Oscar Number Two for Best Director Jane Campion
Jane Campion has won her second best director Oscar, the first woman to be nominated twice for the directing prize, after also landing a nod for her 1993 film The Piano, Laura Harding reports…
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Brace Yourself for Peter Day’s Feature Off the Rails
New Zealander Peter Day’s “bracingly kinetic snapshot of contemporary British urban youth”, Off the Rails recently premiered at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The film is reviewed by Screen Daily’s Neil Young. “Graduating from parkour and…
Vanity Fair Cover For Director Jane Campion
A decade ago, she almost walked away from movies. Now, New Zealander Jane Campion is the only woman ever nominated twice for an Oscar best director thanks to The Power of the Dog. Campion…
Vanity Fair Looks Over Grant Major’s Back Catalogue
In ‘The Portfolio’, Vanity Fair’s ‘Awards Insider’ columnist speaks with some of this year’s most notable Oscar nominees about their entire body of nominated work. Here, The Power of the Dog production designer New…
Andrew Dominik’s Nick Cave Doco Hypnotises
“Illuminating tracks from the superb 2019 Bad Seeds album Ghosteen and Nick Cave’s 2021 collaboration with Warren Ellis, Carnage, this remarkable performance documentary may be for the Nick…
Our Flag Means Death Stars Waititi and Darby
“The new comedy series Our Flag Means Death was created by American writer David Jenkins and produced by the prolific Taika Waititi, who also stars as Blackbeard, to whom he brings a leonine grace,”…
In Awards Month Jane Campion Profiled
Ahead of the Baftas and Oscar ceremonies later this month, New Zealand film director Jane Campion and her director of photography, Australian Ari Wegner, discuss their nominations, filming through the pandemic – and what…
Mainstream Cottons on to Talented Melanie Lynskey
After 30 years of critical acclaim, but not mainstream fame, New Zealand-born actor Melanie Lynskey is getting noticed and it feels very, very strange to her. Her show, Yellowjackets, has steadily become a hit….
Peter Jackson’s Beatles Epic Unmissable
“Nonplussed coppers, 60s London panoramas and the fab four very much alive … Peter Jackson’s film is moving and unmissable,” according to Guardian reviewer Peter Bradshaw, who rates the series five out of five…
Jane Campion Tops Oscar Nominations
Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog has received 12 Oscar nominations, the most of any film this year. Amongst the categories, the New Zealander’s film was nominated for director, adapted screenplay and best…
James Morcan’s Anno 2020 Readies for Distributors
Filming has wrapped on Tauranga-born writer/director James Morcan’s film Anno 2020, which involved separate crews shooting cast members in Israel, China, and Italy, as well as several states within the US and Australia, with dialogue…
Britain is Starstruck By TV’s Rose Matafeo
With the hit BBC Three show Starstruck returning to UK screens for season two, Glamour magazine catches up with its New Zealand creator and star, Rose Matafeo. “Given the sheer amount of romcoms you reference…
Director Peter Jackson Leads Forbes Rich List
At the end of 2021 he was still making headlines with his Beatles documentary Get Back. Now Forbes magazine has named New Zealand director Sir Peter Jackson, 60, the world’s wealthiest entertainer, Germany’s Der…
Shining the Light on Actor Melanie Lynskey
The Yellowjackets star New Zealander Melanie Lynskey has gone from character actor to leading lady thanks to her singular ability to project simmering rage beneath a placid exterior, EJ Dickson writes for Rolling Stone. This…
Tom Hardy’s Stuntman Jacob Tomuri Opens Up
There is an icy chill to the water in Wellington’s Oriental Bay at 7pm. For Jacob Tomuri, after long days filming high-octane fight action, a daring dip cleanses, rejuvenates and helps relieve the off-camera…
The Power of the Dog Among Worthy Globe Winners
Jane Campion’s “handsome, complex and brilliant” western The Power of the Dog won best picture (drama) and best director at this year’s Golden Globes, along with best supporting actor for “the excellent” Kodi Smit-McPhee,…
Temuera Morrison’s the Only Face for Boba Fetta
New Zealander Temuera Morrison vividly remembers the first time he tried on his Boba Fett suit, David Betancourt writes in a story for The Washington Post. He sat in a meeting room with Star Wars…
Dreaming up 1925 Montana with Grant Major
Oscar-winning Palmerston North-born production designer Grant Major has transitioned from The Lord of the Rings to the wilds of 1925 Montana for The Power of the Dog, director Jane Campion’s acclaimed western drama that,…
Rose Matafeo Arguably Breakout Star of 2021
After winning a New Zealand international comedy festival award for stand-up in 2007, at the age of 15, Rose Matafeo has conquered just about everything she has ever attempted, Stuart Heritage writes for The…
