Even Perfect 10s get nervous
As one of our best-known All Blacks, Dan Carter is used to the limelight, but starring in his own movie was a bit nerve-racking,
Towards the end of Dan Carter: A Perfect 10, sports journalist Scotty Stevenson offers a one word summation of the great All Black – ‘‘unreachable’’.
It’s not so much a description of the man’s undoubted rugby talents, as a comment on his personality, or rather the absence of any real clue to what lies behind the mask of unflappable professional composure we’ve all observed during his remarkable career.
Carter himself is glad the new film has allowed him to show more of his life than he’s previously shared. And it’s true – his rural upbringing in tiny Southbridge, his grassroots rugby origins, his various battles with injury and setback are all deftly woven through this tale of local boy made good.
Just don’t expect the veil to finally drop and reveal the long-hidden, inner Dan Carter. If anything, the film confirms what most probably suspected: The inner-Dan Carter isn’t too different from the outer one – self-contained, uncomplicated.
‘‘That was interesting,’’ Carter says now of Stevenson’s appraisal. ‘‘We love rugby so much in New Zealand and you start to become public property. A lot of fans knew more about my career and statistics than I probably did. So there’s part of you that wants to keep certain parts of your life private. That might have something to do with his comment.’’
Having kept as much of himself private as possible, Carter now finds his life blown up to bigscreen proportions. Even for an All Black, well used to watching his day job filmed in close-up with the best and worst bits in slow-motion, this could be a little daunting.
‘‘To be honest, I was very nervous watching it for the first time,’’ he says. ‘‘Once you’ve got a film crew travelling around, taking certain parts from your life over the last year or so, you’re not really sure how it’s all going to come together.’’
In the end, of course, the film presents a flattering picture of the Carter legend – which is not to say it is outright hagiography, more that Dan Carter’s story ticks all the right narrative boxes: Natural talent, early success, fame, injury, disappointment, and ultimately redemption. The danger would have been to make it all seem inevitable in hindsight, but the film largely avoids that trap by documenting the slog that sits behind glorious sporting comebacks.
‘‘It was something I wanted to show, that it wasn’t all easy,’’ says Carter. ‘‘There was a lot of struggle, a lot of setback, a lot of hard work that got me to where I ended up … I had a lot of doubts, some mental challenges to try to find form and
confidence – and rebuild my body again.’’
The disastrous training injury that put him out of the 2011 Rugby World Cup was the low point. But his ability to fight back and play again owes a lot to the depth of his passion for playing at the highest levels. As he tells it, his first test as an All Black – a starring performance against Wales aged just 21 – was much more than the culmination of a boyhood dream.
‘‘To reach that goal or have that moment, it can go one of two ways,’’ he says. ‘‘OK, you’ve achieved what you wanted to, be happy with where you’re at. And fortunately enough, I didn’t just have that feeling – I had a feeling of, ‘OK, now I know what this tastes like, I never want this feeling to stop.’ ’’
More than most players, Carter got his wish: over a decade in the black jersey, the highest points scorer in test match rugby, two World Cups, often named the best first five-eighth ever, still playing professionally after 17 years. Along the way, he’s been plastered on the side of buildings wearing
‘‘There was a lot of struggle, a lot of setback, a lot of hard work that got me to where I ended up . . . I had a lot of doubts.’’
Dan Carter
nothing but underpants, hung with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian at Paris Fashion Week and been invited to Elton John’s Oscars after-party.
All that, and he got to kick the final points of the 2015 World Cup off his wrong foot, just for the fun of it. Against Australia.
It doesn’t get much better – but it does get to end, and Carter is well aware of the pro athlete’s fate of having to retire at an age when most people are just getting good at their jobs.
‘‘For me, it was about wanting to make the most of this moment in my life, making sure I’m enjoying every day, working hard every day, that I have no regrets at the end of my career. I know that it’s going to come to an end at some stage and it’s a matter of closing that chapter of your life and starting something new and fresh and not trying to chase the excitement you found as a rugby player. It’s about finding something new. And that’s the next challenge I’ll be facing when I eventually hang up my boots.’’
For now though, Carter faces the odd prospect of being a Rugby World Cup spectator for the first time since 1999, when he was 18.
‘‘I know, it’s going to be quite strange,’’ he laughs. ‘‘I’m excited. Not as nervous as the last four, which is quite refreshing.’’
Dan Carter: A Perfect 10 (PG) will be released in cinemas nationwide on August 29.