Phil Keoghan in his new American TV special Flying High. Photo / Supplied
Tourists are flocking to New Zealand in record numbers, but one of our most famous exports, Phil Keoghan, wants the world to know we are more than just stunning scenery and sheep.
Tourists are flocking to New Zealand in record numbers, but one of our most famous exports wants the world to know we are more than just stunning scenery and sheep. Dominic Corry reports.
Forget our beautiful landscapes, and 100% Pure international reputation. New Zealanders are what makes our country great, reckons Phil Keoghan.
And the Emmy-winning host of long-running reality smash-hit The Amazing Race is on a mission to prove it, producing and fronting a new TV special about Aotearoa for American cable TV, The Smithsonian Channel.
Flying High with Phil Keoghan has the former Spot On host travelling New Zealand and interviewing a range of Kiwis - some famous, some not - with the goal of showing an American audience we possess a resource even more precious than our pristine vistas.
"We obviously have a wonderful environment that we live in and we have sold New Zealand for a long time based on its landscapes," Keoghan told the Herald on Sunday.
"But to me there's something missing when you're just focused on selling a country because it's aesthetically beautiful.
"I'm not saying that we don't live in a beautiful place, but ultimately what I've learned is what distinguishes the travel experience is not what you're looking at, but who you're looking at it with, who you're sharing that experience with."
And that comes down to our people.
"We have a particular personality in New Zealand based around resourcefulness, ingenuity, give-it-a-go. There's a humbleness to us, there's a laidback aspect to our personality.
"We're a warm people, inviting. A dry sense of humour. "I wanted to encapsulate that by talking to people I thought would give a broad section of that New Zealand personality. Everyone from [writer/actor/filmmaker] Oscar Kightley to [rally driver] Emma Gilmour to a farmer from down in Central Otago who came up with an idea to round up his sheep with a drone."
Sir Peter Jackson also appears, alongside his magnificent war plane collection, as does actor Sam Neill, and his grapes, league legend Tawera Nikau and Phil's father, John. The special first aired two weekends ago and Keoghan spent the previous few weeks promoting it in Los Angeles and New York. He said the response from the US media went beyond all expectations.
"I think the reason that people have picked up on this story is because they're so used to seeing the story, again, about New Zealand landscapes, New Zealand sheep - not that they haven't known about people like Peter or Sam Neill, but it has always been in the context of their movies and so it's not really about them as much as it's about the things they're making or the things they're in.
"I wanted to make it about personality. I didn't ask Peter Jackson or Sam Neill anything about a movie."
Keoghan has been firmly entrenched in mainstream American entertainment for more than 15 years, but still meets people in the business who don't realise he's a New Zealander.
"Sometimes they're quite surprised. But I don't hide it. A lot of people do know I'm from New Zealand and I've always worn a Maori fish hook around my neck from season one [of The Amazing Race]. So I do identify myself as a New Zealander.
"The other night I was on American Dad, immortalised as an animated version of myself on Amazing Race, and you can clearly see they've drawn in the fish hook. It's very much a part of who I am and certainly how people identify me."
So although he has done plenty over the years to help raise New Zealand's international profile from his uniquely lofty position in the television world - including a series of stories for CBS news following the Christchurch earthquake - Keoghan said Flying High reflects a perspective drawn over time.
I'm proud of seeing these people every time I go home and I feel proud to have come from a country that has created these mavericks.
"I don't know if I could've done this show as effectively earlier in my career. Maybe because I have a better perspective of who we are having come from New Zealand and then going back and forth over the years and meeting so many New Zealanders.
"Sometimes you need to stand back from something to see it clearly and I can really see it and I want us to get past just being known as the country with the amazing landscapes and sheep.
"I want people when they think of New Zealand to immediately think of innovative, funny, resourceful Kiwis. I want them to think of problem-solvers, groundbreakers, people who really are mavericks, rather than just landscapes and sheep.
"I think we're so much more than that and I want to tell that story because I'm proud of seeing these people every time I go home and I feel proud to have come from a country that has created these mavericks."
Keoghan's passion for Flying High and its message had him reaching into his own pockets to complete the special, the first in a prospective series that would give other countries the same treatment.
"I'm constantly looking for ways to make content about New Zealand whenever I can. And this particular show, more than 50 per cent of the funding was done by [wife/producing partner] Louise and me. It was a personal project.
"We got some support from Tourism New Zealand and from Air New Zealand, and then obviously The Smithsonian Channel, but we also put in a lot and then put in our own time.
"And the reason for that is we wanted to maintain very high production values, but also because it was something we felt that we really wanted to do as a way to show off New Zealand. And thankfully, other work that we've done has afforded us the ability to be able to do something like that."
We want New Zealanders to see it, if only because we want them to stare into the mirror.
There are no concrete plans for Flying High to screen in New Zealand, but Keoghan hopes to get it in front of Kiwi audiences.
"We want New Zealanders to see it, if only because we want them to stare into the mirror. Look, it's definitely aimed at people who don't know us, but I think New Zealanders will be quite proud to see themselves reflected through the eyes of people that they respect but also people that they will grow to respect."
Keoghan has witnessed an evolution in the perception of New Zealand in America since he started on The Amazing Race.
"There has been a change. I think films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople have really helped because people sort of really got a good sense of our humour through a film like that.
"Obviously you've got Lord of the Rings - I don't know if there has been one pivotal thing in recent history that did more to put New Zealand on the map than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I can't think of anything that had such a profound effect on just bringing New Zealand into people's vernacular."
Flying High with Phil Keoghan looks set to continue that evolution.
"When people hear 'New Zealand', I'm hoping that this show will make them think of people before they just say [in a broad American accent]: 'Oh my God I've heard it's so beautiful!' We want to get people past that."
The Kiwi actor has been part of the Star Wars universe for more than 20 years.