Oscar Kightley and Teuila Blakely visit 1 English
The highlight of the Visual Text unit on Sione’s Wedding was undoubtedly the guest appearance of none other than the writer himself, Oscar Kightley, and Teulia Blakely, who starred in the film alongside him.
Teuila is a familiar face from the show Freestyle which she presents on C4; television roles including Outrageous Fortune, Shortland Street and bro’Town; and her theatre production Island Girls. You can hear her hosting shows on Niu FM, Flava FM and 531 PI.
Oscar is a well-known performer on stage and screen and has been writing for many years. One of his early plays was ‘Fresh off the Boat’ which describes Charles experiencing New Zealand – what a crazy country- after coming from Samoa. He went on to be one of the legendary ‘Naked Samoans’ comedy theatre group and then a writer and performer on ‘bro’Town’. Oscar is also a presenter on Niu FM and Sportzah. A play he co-wrote, ‘Niu Sila,’ is about two boys – one Samoan, one Palagi, growing up together but then growing apart as they become adults. This year some of 10G went to ‘Niu Sila’ at the playhouse in Glen Eden, which had a lot of laughs as well as some home truths for reflection. As a result of the visit, our English department has now ordered 35 copies of the NCEA edition of Niu Sila.
Oscar and Teuila started their visit by explaining some of the background to Sione’s Wedding. The script took 4 years to write, and 13 drafts. Oscar invited John Barnett (Whale Rider, The Naked Samoans) to co-write and it took 5 years to convince South Pacific Pictures to produce the film. This was a big risk for a film company – the first film with a Pacific Island cast which went on to become the only New Zealand film to make a profit!
Even after the film lost millions due to a stolen copy of the DVD hitting the black market before the film was even released.
Five years of work – twenty years of dreams. The success of Sione’s Wedding paved the way for more Pacific Island films. Look out for the cast in different roles in the future.
The film was cast in 2003 and even though it was written with the actors in mind they all still had to audition.
Oscar explained he had no idea he was going to play Albert – “If I had known I would have made him a lot cooler.” The actors didn’t have much influence on the tight script but they are all old friends in real life and Teuila certainly has had real occasions to roll her eyes at the antics of those boys.
They certainly put 1 English at ease straightaway with their relaxed approach and then some fine comedy.
“What was it like to have to pash your friend?” Oscar set the tone for some fun questions.
Teuila laughed and said that it probably worked out better because they are friends. She told us that that scene was filmed from 6am to 1 pm and she had to do it over and over again with all the crew there. In other scenes she might have to be upset all day and she achieved this by summoning her character using the Meisner acting technique:
“ Meisner students work on a series of progressively complex exercises to develop an ability to improvise, to access an emotional life, and finally to bring the spontaneity of improvisation and the richness of personal response to text.” (Wikipedia).
The question “Why is Albert still living at home at his age,” was met by a personal response from Oscar who told us that he wanted to cover a cross-section of the Island community. His own father died when he was young and he had a loving and close relationship with his mother. Yes, Oscar said, there are those sterotypical violent and strict parents, however Albert’s mum is a reflection of the difference- a doting mum wanting the best for him.
Sione’s wedding was filmed in one of the shortest times ever- just 6 weeks – due to the risk of making the first Pacific Island film. Cast had to be in makeup by 3am –ouch- and filmed from 6am to 6pm. The actors had no say over costume and makeup, even if their own makeup in real life was much better as Teuila pointed out. The actors got paid well but they had to make that last because no New Zealand actors get royalties. They were looked after while filming and Oscar said there was even someone who’s sole job was to come up and put a robe on him when he finished a scene. The houses used for locations were in Grey Lynn and when the people who lived there agreed filming could take place all their belongings were put into storage and they were accomodated in hotels while filming took place. Then everything was put back.
“How did you shoot the scenes when you were wasted?” was a burning question from the floor.
