Lawrence Makoare, an innocent abroad

Rising actor and Crooked Earth's other star Lawrence Makoare is a man to be toyed with, finds PETER CALDER.

Don't get him wrong - Lawrence Makoare would not for one moment want to be seen as pulling rank on his senior colleague.

But he does let slip that they've made two (count 'em) dolls of his Lurtz, one of Saruman's "big fighting beasts" in The Lord of the Rings - and he enjoyed telling Temuera Morrison that he'd outscored his Star Wars character in the race for plastic immortality.

The moment of mock triumph is a rare exception to the good-humoured humility of the tall, well-built 33-year-old whose role as the angry and violent Kahu in Crooked Earth pits him against our biggest local star. Much of time he looks almost innocently wide-eyed (he's given to using words like "choice" and "stink" a lot) and slightly bemused at the success that has come his way.

And he makes no secret of the fact that he was pretty daunted by the challenge of stepping into the role that Cliff Curtis turned down at the last moment.

Like virtually every Maori actor, Makoare (Ngati Whatua, born, raised and still living in Orakei within sight of Bastion Pt) would never have made a start had it not been for the keen eye and stern mentoring of Don Selwyn, the veteran Maori actor, director, producer and casting supremo.

Seven years ago, when his wife was attending a free acting class given by Selwyn, Makoare, a happy worker on a council road gang, came along to mind their 2-year-old son.

"They were doing all their drama things and Don asked me to join in," he recalls, "and I thought it was wimpy, sissy stuff. I knew the boys would never let me live it down if they heard that I was prancing around in a tutu."

But boredom got the better of him. He had a go. Selwyn spotted his talent and pushed him into an audition.

Three callbacks later he'd won a role in Rapa Nui, the (terminally dire) Kevin Costner-produced exotic melodrama set on Easter Island. Not only did Makoare not believe it; he didn't really understand it.

"They rang me up and said: 'Can you fly to Tahiti on Tuesday?' and I said: 'I only get $7.20 an hour on the council. What's that? You're paying? Of course I can fly to Tahiti on Tuesday!"'

The gentle giant turned down a part in Warriors because he didn't want to cut his splendid flowing mane of hair.

But he has rarely been out of work since. Roles in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, the Xena and Hercules series, Don Selwyn's Maori-language version of The Merchant of Venice and various commercials make it unlikely he'll be picking up a council shovel again.

Makoare's Kahu fills the screen, thanks more to charisma than craft, one senses. But the fire that burns in the character's radical breast was alien to the man who was just 7 when police stormed on to Bastion Pt.

"Sam [Pillsbury, the director] wanted me to get in touch with that anger but it wasn't really in me. So he gave me all these really thick books about Che Guevara and Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X. I hate reading - except Richie Rich comics."

For the first time for a while, Makoare finds himself between jobs. Only three premieres - Crooked Earth, Merchant and Fellowship of The Rings - occupy his diary.

"This is the quietest time I've had in four years," he says. "I don't know what's next. But I'm still quite amazed that I've got this far and done so much. It's really weird."