The Dead Lands

He has the right look, and the capacity with the Māori language. And he was physically capable for the role, which requires endurance. There's a lot of running and fighting in the movie...

– Co-producer Tainui Stephens, on the casting of league star Wairangi Koopu

It’s kind of crazy that nobody’s ever done it before in a way … It makes total sense to be making a kickass action movie set in pre-European New Zealand.

– Toa Fraser in an interview with RNZ National, 22 December 2013

...Toa Fraser's dazzling action-adventure is an imaginative voyage through a time of violent emotions. ... It's a remarkable film experience in several ways. The first point is the respect director Toa Fraser and screenwriter Glenn Standring accord the Māori people and their traditions. Shot entirely in the Māori language, it creates a primal world populated by the living and the dead.

– Deborah Young in The Hollywood Reporter, 5 September 2014