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 being anything other than a…
Tag Archives: Niki Caro
How Our Film Industry Boomed During the Pandemic
Thanks to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand is enjoying an unprecedented boom in film production, with directors seeking safe conditions, and that most elusive thing this year – a normal life,…
Niki Caro’s Mulan “a dazzling, moving, hair-prickling spectacle”
An Empire reviewer bemoans this month’s “bittersweet” release of New Zealander Niki Caro’s live-action adaptation Mulan through online streamer Disney Plus. “Not only the best live-action Disney adaptation to date, but also a dazzling,…
Why Niki Caro Was Right Choice for Disney Remake
Mulan director New Zealand-born Niki Caro, 53, has a message for those who take issue with the fact that Disney’s latest live-action remake was not helmed by an Asian filmmaker, Christopher Rosen writes for…
Niki Caro’s Mulan a Timeless Re-Creation
Disney has been busy of late reviving our favourite childhood animation films into live-action remakes. Following in the footsteps of Dumbo, Aladdin and The Lion King (which were all released in 2019), New Zealander…
Power Inclusion Summit Attracts More Big Film Names
Award-winning writer-director Jackie van Beek joins fellow New Zealanders Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Mulan director Niki Caro at the two-day Power of Inclusion Summit in Auckland on 3-4 October. According to The Hollywood…
Big Names to Speak at Film Summit in Auckland
New Zealand filmmakers Niki Caro, Philippa Boyens, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and US film producer Charles King will headline global screen inclusion summit, Power of Inclusion, which will take place 3-4 October in Auckland. Mulan…
Hollywood Directors Like Niki Caro a Force
Never in the history of Hollywood has more than one female filmmaker been at the helm of a feature with a budget of USD$100 million or more – until now. On the heels of…
NZ’s Film Industry Worth a Billion to Economy
The International New Zealand Screen Production Grant (NZSPG) is a key contributor to the nation’s economy according to a new economic study released by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC). The New Zealand screen industry…
Niki Caro Discusses Sexual Harassment in Hollywood
Sharing stories about the bad behaviour of powerful men in Hollywood has long been a perverse practice in the film industry, according to Wellington-born film director Niki Caro (pictured second from right), speaking to…
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…
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,…
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…
Disney Coup for Director Niki Caro
The new live-action Mulan remake has secured Whale Rider director Niki Caro to helm. According to online women’s magazine, Bustle, “The Hollywood Reporter issued the reminder that Caro will be only Disney’s…
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…
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…
Niki Caro’s Latest Feature Hits the Ground Running
New Zealander Niki Caro is the director of McFarland, USA, a Disney film based on the true story of a 1987 cross country team from a predominantly Mexican-American high school starring Kevin Costner. McFarland,…
Keisha Castle-Hughes Picked for Game of Thrones
Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes will join the cast of hit HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones, starring as Obara Sand, Oberyn’s eldest daughter and a fearsome warrior in her own right. In a video of…
Caro to Direct Callas
Wellington-born film-director Niki Caro will assume writing and directorial duties for Callas, a film about the life of legendary opera star Maria Callas based on Alfonso Signorini’s book Too Proud, Too Fragile, according to…
Angelic sequel
Wellington author Elizabeth Knox’s latest – a sequel to her 1998 prize-winner The Vintner’s Luck entitled The Angel’s Cut – has been “published to strong praise” writes the Courier Mail’s Kathleen Noonan. The Vintner’s…
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…
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…
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,…
Couplets at the Globe
Hokianga-born actor Rawiri Paratene, well-known for his role as Koro Apirana in Niki Caro’s Whale Rider, is Friar Lawrence in a London Shakespeare’s Globe presentation of Romeo and Juliet, the first New Zealander…
Sights on California
Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, 19, and her family are in Los Angeles, considering a move to California, but right now “bunking down at a modest hotel in West Hollywood between stints with friends at various…
