KEY POINTS:
Rising star Rhys Darby - best known for his role as Murray the manager in Flight of the Conchords - is set to go supernova this summer with performances in two major international movies.
Darby will be walking the Hollywood red carpet next week at the premiere of Yes Man, in which he stars opposite Jim Carrey. The film is slated for release in New Zealand on January 1.
Darby also appears as a pirate radio DJ in The Boat That Rocked, written and directed by New Zealand-born British comedy legend Richard Curtis. He was also in fine company for that shoot, the cast included Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans and Kenneth Branagh. The film is due to be released next year.
Darby has just finished filming the second series of Conchords in New York and is performing his one-man stand-up show at Sky City on December 20-21.
He says he was "blown away" at working with Carrey but was even more amazed to be handed a plum role by Curtis, author of Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley and hit movies Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill.
"He was like a Dad figure," says Darby. "When I did the read-through with him we had this Kiwi connection."
Darby was especially proud to have landed three major roles without having to lose his New Zealand accent. "That hasn't been done before. I remember Temuera Morrison playing Jango Fett in Star Wars. It doesn't sound right."
Darby admits he and the Conchords, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, have been feeling the pressure to repeat the huge success of the first series.
