ScreenTalk

The star of TV ONE’s The Investigator, Bryan Bruce has made programmes on everything from Kiwi humour to mass murderers.

In this ScreenTalk interview, the director, writer and presenter talks about:

• making his television debut interviewing Katherine Mansfield and Chopin, after a lucky break while playing piano in a bar
• mortgaging his house to make a documentary on yachtsman Sir Peter Blake, then selling it around the world in the time it took Blake to sail into Auckland harbour
• Some similar features of the famous New Zealanders he has profiled for documentaries, including Whina Cooper, Howard Morrison and John O’Shea
• Discovering the common traits of mass murderers for the documentary In Cold Blood
• How he takes the unusual approach of offering his own opinion, on true-life crime series The Investigator
• How the secret drop box for The Investigator has received much worthwhile information

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence

Credits: Direction and Interview – Ian Pryor.  Camera and Editing – Alex Backhouse

Geraldine Brophy describes herself as a character actress, but her television and film roles have been very memorable ones. She played the lovable Moira Crombie in Shortland Street for four years, before moving on to roles in Serial Killers, The Insiders Guide to Love, and Outrageous Fortune.

One of her favourite roles was playing the control freak bureaucrat Marion in Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. More recently Brophy danced up a storm on Dancing with the Stars, and had a small but memorable part in Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong. In 2008, she received a NZ Film and TV Award for best actress for her lead role in the feel-good feature film Second-Hand Wedding.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Brophy discusses:

• Having a wonderful time on Shortland Street playing the lovable Moira
• Playing a “plumptious woman with a rampant sexuality” in Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby
• The joy of performing on Dancing with the Stars even though she knew she’d never win
• Working with Peter Jackson on King Kong
• Working with director Paul Murphy on Second-Hand Wedding
• How her many acting roles have changed her life

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Cinematographer Warrick ‘Waka’ Attewell is something of a legend in the Kiwi film industry. From landmark 70s TV series Tangata Whenua, he has gone on to climb mountains with Sir Ed; shoot commercials, shorts and six and a half features – including the acclaimed Starlight Hotel – plus direct Ian Mune doco In the Shadow of King Lear. These days he is also known as a commentator on screen matters, who often says the things others are too scared to say.

In this ScreenTalk interview we’ve picked out a few highlights from the three decades Attewell has been in the game.

Attewell talks about:

• the cinematographer’s role, in taking viewers into a different world
• the watershed experience of being caught between cultures, while helping make landmark series Tangata Whenua
• working with the late Barry Barclay on Tangata Whenua, and Barclay’s second feature Te Rua (on which Attewell shared cinematography duties with the late Rory O’Shea)
• conquering frozen cameras for hit doco All the Way Up There, which chronicles a disabled climber’s dream of topping Mount Ruapehu
• the challenge of capturing Central Otago on film, while shooting road movie Starlight Hotel – whose look The LA Times compared to screen classic Days of Heaven

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence

Credits: Direction and Interview – Ian Pryor.  Camera and Editing – Alex Backhouse

Craig Parker made his television debut in the 80s soap Gloss and then went on to Shortland Street where he played a womanising social worker. After checking out of the long-running soap, Parker played an elf in Lord of the Rings, a doctor on Mercy Peak, a villain in Legend of the Seeker and a diplomat in Diplomatic Immunity. Some of his other screen credits include Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Xena and the soon to be released Spartacus.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Parker discusses:

• How terrifying Gloss was but how it taught him about TV
• Playing annoying social worker Guy Warner on Shortland Street
• The fun of Hercules and Xena
• Fighting with Lucy Lawless on set
• The dangers of on-set catering on Mercy Peak
• An awkward sex scene with good friend Robyn Malcolm
• The enormity of Lord of the Rings
• How he loved making Diplomatic Immunity despite it not being a complete success
• Being part of the yet to be screened TV series Spartacus

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.