NewZealandview

Luna Rosa a luna eclipse

2007-08-28T23:30:00.000+12:45

A real quick note here. I am going to post some photos I have just taken of the Luna Rosa eclipse of the moon. I have a very basic digital camera so they are not great shots but I want to share them anyway. Of course NZ is the first country on earth to see the sun each calender day, and so I guess we are possibly the first country to get to witness this eclipse. It finished with a stunning coloured moon as if a red veil was shrouding it. Beautiful to behold and another reason to feel blessed.
Her are the photos in a form of sequence. I had to get to bed and so could not wait up to photograph the passing of the eclipse.
I shall get another post up in a few days as I would like to rave about some new found friends I have had the privilege of spending time with lately.

The beginning

FINI as they say at the end of french films!!!

a right royal Sir Ian McKellen, A japanese flag and drugs!!!

2007-08-21T10:40:00.000+12:45

for some reason, not totally known to me even, this is how I currently look ...getting ready for a shakespeare maybe!!!

what I may look like if I was on drugs...

what I might look like if YOU'RE on drugs!

These photos were taken during a workshop on digital photography I attended in the weekend. When I saw these shots it was immediately apparent that this was the universe showing me something...maybe its time to stop the drugs!...not that I do drugs...hell no not me,...well not much..you know,..if at all... cause the clouds quite often look 3D even without drugs...if you know what I mean,..

Gidday, t'is now Tuesday 21st of august ( as you are probably aware august is the 8th month of the gregorian calender, however, this was not always the case!!!, originally august was named Sextilis, because it was the sixth month in the ancient Roman calendar. Then around 8 BC, while ol' Augustus was doing his conquering thing all over the place, sextilis was renamed after him, because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, happened in this month. Originally, August had 29 days, then along came Julius salad,... I mean Caesar salad,.. bugger I mean Julius Caesar, and lo and behold around 45 BC, Mrs Caesars boy Julius threw in a couple more days, giving august its present total of 31 days. Maybe George Bush might want to add a couple of days during his reign of terror.
Just in case you're into flowers or stones, August's flower is the gladiolus ( think Dame Edna Everage ), or poppy, and its birthstone is the peridot, sardonyx, or sapphire.
there ya bloody go!!!
Permit me if you will, to launch straight into a rave about a young fella by the name of... Sir Ian McKellen.
T'was during the filming of Lord Of The Rings, that I had the pleasure of spending time in this fine gentlemans company, on a number of occassions. These instances included sharing his makeup bus a couple of times ( he had the kick arse wig on the gig, well maybe a tie between his and Orlando Blooms, both the long white blondie styles,... but please!.... don't get me started on those poncey elves!!! ). It was also a priviledge to be invited to his abode in Wellington for lunch with a few others on one occassion. Then my last day of filming happened to coincide with Ian and Billy Boyds last days of shooting LOTR, so we were presented with swords by Mr P Jackson at the same function. I should confess Ian and Peter Jackson were probably the only two people I tended to withdraw into a form of "personality shell" around. Having wondered why the hell I was like that, I have deduced that it was because I was in so much in awe of them. Sounds strange to be saying that, but it's true. I really didn't feel like I had a lot to contribute to events in their company, they both seemed so onto it, as it were, and they both have such great intellects and wit, so I would tend to rabbit on to others ( not saying that the others were any less onto it!!! ) but that's the way it was, I would be as exciting as a piece of rock around these guys. I think I just felt humbled to be in their company,... or maybe I am part rock...
Why the rave? well on saturday night just gone, my wonderful agent Imogen Johnson managed to hussle a couple of tickets for me to get along and witness Sir Ian live on stage, here in Auckland, performing the role of King Lear as a member of the one and only Royal Shakespere Company. It was bloody superb to see this company in town, and at the after match function I got to meet up with a few of the actors who were all wonderfully down to earth, great people to chat with, in between sips of various liquids. However the big impact of the night was witnessing Ian McKellen do his thing on stage. Truely, I sat absolutely elated at times by his performance. As a performer, to sit there and watch what he was doing on stage, I felt I was in the company of someone who is a genius in their domain. I was overwhelmed at times with the desire to jump up and start acting right there and then...dangerous, as I was sitting in the front row of the balcony! You know how sometimes when you listen to certain music that gets you going, you just bust out a couple of lines, well I was in a packed 2,000 seat theatre and just wanted to bust out some the lines as Ian was doing them!!! Bloody brilliant,... thankyou Ian , thanks RSC, thanks Jacqui and Linden from the Edge, and most of all,... thanks Mum ( she wasn't there, but at this point, it just feels right to say thanks Mum! ).
If you want to see some photos of the after match function go here...http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?nbc1=1&navtyp=CAL====284828&ym=200708

