Take 70 film crew, mostly under the age of 30, and tell them they’re going to spend nearly a month with no cellphone reception, drinking bad coffee, probably in the rain. What you’d expect is a mutiny; but what filmmaker Rob Sarkies got was an extension on his cinematic ‘family’, and a baby – in the form of new film Two Little Boys.
USUALLY referred to as a “Dunedin filmmaker”, Rob Sarkies calls himself a Wellingtonian.
“Although the stories I’m attracted to always seem to take me down south,” he says.
Scarfies took Sarkies to Dunedin; his next feature-length film Out of the Blue was set in Aramoana, based on the 1990 massacre there, and his latest cinematic undertaking was shot over 36 days in Invercargill and The Catlins.
Two Little Boys is based on the debut novel written by Duncan Sarkies; Rob’s brother and Scarfies co-writer. McKenzie plays lead character Nige, and Blake plays his best mate Deano, so laughter is guaranteed. It won’t be all light and fluffy, though.
“There’s gotta be a bit of darkness, it’s a Rob and Duncan film,” laughs Rob.
“Our premise was, ‘what if friendship was like marriage?’ With your oldest friends you kind of expect that friendship to go on forever; the problem being that you can’t really get divorced.”
What might be the negative aspects of shooting a film in isolation, Sarkies saw as beneficial.
“We were hoping El Nino would smile on us, but it seemed to shine everywhere except the Catlins. It was actually great in the end; it gave us an incredible mood that really helped us dramatically.”
Being out of touch meant, “People couldn’t just check their messages, so everyone was really focused.”
Focus wasn’t expected of the crew the entire time, though.  
“The best thing about an isolated place like that is that, you work hard, but you play hard too. And you do it all together, so you turn into a little family.”
When the family includes Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie and Hamish Blake - one half of Australian comedy duo Hamish and Andy – it’s going to be a riotous reunion.
The crew spent Waitangi Sunday at Invercargill’s Louie’s Bar, opened just for them, where the bar manager cooked their meals due to a lack of staff, and “The night ended with a couple of well-known people stage diving off the bar to Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’.”
McKenzie and Blake also organised crew social events, including a bowling tournament where they paid for everyone’s drinks and a pub quiz at the Owaka local where the comedians wrote the questions and then compered.
Many of the 70 Two Little Boys’ crewmembers were from Wellington, including producer Vicky Pope, editor Annie Collins, production designer Jules Cook, first assistant director Marc Ashton, costume designer Amanda Neale, make-up designer Linda Wall and actor Loren Taylor, formerly Loren Horsley of Eagle vs. Shark fame.
“That’s purely by accident, although there may be something in the Wellington sensibility that led to the majority of the cast and support cast being from here.”
Sarkies pinpoints that ‘sensibility’ as a certain ‘low key-ness’, also reflected in the comedy of locals like Taika Waititi and The Phoenix Foundation.
“It’s kinda like, ‘Here I am, I’m gonna do my thing and if you find me funny, that’s great’. You know, without the hype and glitz,” he says.
Sarkies’ descriptions of hilarious moments between McKenzie and Blake makes Two Little Boys sound like one to own as much for the outtakes as for the film itself.
“We saw the first assembly of the film on Sunday. There’s definitely three hours of comedic gold in there but it won’t be three hours long, I promise,” he laughs.
Melody Thomas