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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
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 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
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.”
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 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).
•
Hunt For The
Wilderpeople
is out on
September 14