. The former Shortland Street star is meeting with writers to discuss potential starring vehicles. Henderson, repped by WME and Management 360, already has headlined two ABC pilots: 2007's Mr and Mrs Smith, in which he played the male lead, and last season's Inside the Box, in which he played the male heartthrob. He also recently starred in Battle in Seattle, a film based on the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity. 
(1 September 2009)

Teddy on shortlist 
Director Christopher Banks' film Teddy is the first New Zealand-made film to make the shortlist for the sought-after 2009 Iris Prize Festival, the winner of which receives the largest prize for a gay and lesbian short film competition in the world — a package valued at Ł25,000. Teddy is one of 30 films competing for the award in Cardiff from October 7–10. Teddy is about Tony, a dyed-in-the-wool Londoner who has travelled over 10,000 miles to rural New Zealand for a holiday with his ex, the man who abandoned him for a life on the other side of the world — Neil. The 13 minute short was filmed in Helensville and Kaukapakapa, in the Rodney district over two days in late November 2008. It stars Brian Moore as Tony, Chris Tempest as Neil and Alan Granville as Phil. 
(11 August 2009)

Neill the ruthless 
Actor Sam Neill stars in the made-for-television Canada-China co-production of Iron Road as ruthless Canadian railroad baron Alfred Nichol. The historical mini-series purports to tell the story of the thousands of Chinese labourers who built the trans-Canada railway in the late 1800s. Nichol's ambition knows no bounds, imagining the coolies he's hauling in from China by the shipload — one Chinese worker is said to have died for every mile of track — are so many replaceable cogs in his unstoppable machine. "It's a part of Canadian history I knew nothing about till I saw the script," Neill said. "The other day I walked by that rather magnificent memorial to Chinese railroad workers by Eldon Garnet and Francis LeBouthillier, and I was impressed to learn how large a story it is." Work seems to keep coming Neill's way, said the one-time documentary maker. "There are no guarantees in this business, and there's nothing worse for an actor than being out of work. I like to keep busy." He's also starring — along with Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe — in the sci-fi vampire flick-with-a-twist, The Daybreakers, as part of September's Midnight Madness series at the Toronto International Film Festival. 
(9 August 2009)

Papped in Venice 
"Anna Paquin arrives at Gjelina's, her favourite LA restaurant, on a pale pink pushbike, asks for her usual lemonade, smiles and starts to chatter," writes the Daily Mail's Lorien Haynes. "Not nervous, over-your-head chatter, but wry, offbeat, barbed wit. She rarely gives interviews and even more rarely talks about her private life. Her reputation is, she confesses, 'Being incredibly serious about my work.' Since it first screened in the US last autumn, True Blood has become HBO's third highest-rated series after The Sopranos and Sex and the City, and Paquin, 26, is now constantly recognised and papped. Paquin is based in Venice, Los Angeles. She loves the laid-back there, and the beach: 'It reminds me of home in New Zealand.' Paquin's older brother, film producer Andrew, 32, lives in LA too, 'So there is family,' she smiles. Together they have formed a production company, and produced the indie film Blue State in 2007." 
(19 July 2009)

Bloody messy 
Anna Paquin, 26, has slept through her first interview with Time Out New York having for two weeks been shooting back-to-back episodes of HBO's True Blood. "I don't party. I'm not that cool," Paquin says. The New Zealand import has managed to lie low, avoiding that telltale trail of scandal and paparazzi. As telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, Paquin discusses blood and says the cuter the outfit, the more you're about to get really messy in it on set. "There's eye blood, there's mouth blood, there's congealed blood, there's liquid blood, there's old blood, there's crusty old blood," she says. "The old-school shaving foam, like Barbasol, is the only thing that gets it out of your skin." She says the trick to soul-shivering screams, like the one that ended last season when she discovered the dead body is to just scream. "Loud. Have older siblings. I'm the youngest, so you scream loud or no one will come and intervene. My older brother stuffed me inside a cello case once. Zipped it up." 
(14 June 2009)