And now for something totally unrelated,... I want to find out what this WW 11 japanese flag is about. Could anyone who can read Japanese or knows about Japanese insignia etc, let me know please. Take a look and contact me through this blog, or contact me at my website www.bruce-hopkins.com.

Finally, remember to stream www.radiolive.co.nz from 1am -6am NZ time and listen to me ( Les ) as part of The Dawn Patrol with Des and Les, we call oursleves the Duvet brothers...the warmest show on radio and in a bizarre twist of fate we happen to be the most listened to english speaking New Zealand talkback radio show in China ( over there they know us as the chen xi dao hang )...you can take part in the show by sending us emails at desandles@radiolive.co.nz.

That's it from me for now. Be responsible for your life, don't blame others and don't re-elect goverments who are comprised of dickheads!!!
As incredible creatures, this life and this world are ours for the taking if we so desire, there's actually enough for all of us. Don't be greedy, learn to share a little. Thanks Sir Ian and all the others at the RSC for sharing your talent.
night night..... if I snore roll me over or just give me a jab in the ribs.....ZZZzzzzzzzzz.........

Holy crap I'm Suing Hollywood!!!, and I took a bloody big blink

2007-08-03T16:39:00.000+12:45

Holy crap!!!, either I just had one of the worlds longest blinks, or I am a damn lazy arse son of a gun! I just saw as I signed into my blogger account that my last post was done on the 27th November 2006....get outta here! I knew I was being slack as I have had many an intention to come on and write a blog,... but 8 months of intending added up to zip,nothing,zero!
Let my blatant procrastination be a warning to you all, zip,nothing,zero will be the sum total of your efforts if they remain in the intention basket, without placing them into the action basket at some point in time.
It's damn fine to be back writing blah blah blah, even if no one sees it, it is satisfying to finally being tapping away again.

Maybe some of you who read this have linked through from another site that was related to Peter Jacksons Lord Of The Rings trilogy of films. For those of you who have come here via that route, I shall just do a brief blah about the action I have instigated in suing New Line Cinema, in relation to the merchandise clause in my contract, as an actor in the films.

