STACK #143 Sept 2016

• Hunt For The Wilderpeople is out on Sep 29

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Psycho Sam, I was very happy.” Based on Barry Crump’s novel Wild Pork and Watercress , Hunt For The Wilderpeople tells the story of a young city kid (Julian Dennison) who finds himself on the run with his grumpy foster uncle (Sam Neill) in the wild

Best known for his straight roles, Sam Neill is not cast in nearly enough comedies: here’s four of his best comic performance. Death in Brunswick (1990) Cast against type, Neill was terrific as the loveable but dim-witted loser who gets mixed up in murder in this wonderful black comedy set in Melbourne. His scenes with fellow Kiwi John Clarke (aka Fred Dagg) were a delight. Sirens (1993) Although the (often unclad) ladies gained most of the attention – Elle Macpherson and Portia De Rossi made their debuts here – Neill delivered a dry, wry and very droll performance as the artist Norman Lindsay. The Simpsons (1994) In one of the best episodes from season 5, Homer The Vigilante , the Kiwi icon provided the suave voice of gentleman cat burglar Molloy, whose wave of crime provokes panic in Springfield. Dean Spanley (2008) Neill was at his mischievous best in this whimsical London-set

New Zealand bush. Darby is almost unrecognisable as the aforementioned Psycho Sam, a crazed, conspiracy obsessed recluse who reluctantly comes to the aid of our heroes. Darby says Waititi actually offered him a choice of roles when he first approached him about the new movie. “Initially he wanted me to be one of the hunters or a policeman,” he recalls. ”I looked at the different things and thought, ‘I would certainly have the most fun playing a conspiracy nut-job’.

perfectly than they did. Sam is really the key for me because he still has that childlike sense of wonder about him. He was excited about being in a Taika film, and being in the bush in the heart of New Zealand. “Julian had a done a couple of things but this was a lead role, so he was kind of excited. He’s just a real confident, cheeky, funny, wonderful little guy, who I think has a big future.” Given the array of comic talent involved – the impressive

It’s good to play someone quite different from what I have done in the past. And he said, ‘let’s chuck a beard on you so you look really different’.” While the character of Sam was in the original novel, for the movie version the part was fleshed out considerably more, according to Darby. And as with their previous collaboration, the director was happy for him to improvise. “It was fun,” he says. “We experimented with saying things here and there, and the whole thing was fairly loose for my part of it. It wasn’t just me: Taika also, and Julian gave us some ideas for it – I think he came up with the idea of the trapdoor. “We liked to get a bit loose on it and see what we could think of on the day. Depending on how much fun we had improvising, we would use that stuff instead of the actual script. But there was always the lines there that you could use.” Darby is full of praise for Wilderpeople ’s two leads, Neill and Dennison. “You’ve got the new guy and the old boy,” he enthuses. “They couldn’t come together any more

ensemble also includes the likes of Rima Te Wiata

and Oscar Kightley – and Waititi’s love of improvisation, you can imagine it was a very fun shoot to be on. Darby agrees, but says it wasn’t all fun and games. The comedian points out that the film was shot deep in the New Zealand bush and both the terrain and the weather proved to be pretty rough. “There was a lot of muck and it snowed at one point,” he says. “It was a real adventure for everyone.” And it was an adventure that certainly struck a chord with audiences. As well as rave reviews overseas, Hunt For The Wilderpeople is now the highest grossing New Zealand film of all-time, with the comedy taking over the top spot fromWaititi’s 2010 smash Boy . So what does Darby think is the Kiwi

period tale from Toa Fraser, about a vicar who might just be the reincarnation of the beloved childhood pooch of a grumpy aristocrat (acting legend Peter O’Toole).

filmmaker’s key to success? “He has a great sense of humour and he speaks to everyone,” he replies. “It’s that total relatability. Also he’s a great filmmaker. So it’s the coming together of all those right nuggets.”

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