Sione’s Wedding stars (from left) Iaheto Ah Hi, Shimpal Lelisi, Oscar Kightley and Robbie Magasiva.
The talents behind bro'Town and New Zealand's best hip-hop videos start shooting their first feature film this week with the backing of South Pacific Pictures, the producers of Whale Rider.
The cameras start rolling in Grey Lynn on Tuesday on Sione's Wedding, a "romantic comedy for guys".
The screenplay about
four Polynesian blokes who can't quite grow up is by Oscar Kightley (bro'Town, Naked Samoans) and veteran television and stage scriptwriter, and Canvas columnist James Griffin.
It stars Kightley in a cast dominated by faces from the bro'Town/Naked Samoans crew including Shimpal Lelisi, Robbie Magasiva, Iaheto Ah Hi and Dave Fane. Magasiva's Shortland Street actor brother Pua stars as the titular Sione, and the main female roles are taken by C4 presenter Teuila Blakely and Madeline Sami.
The film is the first feature by Chris Graham, who came to attention with his video clips for Scribe, Dei Hamo, King Kapisi and Tha Feelstyle, and featured on the cover of TimeOut last year.
Says Graham: "This week I've just finished the last of rehearsals, where the extended core cast have had us all laughing out loud, by improvising even further on what already was already a hilarious script with solid momentum. People have asked me 'what's the Hollywood pitch?'
"Sione's Wedding isSwingers meets broTown meets Monsoon Wedding."
Says Griffin: "Sione's Wedding is about four guys who never quite got the hang of growing up and how they function as a unit to cause chaos. It's a contemporary, urban story set in the Polynesian world but it's a story that every culture can relate to because it's a kind of romantic comedy for guys."
Kightley: "I love that we're making a film about people I know and things I know and understand. We're making a New Zealand movie that is true and funny and I think that the Pacific Island community's going to love it and so is everyone else."