Vintner Role for Paikea
New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, has begun filming The Vintner’s Luck, based on Elizabeth Knox’s novel of the same name and directed by Niki Caro. Castle-Hughes told the New Zealand Herald she…
Love, wine and angels in Auckland
Whale Rider director Niki Caro’s new project has made its first pre-sales. The Vintner’s Luck, Caro’s much-anticipated adaptation of the novel by Elizabeth Knox, has sold to Icon in the UK, Dendy in…
Spotlight on Niki Caro
North Country director Niki Caro was interviewed before a live studio audience by the Guardian’s Sandra Hebron, alongside the star of her film (and new best mate) Charlize Theron. ” was a script…
Whale Rider to North Country
Whale Rider director Niki Caro has officially earned her Hollywood stripes with the release of Warner Brothers’ North Country. Starring Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand and Sean Bean, North Country is a…
North Country
North Country is Niki Caro’s directorial follow-up to the hugely successful Whale Rider. Set in the iron mining region of north Minnesota, North Country tackles sexual harassment in the workplace…
Kiwis on Both Sides of the Camera
Fresh on the heels of her international success with Whale Rider, Niki Caro is to direct an as yet untitled feature for Warner Bros. Starring Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Sissy Spacek and Sean Bean,…
Living Legend
Guardian film writer Diana Dobson visits Whangara, home of the Ngati Konohi people and inspiration behind Witi Ihimaera’s Whale Rider. Rather than touring the location made famous by Niki Caro’s film adaptation, Dobson focuses on the local…
Another award for the kete
Niki Caro’s Whale Rider was named Best International Film at the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles. The IFP website calls Whale Rider a “radiant story of an exceptional little girl’s…
Here’s to you, Ms. Caro
30 November 2003 – Whale Rider director, Niki Caro, was named one of Ms. Magazine‘s women of the year for 2003, alongside Salma Hayek, Eileen Fisher, and Loune Viaud. The US feminist publication recognised…
Winning ways continue for Whale Rider
International plaudits continue to come for Niki Caro’s 2002 hit, Whale Rider. Whale Rider beat Hollywood blockbusters 28 Days Later and The Wild Thornberry‘s to win the feature film category at the 2003 Environmental…
Multi-layered myth-making
Japan Times review places Niki Caro’s Whale Rider alongside Once Were Warriors and The Piano as one of the pivotal moments in NZ cinema. “…Caro presents myth both as a connection with a…
The art of myth-making
Whale Rider director Niki Caro speaks to The Age about the intricate cultural process involved in a “white woman” making a Maori film. Despite early resistance to her involvement, and her subsequent self-doubt, Caro…
Whale Raves: Part 2
Whale Rider‘s Australian release has unleashed a second wave of glowing tributes. The Age: ” sharply observed, warm portrayal of a community … of an indigenous people moving between certainties and uncertainties.” Sydney…
Whale riding on east (and west) coast
NYTimes’ critic Elvis Mitchell praises Niki Caro’s Whale Rider as having the “inspired resonance of found art wickedly absorbing”, and the quiet charisma of actress Keisha Castle-Hughes.The film along with fellow NZ…
Celebrating Kiwi-ness
Countless international critics have praised the universal themes explored in Niki Caro’s Whale Rider; what a reviewer for the Age finds most impressive is its quintessential Kiwi-ness. “Whale Rider sounds like it could be…
Local Film; Universal Message
Niki Caro’s Whale Rider was the star attraction at the annual Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema. According to organisers, the “breathtakingly luminous” film perfectly captured the festival’s central theme of “becoming the person…
Crowd Pleaser
Niki Caro’s Whale Rider continues to charm international viewers, receiving audience awards at both Sundance and Rotterdam. Caro: “As far as I understand, no one’s won at both Toronto and Sundance in the same year…
Sundance Spot For Whale Rider
Fresh from an award-winning stint in Toronto, Niki Caro’s Whale Rider is to feature at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Other entrants in the World Cinema category include Bend It Like Beckham and the latest Dogme instalment,…
Whale Rider: People’s Choice at Toronto
Whale Rider swerves past Bend it Like Beckham to win the prestigious AGF People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival – an award previously won by Amelie and …
Whale of a tale
A combination of German and New Zealand investors will finance Whale Rider, the film adaptation of…
