Basketball: Power forward's double life as a stuntman

Mike Homik filming the yeti commercial. Photo / Supplied

You might remember Mike Homik as an orc. Perhaps a centaur or cyclops. Failing that, he was the yeti from the Search and Rescue television commercials. Oh, and he's also a former Tall Black with a Commonwealth Games silver medal and four NBL titles.

The 32-year-old leads something of a double life. During the week, he's a stuntman for The Hobbit being filmed in Wellington and at weekends transforms into basketball player. He will leave his sword and other weapons behind.

Homik hopes to make a career as a stuntman and has appeared in Narnia, Lord of the Rings and Spartacus, as well as television commercials, and expects to be Gandalf's stunt double for The Hobbit.

He will need to wear power shoes that make him 2.5m tall, to accentuate the height difference between Gandalf and a dwarf.

Homik's height got him the job in the first place. At 2.03m, he stands out in a crowd. Importantly, he was noticeable when he and fellow basketballer Casey Frank went to an audition on the spur of the moment for Narnia extras. Homik was a centaur and cyclops. "We had nothing else to do and rocked up," he says. "The casting director said, 'you guys are perfect' and that was it.

"I don't think I would be doing it if I was six foot. I would like to but it's so competitive and there are so many stunties out here who are so much more qualified than I am. I will get there one day but right now I'm a commodity because I'm big, quite nimble and look good in front of the camera."

It has helped that the Palmerston North Jets power forward is an accomplished martial arts exponent. He has won Oceania and New Zealand medals in kempo, taekwondo and muay thai so is comfortable fighting goblins, man-eating trolls, boulder-throwing giants and giant spiders.

"I love it. It's magical. This is what I want to do. I love martial arts and fighting and that's all we do. It's like heaven."

He spends about 10 hours a day on set and the stunt crew will spend the next five months choreographing moves before the cameras roll for their scenes.

It puts pressure on basketball but Homik expects to play a full season with the Jets. It helps that 10-week breaks from filming are scheduled - actors demand big breaks, apparently - in the middle of the NBL season. His coaches are well aware of his situation and are comfortable with him missing regular training sessions.

"Basketball and martial arts have been my life, my passions," he says. "But at this stage in my career if I had to choose between The Hobbit and playing for any team in New Zealand, I hate to say it - but it would be The Hobbit. It's a two-year contract while the basketball season is 15 weeks. It comes out financially, too.

"It's definitely a big industry in New Zealand. It's very competitive and is a small niche of guys. I want to go international. I want to go as far as I can.

"There are some stunt guys who are 60-years-old and still going strong. I can't play basketball at 60 but I can still be a stunt man.

"It's a career move. I would love to go to the States and do it over there."

He also wouldn't mind another NBL title. With four in the bank - two apiece with Auckland and Waikato - he's never lost a finals series. He doesn't know if anyone has won titles with three different teams but wants to give statisticians reason to check it out.

He gets the occasional jibe on court about being a yeti but opponents know better than to mess with a mythical figure who roams the Himalayas or someone, like an orc, who doesn't take nonsense from mere humans.