If Nepi Solomon was at the opening of the movie Jubilee last night, he (or maybe she) was keeping well out of sight.
Not one person among the security guards andShortland Street stars at the premiere at Auckland's Force Entertainment Centre could tell the Herald if Nepi Solomon was there.
He wrote the book on which the film is based. It is a good-natured comedy about a group of small town hard cases arranging the 75th anniversary celebrations of the local school.
But while Jubilee is a comedy, its author is a mystery.
The book is attributed to one Nepi Solomon - if that is his real name.
The story goes that he served a term in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo and has apparently lived in the King Country and on the East Coast since his release.
Some in the film crew half expected him to turn up at the premiere, somewhere. Cliff Curtis, one of the film's stars, told the Herald he did not know whether Mr Solomon was attending.
"I have never met the person, but my theory is it's a woman. Everyone else thinks it is a man, but I am sure it is a woman," he said.
Curtis, star of Three Kings, seemed more concerned about his own prospects. "As for me, I am unemployed. I am out there looking for work."
Michael Hurst, the director, was clearly of the opinion Nepi Solomon was a man.
"I have never met the man, but apparently he is not well. I am not sure if he is even RSVPed," he said.
But Hurst's wife, actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand, put things in perspective. "We would never even know if he was here."
Caterina De Nave, one of Jubilee's producers, believed Solomon was at the premiere but had blended into the crowd in order not to create a stir.
"He is here. I saw him in the crowd before," she said.