“We first thought ‘How hard can this be?” Ocsar laughed at the memories. “Somehow it was quite hard- hard to just relax. Shimpal and Robbie kept diasppearing into their trailer, and when they came back they were more and more ‘relaxed!’ The challenge is to try and pretend the camera’s not there, just to act normal.” They explained how the nightclub scenes were actually filmed without any misic- so the actor’s voices could be heard. Even the people talking in the background were just miming. To get the extras in the groove the music was played immediately before the take and then the actors just carried on in that rhythm.
Teuila said that being a TV presenter, on C4, is a lot easier than acting. “The most useful advice I’ve had is to talk to the camera as if you’re talking to your best friend, and the same goes for radio.” The theatre/ stage dynamic is different to film which is shot all out of sequence. So an actor might be crying all morning then in action scenes then back to being upset so this takes a lot of discipline.
“Did your character affect your real life?”
“Your mind knows that you’ve been acting but your body has still gone through all of that which is exhausting,” Teuila said.
Oscar told us actors need a genuine conection to make the scenes work- you have to go there. He said he felt as if he’d really gone out with Madeline by the end of the film.
“Does Derek act like that in real life?” was a concern.
“No way, he’s cool” said Oscar, although the actor who plays him did “grow up in the hood,” the hood being Te Atatu where he went to the same school as Oscar, years after him. The name ‘Duckrockers’ came from back in the day as well- Oscar saw an early breakdancing crew with that name walking down Queen Street and many years later put this name to use.
1 English was interested in the pain factor – yes it did hurt going over all those bumps in the van, he really was driving like that. The lady who was droped at the wedding was a stuntwoman, who fell onto mats. When Albert had to throw up, savoury soup stuff like baby food was even warmed up before being put in Oscar’s mouth just before the shoot. The other vomiting was from a keg, through a hose which ran up his trousers and out his shirt collar.
“Yeah, I did my own stunts,” Oscar grinned.
The illusions Stanley had were made by blocking off the shot and then duplicating the second girl standing in exactly the same position. Both Shimpal and Teuila loved filming the scene where Sefa proposes. Teuila told us she had never been proposed to before so she was ‘buzzing out!’
“Was there any time it looked like it was all going wrong?”
“The main thing was the four years waiting for approval,” was the surprising answer here. The after the director was appointed they had no control, this was like handing a baby over. There were some parts the actors wanted taken out, and other great scenes, especially between Sefa and Leilani, that never saw the light of day. Oscar didn’t like the store scene where Albert was hiding behind the jackets. “If you’re character’s a bit of a dick you just have to channel the dick inside,” he said. “We’re not exactly like the characters- we are more cool in real life,” Oscar emphasised.
“Any talk about another film?”
Our guests said they would love to work with the same actors, but different characters. They felt a sequel might ruin a film- maybe it’s best to leave it as it is? Oscar said they are working on a bro’Town movie at the moment.
Teuila and Oscar were taken all around the world to promote Sione’s Wedding. They saw things they thought they’d never see or do. However, on the whole acting is really hard work- you have to love it.
“Do people say bad things when you are out and about?” was an interesting question, perhaps because if you loved the film you wouldn’t imagine anyone being negative.
“People thinking they can comment is an interesting aspect of the job. They are generally good, but for every 10 good there is one bad, for example ‘your movie sucks and you can’t act!’ is a comment Oscar remembers. He described a day when he set out to Polyfest, a hot summer day when he puton sunglasses just like everybody else. “OK, what do I do?” Oscar described his thinking. “If I look, smile or wave people will say ‘ Oh he loves it.’ If I ignore them they will say ‘Who does he think he is?’ Meanwhile what actually happened was someone saying “Oh look at him he thinks he’s famous!”
1 English had no such worries and just genuinely had a great time with our celebrity guests. After the bell went out came the markers and books, t-shirts and even arms were autographed. “I’ll never wash again,” someone said. The 10G kids who went to Niu Sila also came and said hi and all had photos taken. Thank you Oscar and Teuila for an awesome and inspiring visit to Edgewater College!
