| In
a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea,
the Whale Rider. In every generation for more than 1000 years, a male
heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title.
The
time is now. The Chief's eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins -
a boy and a girl. But the boy and his mother die in childbirth.
The surviving girl is named Pai.
Grief-stricken,
her father leaves her to be raised by her grandparents. Koro, her
grandfather who is the Chief, refuses to acknowledge Pai as the
inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of no use to him. But
her grandmother, Flowers, sees more than a broken line, she sees
a child in desperate need of love.
And
Koro learns to love the child. When Pai's father, Porourangi, now
a feted international artist, returns home after twelve years, Koro
hopes everything is resolved and Porourangi will to accept destiny
and become his successor.
But
Porourangi has no intention of becoming Chief. He has moved away
from his people both physically and emotionally. After a bitter
argument with Koro he leaves, suggesting to Pai that she come with
him. She starts the journey but quickly returns, claiming her grandfather
needs her.
Koro
is blinded by prejudice and even Flowers cannot convince him that
Pai is the natural heir. The old Chief is convinced that the tribe's
misfortunes began at Pai's birth and calls for his people to bring
their 12-year-old boys to him for training.
He is certain that through a gruelling process of teaching the ancient
chants, tribal lore and warrior techniques, the future leader of
their tribe will be revealed to him.
Meanwhile,
deep within the ocean, a massive herd of whales is responding, drawn
towards Pai and their twin destinies.
When
the whales become stranded on the beach, Koro is sure this signals
an apocalyptic end to his tribe. Until one person prepares to make
the ultimate sacrifice to save the people.
Keisha
Castle-Hughes
PAI
"I was just speechless, I didn't know what to say," Keisha
Castle-Hughes recalls of the moment she discovered she'd got the
role of Pai. "About two hours later I was running around the
hotel just screaming. I was so overwhelmed!"
Despite
no previous acting experience, Keisha was chosen from thousands
of girls in an extensive school-wide search. She had always dreamt
of becoming an actor. WHALE RIDER is Keisha's first role.
Eleven
years old at the time of filming, Keisha had assistance from director
Niki Caro and tutor/chaperone Stephanie Wilkin. "Stef and Niki
showed me how to find my feelings and how to talk properly. Then
after a couple of weeks I just fell into the character. I didn't
need to look back on anything because I could feel the character
so much."
She
describes Pai as "very brave. Her life has been pretty sad
for the past 11 years because although she's the first-born she's
a girl and the tradition required a boy. This makes Koro, her grandfather,
sad, but she loves him no matter how much he dislikes her, she loves
him. And she'll do anything to make him happy."
"Keisha
has an amazing ability to focus," says director Niki Caro.
"Her depth was immediately apparent. I rehearse as much as
I can with actors and very intensively in pre-production. Keisha
did some amazing work in that rehearsal period and has built and
built on that. She's amazing."
"Keisha's
performance never fails to move," agrees Producer Tim Sanders.
"She plays the role with an emotional sincerity that is extremely
rare in one so young. She has a natural talent and an absolute ability
to wring emotion from her scenes and a true commitment to the role.
"
"I
think Keisha is a star, she's got a great future," adds Producer
John Barnett. "For somebody who's never acted before, the maturity
and the emotion that she brings to this is remarkable - you really
feel she's inside the skin of Pai."
"I've
always wanted to be an actor," Keisha admits. "But I think
recently I changed my decision. I thought 'I can't be an actor,
I can't'. Then this film came up and it was like someone saying
to me, 'You can, don't give up'. "
CAST
AND CREW
Rawiri
Paratene
KORO
"I don't believe I've wanted a role as much as I wanted this
one, I just wanted to stamp my name on it," admits Rawiri Paratene
of his role as Koro in WHALE RIDER. "It's a dream role for
an actor."
Paratene
has balanced both comic and serious roles throughout his career.
He was previously seen in the role of Mulla in the feature film
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, the sequel to Once Were Warriors.
Additional feature film credits include Rapa Nui, for Producer Kevin
Costner.
He
has also appeared in a wide variety of television productions in
New Zealand, receiving a New Zealand Film and Television Best Actor
award in 1996.
He
has also been very active in theatre, as a director for numerous
theatre productions; as resident writer, actor, and artistic director.
Paratene also taught at Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School.
"The
role of Koro is really a re-working of King Lear - a great male
role," says director, Niki Caro.
"Koro
comes from a long line of first-born male children," explains
Paratene. "But he was born in an amazing time, a very difficult
time to remain true to the teachings and the gifts of the ancestors,"
Paratene explains.
