Sunday Star-Times

Once was HOLLYWOOD

Lee Tamahori and Temuera Morrison are teaming up for the first time since Once Were Warriors. In an exclusive interview, Tamahori tells Michelle Robinson of the Hollywood pitfalls and how he wants to make more Maori films.

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LEE TAMAHORI doesn’t know why people think he lives in Hollywood.

He’s directed big name actors Morgan Freeman and Sir Anthony Hopkins and is about to work on the Charles V inspired film

Emperor with Adrien Brody. But New Zealand is still home.

The 64-year-old director of cult 90s film Once Were Warriors splits his time between Auckland and Tologa Bay on the East Coast where his family hails from.

‘‘It depends on work, how long I’m here for. But I’ve been based in New Zealand since 2003. I don’t know why everyone thinks I still live in Hollywood.’’

Tamahori is reassuring­ly chatty. His clear, somewhat-British accent rolls out responses thick and fast. But he keeps to the point.

No, he doesn’t want everyone knowing what he spent on recladding his luxury Shangri-La tower penthouse in Herne Bay. The complex’s multimilli­on-dollar apartments needed refitting for weather-tightness and there was a squabble over who should foot the bill.

‘‘I had to spend a lot, on reflection, you could say for the amount of recladding,’’ he says. ‘‘No, I’m not going to say how much but it was a lot of money. Ridiculous, really, but it’s just one of those things.’’

If someone of Tamahori’s status is saying it’s a lot of money, perhaps it doesn’t bear thinking about.

His 2002 James Bond blockbuste­r Die Another Day starring Halle Berry and Pierce Brosnan was the highest grossing Bond film of its time, pulling US$160 million (NZ$189m).

While he calls New Zealand home, he speaks to the Sunday

Star-Times from the Czech Republic where he’s filming

Emperor, a movie based on 16th century Roman ruler Charles V.

It’s a change from the action flicks he’s done recently.

‘‘I made Along Came a Spider and then James Bond and I started getting sent all these action scripts like xXx (State of the Union). But I prefer dramas with a bit of action in them.’’ However, xXx and action flick

Next were not great moments for Tamahori and contribute­d to his exit from Hollywood. ‘‘They were flops so my use-by date in Hollywood was up,’’ he’s said previously.

‘‘I went back to Europe which was more of a middle ground.’’

There’s a better variation of genres in Europe and the actors are extraordin­ary, Tamahori opines. Particular­ly in

But I’ve been based in New Zealand since 2003. I don’t know why everyone thinks I still live in Hollywood.

Scandanavi­a. But he won’t name names. ‘‘I like working with people all over the world.’’

Does he have relationsh­ips with the people he’s worked with? Hopkins, for instance?

‘‘No. Never,’’ he says in almost retaliator­y fashion. ‘‘I keep my life separate from all that.

‘‘I tend to not have personal relationsh­ips with actors, just Temuera [Morrison] and some of those back home. Not those heavyweigh­t A-list guys.’’ Any reason why not? ‘‘Hollywood is full of people creating mystified CVs, not those actors of course. But everyone’s trying to get into the film industry.’’

Nor does he spend much time socialisin­g with other directors, though he takes the time to speak of his admiration for fellow Kiwi director Peter Jackson.

Jackson’s name comes up as he fields a question about his level of responsibi­lity for reinforcin­g a negative stereotype through Once

Were Warriors, a film released 20 years ago but which remains, for many, a startling first glimpse into Kiwi culture.

Academics accused Tamahori and the author of the book on which the film was based, Alan Duff, for setting back Maori progress by a few decades by reinforcin­g ugly stereotype­s of an aggressive, uncultured race. Singer Moana Jackson called it ‘‘an exposure of all that is rotten in Maoridom’’.

Tamahori brushes it off. He’d been dying to sink his teeth into a real New Zealand story and he had the support of his peers and family. ‘‘Of course you think twice. ‘‘Beating up women and raping children is not anyone’s cup of tea. But people know it’s makebeliev­e and that reflects the reality of cinema,’’ Tamahori says.

‘‘We all got very uneasy about some of the stuff we were doing. I drew on a lot of personal experience­s to make that film, I’m not going to say what they are.’’ The antidote to Once Were Warriors has been Jackson’s Lord

of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, which have been a PR boon for New Zealand. ‘‘There’s your soundbite,’’ Tamahori snaps.

Despite the pair sharing global fame, the two Kiwi directors are not friends.

‘‘Peter and I are very alike in that we came from nothing and are madly enthusiast­ic about filmmaking. But we all get too busy. In Hollywood you’re not going to bump into each other. Most of my friends are not in the film industry.’’

Tamahori has scheduled our

phone interview so he had a week to consider questions.

I picture him leaning over his desk, surrounded by paper, reading glasses halfway down his nose. His frosty white hair would be slightly ruffled, a covering of soft stubble on his cheeks contrastin­g nicely with those formidable black eyebrows.

He appears an intensely private person. His interviews are few and far between. He flits in and out of the country unnoticed and keeps a low profile away from the cocktail circuit. ‘‘I’m not about to ring up the Sunday papers and get myself snapped at various parties.’’

He just does what other regular guys do. Spends time with friends and family, fishing, the usual stuff.

Although there was the time, eight years ago, when Tamahori was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly propositio­ning an undercover policeman for sex while wearing an off-the-shoulder black dress. He didn’t want to talk about it then and he’s still not prepared to talk about it.

The much publicised incident seemed in conflict with Tamahori’s reserved character. It made great magazine fodder. Socalled friends came out of the woodwork expressing shock and disbelief but not before revealing details of an apparent penchant for latex and threesomes with then girlfriend Sasha Turjak.

Was it difficult being in Hollywood after an incident like that?

‘‘No. I don’t want to talk about that,’’ Tamahori retorts.

How does he cope with such speculatio­n over his personal life?

‘‘I don’t have to cope,’’ Tamahori replies.

‘‘I didn’t know you were going to ask me about this and if your questions continue down this path then I’m going to have to

They were flops so my use-by date in Hollywood was up.

end the conversati­on.’’

Neverthele­ss, we continue along the safe topic of New Zealand cinema.

It’s 20 years since Tamahori broke away from TV advertisem­ents and found fame with Once Were Warriors, cementing the careers of Cliff Curtis and Morrison.

The latter is to work with Tamahori again in Patriach, the film adaptation of the Witi Ihimaera novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies.

It’s set to be filmed next year though dates and locations have yet to be confirmed.

‘‘It’s hard to find good actors aged 50 and above,’’ Tamahori explains of his decision to cast Morrison.

‘‘I know how to get the best out of him.

‘‘And I haven’t made a film in 20 years in New Zealand so I’m looking forward to it.’’

Tamahori still yearns to tell a story about the 19th century land wars in a modern context.

‘‘It’s an idea that’s developed about taking the events from the land wars of the 1870s to 1880s. It’s in the early stages yet but we’re talking about how to get it going.’’

 ?? Photo: Getty Images ?? A list: Actor Adrien Brody and director Lee Tamahori attend a photocall to announce the new film Emperor during the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Photo: Getty Images A list: Actor Adrien Brody and director Lee Tamahori attend a photocall to announce the new film Emperor during the Cannes Film Festival in May.

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