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Film & TV
Pirate Comedy Deserves Another Season
Cancelled after two season, Taika Waititi’s “silly comedy” Our Flag Means Death “deserves one more voyage”, according to Radio Times critic George White.
“ was meant to…
Punk Goes Down Under in Comedy Head South
Punk arrives in New Zealand, a little bit late, in Head South, the new dramedy from New Zealand director Jonathan Ogilvie (Lone Wolf, The Tender Hook) which opened this…
Setting the Scene in Our Flag Means Death
After starting the season with its lovable cast split in two, Our Flag Means Death concluded its second season with the entire crew of the Revenge sailing off together…
Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Not Slowing Down
Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race, is a citizen of the world. This New Zealander may call California home at the moment. His stack of passports and ability…
M3GAN’s Universal Dance Thrills at Halloween
Universal and Blumhouse’s M3GAN, directed by New Zealander Gerard Johnstone, quickly became a cult classic as the killer AI doll twirled and kicked her way into our hearts after…
Rose Matafeo’s Romcom Even Better than Ever
“ is no longer a will-they-won’t-they series. Instead, it focuses on the joys of friendship – and becomes more enjoyable, relatable and far more moving,”…
Bumpa Love a Voice for Melbourne Drag Queens
Bumpa Love wears many hats – the New Zealander is a trailblazer in Melbourne’s drag scene, an activist queen, a “businesswomen queen”, and now a contestant on Season 3…
Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck Back for Third Run
With her smash hit Starstruck exploring fairytale romance and what happens next, New Zealander Rose Matafeo breathed new life into the sitcom. But, as the series returns for a…
Taika Waititi on the Cover of Hollywood Reporter
With sly and subversive humour, multihyphenate powerhouse Taika Waititi is redefining representation – “Comedy is a great way of pulling people in and going, ‘Hey, we’re all friends. Get…
Antony Starr Plays TV’s Most Intriguing Villain
Sitting down with Antony Starr, 47, who plays perhaps the most intriguing villain on current television as Homelander on The Boys, is disconcerting. Homelander is an Aryan super-sociopath, a…
Niki Caro Holds Reins Tight in The Mother
“The Mother is a mutha of an intimately scaled action film, a violent female-centric drama about a hardened combat veteran who has great difficulty adapting to…
Simone Kessell on Yellowjackets Season 2
Adult Lottie is described by a Yellowjackets showrunner as “kind of a cool Jesus” – she’s a charismatic cult leader-like figure who’s also a potential threat to her former…
THR Puts Two Campion Films on Best of Century List
“Over the course of a few months, several Zoom meetings, and countless emails, six Hollywood Reporter (THR) film critics came together to hash out, and rank, what they consider…
M3GAN Director Gerard Johnstone on Inspirations
With executive producer James Wan and producer Jason Blum already blue skying ideas for sequels, Syfy got on a Zoom with M3GAN director, New Zealander Gerard Johnstone, to ask…
Sam Neill’s Memoir a Real Charmer
Over almost 50 years, since his big-screen feature debut in Landfall, made in New Zealand, the beloved New Zealand actor who became Sir Sam last year, has brought a…
Actor Simone Kessell Seeing Industry Change
Playing adult Lottie in the second season is a breakout moment for the New Zealand-born actor Simone Kessell – but like her accomplished co-stars, she’s been here…
The Tattooist of Auschwitz Is Coming to TV
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, the bestselling novel by New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based writer Heather Morris is being turned into a six-part television series, Karl Quinn reports for The Sydney Morning…
The Examined Life of Melanie Lynskey
In series like Yellowjackets, New Plymouth-born actor Melanie Lynskey specialises in revealing the turbulent emotions of women who seem innocuous and mild on the surface, Alexis Soloski writes in…
Cocaine Bear is Actually Allan Henry
The cocaine bear in Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear is an impressive feat of visual effects wizardry, but there was an actual person behind the 227-kilogram, drug-addicted beast, and that…
Melanie Lynskey Analyses Last of Us Character
When The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin pitched a role in the series to New Zealand-born actor Melanie Lynskey, he started with a bang: “He called me and…
Thomasin McKenzie Burns Up the Screen in Eileen
“What a strange and spellbinding psychological thriller has woven out of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel, Eileen,” Hollywood Reporter reviewer David Rooney writes. “Rippling with sly humour and a…
Simone Kessell Discusses Her Yellowjackets Role
In a Vanity Fair exclusive first look at adult Lottie Matthews (one of the Yellowjackets plane crash survivors), New Zealand-born actor Simone Kessell, 47, discusses where she’s been and…
Killer Doll Movie M3GAN Reviews Well in US
New Zealand director Gerard Johnstone’s latest film, the comedy horror M3GAN, is well reviewed in Variety, with critic Owen Gleiberman describing it as “creepy, preposterous and diverting”.
