Lee's life through a lens

Director Lee Tamahori launched his career with a film that became a cultural landmark, and went on to achieve international fame.

- BY RUSSELL BAILLIE

Half way through Gaylene Preston's behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Geoff Murphy's 1983 colonial epic Utu, the camera finds Lee Tamahori. He's in his early 30s, his hair is starting to go the silver-grey that for the rest of his career will make him a striking figure - has a Bond director ever looked more like he could play a Bond villain? He's calling action on a scene where a grand piano is being thrown out of a first-floor window by a Māori raiding party as they ransack the house of actor Bruno Lawrence's settler character.

The doco camera stays on the first assistant director as he bellows "action" into his microphone, then focuses on the coming ivory avalanche. As the piano makes a satisfying crash off camera, a look of childish glee slowly breaks across Tamahori's face. He pauses for a few seconds, holds his hand up for silence, then yells "cut," adding a "fantastic" for good measure.

Tamahori's ensuing career will involve plenty of throwing precious stuff out of windows in search of the fantastic.