Jackson in the district 
Wellington director Peter Jackson will attend this year's San Diego convention Comic-Con International on July 24 for the first time, the prospect delighting thousands of comic-book, science-fiction and fantasy fans. Jackson, a three-time Oscar winner, will face the mob in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center in support of District 9, an alien-internment thriller set for release by Sony on August 14. Jackson produced the film, which was directed by his friend Neill Blomkamp, who will also attend. "I'm thrilled that I finally have the opportunity," Jackson said. He added that attendees will be in for "quite a ride." Sony is betting that Jackson's appearance, and the blog coverage it will probably generate, will provide a huge boost to District 9. The film, starring a cast of unknowns, is about an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth. The aliens find help in a government agent sympathetic to their plight. 
(5 June 2009)

Cannes call to arms 
From this year's Cannes Film Festival, director Jane Campion urged her female counterparts — which number only 6 per cent — to "put on their coats of armour" and take on the "old boys' network" of the film industry. The 55-year-old, who won the Palme D'Or for The Piano in 1993, was at the festival for the premiere of her new film, Bright Star. "I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population and gave birth to the whole world," Campion said. "Without them the rest [of the world] are not getting to know the whole story." Becoming a film-maker means developing a thick skin, she added. "My suspicion is that women aren't used to that. 
(20 May 2009)

No bones about it 
Wellington-born actor Karl Urban, 36, is Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy in director J.J Abrams' Star Trek and for Urban, "the elephant in the room was to embody DeForest Kelley's character without falling victim to mere impression," writes the San Francisco Examiner's Rich Bunnell. "The challenge for me was to really identify the spirit and essence of what Kelley's McCoy was," Urban says. "He had the most appalling bedside manner, but to me he had a heart of gold — he was never afraid to speak his mind, no matter the consequences." Luckily for Urban — previously worshiped by an entirely different cult for his role as Eomer in the Lord of the Rings films — Abrams also perpetuated an environment on the set in which the cast and crew didn't feel burdened with the need to live up to four decades of Star Trek history. "Often the challenge was to stop laughing before the cameras started rolling." 
(2 May 2009)

Marlin mayhem 
Weymouth-raised stunt fisherman Matt Watson — who famously dove from a helicopter onto the back of a cruising marlin in the Pacific Ocean wrestling the giant fish to the surface before finally letting it go — is producing Discovery Channel show Extreme Fisherman. The show will chronicle Watson's unending quest to find new and dangerous ways to catch some of the ocean's most powerful fish. "I've been around fish and fishing my whole life, and having caught so many fish, the thrill started wearing off, so I started thinking of ways to bring back the thrill of catching my first big fish again," Watson explained. These are not methods recommended by safety experts. "Obviously, they've got a bill, which is a sharp, pointy thing on the front of them," Watson said brightly. "Of course, that's sharp, and they've got a lot of weight and power behind them, so you don't have to be a genius to figure out if they're hitting you straight on, it's probably gonna go through you." In February, Watson was interviewed by David Letterman in New York and is a popular attraction on YouTube. 
(12 March 2009)

Ballroom blitz 
Professional ballroom dancers Aucklander Erin Boag, 33, and her partner Briton Anton Du Beke who both starred in the successful UK television talent show Strictly Come Dancing, have just completed a documentary for Sky One, Ballroom High, in which they teach inner-city kids to dance. The Wall Street Journal's Sarah Frater talked to the duo as they prepared for their current show, Cheek to Cheek, which features the pair dancing together to music from a 30-piece orchestra, as well as performances by salsa dancers Chris Marques and Jaclyn Spencer, and singer Richard Shelton. Cheek to Cheek runs at the London Coliseum from April 22-26. Boag spoke of her beginnings in dance: "My parents had been amateur ballroom dancers in New Zealand, and I'd gone to classes as a child. But it was only when I saw a competition in Australia when I was 15 that I knew I wanted to do it." An estimated 13 million viewers tuned into the 2008 Strictly Come Dancing finale. Boag was a former Candy Lane student. 
(16 April 2009)

Dark past revisited 
New Zealand-born Zak Feaunati, a former Samoan international rugby player, has been selected to play All Black legend Jonah Lomu in the upcoming film The Human Factor. The film includes the Springboks' victory over the All Blacks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup in its retelling of "how Nelson Mandela used rugby to unite South Africa". Directed by Hollywood luminary Clint Eastwood, the movie also stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Feaunati, now a teacher in England, told the BBC of his casting in London: "I had to talk about myself for the casting director, and then she asked me to do the haka. I might have scared one or two of the ladies, but I guess it did the trick." 

