Empire Reunites Peter Jackson and the Bad Taste Gang

For the January issue of Empire, devoted entirely to bidding “Farewell to Middle-earth,” Peter Jackson and the crew of the 1987 splatter classic, Bad Taste are reunited “to reminiscence about the crazy shoot.”

“That year, an ill-equipped but fanatically dedicated New Zealander put the finishing touches on his first movie. The New Zealander was Jackson, and over four long years his short film Roast Of The Day had mutated into Bad Taste, a DIY sci-fi epic about an alien invasion of his hometown, Pukerua Bay.

“For effects, he cooked up prosthetics in his mum’s oven and constructed a rickety flying house.

“This unpromising-sounding project would survive squabbles, ailments and even police interference, launching Jackson’s career and starting the long road to Middle-earth.”

“‘We only shot on Sundays, because we all worked six-day weeks,’ Jackson said. ‘And some Sundays we couldn’t shoot at all, because I couldn’t afford it … Also, people often weren’t available. Terry [Potter] (back row second from left) and Mike [Minett] (front row right) were playing soccer all the time. That was a bloody pain in the arse, their soccer games.’

“At least you had time to perfect the disgusting sequence in which several of you drink alien vomit.”

“‘You know, it tasted alright. It was mainly yoghurt, wasn’t it?’ Minett said.

“‘Yoghurt, green food colouring, cans of baked beans and peas. Because every time you vomit, there’s always beans and peas in it, even if you haven’t eaten beans and peas,’ [Jackson confirmed].”

The Empire issue also includes unprecedented access to the final movie in the Hobbit trilogy; unseen pictures from Jackson’s personal collection; Heavenly Creatures’ stars Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet are reunited; and Empire also talks with a trio of the director’s leading ladies, Cate Blanchett, Evangeline Lilly and Liv Tyler.

Empire joins Weta Workshop “supremo” Richard Taylor in Wellington to reveal the secrets of Braindead’s splatter.

And, in a “titanic” world-exclusive interview, James Cameron discusses his move to New Zealand, the future of cinema and his highly anticipated Avatar sequels.

Original article by Nick de Semlyen, Empire, December 10, 2014.