“Gemma (Allison Williams),…
New Taika Waititi Film Stars Michael Fassbender
In 2001, the American Samoa football team were thrashed by Australia and recruited the services of a coach named Thomas Rongen in an attempt to reverse their on-the-field misfortunes….
Inside the Secretive Gloriavale Christian Community
Like many New Zealanders, Fergus Grady knew about the disturbing stories that were coming out of the Gloriavale Christian Community. This secretive group, located in one of the most…
Alex Liu Receives MGM Film Script Deal
MGM and The Black List have named Auckland-based Alex Liu, 30, as the third recipient to receive a two-step Guild minimum open script deal as part of their two-year…
Emmy Haul for Peter Jackson’s Beatles Doco
The Beatles: Get Back producer-director New Zealander Peter Jackson has shared the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction series with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and fellow producers Yoko Ono…
Jane Campion Cinema Appeals for Autistic Cipher
“In the complex, full-formed characters of Jane Campion’s cinema, I found connections with my own recent autism diagnosis,” Lexie Corbett writes in an article published by bi-monthly magazine, Little…
Melanie Lynskey Finds Light in the Dark
After nearly two decades of critically acclaimed performances, Yellowjackets star New Zealander Melanie Lynskey lands her first Emmy nod, Brooke Marine reports for W magazine.
Ever since she starred in…
Charlotte Rampling at Centre of Likeable Juniper
“Juniper is a drama with black comic edges about a fragmented family, and the unexpectedly life-affirming influence of its particularly tetchy matriarch. In the lead role is Charlotte Rampling,…
Sam Neill and Friends Return to Jurassic Park
Though nearly three decades have passed since New Zealander Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur epic, that series-starter still manages to resonate…
Nude Tuesday Could Be New Zealand’s Next Big Hit
“Imagine writing a film. Rehearsing it in English and then performing it in gibberish. Then, you get someone else to write the subtitles, so even you don’t know how…
Amazing Hotels Host Monica Galetti Prefers Boutique
New Zealand chef and co-presenter of Amazing Hotels, Monica Galetti, tells The Sunday Times about her favourite places to stay, and how she brings back ingredients from her travels.
“I…
Ghosts Rose McIver Stands Out in Ensemble Comedy
Rose McIver, the 33-year-old New Zealand native who began acting as a child, recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about her interest in finding the emotional relatability in flamboyant…
What Makes Taika Waititi Run and Run and Run?
The Thor: Love and Thunder director, New Zealander Taika Waititi, can’t say no – to starring in Our Flag Means Death, making a soccer movie, writing a Star Wars…
Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh Awarded at CineEurope
Studiocanal CEO New Zealand-born Anna Marsh has been named International Distributor of the Year at CineEurope, the exhibition conference which took place in June, in Barcelona.
Andrew Sunshine, president of…
Peter Jackson Talks Getting Back The Beatles
There can be no doubt that New Zealand director Jackson, after his intensive review of 130 hours of audio and 57 hours of long-hidden video of the band at…
Taika Waititi on TIME’s 2022 Most Influential List
New Zealander Taika Waititi, 46, makes TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022. American actor and screenwriter Sacha Baron Cohen explains why.
