Jemaine Clement (left) is working on a TV anthology series with Taika Waititi.
Jemaine Clement (left) is working on a TV anthology series with Taika Waititi.
Comic doesn’t share co-star Mackenzie’s sense of humour and he hates rugby
It's hard to pick between besties, and Jemaine Clement juggles close relationships with Bret Mackenzie, Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby, but doesn't mind exposing his preferences.
In an interview this week with US entertainment website AV Club, as part of a promotional tour for his vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, Clement revealed the differences with his colleagues.
"Me and Taika, we're more similar in sense of humour," he said.
"Bret and I, we don't like the same movies ... He would watch Sex and The City, whereas I could not sit through that. He loves Knocked Up and things about groups of friends having babies and stuff, whereas I look around at the audience in total confusion."
Clement says he has to "work on a subset" with McKenzie to find what they both find funny.
Making music, though, is easier and the pair share similar tastes. They are hitting the road later this year in another Flight of the Conchords tour.
As for Darby, who played Murray the manager in the HBO series, Clement feels he's spread himself too thin and copped criticism for chasing commercial dollars.
"[Rhys] is on too many ads. We'd get home and he'd be on a billboard and then you'd turn on TV and he'd be on the TV show," he said. "That is purely what's annoyed people, just him being around too much ... But I think in time, when those go away, he'll be remembered for his talents."
Clement won't sell out his principles. He was offered a lucrative job to direct a New Zealand television advertising campaign encouraging kids to play rugby, but turned it down because he doesn't like the game.
"I said: 'I hate rugby.' They said: 'It doesn't matter.' I'd do it if it was a campaign [that said] you don't have to play rugby."
He's working on a TV anthology series with Waititi for now, and a HBO comedy series called Divorce where he plays a Manhattan literature professor alongside Sarah-Jessica Parker. We trust McKenzie has enlightened him on his co-star's claim to fame.
Old hand back on Shorty St as young blood looks beyond
KJ Apa (right) is seen here with fellow Shortie St actor Colin Moy before meeting Fox bigwigs in Los Angeles.
He's come a long way from the bad-ass, wheelchair-bound drug dealer he played circa 1996. Now Joel Tobeck is returning to
, sans wheelchair, as a dead-beat dad. He is boomeranging back to the show 19 years later in a different persona. Will fans remember?
Tobeck, 43, will play Jimmy Isaac - the estranged father of Kane Jenkins (KJ Apa) - an ageing rock'n'roll star who has returned to make amends for years of neglect. He hits screens in a month.
Meanwhile Apa, a student at King's College, may be leaving the local soap. He's been holding Hollywood meetings this week, including with heavyweights from Fox Studios.
But a rep for the show, who wasn't aware he'd left the country, says the Kiwi heartthrob is still under contract with South Pacific Pictures - for now.
"I understand he has been in LA for a couple of days with his agent, but he's back on set next week. His agent took him over there for a few meetings to sound people out over future jobs," a spokeswoman said.