(30 March 2009)

Accent on Mr Big 
Auckland University of Technology language expert Andy Gibson says Australian actor Matthew Newton, who plays New Zealand drug lord Terry Clark in the series Underbelly, is using "fush and chup" vowels where real New Zealanders wouldn't. "He sounds like the stereotype of how Australians think we sound, not how we actually sound," Gibson said. Ironically it was this line, "Us Kiwis have got to stick together", that really gave him away. "That just doesn't sound right," he said. "We don't speak like that." The second series of Underbelly is rating well in New Zealand with 409,200 tuning in this week to watch the latest installment in the adventures of Terry Clark, aka Mr Big of heroin drug ring fame. Clark, also known as Alexander Sinclair, died in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight in 1983. 
(13 March 2009)

Girls don't cry 
Stuntwoman Zoë Bell, 30, often found it easier to "brawl than bawl" when filming online series Angel of Death, in which she plays assassin Eve. Bell had to display both action and acting chops. "I had to get over that fear of showing emotion," said Bell. "Doing the butt-kicking stuff was no problem. But crying? That's scary!" Bell has doubled for Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2) and Sharon Stone (Catwoman). She next appears as a roller-derby player in Whip It, starring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore and returns to stunt work for Quentin Tarentino in his upcoming film Inglorious Bastards. "I don't want to be put in any box," she said. "I want to do everything." Lucy Lawless stars alongside Bell in Angel of Death as next-door-neighbour, Vera. 
(2 March 2009)

Armed with laughter 
"Going to a Topp Twins gig in New Zealand is a bit like going to a thousand-strong family reunion," writes Stephanie Bunbury for The Age. "Up front are Jools and Lynda Topp, 51-year-old identical twins singing country harmonies in unearthly stereo. The fact Lynda and Jools are gay, look gay and talk about being gay when they're on stage doesn't faze the grannies, the children or the country-music rednecks. Partly thanks to the Topps, they're over that. Audiences at the Toronto Film Festival may not have heard of them but they voted the film best documentary. "But every single country in the world has had its own version of these struggles," Jools says. "We've just been lucky to live in a small enough place to be able to make a difference." Not that anybody has ever sent them hate mail, Lynda assures me. "Of course," Jools chips in, "we've got this fabulous weapon called laughter." 
(27 November 2009)

Televised aliens 
Wellington-based Weta Workshop is working with Disney XD on a television movie called Skyrunners creating, what the star of the show American Kelly Blatz describes as, a "unique and frightening … transparent" alien "with a mouth full of teeth". The 22-year-old actor-musician talked about coming face-to-face with the Weta-created alien creature in Skyrunners. "It was amazing," Blatz said. "We walk in there and it's all dark. This thing — no matter how close you are it still looks completely real. So everyone [steps back] — it was really eerie. Just the lighting and everything." Skyrunners is the tale of two brothers who stumble across a downed UFO and decide to keep it and then proceed to uncover an alien plot to take over Earth. 
(24 November 2009)

Antipodean partnership 
Director Jane Campion's Bright Star is "almost certain to be among this year's leading Oscar contenders" and, according to The Times' Tom Charity, "one of Campion's best films, on a par with The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady and An Angel at My Table." The film's star, Australian actress Abbie Cornish, who plays John Keats' muse Fanny Brawne, says of Campion: "When we started rehearsals, [she] said to me, 'Abbie, this script is my baby and I'm handing my baby over to you to hold for a little while.' That's how precious it was to her." Fellow director Quentin Tarentino has said of Bright Star that "Never has heartache been so realistically and movingly portrayed…" 
(25 October 2009)

Best role of all 
Rotorua-born actor Cliff Curtis, 41, talks to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about his role as flight medic Rabbit in NBC show Trauma. Curtis says it is "the most fun character" he has ever played. "He's got endless possibility, he's heroic, he's a bit of a goofball, [he's] masculine … [and] a character I've not had the opportunity to play in film," Curtis says. He has shocked the makers of the series shunning the use of a stunt man or special affects, including performing a medical procedure on himself while filming on a cliff-face. Executive producer Dario Scardapane described Curtis as a "super hero". He next stars in the M. Night Shyamalan fantasy film The Last Airbender as Fire Lord Ozai. The film is due for release in 2010. 
(25 October 2009)

