Jane Campion’s Real Life Motherhood Plot
Amidst Top of the Lake: China Girl’s central thematic story lines related to motherhood – Mary’s relationship with Julia grows tense as she gets to know Robin – there was a real-life motherhood “plot”…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
NZ Acting Coach Miranda Harcourt Gets Emmy Shout Out From Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman has thanked Wellington acting coach Miranda Harcourt in her heartfelt acceptance speech after winning an Emmy for her role on the TV series Big Little Lies, as reported…
Jane Campion on Her Ovarian Series
The legality of prostitution and commercial surrogacy, the exploitation of women involved in both – in the end, Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl explored those issues more than it explored the…
Sam Neill Nominated for Another Emmy
A few days out from the Emmy Awards, where Sam Neill, 70, has been nominated in the outstanding narrator category for his work on documentary series Wild New Zealand, the actor showed he was…
Kimberley Crossman To Star in Showtime’s ‘SMILF’
“The upcoming Showtime comedy series SMILF has cast New Zealand-born actress Kimberley Crossman in a recurring role,” reports Joe Otterson for Variety. Crossman will play Kit-Cat, the roommate of…
Callan Mulvey Joins Outlaw King Cast
Auckland-born actor Callan Mulvey, 42, is joining the cast of upcoming American-Scottish historical action drama Outlaw King, which will be aired on Netflix. According to Variety, Mulvey will be playing the role of Sir John…
Stefania LaVie Owen Cast in Dick Cheney Biopic Casts
Kiwi actress “Stefania LaVie Owen has joined Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Amy Adams, and Bill Pullman in Annapura’s Dick Cheney biopic, titled Backseat, written and directed by Adam McKay,” as reported on
How Rugby Helped Jared James In Japan
For a Japanese national, the question of why a person from the West would come to Japan is a fascinating one, so much so that there’s even a TV show about it: You wa…
Richard Wilkins Shares Wildest Backstage Memories
“As an entertainment reporter for more than 30 years, you’d have a lot to talk about,” writes Benjamin Potter in an article in the Daily Mail. He’s referring to Richard…
Small Screen Gives Jane Campion New Space to Shine
In a review of Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl, which is currently screening on BBC2 in the UK, the Guardian’s Sam Wollaston says that not only is lead Elisabeth Moss “mesmerising,…
Start Getting Excited About Taika Waititi’s Thor
The Taika Waititi-directed Thor: Ragnarok might just be “one of the greatest Marvel movies ever,” according to Forbes contributor Dani Di Placido. It’s shorter, a lot was improvised, and it’s embracing the insanity of…
Danielle Cormack Sees Kenya’s Drought Firsthand
Danielle Cormack, the New Zealand-born actress well known for her on-screen roles in Australian television shows Wentworth, Rake and Deep Water, has spoken of her first-hand experience of the devastating impact of climate change…
Phil Keoghan Captures Essence of NZ in New Show
Phil Keoghan’s 16-year tenure as host of The Amazing Race means he never spends too much time in any given place. But in his off-time from jet setting around the world filming the show’s…
Weta Digital Underway on Avatar Sequels
“Weta Digital has announced that it has gotten underway on the four Avatar sequels that James Cameron will direct for Fox,” writes Mike Fleming Jr in an article for Deadline…
The Life Of A Zombie: Rose McIver Says It’s Great
In iZombie Kiwi actress Rose McIver’s world as a zombie is ever-changing, which often makes preparation difficult. “In the series, McIver’s character, a zombified medical examiner, has to snack on others’ brains in order…
Jane Campion is a Clever Person Doing TV
From Sweetie to The Piano, New Zealander Jane Campion has made some of cinema’s strangest, strongest films. So why has she switched to the small screen? The Guardian investigates. It is eight years since Campion,…
Earth Live With Phil Keoghan for Nat Geo
Phil Keoghan has seen the world for 29 seasons as host of The Amazing Race. But the New Zealander had never seen the world the way he did on last week’s two-hour National Geographic…
Jane Campion on Inspiration Behind New TOTL Series
Fans of the critically acclaimed crime drama Top of the Lake will be eagerly awaiting its return at the end of this month – but writer New Zealand-born Jane Campion admits to the Observer…
John Clarke Remembered in Final Tribute
Geoffrey Rush, David Wenham and Gina Riley joined a line-up of some of Australia’s biggest names in television to pay a final tribute to renowned satirist, Palmerston North-born John Clarke in a packed out…
