Good eggs Nic and Tem in Aquaman

The famous line from the Kiwi actor’s breakthrough role makes it to the big screen a second time. Aroha Awarau reports.

Kiwi actor Temuera Morrison chuckled to himself when he first read the script for Aquaman, in which he plays Nicole Kidman’s love interest.

During a romantic scene, his character turns to the glamorous Hollywood star and asks, ‘‘Can I cook you some eggs?’’

This line is a direct connection to the iconic scene in Once Were Warriors, in which Morrison played the famous role of Jake the Muss.

Morrison found it amusing that Kidman, the screenwriters and the crew were oblivious to the significance of the line.

‘‘No one knew that this was a Once Were

Warriors reference. I was the only one that got the joke. I knew they would probably laugh at it in New Zealand, so I played it up a bit.’’

His instincts were right. During the recent New Zealand premiere of the film, starring Jason Momoa as the DC Comic superhero Aquaman, the line got the biggest laugh.

Morrison says he learned so much as an actor from starring opposite the Oscar-winning Kidman. The pair play the parents of the film’s title character.

‘‘She has an intimate relationship with the camera and knows how to work it. I found myself watching her acting instead of being in the scene.

‘‘I had to pull out and say this is really good, watching her playing different variations and having a different sparkle in her eyes each time.

‘‘She walks like a ballerina. She’s got that pointy-toe thing going on, very tall and very gracious.’’

Morrison says he was embarrassed when it came to the love scenes. The height difference between the two actors, (Morrison is 1.71 metres to Kidman’s 1.8 metres), meant he had to stand on a wooden box during the kissing scenes.

‘‘You look bloody stupid when you’re standing on a box and she’s standing on her feet.’’

He says his small stature is always an issue when acting alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

‘‘I’ve stood next to The Rock and I’ve stood next to Jason Momoa and they make you feel like pipsqueaks.

‘‘Lucky for me I’ve got the haka power in me, which means you don’t have to be big when you have that energy. We stand our ground because we know who we are.’’

Morrison says he’s grateful to be in a big-budget Hollywood project, a role he gained after Momoa, a huge Once Were Warriors fan, campaigned for Morrison to play his father.

The actors bonded over their love for the Ma¯ ori culture during filming in Australia’s Gold Coast. He says it was Hawaiian-born Momoa’s idea to wear a pounamu in the film and to have their characters discuss the benefits of getting a ta¯ moko, a traditional Ma¯ ori tattoo.

‘‘He really embraced the haka and all things Ma¯ ori. We’ll be out for dinner and all of a sudden we’ll be asking the restaurant if they have any brooms. Next minute, Jason and I are on the streets doing the taiaha’’.

‘‘I’m like an uncle to Jason. In fact all the boys on set call me Uncle, and that’s all good.’’

Aquaman opens in New Zealand on Boxing Day.

‘‘I knew they would probably laugh at it in New Zealand, soI played it up a bit.’’

Temuera Morrison