Actor Tia Maipi and director Tammy Davis. Photo / Getty Images
Actor Tia Maipi and director Tammy Davis. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand is known for its moody films. Dionne Christian talks to the stars of a local first, a movie about dance
In a Kingsland cafe, over coffee and cake, actor/writer/short-filmmaker and now feature-film director Tammy Davis is trying to persuade me he'd rather be a farmer.
"I was meant to be a farmer - you know, with chickens and a couple of lambs and maybe a cow or two."
Earlier, during a 45-minute interview about his feature film directorial debut, Born to Dance, Davis claims he taught world champion New Zealand hip-hop artist Parris Goebel to dance.
"Taught Parris everything she knows," he says with a straight face before, looking at Born to Dance's young star Tia-Taharoa Maipi and erupting into laughter.
Choreographed by Goebel and featuring some of the world's best hip-hop dancers, Born to Dance is New Zealand's first dance movie. It opens in cinemas on September 24, in time for the school holidays, and is bound to appeal to young New Zealanders who dream big.
It's a classic coming-of-age story, with a pulsing soundtrack and awesome dance scenes, about Tu, a young man caught between who he is, who he wants to be and what others expect of him. It also stars much-loved X-Factor judge, singer and actor Stan Walker and US star of the rebooted Fame movie and docu-drama The Dance Scene, Kherington Payne.
Given Davis' humour, it might be easy to get the impression he's not taking seriously the launch of his debut feature. That may be one side of his personality, but he'll often add a "but seriously" to the end of those jokes and launch into considered reflections about film-making in New Zealand, the importance of dreams and of being true to oneself and one's culture.
Tia Maipi in the movie Born To Dance. Photo / Supplied
A still from the movie Born To Dance. Photo / Supplied
Tammy Davis directing the movie Born To Dance. Photo / Supplied
In that, he possibly shares a fair bit with the character he's most famous for: Munter from Outrageous Fortune who didn't come across as the brightest bulb but often shone when a cool head, laid-back philosophy and wise words were needed. In the five years since Outrageous Fortune ended, Davis has gone about as far from the character as it's possible to go. He has written and directed two short films: 2011's Ebony, accepted into the Sundance and Berlin film festivals, and Sonny, My Older Brother, filmed in his hometown of Raetihi.
He has made a couple of dramas for Maori Television and appeared in small roles in a handful of New Zealand TV series and films.
The opportunity to direct Born to Dance was raised a couple of years ago but it took time to work through the planning, pre-production and funding processes.
Naturally, Davis wanted to make a feature film to build on his own skills but, more than that, he liked the story and commitment to taking universal themes and keeping them cosmopolitan but making them relatable to Kiwi kids.
"It's an important story because it's a universal story about dreams and self-belief and that if you have a goal, you can achieve it, especially if you don't let anything get in the way and find ways to work around the obstacles," he says.
"There will be obstacles; and people who appear to be getting in your way, but often they're not doing it to try to stop you but to make you step up and improve your chances of success by giving you an edge."
He doesn't give too much away about the challenges involved in film-making, but Davis admits bringing disparate elements together and keeping everyone focused on the story was testing at times.
"The hardest part was finding the balance between what we might want to do and what the story is really about. If you can cut through and tell a good story, you earn the audience's empathy. You need to be able to say something, otherwise no one gives a s***.
"It's also important to see ourselves on screen in a positive light. In New Zealand, we've got a bit of a reputation for making films about the dark side of life, the fringes of society. It's rare to see films which celebrate our lifestyle, to see kids being kids and doing well and achieving. We need to keep on making more about those types of characters and stories."
So what obstacles did he confront during filming? Would he do anything differently? "Ah, that's a hard question because everything happened the way it was meant to happen," he says. "You have to learn the lessons while you're there doing it and we're here now.
"The film is about to premiere and I take a lot of pride in that. It means as hard as it got, you've got to look at it from a positive viewpoint and move forward."
As he sips a hot chocolate, Tia Maipi is drinking all this in. It's been a sharp learning curve for the 19-year-old from Huntly who was studying for Year 13 exams when Born to Dance was filmed last year.
With his sister Taej and cousin Te Wharenui, Maipi started hip-hop after Michael Jackson died to pay tribute to the entertainment legend. In Born to Dance, Jackson's poster takes pride of place in Tu's bedroom, a nod to real-life inspiration.
At first, the trio copied Jackson's moves but decided to create original routines and moves. A year or so later, they joined the Palace Dance Studios in South Auckland to be trained by Goebel. In 2012, the boys went with her Royal Family crew to the Hip Hop International World Championships in Las Vegas where 2000 dancers from 43 countries competed. They returned with gold, as did Taej, by then a three-time competition veteran who danced with the Bubblegum crew.
Maipi says Goebel is one of his role models. "She goes hard out; she's a beast."
Born to Dance auditions were held at Palace Dance Studios and Maipi figured he had a good chance of being cast as a dancer.
"The auditions were hard out. It was a lot like in the film with people getting picked to dance and a handful of people being chosen to audition for a character. I thought, 'I don't really want to act', but it felt pretty good and the more I did, the more I enjoyed it.
"In a small way, my dad was a bit like Tu's father wanting him to concentrate more on 'real life', so that helped me relate to the character. So did coming from Huntly and dancing with kids, especially the South Auckland ones, who are trying to make a living from this."
Maipi was surprised at how long it took to film the dance scenes, which were put together in segments and without an audience to perform to. Most of all, he missed wearing a hat.
"I always dance wearing a hat and to be without it was a challenge for me. I felt naked without it. I kept reaching up to touch my head and getting into trouble for touching my hair. I guess the most important thing I've learned is not to hold back."
Davis says the actors needed to be able to dance because there wasn't the budget for body and dance doubles. He saw in Maipi an innocence and vulnerability - and determination - which matched lead character Tu. They were around the same age and stage in life and Maipi had an air of mystery, which also complemented Tu.
"The film is about a boy struggling to fulfil his dream and Tia was that kid. I knew if I found the kids that the story was about, we would be on to a winning process. It also helped because they already knew each other.
"We spent a lot of time talking about the story, the characters and their relationship to one another but most of the actors already knew one another so we didn't have to spend as much time manufacturing that dynamic."
Maipi hit it off with Walker and will dance on the singer's next tour. He says Payne fitted right in, too. Not long after she landed in New Zealand, cast and crew went to Maipi's school, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rakaumangamanga, for a powhiri.
Davis says it was a significant way to start the film and bring cast and crew together, physically and spiritually.
"It's about the spirit we carry, the wairoa. If that's not good, it's a waste of time coming to work so you want to get it right."
So what now? Davis slumps back in his seat and shakes his head.
"We only finished the post-production in July. Now we're doing the promotional stuff. It's been two years since the first meeting to talk about the project so now I'm writing a feature film script based on my first short film but writing's hard work, too. You have to be very disciplined to sit down and do it but this in the vein I want to continue in." So much for farming, then.
