Army role in Darby’s comic timing
We’ve often spoken about maybe doing a Conchords movie, but it would be a different story... and that’s really up to Bret and Jemaine to kind of come ‘round to doing that’.’
RHYS Darby says his military past helped prepare him for a career in comedy. In an interview with The
the actor spoke at length about how he came to appreciate the three years he spent in the army, despite the fact it delayed the start of his career.
‘‘At first I felt like, ‘have I been wasting my time building up to this? Why did I join the army?’. But I think all of that stuff is great background life lessons and experience you can then draw upon for your material and stuff, so it all worked out.’’
Darby joined the army at 17, often got lost in the bush and soon became notorious soon for getting into trouble for impersonating officers.
‘‘I’ve always made people laugh, and I certainly did that in the army as well. I just didn’t think back then that there was an opportunity for me to do [comedy], at least not in New Zealand… Coming from New Zealand and what we have there, which is rugby and sheep paddocks, my options were limited."
He said he definitely brought aspects of his military life into his best-known characters, such as band manager Murray Hewitt from Flight of the Conchords. Even his latest role as an adventure guide in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle fits in with his army past.
‘‘Once I’d donned the outfit and then got in and drove the Land Rover, it all fitted into place,’’ he said of his character, Nigel.
Darby said he loved getting the opportunity to work with comedic co-stars Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Dwayne Johnson and would ‘‘love to’’ reprise his role if a sequel was to be made.
‘‘It’s just fun to have such eclectic but similar, in the same world, but different types of comic talent in this movie.’’
The actor also shed some light on whether he and his Conchords co-stars, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, have thought about rebooting the series that launched their careers in the United States.
‘‘We’ve often spoken about maybe doing a movie, but it would be a different story,’’ he said.
‘‘It would be the same characters, but they’d be thrust into a different kind of world, and that’s really up to Bret and Jemaine to kind of come ‘round to doing that’.
‘‘In terms of filming anything — no idea whether that would happen again ... I think the actual show ended really well. And of course, we come from that sort of British mindset of making a series that only goes two seasons, and that’s kind of standard.’’