How Peter Jackson Became a Local Hero after LOTR
When Amazon announced in August 2021 that its billion-dollar Lord of the Rings TV series would shift production to England, fans were stunned. Though J.R.R. Tolkien was British and though the settings are fictional,…
On the Stunning Visuals in The Power of the Dog
“The incredible natural landscapes of The Power of the Dog provide an unsettlingly beautiful backdrop to Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. Nary a frame in Western tragedy, shot by fast-rising cinematographer…
Zoë Robins in Big Fantasy Show The Wheel of Time
“Fantasy and sci-fi is having a moment,” according to Vogue Australia journalist Charlie Calver. “The wave started with the debut of HBO’s Game of Thrones in 2011, grew and grew as the…
Jane Campion Graces New York Times Magazine
“It has gotten easier over the years to feel comfortable with what work means to the world,” Jordan Kisner writes in a feature published in the New York Times Magazine. “She pulled…
Film-Making Set Jane Campion Free
New Zealand’s “trailblazing director” Jane Campion speaks to The Guardian’s Sean O’Hagan about how the #MeToo movement inspired her first feature in more than a decade, “revisionist western”, The Power of the Dog. That it…
Peter Jackson Takes Us into the Locked Beatles Vault
Ahead of his epic series Get Back, the New Zealand director Peter Jackson reveals the secrets of 60 hours of intimate, unseen footage of the Fab Four – and why it turns everything we…
Catching Up With Lucy Lawless On New Roles
Lucy Lawless, who currently stars in the television series My Life Is Murder, which screens in both New Zealand and the US, spoke to Forbes about doing voiceover animation, taking a leap of faith…
What’s On Thomasin McKenzie’s Cultural Radar?
Wellington-born actor Thomasin McKenzie, who plays the lead in Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, is interviewed for The Observer’s regular column, ‘On my radar’, one person’s snapshot of their current cultural life. Acting since…
Film Pioneer Jane Campion Still Ahead of Her Time
“When French filmmaker Julia Ducournau took the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year for Titane, her wild explosion of body horror and gender politics, Jane Campion’s status in film history shifted slightly: no longer…
Mothers of the Revolution Unexpectedly Gripping
The third feature from New Zealand-based filmmaker Briar March is the “gripping documentary” Mothers of the Revolution, which celebrates the women protesters of Greenham Common. Wendy Ide reviews the film for Screen Daily. “The British…
Director Jessica Hobbs Wins Emmy for The Crown
At the recent International Emmy Awards, held in New York, Christchurch-born director Jessica Hobbs won for best directing of a drama series, for her work on The Crown. Eva Corlett reports on the win…
Giant of Cinema Jane Campion Wins in Venice
New Zealand’s Jane Campion has “underlined her status as one of the leading film-makers of her generation, taking home the best director trophy at the Venice Film Festival”, AFP reports. The Power of the Dog,…
Jane Campion Returns to Film with Locally-Shot Western The Power of the Dog
The Power of the Dog marks a homecoming for Wellington-born Oscar winner Jane Campion – with a career-first twist, David Canfield reports for Vanity Fair. Campion’s last feature was the 2009 romantic drama Bright Star; she…
Rose Matafeo Wants More Diversity in Rom-Coms
While shooting Season 2 of Starstruck, London-based New Zealander Rose Matafeo, 29, spoke to Harper’s Bazaar about its origin story, her dream guests, and how the stereotypes of rom-coms could do with a shake-up. “I…
Andrew Dominik on 20 Years of Chopper
Few would be unfamiliar with Chopper – both the criminal, and the movie. The former is Mark Brandon Read, the notorious Australian gangster, bestselling author and serial shit-spinner, who committed many crimes and claimed…
Taika Waititi Behind Triumphant Reservation Dogs
Oscar-winning writer-director New Zealander Taika Waititi is co-creator of the “unforgettable (and caper-filled)” television series Reservation Dogs, a “portrait of a modern-day Native American community”, Inkoo Kang reports for The Washington Post. “From the pilot…
Xena’s Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor Reunite
One of the most shipped couples in TV history, Xena and Gabrielle, are finally getting back together, Dominic Corry writes for Entertainment Weekly. New Zealander Lucy Lawless and American Renee O’Connor, who co-starred on…
Deep Dive into Peter Jackson’s Beatles Doco
“It’s the Beatles as none would ever see or hear them again – their last live performance as a group, 30 January 1969. It’s also the Beatles as none of us, 52 years on,…
Wellington-Made Jemaine Clement Comedy Explained
