The legendary Temuera Morrison was able to give me some time to talk about his new film Occupation. He stars with an incredible ensemble cast in the Luke Sparke written and directed film. Check out our conversation below.
If you are not familiar with the actor, I am sure any die-hard Star Wars fan will chomp at the bit to tell you about him. Truth be told, from Boba Fett to every clone in the Republic Army…Temuera Morrison has without a doubt played more characters in the Star Wars universe than anyone else.
Temuera Morrison will also be portraying Thomas Curry starring alongside Jason Mamoa in the upcoming Aquaman film. It will be his second film from DC, as he played Abin Sur in the Ryan Reynold’s Green Lantern film.
RONN!E: Hello sir, how are you doing?
Temuera Morrison: I’m good, thanks. I have a little bit of cold but I am good, drinking a lot of lemon juice.
RONN!E: You are playing Peter Bartlett in Luke Sparke’s Occupation, What can you tell me about your character?
Temuera Morrison: Well, it’s not just me in Occupation. It’s actually quite an interesting ensemble.
I think my character kind of represents, more the family guy. With Peter Bartlett, I based him on a couple of people I know. We have a couple of Kiwi blokes go over to Australia to find a try a better life. The hourly rates a bit in better money. They started heading over there during the 60’s,70’sand 80’s. Some that come get into a bit of trouble joining a gang or something underground. I kinda based my character on someone with this background. Been to prison but now looking for a way out, get the family back together again. He’s trying to still settle back in with the family. Get away from his problems by going and getting a better life up in Queensland, the Sunny Gold Coast. We don’t quite make it. So I was giving him a bit of unsavory past. That he is trying to run away and I don’t know if it worked. *Laughs*
RONN!E: Did you do a lot of preparation for this role?
Temuera Morrison: Not much .. I asked when lunch is *laugh*, but I was in good shape. There was not much to prepare for really, once I saw the costume and it’s a contemporary story. A lot of it had to do with the back-story. I’ve bought a caravan that I bought with my saved up prison money.
Plus, working with the ensemble I knew we were all kind of sharing the load if you know what I mean. We were there to support the lead guys, allow the lead guys to show some real emotions here and there. Give them something to react to. Something to feed off.
The timing was good. I enjoyed the ensemble. We had a lot of fun with one another. We all had to share the same camper van so that made about 20 of us in there. You had to walk outside to turn around, it was so tight. So we all just got stuck in the net, breathing the same air. But we all got along well so it was a nice enjoyable experience. We had a lot of fun.
[Writer & Director Luke Sparke talks about his new film Occupation – SFM Exclusive Interview]
RONN!E: How long were you on set?
Temuera Morrison: Shooting took about Six Weeks and I was I was there for about 5 of them, most days.
RONN!E: Wow, there is so much going on in the movie I would have thought that filming took longer.
It was pretty tight, they didn’t have a lot of money. Plus, there was a lot of location moves and we got lucky with the weather. Didn’t do much on a soundstage.
The production company was Australian, so think they want to make more films in the future. They’re pretty young, still growing. Luke’s a good director still learning. I think he learned a lot on this movie.
RONN!E: So speaking with other movies that you’ve done; from Star Wars to the upcoming Aquaman, this movie Occupation to one of the films I loved you in, as the warden in The Osiris Child. You seem to do a lot of Sci-fi, is that your favorite genre? Or is that just how the ball has fallen?
Temuera Morrison: I just find that with sci-fi that you can kind of just explore things a little bit more. I found that with the man in The Osiris Child, Warden Mourdain, that with the director, Shane Abbess, what a remarkable director. He was just great in terms of finding the organic stuff, caring about the actor, caring about the performance; bringing something to the table.
Sci-fi is a world onto its own, if you know what I mean? You’re able to get away with a lot more, I think. Breaks some rules and explores some parameters. Sometimes when you try to do performances all a bit controlled. I think what I learned with Shane Abbess was here is a platform to work with, now explore and go for it. If it’s too crazy we’ll just cut it out but don’t be shy. Getting to work with these directors playing with the cameras it’s great.
RONN!E: So as I mentioned earlier you are going to get to be in the upcoming Aquaman movie as Thomas Curry, alongside Jason Momoa. Can you give us any details on that?
Temuera Morrison: Well Jason was a great host, he took care of me. We had a lot of fun. It was a huge production. Quite different from Occupation too I might add. They happened to be filming in the same location. Which worked out well for me because I was able to work on Occupation with tons of action and plenty to do in terms of emotion, It was like a nice way of cueing up for the big one, Aquaman. I got to work with Jason (Mamoa) who was just so nice to me, I couldn’t believe it. Then I found out later he was a bit of a fan. He was blown away by the movie Once Were Warriors. A character I played in that movie.
I didn’t realize, I probably owe Jason the fact that I am in the movie. I mean I met with some of the American casting people and went through the right schedules…but I guess he liked me.
[Get ready for some alien survival action in Saban’s trailer for ‘Occupation’.]
It was a big-big movie, filming on the gold coast area which was the same place that they filmed Thor. But this the DC’s next BIG movie, we need to start kicking Marvel’s butt. *laughs* So hopefully Aquaman is the one to do it. Jason is looking good, he gets some of his fine attributes from his father who is a lighthouse keeper. It’s a huge movie, all underwater, stuff I’ve never seen.
RONN!E: Well, my last question has to be asked, because Star Wars fans will kill me if I don’t, Is there anymore Star Wars in your future?
Temuera Morrison: Well, no one is ringing me, they have my number though. That would be wonderful, I made Moana for them, but no one is calling me now. *laughs* It would be a dream to play Boba Fett again. The Bounty Hunter in another galaxy maybe. A little Mandalorian history maybe. The Solo movie didn’t work so now I think they got to rethink it.
A huge thanks to Temuera Morrison for taking the time to speak with us. Make sure to keep up with what he is doing at his IMBd page. Make sure to also check him out on Twitter.
The film Occupation is out now and available at places like Amazon and iTunes, go get yourself a copy.
*Special thanks to Katrina Wan PR and Peggy Burkhart Oakes.
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