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,…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
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…
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…
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…
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, is a really full-on sexy show,” Paquin agrees easily, taking a…
With eyes wide open
Pioneering New Zealand camerawoman Margaret Moth is the subject of a CNN World’s Untold Stories documentary ‘Fearless: The Margaret Moth Story’, in which former colleagues — including New Zealand photographer Barrington West and…
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…
High expectations
“If 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…
Daring new role
Rotorua-born actor Cliff Curtis, 41, stars in the NBC medical drama Trauma as daredevil flight medic Reuben ‘Rabbit’ Palchuck. The show premiered in the US on September 28. Acting was always a hobby to…
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…
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…
This way through love
“The Topps defy logic,” writes Variety in a review of The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls — winners of the audience award for best documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival. “‘On paper,’ says their…
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…
World Odyssey continues
South Seas Film School graduates New Zealanders Julian Hanton and Camilla Andersen joined forces to film Travel Channel-commissioned television series Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey; the show’s first season was one of the…
Small Screen Project
Waikato-born executive chef de cuisine, head of Gordon Ramsay’s North American operations and New Zealand’s first Michelin star winner Josh Emett, 36, will document his rise to culinary fame in a documentary called Chef…
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…
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…
She’s no Barbie doll
True Blood star New Zealander Anna Paquin — “who has an Oscar and a cool accent” — talks to Nylon magazine about the show’s phenomenal success, those nude scenes and going blonde for the…
She’s Getting on With It
“Stuntmaster turned-actor of the moment seems to be New Zealand-born Zöe Bell”, writes Douglas Rusley for The Examiner in a review of web series Angel of Death, in which Bell stars as professional assassin…
Disney’s Newest Princess
Orewa-raised actress Emily Robins, 21, is enjoying international success starring in the Disney Channel’s latest tween hit The Elephant Princess, where she plays Alex, a regular suburban girl who discovers she is a princess…
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…
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…
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…
Lights, camera, action!
Wellington film director Peter Jackson is gearing up for an extended run at the box office, ending a four-year hiatus from the big screen. Working with a stable of filmmakers, from fellow Oscar-winners to…
No thanks to Sir
Actor Sam Neill has turned down a knighthood saying the title was “just far too grand”. His views were echoed by other well-known New Zealanders, including Maori activist and author Ranginui Walker, who said…
He’s Lippy
Wellington actor Jemaine Clement is included in Bust magazine’s ‘Fall Preview’ film section showing off “his sugar lumps on the big screen” in Gentlemen Broncos. In the film, directed by the folks behind Napolean…
Bombs away in 3D
Peter Jackson has told the Telegraph he thinks “a World War Two bombing raid in 3D would be neat”. While it may be pushing the boundaries of good taste, Jackson, the director of The…
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…
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…
Fronting up at Comic-Con
Wellington director Peter Jackson spoke last week at the 40th annual Comic-Con in San Diego — the largest comic book and popular arts convention late last week — much to the delight of 6,500…
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…
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,…
Redhead Hopes She Has
New Zealand native Rachel Paget, 37, is competing in the American reality television show She’s Got the Look hoping for a win and a photo spread in Self magazine, a contract with Wilhelmina, and…
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…
Commission reviewer
Director Peter Jackson will lead a review of the New Zealand Film Commission alongside head of screen business at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School David Court. Jackson will examine the 30-year-old legislation…
42 x 42
Director Niki Caro is one of 42 creatives signing up for the 42Below vodka-instigated ONEDREAMRUSH campaign, which will see each individual create a 42 second film based on a dream they’ve had. Caro…
Sultry Sookie
“It’s no secret at Self, we love True Blood. Anna Paquin’s emergence as a sex symbol — and the onscreen (and off-screen!) heat between her and costar Stephen Moyer — has made HBO’s…
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…
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….
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…
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…
Eruption Earns Bafta
Visual effects producer Marie Jones, formerly of Invercargill, has won a Bafta for her special effects work on BBC1’s sci-fi drama Doctor Who in an episode called Fires of Pompeii, as part of London…
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’…
Celebrating women
Director Jane Campion, 55, the only woman ever to have won the Palm d’Or award at Cannes for her movie The Piano, is returning to the French film capital with her latest, Bright Star,…
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…
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,…
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…
Love bites
“Anna Paquin is about to catapult into a rare form of superstardom, the kind in which a television actress becomes an A-list fixture (á la Sarah Jessica Parker)”, writes Cristina Greevan Cuomo for the…
Bony buoyancy
Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel The Lovely Bones though “murderous is also optimistic”, headlines USA Today. For all the violence and grief of The Lovely Bones, Jackson believes the movie…
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…
Truly popular
Creator of the 1999 New Zealand reality show Popstars Jonathan Dowling, 46, has changed the face of television sparking spinoff TV formats, such as The X Factor, American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent. Though…
Paquin the heroine
On the back of recent success as Sookie Starkhouse in vampire series True Blood, New Zealand Golden Globe winner Anna Paquin turns her talents to a made for television film taking the lead role…
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…
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…
Slave-driven
Former Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless has been cast in the new action series Spartacus: Blood and Sand as Lucretia, who with her husband Batiatus own a gladiator camp called the Ludus. The…
Long Distance Teamwork
Tintin collaborators Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are in touch across the world via a video-conferencing setup for the first installment of the film, using a custom-made iChat-type system by which Jackson can see…