iZombie and Rose McIver Still Winning Fans
Season three of the “enjoyable series” iZombie, “an adaptation of the DC Comic of the same name and starring New Zealand-born actress Rose McIver, 28, has continued to get the basics right while expanding…
Producer David Metcalf’s Indonesian Labour of Love
Produced by photographer New Zealander David Metcalf and directed by Indonesian filmmaker Erick Est, documentary Journey to Long Saan is a three-year labour of love that explores themes related to Kenyah Dayak tribe elder…
NZ a World Power of High-End Filmmaking
“Breathtaking landscapes have long made New Zealand a prime filming location. Where else, after all, can one find alpine glaciers side by side with subtropical seacoasts?” entertainment trade magazine Variety writes. “Plus, the country’s highly…
Indie Auteur Taiki Waititi’s Takes on Growing Up
Masculine society is a fragile and insecure thing, and few writers or directors understand that more than New Zealand-born filmmaker Taika Waititi, according to Leigh Monson writing for Substream Magazine. “Once best known for writing…
Director Florian Habicht on His Latest Film
Florian Habicht’s unconventional approach to filmmaking has won him critical acclaim and kept discerning film fans entertained for more than a decade. For his latest project, the Berlin-born New Zealander ventures into the creepy,…
Actor Tim Kano Happy to Call Melbourne Home
For a New Zealander who has lived, worked, studied, and travelled abroad, Neighbours star Tim Kano, 29, is happy to call Melbourne home, Catherine Nikas-Boulos writes for the Daily Telegraph. The former Wellingtonian, who plays…
Jane Campion’s China Girl is Unforgettable
“Is it a movie? Is it a TV show? Whatever you call it, Jane Campion’s latest is as beautiful and soul-stirring as anything you’ll see this year,” David Ehrlich writes in a “grade A”…
Roger Donaldson’s Doco McLaren Filling the Gaps
An Australian who emigrated to New Zealand in 1965, Roger Donaldson, 71, cut his teeth in documentaries and TV before launching into a career in feature films. His first feature was Sleeping Dogs in…
Jane Campion Says Cannes Needs All-Female Juries
New Zealander Jane Campion, 63, has just shown the full six hours of her new series, Top Of The Lake: China Girl to audiences at Cannes. At the festival, Campion bemoaned that, just three…
KJ Apa Speaks About His Coveted Archie Role
New Zealand-born actor KJ Apa, 19, star of television series Riverdale, talks with Los Angeles Confidential about his comic book romance, that fiery red hair, and what it’s like having ‘90s icon parents. When a…
Cliff Curtis Signs On For Lead Role in Avatar Sequel
Cliff Curtis will join James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar sequels in a lead role. “The New Zealand-born actor will play Tonowari, who is the leader of the Metkayina, the reef people clan,” writes Anthony D’Alessandro…
Sam Neill Speaks about Tiny Rowland TV Role
New Zealand actor Sam Neill stars in Channel Nine’s television miniseries about Australian businessman Alan Bond’s life and said he was sure people would enjoy watching the “rollercoaster” ride. “You’re familiar with the story of…
Filmmaker Florian Habicht Gets Spooked
For his latest documentary, Spookers, which just made its world premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, New Zealander Florian Habicht, 42, set his sights on something that has become an unlikely…
Why Lorde Is a Great Dancer
Lorde’s unpolished dancing has drawn a mixture of criticism and backhanded praise from the public and press throughout her career. Perhaps it’s more accurate – and less patronising – to view the way she…
Pork Pie Reboot Hits Australian Theatres
New Zealand’s Pork Pie screened recently as part of the Gold Coast Film Festival and is reviewed by Jake Tired for Australian entertainment news site, The Iris ahead of the film’s release in Australian…
Taika Waititi Confirms Thor Cameo
“With a very popular trailer already out, Marvel fans probably thought they already knew everything there was to know about the cast of Thor: Ragnarok,” according to…
Top of the Lake Season Two More Accessible
Critics loved Top of the Lake, New Zealander Jane Campion’s dark crime drama, starring Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss as Robin Griffin, the police detective tasked with finding out why a…
Rose McIver on the Many Brains of IZombie
For the past two seasons of The CW series iZombie, star Rose McIver has managed to enjoy relative anonymity when the cameras stopped rolling. Thanks to the deathly pale zombie complexion and platinum wig…
First Thor: Ragnarok Trailer Released
