ScreenTalk

From reporting to scriptwriting and acting, Keith Aberdein has been a part of some of New Zealand’s biggest television and film moments. His screen career began as a journalist on Town and Around and Compass. Aberdein has scripted major TV shows such as Pukemanu, Section 7, Moynihan, Close to Home, and the colonial epic The Governor.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Aberdein talks about:

• Why prolonging an interview with a survivor of the Wahine disaster still makes him shudder
• The challenges of making Pukemanu and how the programme changed the face of drama on TV
• The deliberate revisionism of history and Governor Grey in scripting The Governor
• The negative and positive impact the programme had on TV in New Zealand
• How Close to Home won the ratings battle for TV One against SPTV
• Working on the script for Utu with Geoff Murphy
• Writing a scathing script review of Smash Palace and how director Roger Donaldson got his own back when he cast him in the film
• How making a career in TV can be fun, but will lead to tears

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

Although New Zealand actor Martin Henderson made his screen debut more than two decades ago, new film Home by Christmas marks his first movie shot on Kiwi soil.

Directed by Gaylene Preston and based on the wartime experiences of her parents, Home by Christmas sees Henderson playing a young soldier who leaves his wife behind to serve overseas.

After making his screen debut in 1988 on Margaret Mahy TV series Strangers, Henderson spent three years on Shortland Street playing Stuart Nielsen, then moved on to Australia and later the United States. Since then he has acted everywhere from India to Sweden, and in everything from horror (The Ring) to musicals (Bride and Prejudice) to TV’s House MD. His work as Cate Blanchett’s disabled brother in drama Little Fish saw him nominated for an Australian Film Institute supporting actor award. Variety magazine called his performance “a revelation”.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Henderson talks about:

• playing Gaylene Preston’s father in Home by Christmas
• how Preston kept him on his toes
• his lucky break into acting, aged 13, with the TV series Strangers
• how three years on Shortland Street was both good and bad for his acting
• working in the United States, and the success of the remake of The Ring
• donning leathers for motorcycle movie Torque
• the spirit of collaboration on Australian movie Little Fish

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