Spy: Taika talks Disney project

Film director Taika Waititi. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Spy caught up with Oscar-nominated film-maker Taika Waititi after news this week his script for the new Disney film Moana has been given the green light.

"I was pretty nervous about Disney touching Polynesia with its big 'Merickern' hands, so thought the best chance we've got is to at least have one person from the Pacific involved," he told us.

Moana is Disney's first animated Polynesian movie and is set to hit screens late next year. It follows Moana's journey around the Pacific to find a fabled island, and will also feature a character named Maui.

Waititi's cynicism towards Hollywood is softening. "We'll still have to wait and see, but I've seen some early stuff and it looks ka pai."

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Another Kiwi embracing Disney panto-style is Xena star Lucy Lawless. The LA-based Pasadena Playhouse has just announced the cast for its December Panto at the Playhouse and Lawless will be wicked fairy godmother Carabosse in the Sleeping Beauty And Her Winter Knight production.

Meanwhile, it seems Keisha Castle-Hughes is set to give True Blood star Anna Paquin a run for her money in the horror stakes with her role in US zombie show The Walking Dead.

The 24-year-old actress is also filming her role as Obera Sand in hit series Game of Thrones and she is enjoying her purple patch, telling Spy: "It is an awesome thing as an actor to be working, and to be working on two of my favourite shows this year has been a real blessing. It has taken a lot of hard work and trust in the people around me to help me. I am very content now with the work I am doing."