John Callen: The distinctive voice behind Oin the Dwarf…

Actor and director John Callen has a voice that is hard to forget. Callen has appeared in a number of TV shows and films including Close to Home, The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and, more recently, The Hobbit. His directing credits include Shortland Street, and the documentary series Epitaph and Taonga.

In this ScreenTalk, Callen talks about:

• Why The Hobbit has been his most extraordinary job
• Still enjoying a good fight despite being older than his contemporaries
• How costuming proved to be a big hassle on the set, and a light moment with co-star Billy Connolly
• How playing a murderer on Close to Home appealed to autograph hounds
• The excitement of directing actors on Shortland Street
• Enjoying directing 'real' stories for Epitaph
• Learning about Māori history on the series Taonga
• The challenge of re-writing scripts on war documentary The Kiwi Who Saved Britain

This video was first uploaded on 22 April 2013, 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 – Andrew Whiteside