Taika Waititi‘s New Zealand-set and produced Hunt for the Wilderpeople releases this week and we were lucky to be in attendance at the film’s Sydney premiere.
Alongside getting to see the film itself (look for our review later in the week), we were also treated to a short Q&A with director Taika Waititi and cast members Julian Dennison and Sam Niell.
Here’s what we learned:
“It was like The Revenant” #HuntforTheWilderpeople
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) May 23, 2016
Hunt for the Wilderpeople was filmed over five months during New Zealand’s winter. The crew joked about the conditions, calling it “Their Revenant“.
Julian’s most difficult scene involved a frozen river. Ended up being cut #HuntforTheWilderpeople
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) May 23, 2016
Julian’s personal pick for hardest scene to film was one that ended up on the editing room floor. The scene itself was pretty simple, with Ricky wading into a frozen river and remarking on how cold it was. However, it’s easy to imagine Dennison making you laugh with it.
“Ridiculous human rights laws” prevented Julian from doing his own stunts #HuntforTheWilderpeople
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) May 23, 2016
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is definitely a movie with its fair share of physical comedy. For better or worse, however, Julian had to use a stunt double for most of it.
Recreating the extinct bird that Ricky and Hector find was a fun process for Taika #HuntForTheWilderpeople
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) May 23, 2016
At one point in the film, Ricky and Hector encounter a rare New Zealand bird believed to have been extinct since the 20s. Taika described the process of recreating that bird – in both sound and look – to be a particularly fun process.
Birthday song scene in trailer had to be improvised because they couldn’t get the rights for “happy birthday” #HuntforTheWilderpeople
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) May 23, 2016
The hilarious birthday song that Bella Faulkner (Rima Te Wiata) sings in the trailer for the film is one of the standout funniest moments of the film. Surprisingly, the song itself was improvised – with the three actors sharing the credit.
Pig fight was hardest to shoot. People in a big suit that was hard to look at and edit. “WETA saved that” ~ Taika #HuntforTheWilderpeople
— The Iris | Film & TV (@TheIrisAU) May 23, 2016
The scene where Hector and Ricky fight off a massive wild pig was one of the hardest to film. The props and costume itself were just very grotesque (and unrealistic to look at) but they managed to edit around it.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is out this week.
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