The first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok, which was directed by Taika Waititi, has been released, as reported in an article in The Guardian. “Following on from the events of Avengers: Age…
Phil Keoghan’s LE RIDE Tours USA
Phil Keoghan, New Zealander extraordinaire, host of ten-time Emmy Award-winning show The Amazing Race, travels the U.S. in April to screen his critically-acclaimed documentary feature film LE RIDE. LE RIDE recently…
Riverdale Is a Guilt-Free Pleasure to Watch
“‘Archie got hot – he has abs now!’ An actual line in the pilot episode of Riverdale,” which is Toronto Star columnist Shinan Govani’s latest innocent viewing pleasure, he admits. The lead role of…
Ambition Got Niki Caro to Where She Is Today
Picturing yourself as a successful movie director – then getting there – is notoriously tough for a woman in the United States, the epicentre of the movie industry. For a young woman in New…
Nathalie Boltt Joins KJ Apa in Riverdale
Wellington-based actress Nathalie Boltt has been missing fish and chips on the beach with her husband and son. The Riverdale star (she plays Penelope Blossom) is originally from South Africa but its her adopted…
Deliberating on the Taika-Esqueness of Thor
Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi talks to the Guardian about joining the Marvel universe with his interpretation of Thor, which is due out in the United States in November. As far as whetting…
Meet The Rock’s Body Double Kelly Mcnaught
Kawerau chef Kelly Mcnaught was serving up food at a Gold Coast café when a customer asked if he could photograph him. “Then I got a Facebook message from an agent asking if I’d…
Clive James on Sam Neill’s Richly Sane Career
“Performers do best to do their best every time. By no paradox, it is easier to maintain this attitude if you are not being treated as a deity,” Australian broadcaster and critic Clive James…
Annie Goldson’s Film Unravels Dotcom Drama
Kim Dotcom’s personal story is Shakespearean in its ups and downs, says New Zealander Annie Goldson, the director behind a documentary that has just had its premiere in the United States. When flamboyant internet entrepreneur Dotcom…
Why Filmmaker Niki Caro Travels
Notions of “home” and “away” get blurry when you’re a citizen of the world. So what does it mean to travel? For Niki Caro, Wellington-born writer and the director of soon-to-be-released The Zookeeper’s Wife,…
It’s Time to Rethink Peter Jackson’s King Kong
“History has been too unkind to which should be remembered not as lumbering and mindless, but as majestic and mesmerising,” according to critic Chris Hartwell writing for…
Niki Caro in Warsaw for Holocaust Biopic
Hollywood stars, including New Zealand director Niki Caro, recently hit the red carpet in Warsaw for a gala screening of a film about a Polish couple who risked their lives to hide hundreds of…
KJ Apa Shines on the Big Screen
Currently starring as the lead in hit television series Riverdale, which features characters from the Archie comic-books series, teen sensation New Zealander KJ Apa makes his big-screen debut in the moving tale A Dog’s…
Warner’s Meg Helps Launch Kumeu Film Studio
New Zealand’s newest production facility, the Kumeu Film Studio is to launch thanks to a three-way partnership built around the China-Hollywood co-produced, action-adventure film Meg, according to an exclusive story in Variety. The studio facility…
John Gilbert and Dan Lemmon Win at Oscars
Two New Zealanders have won at the 89th Academy Awards: John Gilbert won Best Editing for his work on the WWII drama Hacksaw Ridge and Dan Lemmon won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects…
John Feeney’s Kenojuak Returns to Screen in US
Ngaruawahia-born John Feeney’s 1964 short film Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak, about Kenojuak Ashevak, the first Inuit woman involved with a printmaking co-operative in Cape Dorset, Canada, was recently shown at the Brunnier Art Museum in…
Connecting with Director Tusi Tamasese
A gripping film about redemption and the relationships that can ultimately lead to a fresh start, One Thousand Ropes left audiences eager to question Samoan New Zealand director Tusi Tamasese after its world premiere…
Taika Waititi named New Zealander of the Year
“Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi has been named as the 2017 New Zealander of the Year,” as reported on TV3.ie. “I just found out the news. Wow, amazing. Thank you so…
The Inland Road Makes for a Satisfying Debut
“In the stunned aftermath of a fatal road accident, a directionless 16-year-old half-Maori runaway drifts with unpredictable consequences into the lives of strangers in New Zealander Jackie van Beek’s assured first feature, The Inland…
