There are no Minis but there is a car crash in Kelly Johnson's latest movie.
After a 20-year hiatus from the big screen, the Whangarei-based actor-turned-lawyer plays a "small but integral" role in the contemporary conspiracy thriller Spooked which opens in cinemas nationwide, including Whangarei, today.
Best known in film circles for
his leading role in 1981's New Zealand classic Goodbye Pork Pie, he has reunited with his Pork Pie and Utu director Geoff Murphy in the title role of "Spook".
While the thriller element prevents him from revealing too much about his character, he admits the film also incorporates Murphy's trademark comedic elements with strong Kiwi references.
"Spooked involves the spy world in a New Zealand context which is quite original because we don't normally base our films in an urban environment," Mr Johnson says.
"Geoff Murphy's honed his craft for the last 12 years in Hollywood so he never makes things boring. It moves along at a fast clip."
Ian Wishart's book The Paradise Conspiracy, in which Auckland computer dealer Paul White died in mysterious circumstances after opening some discs belonging to a merchant bank, provides the starting point for the story.
Mr Johnson is joined on screen by New Zealand actors Cliff Curtis (Once Were Warriors, Traffic, Whale Rider), Chris Hobbs (Shortland Street, McLeod's Daughters, Water Rats), Miriama Smith (Shortland Street, Mercy Peak) and John Leigh (Spin Doctors).
For the past nine years Mr Johnson has been based in Whangarei with his partner and three children, working as a criminal lawyer - though he admits he is often recognised more for his Pork Pie role than his current job.
While he wouldn't call himself a professional actor any more he has kept up his involvement in the craft locally through roles in Playfair's Middle Aged Spread and Ladies Night, and as a co-director of Whangarei Youth Theatre's production of Between Bells.
"The technology's changed in film making since I was involved, everything's got the electronic bells and whistles now but the basic technique of the film going past the shutter hasn't changed," Mr Johnson said.