One saturday morning about 2 months ago, I received a phone call informing me there were some media who would like to interview me regarding the filing of a lawsuit I had instigated, in the LA Superior Court. I had known this was the direction we were heading but did not know the time frame so it came as bit of a surprise that we had got to this point.
I have actually been working on the case myself over the last 2 yrs during which time I approached an LA based entertainment lawyer, Phillip Rosen. I was advised to approach NZ actors who I thought may have the same merchandising clause in their contracts. I followed through, and I must say I met a lot of cynicism and resistance, however finally a number of actors and agents came on board.
After a lengthy period and numerous approaches, with no replies from New Line, Phillip informed me the next course of action was to instigate litigation. He duely approached a highly regarded litigation lawyer in LA, Henry Gradstein.
This action is only happening because along with my agent, Imogen Johnson, I had made an enquiry to New Line about a clause I had read in my contract, stating my right to conditional residual payments for merchandise bearing my character, Gamlings, likeness. After 8 months of communications New Line supplied a document that had essentially no detail and which informed me that the merchandising of my characters likeness had created a six figure loss to them. I quite simply refuse to believe this, without being shown evidence of how these figures were attained. Due to a discrepancy in the wording between the initial contract and the document outlining the financials, I decided to further my enquiry.
Both Phillip Rosen, my initial lawyer and contact, and Henry Gradstein took this case on, on a contingency basis. Without their generosity of spirit, there is no way our group of 15 NZ actors could ever have sought clarity in this matter.
I would also like to state that I have not taken this action lightly or because of some feeling that I have been hard done by. Nor have I taken it in relation to any actions Peter Jackson has entered into in with New Line.
I had been amazed to see this clause in my contract to begin with and so, many years later, when I had seen the astounding financial success of the films in both the box office and the merchandising streams, I decided to instigate my enquiry.
The taking of this action is not about a bearing a grudge, nor does it reflect any diminishing of the absolute joy and gratitude I experienced in every single moment of my involvement in the making of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. This action is simply about addressing discrepancies in the information new Line has provided us with to date.
I trust this provides a little more insight into what is going on.
There ya bloody go!
By the way I read a very good article on TheOneRing.net that a spokesperson for New Line who chose to remain anonymous ( always a sign of courage on the wane!!! ), that we were being essentially greedy as New Line poured alot into this country during the making of LOTR. All well and good, however they forgot or decided to leave out the bit about getting in as the last film company to exploit a tax loop hole which meant that had the Lord Of The Rings trilogy flopped...heaven forbid!... the New Zealand tax payer would have picked up the tab, and New Line stood to lose a mere $20 million on the whole deal. Not a bad gamble on a countrys' tax paying population!!!
No matter what transpires, and I am told it will be at least another 11 months before any court decisions are looked at, what has already taken place has been a wonderful lesson for me. I feel like I am being true to myself. In the world of film, unless you are an A list actor who has created their own production company and therefore can call for projects, the life of an actor is often fraught with insecurity and this can lead to a willingness to allow yourself to be majorly compromised in many ways. As a result of deciding to stand up on this issue and seek redress I have gained a huge sense of self respect. The fact that I have also created an opportunity for the other actors to stand and be acknowledged makes it even more rewarding.
There you go. Much has happened and continues to happen.
I revently had the absolute pleasure of seeing a band called the Checks perform 2 gig here in Auckland. They are mates of my eldest son, and have spent over a year recording their first album in London. The album is about to launch, ...get it!!! Despite still being only 19-20 yrs of age these guys are so bloody good it is a little dumbfounding. I have seen pretty much all their gigs in NZ since they were aged about 17. I get inspired by witnessing such talent. They are bloody nice guys as well.
Have a look at their myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/thechecks, and listen to some tracks.
Currently I'm listening in the university lecture theatre that is my car, to a great CD set by James Arthur Ray, he of The Secret, this is a perfect follow up to other material I have been listening to and reading for inspiration.
Also I am starting to hang out for the release of one of the worlds most anticipated playstation 3 games, HEAVENLY SWORD. I got to take part in the making of this game and if the result in any way reflects the wonderful experience it was working on it, then this will be a winner. Google Ninja Theory, a UK company who are the creators of the game.
Meanwhile out in the real world, we are facing some wierd human behaviour at present, be it Mr G Bush Jnr trying to get morphined hostpital patients to sign over major responsibilities!!! wake up America!...( tune in to Air America in iTunes for a little light on whats going on without attracting the public attention!!! its scarey )... or be it here in NZ where we have too many of our young ( new born to 4-5 yr olds ) children being tortured and beaten to death by family members...that's right..here in paradise there is a sickness that is not very pleasant to behold.Where ever we are, we each have a responsibilty to be in charge of our own lives, which then frees us to make our own choices, when this is armed with knowledge and fuelled by compassion, we can be damn powerful bipeds.
Every day its a choice as to what your day will be. I have a brazillian friend Marcello who has taught me to look make the choice that "its a beautiful day and a beautiful life". Low and behold it tends to work!!!
I'm gone I'll get back sooner than 8 months next time, till then stand for yourself, then you can really make a difference for others,....sorry I thought I was Mahatma Ghandi or Martin Luther King for a second there!
From New Zealand, here are a couple of views over Auckland City, from my bedroom window in a house I moved into 3 months ago.... I feel a little of what Suaron must have felt, looking out on the lands from on high!!!
I'm a goneburger