From serious to sassy 
Actress Anna Paquin says she was the "most serious 15-year-old ever" but she has certainly grown up with a vengeance. "Oh, [True Blood] is a really full-on sexy show," Paquin agrees easily, taking a sip of latte and fixing me with brown boot-button eyes. We are at Café Rouge in Highgate, north London. To play Sookie, Paquin, 27, has transformed herself, bleaching her brown hair and sporting a spray tan and a series of sexy outfits. It suits her, though; with her strong cheeks and mouth, and lack of vanity, she doesn't come across as remotely Baywatch — more Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich. Her work days are often 18 hours long, on location at the Warner Bros sound stages in West Hollywood, or Louisiana, and almost all her scenes are with co-star and fiancé Stephen Moyer, 40. Paquin also stars in horror film anthology Trick r' Treat as Laurie, a "22-year-old virgin" who turns into a werewolf. 
(5 October 2009)

Toronto's triple treat 
New Plymouth-raised, Los Angeles-based actress Melanie Lynskey, 32, has roles in three of the most talked-about movies at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Her roles in Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass, and Steven Soderberg's The Informant! are "small, but pivotal" reported the Los Angeles Times' Mark Olsen who also believes her film commitments could increase in the wake of these latest performances. "With her current run at the Toronto Film Festival and her onscreen mix of innocence and knowingness, sadness and hopefulness, it is likely that audiences may finally put together whatever became of that girl who did more than just hold her own opposite Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures," reported Olsen. In The Informant! she plays the incredulous, loving wife who stands by her corporate whistle-blowing husband (Matt Damon) even as it becomes increasingly clear that he's in over his head. For Up in the Air, she plays the sister of George Clooney's troubled corporate hatchet man, her upcoming wedding causing him to reevaluate his priorities. And her character in Leaves of Grass is married to one of two brothers (both played by Edward Norton) and she persuades her husband to try to stop dealing drugs and go straight. 
(15 September 2009)

Gorgeous melodrama 
Niki Caro's film The Vintner's Luck, based on Wellington author Elizabeth Knox's novel of the same name and starring Keisha Castle-Hughes is, according to entertainment news site Moviehole, "Gorgeous in all facets of visual detail and also a fascinating romantic melodrama." The review continues: "Though from New Zealand, this lush, erotic and passionate film is more European with its frank exploration of sexuality and eroticism, yet the film's lyrical beauty and intelligence makes it something quite unexpected." Hollywood Reporter was less generous, calling the film "an overblown work of amazing silliness." "It's difficult to believe that the same director who made the simple and affecting Whale Rider in 2002 and the underrated North Country in 2005, is responsible for The Vintner's Luck. The novel upon which the film is based could very well be a masterpiece, but angels, alas, are a lot more convincing as words than as characters in a movie." The Vintner's Luck screened alongside other New Zealand productions, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls and Under the Mountain, starring Sam Neill, at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. 
(15 September 2009)

Cinematic claims 
New Zealand-born director Jane Campion's 1993 film The Piano is included in Vogue Australia's 50th Anniversary edition featuring alongside Picnic at Hanging Rock, Strictly Ballroom and Lantana as examples of "seminal moments in Australian cinema". Award-winning Australian film-maker Gillian Armstrong writes: "I was blown away by Jane Campion's The Piano. She has such an incredible eye and you just knew that this was someone who was going to be a great, great world film talent. Everything about it: the look, the photography, the costumes … there was a strong director's voice, with real bravery in the storytelling and in the story itself. There was a lack of sentimentality about the woman and the child, which, in some ways was great coming from a woman. It was also wonderful that the person receiving accolades around the world was another female director." 
(September 2009)

