Lee Tamahori Teams up with Adrien Brody on Emperor

Director Lee Tamahori is in the Czech Republic filming Emperor, a movie based on 16th century Roman ruler Charles V and starring A-lister Adrien Brody.

The 64-year-old director of cult 90s film Once Were Warriors splits his time between Auckland and Tologa Bay on the East Coast where his family hails from.

“It depends on work, how long I’m here for. But I’ve been based in New Zealand since 2003. I don’t know why everyone thinks I still live in Hollywood.”

His 2002 James Bond blockbuster Die Another Day starring Halle Berry and Pierce Brosnan was the highest grossing Bond film of its time, pulling NZ$527 million worldwide.

Emperor is a change from the action flicks he’s done recently.

“I made Along Came a Spider and then James Bond and I started getting sent all these action scripts like xXx: State of the Union. But I prefer dramas with a bit of action in them.”

It’s 20 years since Tamahori broke away from television advertisements and found fame with Once Were Warriors, cementing the careers of Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison.

Next year, Morrison is to work with Tamahori again in Patriach, the film adaptation of the Witi Ihimaera novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies.

Original article by Michelle Robinson, Sunday Star Times, August 17, 2014.

Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images Europe.