Paolo Rotondo: On acting, writing, directing and sphincter surgery...

Paolo Rotondo was born in Italy and has lived there and in New Zealand. In 1997 Rotondo starred in local feature The Ugly winning praise from Variety and The Times, and awards at Rome's Fantastic Film Festival. Following TV appearances in Street Legal and Jackson’s Wharf, he went on to star in urban underbelly feature Stickmen, before writing and directing short film The Freezer. Rotondo returned to the small screen as Dr Andrew Solomon in Kiwi soap Shortland Street, and also appeared as Tim in The Insiders Guide to Happiness. His work as director and writer of Dead Letters won him Best Short Screenplay at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Rotondo talks about:

• Why his family came to NZ in 1982
• What he put himself through to get into character for The Ugly
• How he landed his leading role in Stickmen, after not initially being considered for the film
• The sensitivities around storing a dead Kuia in a chest freezer
• Insights into the anal retention of Shortland Street's Andrew Solomon
• The thinking behind 'big little' film Dead Letters
• His plans for a NZ Italian film

This video was first uploaded on 7 April 2010, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – James Coleman