Temuera Morrison: From Rotovegas to Hollywood...

Temuera Morrison staked his place in New Zealand screen history thanks to a single performance: Jake Heke in Once Were Warriors. He reprised his role in sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? Before the Warriors films, Morrison played Dr Hone Ropata in the long-running soap Shortland Street. His career ranges across starring roles in many features, plus hosting talk and variety shows.

In this ScreenTalk, Morrison talks about:

• Having a great time as a child actor on Rangi’s Catch
• Stumbling over medical terms in the scripts for Shortland Street
• Auditioning for a bit part on Once Were Warriors, and eventually getting a co-starring role
• Knowing that others doubted whether he could play Jake the Muss
• The intense physical work he undertook to create the character
• The intensity and brilliance of his co-star Rena Owen
• Feeling more comfortable with playing Jake in Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?
• Being nervous on the set of Star Wars, and the unreality of the sets
• The challenge and rewards of Tracker, a British-Kiwi co-production co-starring Brit Ray Winstone

This video was first uploaded on 23 May 2011, 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