Jason and Peter are the main characters in Nick Afoa's new film: Mysterious Ways. Photo / Supplied
Jason and Peter are the main characters in Nick Afoa's new film: Mysterious Ways. Photo / Supplied
Samoan-Kiwi actor Nick Afoa admits taking a moment to think about taking a lead role in a new film telling the story of a gay vicar and his Pacific Island boyfriend.
“My first thoughts were, ‘Oh wow... okay. This possibly could be my film debut and what a story to tell’.
“But I automatically started to think about what it would mean to play the role because it was a decision I couldn’t just take lightly. There were a lot of factors that came into play.”
Some of those factors include many of the issues the film delves into: relationships - in particular, an inter-racial gay relationship - being Pacific, identity, and faith.
Afoa says there were many angles in the Mysterious Ways story that drew voices from different communities he was involved with and grew up knowing as a Pasifika person, as a Christian, and as someone who had walked his own life journey.
“There were all of these things that came up and they kind of added to the weight of the decision. It wasn’t a ‘oh this isn’t for me’. It was a ‘damn, this is a responsibility’ - but I know I can do it.”
Nick Afoa as Jason (left) and Richard Short as Peter in new film Mysterious Ways. Photo / Raymond Sagapolutele
The 37-year-old grew up in South Auckland - proudly declaring “Magele 275″ - and is half-Croatian from his mother’s side and Samoan on his father’s side of the aiga.
His father was also a pastor for some time and the family attended a church on Buckland Rd, Māngere.
Afoa is the eldest of five siblings and is the only son. He grew up playing rugby and a great singing voice would later put him out on the field another way - as the singer of national anthems at a number of All Blacks and Manu Samoa matches.
He is now based in Australia with his wife and 15-month-old daughter. He also has an 18-year-old son.
In his first big screen role, Afoa plays a young Samoan man named Jason, who is in a relationship with an Anglican vicar named Peter. The film follows the couple as they face public controversy and a media storm as they fight to get married in a church.
Asked what it was like to play a gay man, he says after reading the script and putting himself in the shoes of his character, it became very simple.
“It was just like: ‘Oh, this guy’s in love. He’s found love and that’s what he wants. He just wants to live his life with this other person who just happens to be a man’.
Amanda Kunene as Nala and Samoan-Kiwi actor Nick Afoa as Simba in the international musical The Lion King. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“When I looked at it through that lens, it just became really simple and the things that I initially thought might be tough - which were the intimate, physical scenes - they were easy,” he laughed.
“I’d built them up in my head so much that when it came to film them, I was like: ‘Oh, I’m worrying so much about the kiss, when there’s a whole other scene leading up to it’. The kiss just happens and it’s all good - it’s TV.”
Another topic that is outlined in the film is the role of fa’afafine - transgender women - in families and communities and some of the issues they face.
Those issues of identity, discrimination, and acceptance come to light in the beautiful performance given by young actor Joe Malu Folau, who plays Jason’s nephew Billy, who identifies as a fa’afafine.
Afoa acknowledged how fa’afafine are widely accepted in Pacific communities - but not necessarily being gay.
“[There’s a scene where] Billy is flaunting what he wants to wear to the wedding and Jason is having a moment with his aunty, saying: ‘Why don’t I just wear a dress? Maybe people will accept me’.
Samoan-Kiwi actor Nick Afoa plays Jason, a gay man, on debut film Mysterious Ways. Photo / Raymond Sagapolutele
“Those are very valid questions within our community because people talk about those things. How come you see more fa’afafine in the islands than you do actually gay people coming out?
“We live in a time now where the gender ideology is huge. And we can get caught up in the Western perspectives of gender ideology when we’ve had our very own for centuries.”
Film producer Ngaire Fuata, known to New Zealand’s Pacific community for her work on long-time running current affairs programme Tagata Pasifika, said she knew the film would not sit well with some in the community.
“I went: ‘Am I brave enough to challenge this? But I just went: ‘It’s bigger than that’. I know I had to believe in the story to be able to go: ‘I stand by this’.
“I know that some people would just prefer not to engage with it and I have to respect that. But if we can change some people’s attitudes and help a bit more understanding around that, then it’s a good thing.”
Afoa respects that some in the Samoan and wider Pasifika community will not even watch the film trailer, given religious and conservative views surrounding gay relationships and marriage, faith and potential controversies surrounding the church.
Afoa, who is staunchly Christian, says those are the people who probably need to see the film the most.
“We live by our faith and we live by our doctrines. I understand if people might wonder why I’m doing it. But I am an actor and I am called to tell stories for a reason.”
The actor says he prayed a lot during filming.
“It’s letting go and letting God do the rest of the work that I can’t do. I’m just there playing this character and I just have to pray that it reaches the eyes that it needs to reach and the ears that need to hear it.
