Cliff Curtis is a man of very many talents. His on-screen accolades include roles in several top New Zealand movies, including The Piano, Boy, Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider and The Dark Horse, and Hollywood blockbusters like Fast & Furious, Avatar: The Way of Water, Live Free or Die Hard, The Meg 2 and Fear the Walking Dead. But the Rotorua-born actor has many more strings to his bow.
Cliff, 56, has just returned from London. There, he’s been acting in his first play for 30 years, East is South, in North London.
“That was a challenge,” he admits. “I did that to humble myself, to act in front of people rather than cameras. And the topic fascinated me. It was set in a secure facility where artificial intelligence – AI – is on the verge of AGI – artificial general intelligence.”
Technology is a topic that fascinates Cliff, although he makes sure he takes time to switch off from it, too.
“I turn off from the news and phones sometimes,” he shares. “It’s healthy and makes you focus on where you are in the moment. Like, when I’m with my kids or with people I care about and love. It’s important to be attentive to that, to disengage from the noise. To prioritise the people in your life is very liberating.”
But when the devices are on, Cliff can indulge in one of his passions – online chess.
“It’s very engaging, communicating with AI – it’s impossible today to beat AI at chess,” he says. “We’re cooked on that! It’s like trying to out-calculate a calculator, or outrun a car or compete with a plane. Now it’s about readjusting our relationship with technology and then understanding how our relationship with it is evolving.”
It’s in part because Cliff is so fascinated with technological advancement that he became the perfect face for One NZ, which has been named the “most zombie-resilient network” by the US-based Zombie Research Society, thanks to its newly-launched satellite service. The technology allows One NZ customers who are out of traditional cell coverage to send texts from anywhere in New Zealand with a line of sight to the sky.
“I’m amazed by how fast our world is evolving. We get so much of our entertainment these days through the internet,” he explains. “This idea with One NZ is something that didn’t exist a few years ago.”
Former tradie Cliff is surprisingly analytical about everything, from the examination of contemporary culture in films like Avatar and Shaun of the Dead to the impact of immigration.
“It’s just displaced humans, who for whatever reason have left their homes, heritage and land,” he shares. “There’s something that’s lost and something to be gained.”
But when the Weekly suggests he’s a deep thinker, he seems surprised.
“I think a lot of this stuff is just common sense,” he says pragmatically. He also enjoys a great sense of humour, although he admits it’s either very dark or the deadpan delivery of a dad joke. “What’s red and invisible?” he asks. “No tomatoes.”
Although his close mates include household names, including Jason Momoa – “my bro” – Jemaine Clement and boxer Joseph Parker, Cliff is remarkably down-to-earth. And although he travels around the world, he feels very centred and content because he’s in no doubt at all about where home is.
“There’s a popular perception that I’m a Hollywood guy, but that actually never happened,” he explains. “I’m basically a freelance contractor who travels for work. My world is in Rotorua – that’s home and it’s an incredible place.
“I’ve seen the world and it’s an amazing place. I think everyone should see the world if they can, but I know where I’m from and I know what I’m about.
“Being Māori, to me, the superstructure of the marae I belong to has a culture and a provenance that goes back hundreds of years, and we mobilise as a group really rapidly. The protocols of our way of life means that if the lights went off tomorrow, we’d go to the marae and everybody there knows what to do. We hunt, we fish, we cook. We know how to take care of ourselves and each other.”
While Cliff admits he relies more on his cousins to bring home the kai, his deep respect for his heritage is palpable.
“There’s a great sense of security in knowing your lineage, a richness and a beauty that I love,” he enthuses. “Wherever I am in the world, I take that feeling with me.”
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