The Interview
James Napier Robertson
by Jerram Watts
Five years ago, filmmaker James Napier Robertson – then 22 – told the Listener, “An overnight success takes a decade. I’m prepared to wait.” In 2004, he had just The Tribe and Power Rangers on his CV. Now, he’s looking forward to the premiere of his first feature-length film, which he wrote, directed and acted in. He worked for two years unpaid, but film and theatre luminaries Ian Mune, Ilona Rodgers and (uncle) Marshall Napier were among those who put their faith in I’m Not Harry Jenson.
Where did the inspiration for the film come from? I was reading a lot of Agatha Christie that my mum got me into. I’m also a big Alfred Hitchcock fan. I think it’s almost a prerequisite as a young filmmaker; you’ve got to go through your Hitchcock phase. The character [in I’m Not Harry Jenson] came from a book called The Ice Man, about Richard Kuklinski, a prolific serial killer, but the fascinating thing was not him, it was more the guy who was writing the book. I remember reading it and feeling the tone change to become more and more “Kuklinski is the hero”. It got me thinking. If you write about something, you become quite immersed in that world and you become that person. What if you really did?
Were there nerves as a first-time director on set? I remember at the beginning, once we’d cast, looking at it and going, “Actually, the majority of the cast members we’ve got have done more directing than I have.” But they were wonderful. There was probably a brief moment when I went, “Christ, I’d better be on top of things”, but I think it forces you to step up even more. So I just made sure I knew what I was doing.
Any major problems? [laughing] Every day. We had a couple of days when we were rained out, one day we were flooded … in the Waitakere Ranges. We had to abandon a day of filming because we couldn’t cross a river, so we had to get everyone, soaking wet, to trek 45 minutes to an hour up a hill with all our gear, slipping over in the mud. Everything we shot was useless because the rain was so heavy that if we shot on another day the continuity wouldn’t match. I was pretty despondent, but then some of the lighting guys came over and patted me on the back, like “Sweet as, bro, don’t worry”, so everyone’s spirits were pretty good. One of the funny ones was with an actress in the scene she’s not alive, someone suddenly screamed out that she had pneumonia, because she was really sick, shivering in the rain and cold and, of course, she has this death make-up on, so she looks really bad. So now I’m thinking as well, “My God! I’ve killed one of the actresses!”
Did you feel squeezed with an 18-day filming period and $175,000 budget? Yeah. I had a few sleepless nights, but you are running on adrenaline. At one point I was trying to quit smoking during filming, so I was eating up to eight Peanut Slabs a day instead of smoking.
Are you a writer or a director? To be honest, I would have to say both. Writing is less stressful, that’s for sure. When you are writing, you’re just there creating this world, there are no limitations, anything could happen. Directing is much more in the eye of the storm. I had this dream of trying to make a film by 25. That was a goal of mine; because Orson Welles made Citizen Kane by 25, I thought I’d better try to make something at 25. I was writing like mad.
Should local young talent start in the New Zealand industry? Yeah, without a shadow of a doubt. I would say to young actors: if you just move over there and haven’t done much, you are at the bottom of the pile and there are so many people there. You will get treated like crap and become jaded. It’s a much wiser thing to build your résumé and experience in your own country, and when the time is right, take that, go overseas and push off from there.
What’s the dream? I would say my big goal would be to keep making films, to make as many films as I can, really, but to improve with each one and enjoy making them.
