Michala Banas Gets Her Bogan On
Acclaimed actor Wellington-born Michala Banas, 38, had never been to a speedway before being cast as foul-mouthed and tough as nails Amber in the hit ABC comedy Upper Middle Bogan. “That world was totally new…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Keisha Castle-Hughes in Negotiations for FBI Crime-Drama ‘Manifesto’
New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is in negotiations for Discovery Channel’s high-profile FBI drama Manifesto, as reported in Deadline. Castle-Hughes “will play Tabby, a street agent who partners with FBI special agent Jim…
How Pacific Islanders Helped Moana Find Its Way
Fine attention to detail and constant feedback from John Musker and Ron Clements, the writer-director team behind Moana’s cultural advisory group The Oceanic Story Trust, has helped shape the Disney film on every level, Vanity…
Peter Jackson to Produce Sci-Fi Series Adaptation
Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson will produce an adaptation of British author Philip Reeve’s steampunk series Mortal Engines, the script which the New Zealander has also co-written. Another Academy Award winner, Christian Rivers, Jackson’s long-term collaborator…
New Ghost in The Shell Behind the Scenes Released
“Come 2017, Hollywood veteran Scarlett Johansson will be headlining Paramount’s lavish Ghost in the Shell movie as The Major, an elite cyborg enforcer who spearheads a task force known as Section 9,” writes Michael…
Melanie Lynskey Sticking to the Indies
Melanie Lynskey, star of the latest Duplass brothers film, Rainbow Time, talks to Metro US about indies, acting for friends and being chummy with the most evil people in the world: film critics. “I feel…
Filmmaker Gregory King’s UFO Wins in Toronto
New Zealand-born director Gregory King has won Best Short Drama for his 2014 film UFO at this year’s imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival held in Toronto. King said from Berlin, where he lives, that the…
Lucy Lawless on the Evolution of Fake Blood
New Zealand-born Lucy Lawless of Spartacus, Battlestar Galactica and Xena: Warrior Princess fame says she has noted major advances in props and fake blood since she began her career. “The technology now is so good….
Sam Neill: From Heartthrob To Vintner
Sam Neill of New Zealand’s Central Otago winery Two Paddocks, who is better known as an actor told the Financial Times’ Jancis Robinson that he “puts all his energy “into making beautiful…
Top of the Lake – Series With Star Location
“Across the globe and across generations”, there are stories with “settings as important as any character with dialogue,” according to an article in IndieWire. New Zealand’s Top of the Lake is one…
The Rehearsal Adaptation a Team Effort
The spirit of collaboration runs deep in Alison Maclean’s The Rehearsal, the Canadian filmmaker’s often ambitious and hearteningly daring big screen adaptation of Man Booker Prize-winning author New Zealander Eleanor Catton’s first novel of…
No Caller ID Makes Hollywood’s Screamfest Lineup
Slasher film No Caller I.D., which was shot in one night and on a three-figure budget, has been accepted into Hollywood’s prestigious Screamfest Horror Film Festival. Best friends Guy Pigden and Harley Neville shot the…
What We Do In The Shadows – Mockumentary You Need to Watch
Kiwi mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows has been included in a list of mockumentaries you will need to watch in an article on Vice. What We Do in the Shadows, directed,…
World-Class Creative Peter Jackson Says Dream
Seventeen-time Oscar winning director Peter Jackson spent some time recently with Forbes correspondent Brian Rashid to share his ideas about creativity, his processes, and mindset around being a world-class creative. “Jackson admittedly, does not consider…
Stunning NZ Films You Should Know About
“New Zealand certainly brings a fair few ‘bests’ to the table. Aside from being one of the most beautiful countries in the world, responsible for some of the greatest exploratory and scientific minds,…
NZ Selects ‘A Flickering Truth’ for Foreign-Language Category
New Zealand has selected Afghanistan-set documentary A Flickering Truth, which was produced and directed by Pietra Bretkelly, for the best foreign-language film category for the 2017 Academy Awards, as reported in The…
Cliff Curtis Joins Warner Bros’ Shark Pic ‘Meg’
New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis has joined the cast for Warner Bros’ Shark Pic ‘Meg’, as reported in Deadline. The film is based on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel, Meg: A Novel of…
Actor Michelle Langstone Getting on with It
From McLeod’s Daughters to Power Rangers and Legend of the Seeker, Sydney-based New Zealander Michelle Langstone, 37, is a quiet achiever of television, according to the Daily Telegraph. Most recently, she’s one of the stars…
How Andrew Dominik Relayed Nick Cave’s Trauma
New Zealand-born director Andrew Dominik said he made the Nick Cave documentary One More Time With Feeling, expecting viewers to see it only once, and not many viewers at that. The new album by Nick…
Lyall Bay’s Unique Time Cinema For Sale
Movie buff John Bell has decided to sell up one of Wellington’s best kept secrets: the Time Cinema in the suburb of Lyall Bay, a fully fledged 38-seat picture theatre where he lovingly screens…
Taika Waititi’s Creative Journey
”The vast majority of us lack the happy-go-lucky charm of New Zealand’s favourite writer/director,” writes Clarisse Loughrey for The Independent. She is talking about Taika Waititi, who currently is working on one of…
NZ the Way US Used to Be Says Robert Redford
Hollywood film star Robert Redford, 80, came to New Zealand to expand his Oscar-winning résumé with children’s film Pete’s Dragon, but what he found was an idyllic paradise reminiscent of his own childhood. Redford says he felt…
Pietra Brettkelly’s A Flickering Truth Opens in NZ
When New Zealand-born director Pietra Brettkelly visited Afghanistan in 2012 she heard tell of a secret film archive, constructed during Taliban rule to protect the country’s old films from being destroyed by the regime….