Topps in Toronto 
Much-loved New Zealand entertainers Lynda and Jools Topp (aka The Topp Twins) will join the likes of Canadian rocker Neil Young, Joan Baez and horror film king George A. Romero for free public performances as part of the Toronto International Film Festival which runs September 10-19. "New Zealand's top yodeling comedy duo" are in Toronto to accompany their documentary The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls which has been selected to screen at TIFF and will play a concert on September 13 hosted by Elvira Kurt. Untouchable Girls has received a mountain of praise since its release in May, winning the Audience Award for Documentary at the recent Melbourne International Film Festival last month and becoming the No. 1 Box Office Documentary ever released in New Zealand. The film has also been selected to screen at the largest documentary festival in the world, IDFA in Amsterdam in November. 
(12 August 2009)

Adamson meets Mister Pip 
New Zealander Andrew Adamson will direct his own adaptation of Wellington-based Lloyd Jones' award-winning novel Mister Pip. Producer Robin Scholes, who was behind Once Were Warriors and The Tattooist, plans to film Mister Pip in Australia, post-produce in New Zealand, and complete the sound in the UK. Mister Pip will be principally set in the Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville during an ongoing war between soldiers and rebels over copper mining. It tells the story of a young girl who becomes transfixed by the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, which is being read at school by the only white man in the village. "The overarching theme is the power of the human imagination to be used for both good and evil," Scholes told ScreenDaily. A production start date has yet to be confirmed but casting is said to be under way. 
(29 July 2009)

Small screen shenanigans 
Actress Lucy Lawless, 41, who stars as gladiator camp owner Lucretia in the American network Starz's epic series Spartacus, told the crowd at Los Angeles convention Comic-Con that it was "big fun back on the small screen." The premium channel unveiled the trailer during a Comic-Con panel, and indeed the series looks gory. And full of naked bodies! Imagine the nudity of HBO's Rome, the violence of Gladiator and the look of 300, and you'll have a good idea of what Spartacus is like. The nudity, meanwhile, forced Lawless to hit the gym. "I do have to work out," she said. "Being naked on-screen is no fun." Craig Parker also stars in the series as Glaber, a Roman legate, who blames Spartacus for his failed military campaign. In May 2009 Lucy Lawless became a 'climate ambassador' for the Greenpeace 'Sign On' campaign. 
(24 July 2009)

Finding originality 
Director Peter Jackson talks to Los Angeles Times reporter Geoff Boucher about producing sci-fi film District 9, hobbits and the proliferation of remakes, sequels and adaptations in Hollywood. District 9, which is set in South Africa and based on Neill Blomkamp's 2005 short film Alive in Joburg, is a bit of a rarity in that it's not an adaptation of a comic book or a toy, it's not a remake or a sequel and it's not based on an old television show. "It was never a film that people knew about until it suddenly started getting the trailers and the posters started going around and then it was like, 'Oh my God this is a weird, little strange film'," Jackson said. "I can understand [new filmmakers celebrating material they love as opposed to creating something entirely new] because when you're a young kid or a young adult and you're wanting to make a film — and this is pretty much my story too — you tend to interpret. To be an original is probably the hardest quality to find if you're a young filmmaker." 
(28 July 2009)

Two men and a bear 
Teddy, a short film directed by New Zealanders Christopher Banks and produced by Andy Jalfon, screened at the recent San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. The 13 minute film is about the romance and regret of a young man who travels from London to New Zealand to visit his ex-lover and is a refreshing, honestly told story. Banks thinks people can relate to the film's dealing with the emptiness "we can sometimes feel when we are away from home or our loved ones." And people seem to be connecting with the film Jalfon points out, as it just won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at New Zealand's Out Takes Festival. Banks also says that they are working hard at finding US distribution for the film. Teddy was filmed in Helensville and Kaukapakapa, in the Rodney district, over two days in late November 2008. Banks wrote and directed the 2005 digital feature Quiet Night In. 
(23 June 2009)

Sunshine's sisters 
Auckland film maker Christine Jeffs created the independent feature Sunshine Cleaning with sisters in mind, and being one herself, Jeffs told The Age, she wanted to explore the dynamics between older and younger siblings. The nature (often flawed) of family is the bedrock of each film Jeffs has made. "They give you such an interesting dynamic," she admits, although Sunshine Cleaning definitely has the winsome rhythms and the emotional resolutions that dominate American independent features right now. Still, within that familiar landscape, Jeffs was able to illuminate her characters, specifically the film's Lorkowski sisters, played by Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Sunshine Cleaning was widely distributed in America in March and is still playing to audiences now. "It's hard to make any film at the moment, but they're calling it the indie hit of the year, whatever that means," concedes Jeffs with a rueful laugh. Jeffs is best known for directing the 2003 film Sylvia starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig. 
(12 June 2009)

