A $175,000 budget Kiwi film from two twenty-something actors turned writer, director, and producers is set to make a splash at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and is attracting international interest.
After years in front of the camera, James Napier Robertson (The Tribe, Power Rangers, Shortland Street, Being Eve) and Tom Hern (The Tribe, Power Rangers, Shortland Street), aka Six String Pictures, have stepped well outside their comfort zones to pull off what many would consider a near impossible feat.
Their debut feature, I’M NOT HARRY JENSON, was shot and edited entirely with private investment. The only funding the pair received through conventional channels was a $25,000 grant from the New Zealand Film Commission, that allowed the filmmakers to give the digital feature the polish of a full colour grade, musical score and sound mix.
The result is an accomplished and gripping movie, described by Festival director Bill Gosden as a film that “[carries] off its low budget with polish and actorly flair… cunningly plotted mayhem of terror, suspicion and recrimination.”
I’M NOT HARRY JENSON is a psychological thriller starring Gareth Reeves (A Song of Good, Underbelly, Insider’s Guide to Love) as Stanley, a true crime writer suffering from an overdose of immersion in the gruesome personalities of his serial killer subjects, Harry Jenson being the most recent. His desperate agent suggests a tramping party in New Zealand might clear his head – and his writer’s block – but in the isolated bush, Stanley finds his worst nightmares are leaking into reality.
Producer Tom Hern says the tough times he and Napier Robertson faced while making I’M NOT HARRY JENSON have helped shape the film.
“Artistically, there is something very special that comes from adversity. We’ve been challenged over and over again during the last two and a half years, but we never gave up. When people told us that we should wait until we had more money, or until we had the backing of a distributor, we proceeded. When we couldn’t pay our rent, or put gas in the car because we didn’t have time to work day-jobs, we proceeded.
“We ground it out through the financial and creative adversity, and now have a film that has made every little doubt and setback well worth while.”
I’M NOT HARRY JENSON will premiere on July 22 at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland in front of a star studded audience, and Six String Pictures recently returned from a trip to the United States, where they met with potential distributors. The Stateside feedback noted the excellent performances from a strong cast that includes Ian Mune (Sleeping Dogs), Ilona Rodgers (Utu, Gloss), Marshall Napier (Babe, The Water Horse, McLeod’s Daughters), Cameron Rhodes (Second Hand Wedding, Jinx Sister, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Rings), Renato Bartolomei (Shortland Street, Mercy Peak, The Legend of the Seeker), and American actor Jinny Lee Story (The Horse Whisperer, CSI New York).
“I remember when Ian Mune signed on for the measly pay check that we could afford to pay him on INHJ,” says Hern. “We were stoked to have the services of a Kiwi film icon. And then I thought about Ian’s younger days making Sleeping Dogs with his good mate Roger Donaldson. They didn’t have millions, but boy did they pull it off. “I think Ian, Ilona, and some of our more experienced guard felt compelled to give back to the industry that they have lived in for so long.”
The film’s premiere will be the culmination of a two-and-a-half year story which began with a familiar scenario – young aspiring writer (Napier Robertson) shows his screenplay to a friend (Hern) in a bar, confessing he also wants to direct the movie. The friend agrees to produce, and the wannabe filmmakers, read numerous books on the subject, and pick the brains of their more experienced colleagues in the industry.
What makes their story different is that Napier Robertson and Hern decided very quickly to stop talking about the movie, and start making it. They invested in the production of a three-minute teaser for the script (now at eighth draft) as a tool to woo potential investors. The response they got was exceptional, and after a few months they were putting together a group of twenty private investors, whose contributions ranged from NZD $1000 – NZD $45,000.
For Napier Robertson and Hern, I’M NOT HARRY JENSON is only the beginning of the Six String Pictures story. They are already applying the lessons learned on their first feature to upcoming projects.
“I’ve finished two scripts that we are considering as contenders for the next film, one of which has already generated quite a bit of interest over in the States, where Luber Roklin Entertainment are representing I’M NOT HARRY JENSON.” says Napier Robertson.
“There’s a third I’m working on feverishly at the moment that I think could oust the other two. Whatever the next project is, we want to keep collaborating with the great team who came together for this film.”
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All the best for a successful release of the film on January 28!