Celebrating 40 years of NZ film: The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

The World's Fastest Indian.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Screen brings us the stories behind some of our most notable local films.

Inspired by Kiwi legend Burt Munro — who took his home-engineered motorbike to America and won a land speed record — The World's Fastest Indian was director Roger Donaldson's first locally made film in two decades.

Released in 2005, it sold to 126 countries, becoming New Zealand's highest-grossing local film, until the 2010 arrival of Boy.

Here actor Antony Starr remembers the thrill of sharing the set with Sir Anthony Hopkins.

You can watch the trailer for The World's Fastest Indian here:

See more great New Zealand film moments here, in NZ On Screen's Film Commission Collection.