March 23, 2022
Campion vision left room for Māori
An actor who worked on the Oscar-winning film The Piano remembers the set was welcoming of whakaaro Māori.
It’s 28 years since the film won director Jane Campion an Academy Award for her screenplay, and she has a slew of nominations this year for The Power of the Dog.
Lawrence Wharerau, who’s the kaiwhakahou Māori of the Wellington Museum, remembers being picked for the role of Kamira at a massive open casting session.
He says Campion relied on Māori advisors and the cast to bring authenticity to her portrayal of colonial-era Māori.
“She was very keen to get our view on what would have been a more natural response to things that happened, that may have happened at the time, rather than what had been imagined and scripted. We were given enough license to be ourselves in the script,” Wharerau says.
The Piano has been re-released this year in 4K resolution, and the fate of The Power of the Dog at the Academy Awards will be known on Monday afternoon New Zealand time.