McCaw film shows mental stress beats physical toll
Filming Chasing Great did not distract Richie McCaw from the task of winning his second World Cup, he says.
In a press conference yesterday, McCaw said making the film had no impact on his performance in England last year.
‘‘There’s no way I would have even considered doing it if I thought it was going to have any impact at all on my form or my other duties,’’ the former All Blacks captain said.
He said co-directors Michelle Walshe and Justin Pemberton were good at making sure he was not distracted by their filming.
Walshe, who had worked with the All Blacks for several years, said she had been careful not to overstep the line.
‘‘I trusted [McCaw] that he’d let me know when it was OK to shoot,’’ she said.
Pemberton said there was almost no chance of distracting McCaw because he was focused on winning the cup.
Walshe said that from the start of the film she and Pemberton wanted to make an ‘‘accurate portrayal’’ of the All Blacks legend.
They ended up focusing on the mental demands of being a professional rugby player because they thought most people could relate to that aspect of McCaw’s career.
‘‘As Richie talks about, the mental side of playing rugby was as much or even more of a toll on him than the physical.
‘‘That’s one of the big surprises that I’d certainly not known, and the amount of work that goes on to that,’’ Pemberton said.
‘‘It becomes almost an addiction in a way, to push yourself, but that’s not sustainable for a life.’’
Walshe said that had resonated with her, particularly as she was working on such a high-profile project. ‘‘It resonated so much with us because we could apply it to our own lives, and we saw such a huge value for people watching the film to go, I can relate to that.
‘‘There are so many things that go through my head now that I’ve taken out of the film.’’
McCaw said his friends and family responded well to the film when they saw it at the premiere on Tuesday night, although he was embarrassed about the scenes of him doing crosswords.