![]() He drops out after losing his licence, forcing him to join cardboard city with his former clients. Abandoned by his employer, alone and bereft of support, he takes the blame when everything crashes down around him. He's enraged by empty promises from the politicians during the election campaign, all claiming that they care. In the film, a young Māori social worker strives to make a difference, taking risks to help a single mother hounded by loan sharks. Inspired by the child poverty debate in the run up to the last general election, my screenplay includes several real life events woven into the story: the 2014 minor party leaders debate, the Hīkoi of protest to end child poverty and the presentation of a petition with fifteen thousand signatures to the government. Hīkoi becomes more relevant by the minute. Having read the script and heard Lean describe some of the key scenes, I am convinced that Nostromo is the greatest film never made. You see, I’m just beginning to think I might be getting the hang of filmmaking.’Īs his two Dickens adaptations Great Expectations and Oliver Twist testify, David Lean was the undisputed master of the literary adaption. As John Boorman was leaving, David Lean said: ‘I hope I get better and that I’m able to make Nostromo. They reminisced about their lives and their films. Fellow director John Boorman visited David Lean days before Lean’s death. Those closest to Lean felt the constant frustrations and disappointments hastened his death. The surviving screen tests show how brilliant Corraface would have been in this role. The most moving account of all came from Georges Corraface, who was set to play Nostromo. Lean’s widow Sandra, along with Steven Spielberg and others involved with the project, tell the heartbreaking story of endless delays and false starts. ![]() My excitement at getting hold of this DVD was tempered by sadness at how everything conspired to prevent David Lean from realising his dream. Lean believed it would be his defining work, the pinnacle of his career. I managed to track down a hard to find DVD of this Spanish made documentary about David Lean’s dying wish to make a screen adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novel Nostromo. Hīkoi will remain as relevant as ever in a post Covid world. Inspired by the hīkoi against child poverty in Auckland in 2014, this hard-hitting drama sees a burnt-out social worker taking risks to help a single mother escape from loan sharks. With the industry getting back on its feet, I am renewing my efforts to find a production partner for Hīkoi. Many overseas production companies regard New Zealand as the safest place in the world to make a film. ![]() Regrettably, the Covid-19 pandemic has thwarted those plans and put the project on hold. It would have been particularly appropriate to shoot the film in New Zealand’s election year.įollowing positive reviews at the Emerging Writers and the Table Read My Screenplay festivals, I began negotiations with leading New Zealand production companies to bring the story to the screen. The issues of child poverty and homelessness are as relevant today as they were when I first wrote the screenplay in 2014. I had hoped my new film project Hīkoi would go into production this year. For our loyal fans, watch out for a book trailer made up of footage from the film trilogy and the release of a special director’s cut of the films to coincide with the launch of Gang Girl. To celebrate ten years of this remarkable journey, here are a collection of production stills. Walter ‘The Wiz’ Walsh became our casting director and the rest, as they say, is history. Local radio station Turanga FM saved the day running on casting calls, and we discovered the extraordinary depth of acting talent in Gisborne. Under pressure from their agents, one by one the lead members of our cast dropped out. We were about to start shooting when an industrial dispute regarding actors’ working conditions on The Hobbit hit the headlines. We’d assembled an ensemble cast of up and coming talent from various casting agencies, all of whom agreed to work for the experience instead of payment. A decade on and rebranded as Gang Girl, this iconic New Zealand story refuses to go away.īack in 2010, the project didn’t have the most auspicious start. It’s hard to believe ten years have passed since the cameras first rolled on Amiri & Aroha.
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