Tamahori in his own words

Opening credits

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Opening credits

“When I was 16, I bought a camera. It was a Rolleiflex, probably one of the greatest cameras ever made. I remember looking down the lens and just knew I was made to be a photographer. I was also crazy about film. I had started to go to the movies when I was about 12 and I just loved what happened on the screen.

“I did really like foreign films. They were hard to find, but in Wellington, where I was born and lived, the occasional festival would come along. Wellingtonians seemed to be very interested in the quirky, the compelling and the sensual - more so than other parts of New Zealand. I also fell in love with westerns. They don't make them now - young audiences wouldn't have a clue about the genius of John Ford, who right through the 1950s and early 60s directed westerns that were masterpieces. They still stand up as epic wonders of film-making.

“When I saw The Wild Bunch, which is still my favourite film ever, it was so visceral and so unique, I've never seen another film that's made me feel so speechless or breathless. I remember staggering out of the theatre and hanging onto a wall to try and get my breath. I thought, 'My God, a film has just done this to me.' I had to go find a bar to have a drink.”

The boom years

“I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. In this country, everyone in film came from another profession, mechanics, engineers... I was a boom operator, and I didn't even know what that was. A guy told me this job was available, and I thought it was somebody who blew things up!”

Director Geoff Murphy on recruiting Tamahori as first assistant director on