"I
would describe him as one of the most honest characters I'll ever
get to play. He is absolutely honest to his tikanga - to his understanding
of Maori culture and customs. He is absolutely honest to the teachings
of his ancestors - his father and his grandfather and to the male
lineage that he is such a strong part of. But with that honesty
comes a stubbornness and a pride and that's what trips him up. He's
blind to the challenges that are there in front of him and he's
blind to the answers. He cannot comprehend that this girl is the
next in line. He won't accept that because it's never how it's been."
"I
guess the greatest model for me has been my grandfather who's now
deceased," Paratene explains. "He was an honest man, but
he was a hard man and he was very much a rangatira [chief].
Vicky
Haughton
FLOWERS
"It's definitely an international story," says Vicky Haughton
of WHALE RIDER. "Although it has Maori content, it could be
set in almost any country in the world. I'm certainly sure that
it will be understood throughout the world and hopefully it might
open a few eyes, although it's strange to think this attitude towards
women still exists today."
Haughton
was chosen for the role of Nanny Flowers only two weeks before shooting
began. She consequently had little time to prepare, although her
role as Hira Hita in her previous feature film Her Majesty (for
which she was nominated as Best Actress at the 2001 Nokia New Zealand
Film Awards) also required her to act a lot older than her years.
"I
had to watch my movements to make sure they weren't too fast, or
too slow," she explains. "I didn't develop a stoop or
a walk, but once the wig, the make-up and the costumes were on,
it really developed from there. Then, when I got to Whangara I'd
just sit watching the women in the community, talking and laughing
and soaking up the atmosphere. Even though some of them were old
in years, they still had great poise and vibrancy, so Nanny Flowers
is still fit and agile for a grandmother."
Haughton
describes her character as "strong, wise and very tolerant.
She needs her strength and patience to put up with Koro because
of his stubbornness! He refuses to see what's right in front of
him - the leadership qualities in Pai. I think Flowers can see it
all along, but she can't make Koro see it. However, she is able
to instil and reinforce confidence in Pai to keep her going."
In
addition to her role in Her Majesty, Haughton also starred with
Cliff Curtis in South Pacific Pictures' feature film Jubilee .
A trained
dancer, actor and singer, Haughton is familiar to New Zealand audiences
for her extensive theatre credits. She has also appeared in a variety
of television dramas such as Hercules and Xena for Pacific Renaissance;
and Deep Water Haven; Marlin Bay; Raider of the South Seas for South
Pacific Pictures.
Cliff
Curtis
POROURANGI
"It's a privilege to be part of the evolution of story-telling
in our country," explains Cliff Curtis of his role in WHALE
RIDER. "The first film I ever worked on was The Piano and in
that the Maori were the piano carriers - a very exotic backdrop
to the story.
"The
next major film I was involved with was Once Were Warriors in which
Maori were up front, but as a modern society of people who had lost
their way. The traditional aspects of who we are as a people were
in the background. The beauty of this film is that it depicts all
of our heritage. It shows that it's alive and well in our hearts,
our bodies and our minds."
Curtis
is one of New Zealand's most successful acting talents. Most recently
he appeared in Training Day with Denzel Washington, Collateral Damage
with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and The Majestic with Jim Carrey. He
also played Pablo Escobar in Blow with Johnny Depp and opposite
George Clooney in Three Kings. Curtis also appeared with Nicolas
Cage in Bringing Out The Dead, directed by Martin Scorsese; Al Pacino
and Christopher Plummer in The Insider and Harrison Ford and Anne
Heche in 6 Days, 7 Nights.
He
first came to the New Zealand public's attention as Uncle Bully
in Once Were Warriors for director Lee Tamahori. He also starred
in South Pacific Pictures' feature film Jubilee, which earned him
a New Zealand Best Actor Award.
On
seeing Niki Caro's first film, Memory and Desire, Curtis phoned
her the same day. "I told her I wanted to work with her at
some stage. So when she later told me she was making WHALE RIDER,
I was very interested."
"Porourangi
has been raised with a huge amount of expectations from his father
but when he loses the love of his life and his first born son he
takes off and doesn't come back for 11 years. His father wants someone
who can keep the traditional values as exact as possible. But Porourangi
has decided that he's going to use who he is as a Maori in a way
that he sees fit. So there's a lot of conflict there."
"Porourangi
has a beautiful relationship with his daughter," Curtis continues.
"But at the same time, his daughter reminds him of his incredible
loss - of his wife and his son. He wants to protect Pai and be her
father, but he's also had to separate himself from home. It's quite
heartbreaking." |
