Eagle vs Shark

This debut feature, occasionally arch but consistently affecting, shares the deadpan esthetic of Napoleon Dynamite and Ghost World ... Yet Eagle vs Shark has its own distinctive style, partly thanks to whimsical little interludes of animation, but mainly because it ties blithe absurdity to a rock bed of emotional truth.

– Reviewer Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal, 15 June 2007

Geek love from Kiwiland.

– Critic Andrew O'Heir describes the film, on website Salon.com, 14 June 2007

I like your costume ... I almost came as a shark actually, but then I realised that an eagle's slightly better.

– Jarrod (Jemaine Clement) admires Lily's (Loren Taylor) costume

I guess I gotta keep creating, or I'll just die.

– Jarrod (Jemaine Clement) shows Lily (Loren Taylor) his handmade candles

The film appeals at different levels to different people, and I think that's the beauty of it.

– Producer Ainsley Gardiner, in her interview clip

Sometimes, it just felt quite freeing to be this arrogant, rude guy who's just mean to everyone.

– Jemaine Clement on playing Jarrod

In lots of ways, he's not very nice, but underneath he's just worried about being hurt.

– Jemaine Clement describes his character Jarrod, in his interview clip

...the best thing about Eagle vs Shark is how its odd-shaped bits manage to fit into a coherent whole without it feeling like an overt effort to be a surreal comedy... ...fittingly, as her her character inspired the screenplay, the movie belongs to [Loren] Horsley's meek monotone sad-eyed Lily, who seems something in Jarrod's insecurity-covering bludger and macho fumblings that clearly no one else can. She's mesmerising...

– Russell Baillie in a five star review, The NZ Herald, 16 August 2007

It is a small, cute, quaint, quirky, quiet, quivering film about love and acceptance. The idea came about from watching people try [to] fall in love. It is a painful and yet hilarious process. The main character, Lily, was created by Loren Horsley. Lily has such a pure soul it is hard not to fall in love with her, or at least want to protect her with a shield and weapons, so I decided that she would be the perfect protagonist for a film about love.

– Director Taika Waititi, in an interview with website IndieWire, 14 June 2007

So, Loren had pretty much invented the character of Lily. Through doing theatre shows and stuff, she'd come up with this amazing character... so I said to her 'wouldn't be great if there was a movie about this character, and what would happen in this movie'. We just got to talking....

– Writer/director Taika Waititi on actor Loren Taylor first creating the character of Lily, in the interview clips

As Loren, I walk along the streets, and I guess I have a kind of a confidence. I mean, I didn't realise I did — but when you’re playing someone who i, sort of so shy and quiet, you realise that the world treats you like that: you become invisible to the world, which was an amazing experience. I went into a beauty salon to get my eyelashes tinted, dressed as Lily, and they were so rude! I was amazed — really rude. And I felt very protective of her, I wanted to say "Excuse me, don't treat people like that because she's shy!"

– Loren Taylor on preparing for the role by heading out into Salt Lake City in character, in her interview clip

This is a film where the ugly ducklings stay ugly...

– Writer/director Taika Waititi, early in his interview clip

It's definitely a Kiwi film. I think the difference is really that it's a comedy, and we haven't really made that many comedies. Sione's Wedding was, you know, one of the first like big great comedies that's come out of New Zealand, and it's really nice to see that we're kind of getting a bit more confident in that...

– Writer/director Taika Waititi, in his interview clip

....a lot of the humour is really subtle, in a way that international audiences don't quite get.

– Writer/director Taika Waititi on Eagle vs Shark, in his interview clip

That girl sure knows how to play her video games.

– Mark (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) describes Lily

The film doesn't try to justify in any romantic way why these two characters would be interested in each other. It challenges you to really try and understand what an earth it is that Lily sees in Jarrod sometimes. But that's life...

– Producer Ainsley Gardiner, in her interview clip