Five years ago the Duckrockers thought they had it figured out. They found girlfriends to take to Sione’s wedding. The future was looking bright. But things haven’t quite gone as the boys had planned. Sione’s co-writer and actor Oscar Kightley, and his on-screen wife Madeleine Sami, speak to QIANE CORFIELDMATATA about the follow up to one of the country’s most successful films.
“I was surprised by the degree to which the film just fell into people’s hearts,” says Oscar Kightley. “Even years later, I’m meeting people who say they go home every night and watch it after work to cheer themselves up. And I meet other people who say their kids quote it to them all the time, so I’m thrilled that people have taken to it to that extent.”
In 2006 Sione’s Wedding became New Zealand’s highest grossing movie and it had the biggest opening weekend of any other film. Samoan-born Oscar, whose career spans across acting, writing, sports presenting,
television, radio and even journalism, co-wrote the hit and starred as the dorky duckrocker, Albert. The idea for the film came after producer John Barnett (Whale Rider, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted) saw the Naked Samoans, which Oscar was a part of, on stage, and got inspired to create something more.
“John saw our show in the early 2000s and asked James Griffin to come up with a story that could be a vehicle for the Nakeds. I got invited to write it with him and we grew it from there.”
The film helped propel Polynesian storytelling into the mainstream and it became a nationwide (and Poly-national) hit. Now, five years later, the team are hoping to do it all again.
“After the first movie there were a couple of ideas for a sequel floating around with the same ensemble cast in mind, but those ideas didn’t really fly. Time drifted and in 2010 we decided that now was the time. James and I sat down in August of that year and wrote the first draft. We spent a lot of time thinking about all the possibilities for these characters.
Hopefully people will see it and see how they’ve changed, just the way normal things change. The boys have got older, but not necessarily much wiser.”
Q Some say sequels are never as good as the original movies. Is Sione’s 2 going to fall victim to that trend?
A. Well Godfather 2 was just as good as the first. Police Academy was as good. (laughs) So there are examples where it’s been done and done well. It is risky. There is no better way to ruin the first film than to make a stink sequel. We knew there was a high expectation already set, and for those that liked the first film, we didn’t want them to go “oh, stink, I wish I just had the first movie in my head”.
I know some people loved it so much. But the cast and crew have watched it and we really liked it. It worked on us. We’ve been working on this film for the audience so they’re the important ones.
It’s their opinion that counts. We are content with the work we have done. The test is on January 19. We’ll be all nerves until that day!
Q What was it like both co-writing the film and starring in it?
A With the first film we all had to audition for our parts. Nothing was final until it was cast. If I knew I was playing Albert before I got the role, I would have made him less of a dick. With this second film, now that I’ve
played this character, I’ve made him a bit more of a dick. (laughs) But hopefully he’s still likeable.
Q Tell us a bit about Albert in this sequel.
A It’s five years later. He’s married now. Last time he didn’t even know Tania liked him. Everybody is in a different place. You think about your own life five years ago. It was so different then. He’s discovered the fact that actually having the partner isn’t the thing, there’s all that complicated stuff after it which can get in the way of things running smoothly.
So, when we catch up with him, Albert is in a place where he thinks he should have it all sussed out, but he can’t understand why he’s not happy. He gets to wear a tie to work, he’s middle management, he’s married to the woman he loves but, despite everything, he’s unfulfilled. And the trouble is, he doesn’t know why he’s unfulfilled and it’s making him very grumpy and frustrated. He’s older, I’m not sure he’s wiser, but hopefully people see this film and they recognise people in the stories. If they do, it means we’ve done an ok job.
Q Was it easy to slip back into character?
A It was weird. It didn’t take long, probably only a day before we all clicked back into it. Once we put the costumes on and saw all the cast again, it was just natural. It was enjoyable meeting those characters again.
Q Is Derek back?
A Yes, he is back. You’ve gotta have Derek!
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