Bully for them 
Wellington writers and directors, Sticky Pictures' Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland's short film Six Dollar Fifty Man was awarded a special distinction at the Cannes Film Festival. The pair's 2007 short film Run was also awarded the distinction. "It's a huge honour to twice receive the special distinction in the short film competition, particularly as Cannes is the world's most important film festival," New Zealand Film Commission short film manager Juliette Veber said. Six Dollar Fifty Man is about Andy, a gutsy, anti-social eight-year-old boy who has to stand up to school bullies and a scary primary school headmaster so he can keep his closest friend and face his biggest fear. Albiston set up Sticky Pictures in 2000 with his partner, lawyer Amelia Bardsley. The company's feature film, Shopping is currently in production. 
(25 May 2009)

Production lift-off 
The New Zealand film industry is booming with "local helmers poised to soar again". Whale Rider director Niki Caro's The Vintners Luck, in which she reteams with her young Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes, is vying for a high-profile festival slot this year. LOTR helmer Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn will also be released. Resident television fantasy skeins Power Rangers, The Legend of the Seeker and Spartacus generate ongoing production activity in Auckland, and during 2008 five international features, in addition to the aforementioned Jackson works, lensed New Zealand-side. 
(6 May 2009)

An amazing bike ride
Christchurch-born adventure TV host and producer Phil Keoghan has just completed another 'Amazing Race', this time a 3,500 mile coast-to-coast bike ride across the United States to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis research. He managed to raise over US$400,000 in his "Ride Across America" which kicked off March 28 in Los Angeles and finished in New York on May 8, taking him through 39 cities over those 45 days. The trip also marked the official launch into the US of Keoghan's co-branded meal replacement bar, produced in partnership with Christchurch company Cookie Time. Keoghan promoted the NOW (his No Opportunity Wasted brand) One Square Meal bar throughout his bike trip, which also served to publicise the next season of the hugely popular TV show Amazing Race. Keoghan says the trip tested him in ways he didn't imagine. "It was the toughest physical and mental challenge of my life, no doubt about it," Keoghan said. "It was everything I thought it would be and so much more." 
(8 May 2009)

Morrison's future roles 
The best example and a "notable exception" of a "Native … living in the future quite comfortably, particularly in sci-fi movies" would be Temuera Morrison, writes Peterborough Examiner columnist and award-winning Ojibwa author Drew Hayden Taylor, this in a modern world where only a "few aboriginal footprints wandering across the lunar landscape are, for the most part, moccasins worn by white astronauts." Rotorua-born Morrison, 48, made his sci-fi debut in the Pamela Anderson Lee film Barb Wire, as her ex-husband, but is perhaps best known for his role as Jango Fett in the second instalment of the Star Wars trilogy. "I first became aware of [Maori cast in futuristic films] when I saw Pete Smith played the last living Maori (with two or three white people) in the cult film The Quiet Earth back in 1985. Then there was Cliff Curtis fighting an extra-terrestrial machine thing with just a Maori club (and a few guns) in the Jamie Lee Curtis movie Virus. He also made an appearance in a cool horror film called Deep Rising, where he fought a sea monster alongside Cherokee actor Wes Studi." Morrison recently starred in the made for television film, The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake as Don Sandovate. 
(7 April 2009)

Marvelous Middleditch
Sydney-based New Zealander Paul Middleditch, 40, is interviewed about his success as an advertising director in the March issue of Australian Financial Review. "I believe there was a time when advertising was the stuff you had to watch between the stuff you wanted to watch," says Middleditch. "I think now, because of the power of the internet and a lot more very well made television, that audiences have been educated up to better ads." Middleditch, who started out as a feature film director, has won over 200 awards internationally — the majority of these for beer advertisements — which makes him the country's most awarded advertising director. 
(March 2009)