Sione's 2 - Unfinished Business

I was quite chuffed because it’s not very often you get to do characters twice, to have a second bite of the apple.

– Actor David Fane, who plays Paul

We had this notion of pushing ourselves as writers, and also pushing the actors by trying to come up with something different for everyone.

– Co-writer Oscar Kightley, in a 13 January 2012 Auckland Now interview

Make us proud to be ashamed of you.

– Bolo (David Fane) to Sefa (Shimpal Lelisi) during a mission at the bar

[Characters Albert and Tania] have moved into a world that’s different from the Grey Lynn world of the Duckrockers. If you live in Auckland, you’ll understand that there is a vast gulf between the North Shore and central Auckland in many ways — not just a bridge.

– Director Simon Bennett

It’s a fine balance between creating something new and cool and fun, and having the relevance there that the audience loves and cherishes. They don’t want the same film, but they want the same essence, the same emotional experience.

– Co-writer Oscar Kightley on the challenges of sequels, Onfilm magazine, December 2011, page 10

They were learning on the job a lot. Whereas between then and now, most of the cast have had pretty extensive acting careers … there’s a lot more confidence and craft that they bring to the project. It means that as actors they really know what they’re doing and can throw themselves into the scene and the story from a confident position...

– Director Simon Bennett talks about the cast of the two Sione movies, Onfilm magazine, December 2011, page 10

They were all pretty disciplined and focussed. However, this kind of comedy requires the actors to be able to play, spark off each other, improvise. And the apparent mayhem that you see on screen is reflected a little bit in the way that they are when they're rehearsing or they're standing by waiting to rehearse ... as far as I'm concerned that kind of play is an essential part of the process of capturing their energy and their performance.

– Director Simon Bennett on the cast of Sione's 2, in the making of documentary