Temuera Morrison is used to working on high-budget Hollywood blockbusters with the likes of Jason Momoa.
But the longtime legend of the screen insists nothing compares to working in New Zealand – especially when it involves a reunion with fellow acting great and friend Robyn Malcolm.
The pair first crossed paths 27 years ago on the set of Shortland Street when Temuera was playing Dr Ropata and Robyn joined the cast as nurse Ellen Crozier.
“I was introduced to her and thought, ‘What a powerhouse! Just a great actress.’ Now we’re such good friends and have known each other for so long that working together is just easy. We have a wonderful rapport. It almost felt like we were an old married couple at times,” shares Temuera, 62, talking about their latest project, local series Far North.
Robyn, 58, adds, “Working with Tem is absolutely effortless, like walking downhill. Maybe because of our age and both coming from the Shortland Street stables or because we’re Kiwis, we have a shorthand, where we don’t need to explain everything.”
Far North is a six-part, mostly true, drama series based on the epic Ninety Mile Beach drug bust in June 2016, where locals foiled the almost successful importation of an estimated $500 million of methamphetamine.
While filming, Temuera and Robyn lived in the remote Northland community of Ahipara for several months, and were profoundly impacted by the place and its people.
“Within three days, I was calling my sons and emailing my friends saying, ‘We’re moving up here,'” smiles Robyn.
“I would wake up in my little house looking straight up Ninety Mile Beach, sit in this old chair in the window and watch the sun come up with my cuppa. I grew up in a little town by the sea, so I felt really at home.”
She reflects on their first day, saying she felt a deep connection to the area within hours of being welcomed with a pōwhiri at the local marae.
“All the community came in and had kai with us. Tem spoke for us and the minute he did that, he embedded us into that world. He made it possible for us to walk over the bridge and feel welcomed into the community.”
Laughing about his status as an honorary local, Temuera jokes at first they weren’t sure about having Jake the Muss, his notorious Once Were Warriors character, on their turf, but over a few laughs at the rugby club, he was soon accepted.
“The whole Kaitaia community got behind and director David White has made the north look so great. Kaita¯ia is going to be famous.”
But Robyn and Temuera agree the most meaningful experience was getting to know the real-life Ed and Heather, the Ahipara couple who were caught up in drug-smuggling while just trying to help some out-of-towners.
“The first night, we ate curry and Krispy Kreme donuts, and their four insanely beautiful dogs sat at our feet and we just chewed the fat,” recalls Robyn. “We genuinely got on as people.
“From that moment on, they basically let us into their lives. They were on set every day. I’d come home from work to a big container of fresh snapper fillets they caught or little bags of custard apples grown in their garden left on my back porch.
“We even used their boat. We had professional stunt people, but the people I trusted more than anyone on the ocean were them and their sons. It was this unusual and really beautiful experience of telling this really brilliant, compelling, hilarious story, but more than anything, feeling a real responsibility to tell their story right.”
Temuera also bonded with his counterpart, relishing the chance to embrace a slower coastal pace of life, learning to drive the tractor and back the boat.
“It was glorious days out there on Ninety Mile Beach, at one with my tractor and just nice to be home and working,” says Temuera, who has been busy filming The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Jason Momoa’s series Chief of War.
“I always look out for something special at home,” he smiles. “Far North was a small crew, we worked hard with passion and shot with Kiwi ingenuity. We had the camera on a little golf cart. We don’t need all those fancy cranes and equipment from Hollywood.”
Robyn continues, “Everything about it, the way it was shot, the people on set, the people we were playing, the community, everything felt utterly authentically New Zealand. This is a New Zealand story
told on its own terms and I’m really proud of that.”
Watch Far North, Mondays, 8.30pm on Three or streaming on ThreeNow.
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