Jason Momoa has an insatiable appetite for New Zealand.
And his latest project, Chief of War, is a smorgasbord of Aotearoa - its landscapes, its culture, its actors and even the All Blacks.
The series, filmed in New Zealand and in Hawaii, follows the journey of a Hawaiian chief on a mission to unite his people and end feuding between the islands to save them from the threat of colonisation.
Predominantly spoken in Hawaiian and written by Hawaiians, the series showcases the lava fields of Kalapana, Hawaii, as well as landscapes from the Bay of Islands, Auckland and the Coromandel - the Whangamatā Tennis and Squash Club serving as dressing room to the cast.
The series, Momoa, 45, tells the Herald, is nothing without New Zealand,
“Here’s the big thing I want New Zealand to know - they should take a deep, deep amount of pride in this because we would not be able to make this show had it not been for the help of Aotearoa - they need to know that. I’m very thankful.
“They bled for us and we united Polynesia,” says the Hawaiian-born actor.
Momoa extends his gratitude to some unexpected legendary New Zealanders who flexed their acting chops for the first time, just for their “brother” Momoa.
Eagle-eyed fans may have already spotted rugby players including Piri Weepu, Renee Ranger, Frank Bunce, Troy Flavell, Kees Meeuws and Pita Alatini featuring as Koa, Polynesian warriors, in the trailer for the series.
Hesitant to spoil the plot of episode one, I tread carefully with questioning, before Momoa excitedly cuts in.
“No, let’s say it, let’s just say it - I’m a huge All Black fan. I love them. I tried to get Tana Umaga in there, but Kees Meeuws is one of my favourites of all time. So I got Kees and a bunch of them came to help,” Momoa adds.
All Black prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi, who Momoa calls “one of my closet friends” and “my younger brother”, has a starring role in episode one, battling with Momoa’s character Ka’iana, a legendary Hawaiian warrior.
“He was so good. He was so scared to do it. He would not want me to tell you that, but that he was,” Momoa says with a laugh, adding, “I was so proud of him.”
Momoa recalls a particularly funny moment on set between Tu’ungafasi and his stunt double Kim Fardy, who is Australian and the brother of ex-Wallabies player Scott Fardy.
“Kimmy would always talk s*** about the All Blacks. And so I let Ofa know, I was like, ‘just give a little sting because he’s an Aussie’.”
“And sure enough, Ofa gave a little f****** extra dude,” Momoa laughs, recalling a hearty onscreen tackle between the two. “He’s a f******* wall, it’s crazy. He’s so strong.”
The nine-part series also reunited two Hollywood heavyweights and Aotearoa acting royalty.
Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis, who starred in the 1994 film Once Were Warriors, play Kings Kahekili and Keōua in Chief of War. Momoa says learning from Curtis was one of the big blessings from his time on set.
“It was nice to actually sit down and learn from Cliff,” Momoa says, crediting the duo’s performances as award-worthy.
“Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison can come and play the biggest kings and pull that s*** off and learn our language and play it better than I’ve ever played before - those guys should be up for Emmys.”
Momoa praised the pair’s commitment to learning the language and cultural immersion, revealing that he teased the role to Morrison during the 2017 filming of Aquaman, which they starred in together.
“I told Tem on Aquaman, ‘I wrote you the greatest role. You’re gonna play the greatest game -an amazing king. It’s unbelievable,’ and he replies, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, true boy’,” says Momoa, giving an impeccable Morrison impression.
“You gotta get the facial expressions down when doing it,” he adds with a laugh.
His love for New Zealand actors, people and rugby players is no secret, but what keeps him coming back to Aotearoa?
“I came here when I was about 20 years old,” Momoa explains, “and when I landed there, Hawaii is home, but there’s never been anywhere in the world where I’ve ever felt more connected.
“I can’t really explain it, if it was my destiny, my ancestors...I don’t know what it was, but the moment I stepped off that plane I felt it, and I’ve always been drawn to it.”
Momoa says that on a month-and-a-half trip he took as a 20-year-old, he scaled the country from “top to bottom” and ultimately decided it was where he wanted to end up.
“I just loved it, just being in the outdoors, man. Being down in Queenstown and experiencing that - snowboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing.”
“I just was like, ‘I’m gonna live here.’ I was going to spend the rest of my life here one day, and now having the opportunity to come down and film,” he explains, the passion for our country clear as he circles back to “the greatest f******* rugby team of all time”, and goes off script.
“I mean, listen, I’m in Hawaii right now and I’ll just...” Momoa pauses, turning his camera on during the Zoom call to show me the Steinlager Pure beer he’s drinking on the couch, raising it for New Zealand before turning his camera off again. “That’s Steinlager P right there.” .
Momoa admits he still feels a call to relocate, saying eventually that’s the plan.
“I will eventually move one day, that’s where I’ll live and work. I don’t want to leave - I’m gonna keep coming down. I just love it.”
But with his passion project about to be seen by the world, in two short weeks, Momoa, who also worked as a director, writer and producer on the series, says right now his focus is on the series and Hawaii.
“I don’t have anything that I will ever do in this life that’ll be bigger than this - this is my heart and soul. You live with it for a decade, and then you finally get it up, and you get to make all the choices, direct, act, learn the language that you’ve always wanted to learn, that you’ve never learned.”
But it hasn’t been easy: “No one will ever understand the battles I went through for my culture”.
“This is as big as it gets, you know. This is the tip of the spear of everything. After this is just an actor paid to go do some s***. This is my heart and soul in here.”
But before he polishes off the rest of the “Steinlager P”, Momoa says he wants Kiwi fans to know one more thing: “I’ll see you soon. Next year. Aotearoa, I’m coming home, baby.”
Jenni Mortimer is the NZ Herald’s chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.