ScreenTalk

Veteran actor Bruce Allpress has had a long career in theatre, film and television. His television credits include Close to Home, Hanlon, Shark in the Park, Duggan, The Cult, and the lead role in the series Jocko. His many film appearances include The Piano, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and, most recently, Rest for the Wicked.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Allpress talks about:

• Getting a dressing down from a producer on the set of Close to Home
• How being ‘laconic’ at his audition got him the lead role in Jocko
• Having to learn how to use a bullwhip in four days for the show
• How the character of Jocko was a quintessential New Zealand character
• What happened when his mate Ian Mune lost control of a horse on set
• Getting the role of Sparky on Mortimer’s Patch by removing his teeth
• Almost wrecking a camera while riding a quad bike on Duggan
• Finding The Piano an odd film to be in
• Not really understanding his role in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• Acting with his ‘over 60s mates’ in the film Rest for the Wicked
• How the best has yet to come in his career

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

Kate Elliott began her life on screen after attending an audition at school. Since winning that role – as a bulimic, sexually abused, self-mutilating teenager in House of Sticks – Elliott has starred in many of New Zealand’s major television productions including Street Legal, The Insiders Guide to Love, The Cult, Shortland Street, and played Katherine Mansfield in tele-feature Bliss. Her film credits include Toy Love, The Locals, and Fracture.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Elliott talks about:

• Why she chose to be an actor
• How she began her screen career at age 14
• Making out with Madeleine Sami while wearing a school uniform in the Harry Sinclair production Pale Blue
• Her experiences on TV series Street Legal
• How strippers at Mermaids taught her how to act while under water in Toy Love
• Using what she learned on Toy Love for under water scenes in Bliss
• Her character in The Insiders Guide To Love
• Appearing in the Whittaker’s chocolate TV commercials
• Playing Katherine Mansfield for the first time in An Indiscreet Journey and how her character differed from the Katherine Mansfield in Bliss
• Juggling a new baby and her role in The Cult
• The fight to land her leading role in Bliss
• The unique skills involved in working on Shortland Street

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

Peter Meteherangi Tikao Burger (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitane) can thank a childhood lisp for his busy career as a screen director today. Having been sent to speech lessons, he found himself in the wrong class, and discovered the joys of performance in a drama class at a young and impressionable age. Since then, Burger has directed numerous film and television productions, including Until Proven Innocent, which won five Qantas awards in 2009, The Tattooist, Fish Skin Suit, short film Turangawaewae, staring the late Wi Kuki Kaa, as well as the TV series Outrageous Fortune, Go Girls and The Cult.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Burger reveals:

• How he started out behind the camera
• The joys and anxieties of directing the late Wi Kuki Kaa
• Why editing short film Tama Tū was so satisfying
• How he came to be bestowed the title of Matai while making feature film The Tattooist
• How he approached his work on Outrageous Fortune
• Interesting insights into how lead actor Cohen Holloway created his character in tele-feature Until Proven Innocent
• His thoughts on making Billy, the tele-feature about the life of Billy T James

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

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