Niki Caro Directing Anne of Green Gables Series
Wellington-born filmmaker Niki Caro will direct the latest adaptation of the classic children’s novel Anne of Green Gables with production beginning in Canada this month. The series, Anne, may prove to be an edgier incarnation…
Fear the Walking Dead’s Michelle Ang Diversifies
Christchurch-born actress Michelle Ang, 32, made her debut on the web series Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462, earning an Emmy nomination for the role. This year, she’s trying her hand as a producer…
David Farrier Uncovers Surprise Turns in Tickled
Squarely of the “truth is stranger than fiction” category, New Zealand journalist David Farrier’s debut documentary Tickled has touches about it of thriller, mystery, and true-crime genres – even, at times, horror, the Guardian’s…
Anna Paquin to Star in Margaret Atwood Adaptation
True Blood and Roots star New Zealander Anna Paquin has been tapped to topline an adaptation of Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s novel Alias Grace, the Hollywood Reporter reports. Published in 1996, Alias Grace follows Grace…
Actor Rhys Darby Taking NZ Comedy to the World
New Zealander Rhys Darby is an actor slash writer slash stand-up slash globetrotting monster hunter. And if he’s not the only one, he’s certainly the busiest, according to Seth Simons writing for Paste Magazine. In…
Teeth and Tongue is So It Right Now
Teeth & Tongue, the “cheeky moniker” of New Zealand-born Jess Cornelius, is one of 10 new artists “you need to know”, according to Rolling Stone, who recommend the musician to fans of Blondie, Kate…
Jon Beardmore Documents Odyssey Across Central Asia
New Zealand-born Jon Beardmore doesn’t like cricket – he loves it. So much so the London-based adventurer drove solo halfway across the planet, almost 50,000km, for a few overs in Afghanistan, an odyssey that…
NZ Transplant’s Book Being Adapted by Transparent TV Auteur
One of the most compelling, influential, and controversial cult novels of the last 20 years, New Zealand transplant Chris Kraus’s I Love Dick, is coming soon to Amazon Prime in a TV adaptation spearheaded…
Hunt for the Wilderpeople Transcends Boundaries
New Zealand “recently found its top native filmmaker in the unlikely form of 40-year-old comedian and actor Taika Waititi,” writes Ken Korman in a Hunt for the Wilderpeople review for The Gambit. “Hunt…
Ride With Pete’s Dragon in 360 Flyover Experience
Walt Disney has given fans an opportunity to ride with Pete’s pet dragon Elliott (Pete’s Dragon) in a VR/360 experience that was created with the help of Air New Zealand, Nokia; Tourism New Zealand…
Rhys Darby Gets Wrecked
Rhys Darby is keeping busy. When IndieWire got the Aucklander on the phone, he was in Vancouver filming an unspecified role in the upcoming series adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It was…
DJ Zane Lowe Queues Up His Summer Faves
From a moody duet to a Mac Miller joyful four-on-the-floor groove, Auckland-born DJ, producer and poptimist Zane Lowe shares the songs he’s got queued up this summer for the Guardian’s regular column, The Playlist. Lowe,…
‘Accidents, Blunders & Calamities’ Wins Best Animated Film at Comic-Con
Kiwi short film Accidents, Blunders and Calamities produced by students from Auckland’s Media Design School, has taken out the prize for Best Animated Film at the 2016 Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival…
Tickled: “Compelling, Enthralling and Very Entertaining”
A lot of people think of documentaries as “ultra somber, serious cinema exercises”, writes Jim Batts in a WeAreMovieGeeks review. Tickled is different. It’s “entertaining, just as funny as many…
Star Trek’s Karl Urban Meets Hero Harrison Ford
A perk of working for producer J.J. Abrams on Star Trek Beyond was the chance for Wellington-born actor Karl Urban, 44, to visit his boss’ other set. And for Urban, a lifelong Harrison Ford…
New BBC Doco Explores Our Mythical Islands
“In New Zealand, you’ll be interested to learn, there are more species of penguin than anywhere else in the world,” the Independent’s deputy managing editor Sean O’Grady writes in a preview of BBC Two…
Rose McIver on Her Early Acting Days
