Screentalk

Award-winning actor Sarah Peirse is best known for her portrayals of two very different mothers — the ill-fated Honorah Rieper in Heavenly Creatures, and the disaffected sophisticate in Rain. Peirse’s first film was the 80s short Queen Street, followed by tele-feature A Woman of Good Character. More recently, she has appeared in tele-movies Bliss: The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield and Aftershock.

In this ScreenTalk, Peirse talks about:

• Having an intense acting journey in A Woman of Good Character
• Playing the gloriously named Vivienne Wallop in Sylvia
• Being heavily pregnant on the set of The Navigator
• Her experience of working with director Vincent Ward
• Being told not to watch Peter Jackson’s previous films prior to working with him on Heavenly Creatures
• Dreaming about the character she played in the film
• Finding the story in the feature film Rain compelling
• Perspectives on her character’s grief and self-destruction
• Playing a 'constrained and compromised' mother in Bliss: The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield
• Not knowing whether or not her work on the Hobbit films will make the final cut
• Feeling blessed to have been able to do roles integral to many films

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

Marshall Napier has forged a successful acting career playing strong supporting roles in a swathe of Kiwi and Aussie TV dramas and films. His numerous credits include The Governor, Goodbye Pork Pie, Came a Hot Friday, Blue Heelers, Babe, McLeod’s Daughters and Water Rats. He also has a strong pedigree in theatre, and took his own play Freak Winds to New York in 2006. In this ScreenTalk, Napier talks about:

• Having only one costume to wear as Sir Richard Seddon in The Governor
• Almost driving off the road during a car chase in Goodbye Pork Pie
• Being told to smile by director Ian Mune on the set of Came a Hot Friday
• The chaotic nature of filming on Vincent Ward’s The Navigator
• How people assumed he was a real farmer after his long stint on Australian TV favourite McLeod’s Daughters
• Being directed by his nephew in I’m Not Harry Jenson
• Being surrounded by grotesque characters in Picnic at Rock Island
• Playing a hard-nosed ‘prick’ on City Homicide
• How an actor’s life is a tough one