Director Taika Waititi's film The Volcano is now entitled Boy. Photo / Supplied
Director Taika Waititi's second feature has undergone a change of name. The film, which had been called The Volcano is now to be titled Boy - a change inspired by its young leading actor, says the film's producer Ainsley Gardiner.
"As we cut the film the performance from the lead,
James Rolleston, was just so simple and powerful, that it felt like it needed the same in a title. Boy just says it like it is."
The 11-year-old Rolleston plays Boy, a dreamer who loves Michael Jackson and lives with his brother Rocky, his cousins and his Nan. Te Aho Eketone-Whitu (8), plays Rocky who spends his days being weird and hanging out at his mother's graveside. Waititi plays the brothers' absent father, who Boy fantasises is a deep sea diver, a war hero and can dance like Jackson.
Shot in Waihua Bay on the East Coast, the film has just finished being edited in Auckland before its sound post-production in Wellington.
The film follows Waititi's acclaimed debut feature Eagle Vs Shark and his Oscar-nominated short Two Cars, One Night which was also filmed with a cast of kids on the East Coast.
Waititi says the film, due for release in April 2010, was inspired his own childhood and family at Waihau Bay.
"I'm looking forward to showing my whanau what they helped to create.
"I don't think they really knew what I did before that; even now, I'm not sure if they really know what they've done."