Kiwi actress Rose McIver, who plays lead character Liv Moore in the iZombie series, recently said she wasn’t satisfied with her early acting performance. When the actress, who is required to take on an American…
Hollywood Is Finally Ready For Taika Waititi
New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi “has been put at the forefront of Disney’s push toward diversity. But that doesn’t mean he’s committing to a career in studio movies,” writes Alison Willmore in an article…
Keisha Castle-Hughes Speechless When Cast Against Jaime Lannister
Kiwi actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, who plays Obara Sand in “Game Of Thrones”, said that she felt really nervous and excited when she was given the chance to act against the character of Jaime Lannister…
Wilderpeople Lavished with Praise in US
“Every once in a while, a small, unheralded film comes along, so smart and funny, such a pleasure to experience, you can’t believe your luck. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is such a film,” Los…
Taika Waititi on Marvel’s First Female Supervillain
In October New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi “landed the biggest job of his career when Marvel handed him the reins to their superhero threequel Thor: Ragnarok,” writes Jen Yamato for The Daily…
Taika Waititi Relates Wilderpeople Scene
Director Taika Waititi narrates a scene for the New York Times from his comedy adventure film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which opens 24 June in the United States. “At this point in the film, Ricky…
Smoothly Shot Tickled Undeniably Compelling
“About half an hour into the queasily entertaining documentary Tickled, we’re introduced to a Florida man named Richard Ivey, who runs a lucrative video website catering to those who share his highly specific fetish,”…
Josh James to Star in Dual Survival Season 8
Josh James an “experienced outdoorsman from New Zealand’s South Island” will join the cast for Dual Survival Season 8. The Kiwi has “lived off the grid for years, hunting and fishing to provide for…
Marvel-lous Opportunity for Niki Caro
New Zealand independent director Niki Caro is one of two frontrunners to oversee Captain Marvel, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The other possibility to helm the film is Australian Jennifer Kent. Wellington-born Caro and Kent…
Andrew Dominik Helms New Nick Cave Doco
In conjunction with forthcoming Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Skeleton Tree, Wellington-born director Andrew Dominik, 48, has made a documentary, One More Time With Feeling, which focuses on the tragic circumstances that…
Sam Neill Cuts to the Chase
In a Q&A with the Guardian, New Zealand actor Sam Neill talks about his father’s war medals, the Fifa film and a secret about his real name. Born in Northern Ireland, Neill, 68, grew up…
Mime Sam Wills Stuns on America’s Got Talent
New Zealand mime Sam Wills, 37, aka The Boy With Tape on His Face, has wowed judges, the live studio audience, and an estimated 11 million viewers, at his audition for America’s Got Talent. Judge…
Anna Paquin Returns to the South in Roots
Forty years after the original Roots gripped half the United States, a more violent and more accurate remake is here, the Hollywood Reporter’s Marissa Guthrie writes, gambling on big stars including New Zealander Anna…
Top of the Lake Two Never Meant to Be Says Campion
New Zealand-born director Jane Campion has said she never expected to be working on Top Of The Lake again and that she was surprised by the success of the original 2013 BBC miniseries that…
The Kiwi Film You Need To See
The New Zealand smash hit Hunt for the Wilderpeople has knocked Batman vs Superman off number one and has beat Boy to become the highest grossing film of all time in New Zealand. According…
Karl Urban to Star in Thor: Ragnarok
Kiwi actor Karl Urban will join the cast in the upcoming Taika Waititi-helmed Thor: Ragnarok as Skurge. “It’s a fantastic story and a really great character who has got a wonderful arc. I’m super excited…
Joe Naufahu Looks to next Role after Thrones Stint
We all know that Game of Thrones keeps its secrets even from its own cast members, but when it came to episode 4’s fiery finale involving New Zealander Joe Naufahu, 38, there were some…