New Zealand-born comedian Jemaine Clement breaks down Wellington Paranormal for Vanity Fair and gives the Americans a crash course in New Zealand humo(u)r. The series will also introduce American audiences to the Māori language, Brian Ng…
Local TV Shows Enlightening US Audiences
New Zealand and Australia “have long been in the business of making excellent television that American audiences really would dig,” Alexis Gunderson reports for entertainment news site, Vulture. “Never before have there been so…
First Look at Sam Neill in The Portable Door
Good news for fans of magic, adventure, and comedy: ArtsHub now has its first look at The Portable Door, Stan and Jim Henson Company’s comedic fantasy-adventure, which stars New Zealander Sam Neill and Austrian-German…
Starstruck Another Triumph for New Zealand Comedy
“Australians have known for decades that New Zealanders are the funniest people in the world: we’ve been claiming hilarious Kiwis as our own since John Clarke crossed the ditch in the ’70s,” Ben Pobjie…
Actor Kerry Fox Looks Back at Life in Lower Hutt
New Zealander Kerry Fox, the star of Shallow Grave and Intimacy looks back at her Lower Hutt childhood, driving at 15, her parents disco dancing and an Abba fan club in her shed. “The highlight…
Stuntwoman Vanessa Cater Kicking up an LA Storm
New Zealand-born stuntwoman Vanessa Cater has just finished putting her body on the line in Marvel’s new TV show The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Before that, the action woman has worked in The…
Advice for Budding Female Comics from Rose Matafeo
New Zealander Rose Matafeo, 29, is a staple on the UK stand-up circuit; you probably know her face from regular appearances on panel shows, or from her critically-acclaimed comedy special Horndog. But now, she’s…
Film Fest Director Marten Rabarts Adapts
Marten Rabarts, the globetrotting New Zealand film executive turned festival director reflects on a year spent grounded, watching whales from his home office and the formative influences of Wendy Palmer and Michael Kuhn, Sandy…
Peter Jackson to Receive Visual Effects Accolade
New Zealand film director Sir Peter Jackson will receive the Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th annual VES Awards, which will be presented during a virtual ceremony on 6 April. “Sir Peter…
Deadpan NZ Comedy Acts Resonate Far and Wide
The peculiar brand of awkward, self-deprecating, deadpan humour Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie and Taika Waititi developed on stage in the late 1990s – let’s call it the Wellington School of comedy – has now…
Whina an Exacting Assignment for Rena Owen
None of veteran New Zealand actor Rena Owen’s tough previous roles prepared her for the demands – both physical and emotional – of playing Māori matriarch and political activist Whina Cooper, in the new…
Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Fronts Tough as Nails
Over the last two decades, Phil Keoghan has mostly led a nomadic life, Praveen Sudevan writes for The Hindu. As the host of The Amazing Race, a reality adventure show with 15 Emmy awards,…
Stunt Royal Zoë Bell Embracing Collaboration
It’s been 20 years since New Zealander Zoë Bell arrived in Los Angeles, where she soon took her stunt double career to another level. The Waiheke Island-native made her name after the iconic stunt collaboration…
There’s Extreme Tension Coming Home in the Dark
“The enormity of nature hits you like a freight train in the early scenes of James Ashcroft’s taut and sinewy first feature, Coming Home in the Dark,” David Rooney writes in a…
Comedian Rose Matafeo’s 2021 is Shaping Up
With an acclaimed romcom, one-off HBO special and a new sitcom out this year, 2021 is looking good for New Zealand-born rising comic, Rose Matafeo, who is based in the UK. NME’s George Fenwick recently…
Popular Film Baby Done Released in UK
With New Zealand-made film Baby Done just released on digital platforms throughout the UK, the BBC’s Emma Jones writes about the film’s star, Rose Matafeo, and how the film explores misgivings about motherhood. Matafeo, 28,…
RuPaul’s Drag Race Heads Down Under
Emmy-winning production company World of Wonder is bringing RuPaul’s drag queen reality series to New Zealand and Australia, and it will be appropriately titled RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, Dino-Ray Ramos reports for Deadline. RuPaul…
Filmmaker Charlotte Larsen On Her Latest Projects
US-based Charlotte Larsen, 38, is poised to become a household name. The New Zealand native has found success as a producer and actress on popular films like Gloria and Great Expectations. She is currently…
Emerging Actor Nathalie Morris Plays Teen Parent
“Every few years, a tabloid story pops up about a teenager who didn’t know she was pregnant until she started giving birth. We never really hear about what happens next. The new Australian series…
