ScreenTalk

A generation of Kiwi kids grew up watching Jason Gunn on television. At the same time Gunn grew up on television himself. Beginning in children’s TV, Gunn hosted Jase TV, Son of a Gunn Show, After School, and What Now? Through many of these shows his co-star was a hugely popular life size puppet named Thingee. Gunn moved on to other programmes such as Young Entertainers and Small Talk.

In recent years Gunn has starred in a host of top-rating primetime entertainment and game shows including Wheel of Fortune, The Rich List and the incredibly popular Dancing with the Stars. As well as his hosting duties, Gunn has appeared as himself on Celebrity Treasure Island.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gunn talks about:

• Learning the skills of presenting from ‘old hands’ in the industry
• How he grew up on TV hosting Son of a Gunn Show
• Being best mates with a puppet named Thingee
• His love for making children’s TV and how it is the best of all genres
• How his comedic inspiration comes from his everyday life
• The tough path of learning to play piano and sing
• Just being himself on Celebrity Treasure Island
• The drama and excitement of Dancing with the Stars
• Why hosting game shows will lead to new things

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Jeremy Wells made his broadcasting debut on student radio station 95bFM, reading the news on Mikey Havoc’s breakfast show. The pair teamed up again for Havoc, a talk and music show on the fledgling MTV, before hosting travelogue/social commentary shows Havoc and Newsboy’s Sell-Out Tour, and Havoc’s Luxury Suites and Conference Facility on TVNZ.

Wells then worked with producer/director Paul Casserly to produce seven seasons of the media satire show Eating Media Lunch, which won Best Comedy Programme at the Qantas Film and Television Awards in 2008. He also presented the satirical series The Unauthorised History Of New Zealand in 2005, and an episode of Intrepid Journeys in 2007.

In this ScreenTalk Interview, Wells discusses:

• Being sent to boarding school for possessing marijuana
• Being expelled from boarding school for possessing marijuana
• Starting out as a newsreader on 95bFM
• The fun he had working on the Havoc shows
• The ideas behind The Unauthorised History of New Zealand
• The challenges of making seven seasons of Eating Media Lunch
• His experiences in Libya on Intrepid Journeys
• How the Birdland series came about and observations on the birding community
• His career path
• TVNZ

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – James Coleman

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.

Credits: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Comedy legend David McPhail began making New Zealanders laugh in pioneering 1970s sketch show A Week of It, and then moved on to McPhail & Gadsby with his comedic mate Jon Gadsby. The two comedians also produced and starred in the sitcom Letter to Blanchy. In later years, McPhail starred in the mock documentary The Waimate Conspiracy, and played the appallingly politically incorrect teacher Gormsby in Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. In 2007 McPhail donned a spandex super hero costume to fight crime in Amazing Extraordinary Friends, directed by his son Matt McPhail. As well as acting, McPhail has written many of the shows he has been involved in. His other writing credits include A Haunting We Will Go, and he has also worked as a comedy director on such shows as The Life and Times of Te Tutu.

In this ScreenTalk interview, McPhail discusses:

• The excitement of filming A Week of It an hour before it aired each week
• Using satire to prick the ego of former Prime Minister Rob Muldoon
• Why the concept behind the first season of McPhail & Gadsby was a mistake
• The real life stories behind Letter to Blanchy
• How Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby shocked the TV network but delighted fans
• Getting caught in public in a very revealing spandex costume while shooting The Amazing Extraordinary Friends

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

When not riding the motorcycles he loves, Craig Hall performs in a wide variety of theatrical, film and TV roles. His big screen debut was in the feature film Savage Honeymoon and his first major TV role was playing the sexy but dumb Clint in The Strip. He has also made regular appearances on the TV shows Burying Brian and Outrageous Fortune. Hall has co-starred in large Hollywood film projects King Kong and The World’s Fastest Indian. His other New Zealand film credits include The Ferryman, Eagle vs Shark and Show of Hands.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Hall discusses:

• How stripping in front of a group of pensioners caused a stir on The Strip
• Working with Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian
• Being directed by Peter Jackson in King Kong
• Struggling to like his character Nicky Greegan in Outrageous Fortune
• How he loved being in the mini-series Burying Brian and the craziness of the story
• Anthony McCarten’s storytelling and the challenges of the script for the film Show of Hands
• Still getting excited whenever he gets a role

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Lisa Chappell began her screen career playing spoilt rich kid Chelsea Redfern in the 80s glamour soap Gloss. From there she went on to star in the TV dramas Shark in the Park and City Life. In the 90s Chappell moved to Australia and landed the role that made her world famous – Claire in McLeod’s Daughters. Between small screen gigs, Chappell squeezed in some notable film projects, such as the fantastical period romp Desperate Remedies, and the sci-fi drama Jack Brown Genius. In 2009 Chappell returned to NZ television playing gun-toting villain Sophie in the TV2 drama The Cult.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Chappell discusses:

• Being the ‘baby’ and eating the props on the hit show Gloss
• Not being recognised at an audition for Shark in the Park
• Being covered in mud while actor Michael Hurst buried his face in her breasts
• Modelling the character of Claire in McLeod’s Daughters after the men in her life
• Her murderous character on The Cult, and the trauma of having to shoot a co-star

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Comedian Te Radar (aka Andrew Lumsden) has made his mark in stand-up comedy, documentaries, and the top-rating popular factual series Off the Radar. His other screen credits include Pulp Comedy, Homegrown, Intrepid Journeys, B & B, and Hidden in the Numbers – a three part documentary series about statistics.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Te Radar discusses:

• The genesis of the name ‘Te Radar’
• Why he thinks Pulp Comedy was one of the most important NZ comedy programmes
• Why it took years for him to appear in an episode of Intrepid Journeys
• His fight for life after being bitten by a scorpion in Mali
• The chaos and fun of the talk show/sitcom B & B
• How Hidden in the Numbers made statistics ‘fun’
• His delight that Off the Radar was a hit with children
• And the state of NZ TV comedy

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside