Eagle Vs Shark

NYPost has an interview with the three amigos

Brigid Brown interviewed Loren, Taika and Jemaine for Hollywood.com but I found this on the NYPost so..yeah.. hmm.. well, it’s a good interview, you can read it below or at the NYPost.

Luckily, Love Is Blind: Q&A with ‘Eagle vs Shark’ Director and Leads

Brigid Brown
Special to Hollywood.com

Taking viewers into an alternate world that is simultaneously quirky and emotional, Eagle vs Shark is a tribute to the nerd in all of us! The ‘Kiwi’ tale about awkward love follows Jarrod, the odd man out, on his mission to wreak havoc on his childhood bullies. Lily, his perfect match being the odd girl out, joins him in his exploits but her mission may be more impossible…she hopes to tame the “dangerous” Jarrod and make him her very own boyfriend.

Hollywood.com sat down to chat with Academy Award nominated director Taika Waititi–recently named one of “Ten Directors to Watch” in Variety–alongside lead actress Loren Horsley and her onscreen leading man, Jemaine Clement. The trio who walked in together giggling, and almost tripping over each other in delight–or perhaps dismay?–settled down into “interview mode” with some visible discomfort, before ‘opening up’ to questions. All are successful in their own right in native New Zealand…but newcomers to mainstream Hollywood.

Hollywood.com: What was the most difficult part of making the film?

Taika Waititi: The whole production was just a bunch of friends making a film…I think actually it [the challenge] was just the time element…

Jemaine Celment: I had to have a mullet for a month!

Loren Horsley: I had to go to the osteopath for about six months afterwards cause my posture was soooo stuck from being so slouched over for so long.

HW: How did attending the Sundance Lab help you develop the project?

TW: I read the first draft of the script two or three weeks before the lab started, so it was really fast. I think the chance of getting into the lab actually motivated me to finish this script. So I wrote it, and sent it in–and they said “yes.” It was great ’cause Loren was already attached to the film, so she came along as the actor. The Lab was made up of really smart people, who know a lot about film, giving advice and helping out. The only reason they’re there is to help you find the right way to tell the story. The tone of the film probably would’ve been different…that was the main thing we got out of the lab.

HW: Did working at such a fast pace effect the quality of the final cut?

TW: Originally I thought it’d be great to make a film really fast and just jump in, shoot it, edit it–and then it’d be out like that. I realized I cared more about the film when I was editing it, and wanted to take more time. We would have improvised a lot more, but as a result of not having enough time it was better to stick to the script.

HW: Was there a single inspiration for the film…did the characters come first?

TW: Well yeah, one character, Loren’s character ‘Lily’ came first. She was the reason for making the film. I kind of just wanted to make a film with Loren and she wanted to play a different kind of female protagonist. Not someone who is confident and bubbly and real-l-l-l-y good looking.

LH: Yeah, I always-s-s-s play those roles.

TW: That’s what she’s known for.

LH: Yeah [ironic], the Julia Roberts of New Zealand.

TW: Then the actual story built around that character.

HW: And Jarrod’s character develop into such a… character!

TW: They were pretty clear from the beginning. Jarrod’s character was always pretty extreme in the script. [Snickers throughout the room.] The most discussion we had was that character is so extreme, but that you’re trying to understand him because he does have a certain air about him. You either like him, or you absolutely hate him! But, he is the character in all the other romantic comedies who gets left for Ben Affleck. It’s not often that those characters get represented, or get the chance to be redeemed–or the viewer gets a chance to know him. That’s what I really like about the character.

HW: Why did you decide that this was THE guy for Lily?

TW: Conflict. It makes it a little more interesting then just getting [it] on.

JC: He’s good looking!!

TW: He needed to be incredibl-l-l-ly good looking. And athletic.

HW: Are a lot of these things based on people or events in your life?

TW: Often you feel like you are laughing at the characters, but sometimes it feels there’s only a little bit of content for them; however, I really feel that there’s more of an emotional connection here for people. It’s not about the fact that “they’re weird characters and let’s put them in a movie and make it a weird movie about eccentric people.” I think they are extreme versions of ourselves, and we’re actually all like these characters. They’re presented to us in this off-beat comedy.

HW: Were there any local New Zealanders who appeared in the film?

LH: The little girl who plays Jarrod’s daughter. The casting agent who was working with us was walking past the school to look at a few kids who teachers had chosen. The little girl was playing alone on the school playground all by herself. And, she was the most amaz-z-z-ing little girl!!

HW: Yeah, who took care of that little girl in the film? She was like a pet almost!

TW: That’s a great way to put it!

JC: In New Zealand, from my background anyway, there are a lot of families who have cousin’s kids living in the same house. A lot of times when I was growing up I just had no idea whose parents were whose?

TW: Or [even] yours?!

JC: I think people think it’s a crazy mixed up family. But when I read it, the first thing I liked about it was that there’s a realistic family. If you come from small town New Zealand, like I did, there’s just a whole bunch of people flowing in and out of the house all the time.

HW: Loren, your character is so overlooked by everyone but she never complains and has so much self worth.

LH: I just wanted to see something different from one of the characters that you normally see. And you’re right, she needed to have a vulnerable openness.

TW: Also, it was important to us that when she develops into a beauty that it’s internal. She doesn’t have a makeover like “take off her glasses and shake her hair and then suddenly elegant and gorgeous.”

HW: I understand you acted as “Lily” on the streets of Utah during the Sundance Film Festival?

LH: I had a week before Sundance by myself in Salt Lake City. I didn’t know anybody, and there’s not a lot to do if you don’t know anyone. I went on the streets with her. It was very interesting and reinforced some of the ideas I had that if you lack confidence, the world does tend to treat you in a particular way in which you become invisible.

HW: How do you feel about the comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite?

TW: I don’t mind. It’s always going to be compared to that because it was the last “nerd” film to come out–and it did really well. That’s fine. It could be compared to worse things.

HW: Does your character want her love interest, Jarrod, to change his ways?

LH: Well, actually I never thought of it like that. I think she loved him and she wanted him to love her. Then it became about something else: a relationship with herself. Toward the end he moved towards her and that was good, but if he hadn’t she would’ve walked into the world.

TW: I think the initial attraction is the element of danger that he [Jarrod] represents. He brings adventure into a pretty mild kind of lifestyle.

JC: Killing a man!

LH: I think subconsciously she recognizes they’re a similar animal in a way

TW: For everyone else who is “normal” we can all just sort of say, “Can’t you see he’s a loser.” But I think she’s attracted to the fact that he has a mission and is just so intense…[you] can’t help the people you love!

HW: Any chance we’ll see these characters in a sequel?

TW: Yeah, Jemaine wants to do a sequel, Eagle Marries Shark. I want to do a third installment, Eagle Murders Shark.

HW: So what’s next?!

TW: Writing a feature based on the Academy Award nominated short film, Two Cars One Night.

LH: Working with a film collective in New Zealand.

JC: Co-starring with comedian, Bret McKenzie, in their HBO Series, Flight of the Concords–[relieved sigh] it airs after Entourage.

From: The New York Post