RELUCTANT UNCLE: Rotoiti-raised actor Cliff Curtis said the role of Uncle Bully wasn't one he originally wanted and wasn't one he wanted to repeat. FILE
Once Were Warriors burst onto the big screen in 1994 and 20 years on, its powerful and confrontational story is still remembered today. Dana Kinita explores the film's strong Rotorua connections.
Many of us can remember when and where they first saw Once Were Warriors.
The film left people divided.
For some it was a society they never knew existed while for others it hit too close to home.
Resonated or repelled, the movie is iconic in this country's cinematic history.
To celebrate 20 years since the film was released, a documentary revisiting the cast of the Heke family will be screened on Maori Television on Monday night.
It takes a look at those involved in the movie, which portrayed a hard-hitting depiction of gang and domestic violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and suicide among an urban Maori whanau.
Based on the novel by Rotorua-born author, Alan Duff, the film went on to gross $6 million in New Zealand and $30 million worldwide.
The documentary Once Were Warriors - Where are they now? shows Julian Arahanga, who played eldest son Nig Heke, tracking down his film family for an emotional reunion.
Rotorua born and bred actor Temuera Morrison has a long list of film and television roles to his credit, both nationally and in Hollywood.
Yet none has lingered as much as Jake 'The Muss' Heke which he describes as his "breakout role".
"[Director] Lee [Tamahori] was looking at me to play one of the cops, then he was looking for me to play Uncle Bully before Cliff Curtis - I was one of the last cast.
"I only had a weekend to prepare, I had finished shooting for Shortland Street on Friday, had a hair cut on Saturday and was doing a couple of rehearsals on Sunday before filming started."
Morrison said it was intense as he also continued to play Dr Ropata on the long running television series.
"I had doubled my workload. I had to get the physical look of Jake and was in the gym every morning at 6am and trying to do Shortland Street at the same time.
"I vividly remember the wardrobe lady telling me I had started to fill out my doctor's coat."
His image wasn't the only transformation he had to make. With the help of the late actor and director Don Selwyn he had to dig deep for the character Jake to emerge.
"As an actor you have to draw from inside to reach that emotional and power level and I wanted it to be convincing so knew I had to work. Rena Owen (who played Beth Heke) came in with a lot of fire and we knew we had to match it," he said.
"None of us thought it would be as big as it was. I was thinking, 'Who the hell was going to watch?', especially with the violence. It was very draining filming it, even for Rena it was draining for her, but there was a strong camaraderie with the cast and crew.
"The film had quite a big Maori crew and so many people worked with passion on the set and you could feel it.
"Some nights it was electric, especially the pub scene nice vibration coming from everybody."
Morrison said when the movie was released, he was seen in a new light.
"I think it made people look at me more seriously as an actor. Prior to that I played the nice doctor roles and Warriors launched us to the next level.
"It was quite draining afterwards to shake Jake off, I would go back to Shortland Street and be swearing.
"When it came out, it was a bit dramatic for my fans. One minute they saw me fixing people in the hospital and the next minute I'm putting people in the hospital.
"I think Warriors made an impact and was a vehicle for some women to say, 'Hey, my life is like that film, can someone help me?'. But we still have the same problems in society today.
"Ask a policeman in Rotorua what is the most thing he has to deal with and it's domestic violence and petty burglary. The Jake Hekes are still making up the numbers in the wrong areas."
Cliff Curtis nearly didn't take the role of Uncle Bully, the family friend who rapes Jake's teenage daughter.
He said he went through the normal audition process but wasn't keen on the film or its subject matter.
"My aspiration was to get the role of Nig and Zac Wallace was going for the role of Jake the Muss. Tem was going for Uncle Bully and I was closer in age to Julian Arahanga. So I was very surprised to hear that Zac Wallace didn't work out and Tem would be playing the role. But the biggest surprise is when they offered me Uncle Bully," Curtis said.
"It was not in any way what I wanted to do, so I didn't respond."
The Rotoiti-raised actor said he then took time out staying in a cave on Easter Island - Rapanui relaxing, meditating and fasting for a couple of weeks.
"Once Were Warriors was absolutely the last thing on my mind."
Flying back into Auckland, he was greeted by his agent who informed him he had accepted the role on his behalf in his absence and had 12 hours to make up his mind on the matter.
"I was one of those people who felt that it represented Maori in a really negative way.
