‘IT’S A LIFE SACRIFICE’ ‘My sister is dying . . . she could die at anytime.’
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RAY PARKER
just common nausea and constipation.
Ray Parker’s family were shocked and while they understood the strict processes in place at the borders, they said some empathy from MBIE could have reduced the stress on a family already hurting.
The whole application process had been draining and frustrating, he said.
Their parents would provide his sister with the support she needed when she started immunotherapy and integrative treatment.
‘‘No one else can do it, we’ve all got families and jobs. Amanda is a mum herself, so she’ll need support for them as well as for her own health and time is ticking away.’’
An MBIE spokesperson said the ministry was deeply sympathetic to the distressing situations of people applying for emergency allocation.
Stringent measures and a high threshold were set when dealing with these types of applications.
‘‘MIQ acknowledges this information is sometimes not easily able to be established and understands that people with terminal illnesses such as cancer can have a significant range in their prognosis, ranging from weeks to months or even years.
‘‘However, in order to facilitate the most urgent visits while our facilities are full, we do need to ask this difficult question.’’
STACEY Leilua was on a Zoom call with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and his mother Ata when she realised her life had taken a surreal twist.
‘‘Every time something like that happens I’m like, ‘Oh my god’,’’ she says.
‘‘It’s just ridiculous. It’s almost like I can’t even think about it. If you give it too much thought it would make you freak out.’’
Life has been full of moments like that for Leilua ever since she finished filming one of the lead roles in Johnson’s new television show, Young Rock, this year.
Based on the upbringing of one the world’s most popular movie stars, the New Zealand-based actor of Samoan, Ma¯ ori and New Zealand-European descent plays Ata in the NBC show, which imagines Johnson as a presidential candidate in 2032 being interviewed and reminiscing about early life.
While the show hasn’t been screened in New Zealand yet, two episodes have aired in America to positive reviews. ‘‘It has a lot of heart and might even make you want to lift a dumbbell,’’ wrote TV Guide.
Leilua, 39, was cast in February last year, after auditioning online. She then flew to Los Angeles for a screen test
with one of the actors who plays a young Johnson.
She is one of many Kiwi locals appearing in the show, with her co-stars including John Tui, Fasi Amosa, Emmet Skilton, Josh Thomson and Ana Tuisila.
When Covid hit in March, just after her role was confirmed, Leilua thought the show might be canned: ‘‘I was on this huge high with this life-changing thing. All of a sudden there was this global pandemic. I didn’t hear anything for a month or so.’’
Tweaks were made to Young Rock’s shooting schedule to keep actors safe, including moving the set to Brisbane. That meant the show’s Kiwi actors were forced to spend significant time in
quarantine: two weeks on arrival in Brisbane, and a further two weeks when they returned home.
Despite the wrench of leaving her five-year-old daughter for five months, Leilua says it was worth it – especially when she found a way for her family to visit on set.
A regular face on local television and theatre shows, Leilua says the scale of the show was bigger than anything she’d worked on. ‘‘The enormity of the project was never lost on us . . . you show up on set and there are hundreds of people there, everyone’s like, ‘What do you need? What do you want? Here’s your trailer’. It’s just huge. I’ve never done anything like this before.’’
Covid-19 restrictions meant the
Rock filmed his scenes for the show from Atlanta.
Leilua was on set when she received a text from her agent saying Johnson and his mother wanted to meet over Zoom. ‘‘I’m like, ‘What am I going to wear? Where am I going to do the Zoom call? My apartment’s a mess. As soon as I got on the call, all of that went away. He’s so down to earth. He’s larger than life but in the best sense, he’s a normal son telling the story of his upbringing – and his mum’s there.’’
Those surreal moments have kept happening for Leilua since shooting wrapped last month. Now back in Auckland, her face is on a billboard in Hollywood next to Johnson’s to promote the show.
While there are no plans for Young Rock to screen in New Zealand, with a weekly audience in the States, the actress is getting fan messages every day. ‘‘You get crazy, stalker messages, but we’re just ignoring those and focusing on the positivity,’’ she says.
Just the other day, Johnson started following Leilua on Instagram – something she doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to. ‘‘He only follows 300 people in the world, and to go, ‘One of them’s me . . . it’s just so bizarre.
‘‘People of my generation, all over the world, grew up watching him. He’s a movie star, and he’s a business mogul, and he’s the highest paid actor . . . He’s such a global phenomenon.
‘‘I’ve just gotta go, ‘What’s my job?’ My job as an actor is to serve this character and play the role as best I can and serve this story as best I can without going, ‘My boss is the Rock’.’’