Upfront
Ian Mune
by Sarah Daniell
Ian Mune is an elder statesman of the New Zealand film industry. Born in 1941 in Auckland, the dramatist, scriptwriter, director and actor has been on the credits of countless classics, from Sleeping Dogs to Once Were Warriors. He decided to take up acting at 19, in an age where there was no local television or cinema. Now it’s almost impossible to think of New Zealand film without thinking of Mune. Last year he took his creative eye south to make a documentary about Roger Donaldson’s The World’s Fastest Indian, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins.
What was it like being reunited with your old pal Roger Donaldson, making the doco? It’s great. Fantastic. Roger’s absolutely at the top of his game and he’s making an amazing movie.
You sometimes come across as a bit of a curmudgeon on screen. Is Ian Mune a curmudgeon? Depends on what’s going on. Generally speaking, I’m not. It just looks as though my face is falling down in front of me.
Do you prefer to act or direct? I love doing both. I don’t like going for long periods without doing either.
American director Robert Altman once said, “To play it safe is not to play.” Does that ring true for you? Absolutely. If you’re not actually bumming out a few times, you’re not trying hard enough.
Sir Anthony Hopkins is acting royalty. What is he like? If the man was a Catholic, he’d probably be a saint by now.
Why do you say that? I’ve never seen anybody quite so focused and yet relaxed; so friendly and unassuming when they’re taking on a big role. And this is a huge role. Not only is he in every scene, but also he is in virtually every shot. He gets up every day works 12 hours, five or six days a week, depending on how it’s going and he just never loses his focus. He never seems to get tired and he’s so extraordinarily accessible.
So, he’s an ego-free zone? That’s a good term for it, actually, and I think it’s because he’s pretty much retired. And he’s taken this part because it’s totally different from anything else that he’s done. This is only my assumption, but I think he’s had a gutsful of the Hannibal Lecter thing and the way the studio system has turned itself into a great machine for churning out garbage.
What do you make of Invercargill? It’s as cold as a nun’s tit. It is ghastly.
Do you think you are given the credit you deserve as a film pioneer, an elder statesman of the industry? God knows. I have no idea. I’ve never really thought about it quite it that way. I’d like to be given a bit more in the way of budget so that I can make some more movies, but that will come, I guess. It’s difficult finding funding for a movie in New Zealand.
What are your thoughts on the New Zealand film industry? Because of the way our film industry evolved, we seem to have bred a certain kind of actor who waits till he or she gets on set and says to the director, “What do you want?”, rather than giving the director something to work with. It’s partly because when drama started in the 60s and 70s, directors came from documentary or studio backgrounds and they didn’t come from theatre. They mistrusted theatrical actors as being artificial, so those actors got bypassed and the directors were bringing people off the streets, which did produce a naturalistic kind of actor. Because of this, a lot of directors have no training or experience working with actors and consequently they tend to do what I call glove-puppet direction. You know, it’s as though he’s got a hand up your bum and telling you what to do. The actors have too readily accepted that role.
Can you think of a New Zealand actor that you do admire for being bold and independent? Yeah, what’s her name? The Mercy Peak actor. Sara Wiseman. She is a very impressive actor. She really comes in with something to offer.
Do you think there’s any truth to the assertion that New Zealand is becoming a Hollywood back-lot? It’s not so much the overseas funding that goes into New Zealand movies but the non-New Zealand movies that turn up here and collect a tax write-off – a gift actually – that is not available to New Zealand movies. They come here and they take up crew, which is good for crews, because they get work. But they use no actors, no writers and no directors. So the engine room – the thing that makes storytelling happen – is being left out of it. And I think that’s very dangerous. Also, not enough actors are getting decent parts. They bring over Australians and Yanks and Poms.
There’s an irony in what you’re saying, because there’s a well-known Pom in the film that you’re making a doco about. There is one, yes, but without him there wouldn’t have been a film. His commitment to the film meant there was a budget. It’s also hard to think of a New Zealand actor of a similar age who would’ve been appropriate.
What about you? They wouldn’t have been able to raise the money if I was in it.
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