Boy, a girl, and one proud family

The silver-screen debut of Rickylee Russell-Waipuka as the girl in Kiwi blockbuster Boy brought tears to the eyes of her Masterton grandmother.
''Seeing her in the movie was awesome. But reading her name at the end brought tears to my eyes. I was just so proud,'' Bev Waipuka said.
Mrs Waipuka, with her 14-year-old granddaughter's father Ritchie and other Masterton family members, saw the film in March at a hometown premiere at Waihau Bay in eastern Bay of Plenty where the comedy drama was largely shot. It is also the home district of past Oscar nominee and Boy writer, director and co-star Taika Waititi. ''We can't wait for it to come to Masterton. The rest of the family will get a chance to see Rickylee as well. But I hope there are no tears for me next time around,'' Mrs Waipuka said.
Rickylee's maternal grandmother Jean Russell also made a trip from her Masterton home to see the cast and crew premiere of the film in Auckland, where she shared ''heaps of hugs'' with Rickylee and was ''extremely proud'' of her granddaughter's cinema debut.
Boy is set in a rural Maori community in 1984 and Waititi sought child actors who either grew up there or shared an affinity with the district.
It was discovered during the premiere that Rickylee, who plays the main character's love interest, can trace her family lineage back to a Waihau Bay marae, Mrs Waipuka said.
''It made everything even more right, even more awesome,'' she said.
Rickylee, of Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Kahungunu, said from her Auckland home the film had already created autograph hunters among her classmates at Auckland Girls' Grammar School and sparked spontaneous moondances among teenage boys ''who recognise me from the film'' imitating a scene from Boy.
''Just walking down the street, kids are yelling out, 'Hey, Chardonnay' (her character's name) _ it's something I really didn't expect,'' she said.''
Mum Karen, a former Maori language teacher at East School in Masterton, said Rickylee spent most of her life in Wairarapa before the pair left when her daughter was aged about 6.
During that time, Rickylee had also attended three kohanga reo in the town and learned dance at two Masterton studios.
After returning to New Zealand from a brief stay in North America, Ms Russell said, Rickylee was signed to an entertainment manager.
''People would stop me in the street to say how beautiful Rickylee was and how I should get an agent. I eventually took their advice,'' Ms Russell said.
Rickylee said she enjoyed sport, kapa haka and her friends when not in the spotlight and had under her belt numerous earlier appearances in national sales catalogues and television advertisements.
Comparisons have been already made between her and Kiwi star Keisha Castle-Hughes, which she dismissed with a giggle when told about. Rickylee, who is to also feature in Stolen, a television movie currently being shot, is level-headed about acting as a career. ''It would be great to have anywhere near the same success as Keisha but it's way too early for me to even think about anything like that.''
And besides, there was still school work to focus on as well, she said, which while working on Boy was completed with tests faxed and ''passed, luckily'' _ all of them''.
''Acting would be an exciting career but there's really too much time between jobs, so you need something in the wings,'' she said.
''I'm interested in make-up and costumes, so that would be okay if I stay in the industry but for now I'll just wait and see how things go.''
Boy is number one at the New Zealand box office for a fifth consecutive week and has been seen by more than 500,000 people. The comedy drama has recorded the fifth-largest box office takings of any New Zealand feature released in this country _ grossing more than $5.2million. The film is playing at the Circus Cinema in Martinborough.