"Film has the ability to develop role models and I sort of felt, why are we putting all these resources into this?
"Why can't we do it for Whale Rider, why is this going to get all our attention. I thought it was a really well-written novel and I saw the response to the book but I felt I'd rather spend my time and talent on telling other stories."
It was the advice of his kuia in Rotoiti that made him decide to accept the role.
"I told her my story and she said, 'Well there's always jobs people don't want to do in life'. I knew she was talking about the marae, with people cleaning the graves and toilets and understood what she meant.
"She said, 'When there's a job no one else wants to do, someone has to do it and if you're going to do a job, do it the best you can. People will remember how well you did that job rather the job itself'.
"I sort of felt okay, be humble. Look, listen, learn and put my opinion aside and I still hold that opinion to this day," he said.
"I approached my role as just, be one of the guys and bros. It wasn't anything really I had to do but just be a normal guy.
"The deed he does is so despicable and so unforgivable that him appearing so normal is what makes it so confronting."
Curtis said he imagined Uncle Bully's backstory as a survivor of sexual abuse himself, which affected his sexuality and had ongoing consequences.
He said that he felt Uncle Bully was acting out because he was damaged himself.
"In my research, instead of talking to men about it, I talked to women. I didn't want to get into the mindset of who that person could be.
"I learnt how it was about power. Men felt powerless in their life, there's an unbalance and in their quest to take control they enact it through rape.
"My approach was that I was not going to waste any of my time and life being in that space. The act itself was enough and I became intellectually disengaged and felt very removed from the process.
"Afterwards I really wanted to disassociate myself from the role as quickly as possible. I wanted to go home and have a shower, it was all pretend and was not me and had nothing to do with me," he said.
"When I decided to take the role, I had to create my own kaupapa - what purpose do I have to play this role? The screenplay shows the strength and beauty of Maori women who have held their families together not just against society but against our own men and I wanted to acknowledge them and celebrate them and have that known.
"The challenge for our men is to rise up and stop this sort of behaviour. There really are no excuses for that behaviour, sure there are reasons but no excuses.
Lessons I learnt through Mita Mohi [haka and mau taiaha expert] is that a true warrior has self-discipline and self respect learned through self knowledge.
"The heart of a warrior is not only in the face of battle but he must ultimately be there for his family to protect, provide and heal."
Curtis said he was happy that finally after 20 years, he has a body of work that outweighs any stereotype from his past.
"It's something you do struggle with over the years. What my aunty said was only partially true. People do remember the job I did and I can't blame them.
"I don't use my personal life as currency, my celebrity or faux celebrity status and the movie was so entrenched in our culture. I've turned down many roles over the years because I don't want to revisit violence against women again.
"But I can't underestimate the motivation and drive it gave me to seek out other roles," he said.
"I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to have worked with everyone involved with the film Once Were Warriors and the opportunities that followed as a result.
"It was instrumental as a door opener in Hollywood and remains a cult classic around the world to this day.
"Making great movies is an important part of our culture and while they may challenge us they also have the ability to inspire us."
Production designer and Rotorua local Guy Moana finished work on The Piano before designing the ta moko artwork and gang costumes on the set of Once Were Warriors.
He has since worked on more than 100 film and television productions. His grandfather was a tutor at the New Zealand Maori Arts and Craft Institute, Hone Taiapa, who carved many meeting houses throughout the country.
"I felt the story needed to be told. It was really exciting at the time and is still one of the best films I've worked on," he said.
"The movie was hard for a lot of people to take. Looking at it internationally, there were the same concerns all around the world."
He said he felt at the time it could be one of the biggest Maori films seen in a long time.
"We thought it could be a hit, it was controversial and something that universities will study for a long time but I don't think anyone was really prepared for how big it became."
Moana is currently working on the set of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2 in Auckland. He credits Once Were Warriors for opening doors and providing further work opportunities.
"Straight after the film was released I was asked to design the record album of [band] Sepultura and go to the Amazon jungle to design it. I was also asked to design an Air New Zealand plane but work commitments prevented me at the time from do them," he said.
- Once Were Warriors - Where are they now? is the first of Maori Television's new season of Pakipumeka New Zealand documentaries. They will screen Mondays at 9.30pm. The film Once Were Warriors will screen tomorrow night at 9.30pm with the sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted on Sunday, August 24 at 9.30pm.
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