“You can tell that a film was…
The Boys Star Karl Urban On New Superhero Status
Although Amazon’s The Boys is an ensemble show, Stuart Heritage writes for The Guardian, with a sprawling collection of superheroes and antihero vigilantes, New Zealander Karl Urban has emerged…
New Doco Explores Jane Campion’s Filmography
Drawing upon interviews from throughout the New Zealander’s career, Julie Bertuccelli’s documentary Jane Campion: The Cinema Woman, which premiered at Cannes, explores the process and philosophy of the Power…
Andrew Dominik’s Latest Nick Cave Doco Transcends
“In his 2016 film One More Time With Feeling, Dominik documented the creative process behind the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Skeleton Tree, a…
Jurassic Park’s Sam Neil Reunites with Co-Stars
Thirty years is nothing in terms of geologic eras, but it’s a large swath of a lifetime. In 1992, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum first gathered in…
Life After Life’s Thomasin McKenzie is Otherworldly
At just 21, Thomasin McKenzie, who plays Ursula in the four-part BBC series Life After Life, already has a list of impressive credits including Leave No Trace and Last…
Oscar Number Two for Best Director Jane Campion
Jane Campion has won her second best director Oscar, the first woman to be nominated twice for the directing prize, after also landing a nod for her 1993 film…
Brace Yourself for Peter Day’s Feature Off the Rails
New Zealander Peter Day’s “bracingly kinetic snapshot of contemporary British urban youth”, Off the Rails recently premiered at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The film is reviewed by Screen Daily’s…
Vanity Fair Cover For Director Jane Campion
A decade ago, she almost walked away from movies. Now, New Zealander Jane Campion is the only woman ever nominated twice for an Oscar best director thanks to The…
Vanity Fair Looks Over Grant Major’s Back Catalogue
In ‘The Portfolio’, Vanity Fair’s ‘Awards Insider’ columnist speaks with some of this year’s most notable Oscar nominees about their entire body of nominated work. Here, The Power of…
Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave Doco Hypnotises
“Illuminating tracks from the superb 2019 Bad Seeds album Ghosteen and Nick Cave’s 2021 collaboration with Warren Ellis, Carnage, this remarkable performance documentary …
Our Flag Means Death Stars Waititi and Darby
“The new comedy series Our Flag Means Death was created by American writer David Jenkins and produced by the prolific Taika Waititi, who also stars as Blackbeard, to whom…
Mainstream Cottons on to Talented Melanie Lynskey
After 30 years of critical acclaim, but not mainstream fame, New Zealand-born actor Melanie Lynskey is getting noticed and it feels very, very strange to her. Her show, Yellowjackets,…
Peter Jackson’s Beatles Epic Unmissable
“Nonplussed coppers, 60s London panoramas and the fab four very much alive … Peter Jackson’s film is moving and unmissable,” according to Guardian reviewer Peter Bradshaw, who rates the…
Jane Campion Tops Oscar Nominations
Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog has received 12 Oscar nominations, the most of any film this year. Amongst the categories, the New Zealander’s film was nominated for…
Britain is Starstruck By TV’s Rose Matafeo
With the hit BBC Three show Starstruck returning to UK screens for season two, Glamour magazine catches up with its New Zealand creator and star, Rose Matafeo.
“Given the sheer…
Director Peter Jackson Leads Forbes Rich List
At the end of 2021 he was still making headlines with his Beatles documentary Get Back. Now Forbes magazine has named New Zealand director Sir Peter Jackson, 60, the…
Shining the Light on Actor Melanie Lynskey
The Yellowjackets star New Zealander Melanie Lynskey has gone from character actor to leading lady thanks to her singular ability to project simmering rage beneath a placid exterior, EJ…
Tom Hardy’s Stuntman Jacob Tomuri Opens Up
There is an icy chill to the water in Wellington’s Oriental Bay at 7pm. For Jacob Tomuri, after long days filming high-octane fight action, a daring dip cleanses, rejuvenates…
