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Posts Tagged ‘under the mountain’

Around Town with Tom Finlayson

28 November 2011

Tom Finlayson is a producer, director and writer who has an impressive track record in New Zealand television. He began his TV career as a reporter on Town and Around, but quickly moved on to news producing, and eventually TV drama production. Finlayson produced the highly acclaimed kidult show Under the Mountain and the successful police drama Mortimer’s Patch, as well as the films Other Halves and The Grasscutter.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Finlayson talks about:

  • His excitement and naivety upon becoming a reporter on Town and Around
  • The cynicism behind the wholesome family show Stars on Sunday
  • How producing the TV series Under the Mountain was one of his best experiences
  • Using mirrors to create in camera effects for the show
  • The real reason for shooting Mortimer’s Patch in the countryside
  • The courage of director John Laing in picking street kids to act in Other Halves
  • The challenge of casting The Grasscutter in Belfast with director Ian Mune

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

 
 

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Roy Billing – from Under the Mountain to Underbelly

26 July 2010

Actor Roy Billing has become “an overnight sensation in my early 60s” playing ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole in the hit Australasian TV drama Underbelly. But before that he had a successful 30 year acting career in both Australia (Rabbit Proof Fence, The Dish and Siam Sunset) and New Zealand (Under the Mountain, Inside Straight, Gliding On and Skin and Bone).

In this ScreenTalk interview, Billing talks about:

  • His one-line debut in the movie about the Arthur Allan Thomas case – Beyond Reasonable Doubt
  • Being mistaken for a taxi driver on the set of Inside Straight
  • Getting a taste of fame after marrying Beryl on Gliding On
  • Being accused of impersonating a pilot in a bar while shooting Erebus: The Aftermath
  • Basing the character of Tupper on his father in Skin and Bone
  • Playing a cross-dresser in Mirror Mirror and looking like his mother-in-law Dame Cath Tizard
  • Working with Sam Neill in the Australian film The Dish
  • Trying to make the audience love drug dealer ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole  in Underbelly
  • How the drama became the highest rating show ever in Australia and made his career

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

 
 

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Interviews, , , , , ,

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