Tame Iti, LonelyGirl15, and kiwi films

2006-09-14T11:12:00.000+12:45

Gidday one and all, just a couple of photos to start with. the one above is from last week when i finally received my trophy for "best player" from a year ago. I played my first ever season of soccer and was the goalie for the Western Springs Reefers!!! It took a year for me to get round to meeting up with these two guys, Martin (coach) and Michael (captain) to get my hands on the trophy, which I then had to hand back as they had to give it to this years winner!!!

In my continuing series of "..look who I/we met" here's my daughter with Lionel Ritchies daugther. Lionel and I did'nt get to hang out while our daughters got their photos taken, Nicole was on her own!

Each day... and each night.... at present are filled with a massive variety of stimulating, inspiring and totally ecclectic experiences, some to do with things film, and many have nothing at all to do with film.
I had a bloody classic experience the other day, we have a great documentary film festival called DOCNZ happening at present here in Auckland. I'm going to the awards night tonight in fact, and a couple of days ago I finally got a chance to go and see a doco called "Destiny In Motion", which is a local doco about a church leader and his followers who decided to form a political party to contest the last general elections here in NZ. Fortunately they did not get any representation in parliament (mind you our elected leaders are behaving like such a bunch of immature wankers at the moment that maybe we would be better off with Brian Tamakis god squad in there).
Anyway I turned up at the appointed time to the cinema, bought my ticket and went in, sat down and watched 2 docos,... neither of which was the one I had intended watching!!! Oppsss, wrong cinema, oh well that was all ok. I got to see a great short piece about a fanatstic NZ artist, Stanley Palmer, and the major bonus was I got to see a doco about a mate, John Howe, a stunningly talented canadian artist who lives in Switzerland. I got to meet and know John when he was working with Alan Lee as the conceptual artists for Lord Of The Rings.
So, random acts of life can serve up unexpected rewards, at least that's how I have decided to look at it. I was tempted to be pissed off with myself for not getting to the right film, but ended up with a deliciously unexpected serving anyway.
Two New Zealand films have just played to very receptive audiences at the Toronto Film Festival,.. apparently, I was not there so I can't really say. Black Sheep, a film by first time feature director Jonathan King sounds like it will have fans of early Peter Jackson films going nuts for it. It seems it is basically a splatter movie making the most of what we have here in abundance, sheep. It definitely sounds like it's worth a look, the sheep are the mutant killers in this one, so check it out.
Also at Toronto was Out Of The Blue, a feature film based on the true story of a massacre that took place here in NZ in 1990. This happened in a stunningly beautiful remote coastal town in the south island called Aramoana. Out Of The Blue was made by Robert Sarkies one of the Sarkies brothers ( in other places they have their Coen brothers, their Weinstein brothers, their Quay bothers...who/ i hear you say... go google them), well here in NZ we have our Sarkies Brothers. They are known primarily for making the NZ film Scarfies a few years ago.
A mate of mine, Steven O'Meagher is one of the producers for Out Of The Blue, which is very cool as it was a major undertaking to do a film about this event as your first. Bloody well done to all involved. Karl Urban who was my bosses nephew, Eomer in Lord Of The Rings, is one of the leads in Out Of The Blue.
A couple of nights back I had been having an early evening session with my film making partner Amarbir Singh, at a cafe on Karangahape Rd ( where we shot the film 1nite), when I spotted a friend I had not seen for many moons. Wai is his name and he is the son of one of the most outspoken and proactive Maori activists in NZ, Tame Iti. Wai invited me to go along to Tames art exhibition across the road which was opening that night. Being someone who loves hanging out at these sort of gigs, I was in. I am also a real fan of Tame and alot of what he stands for. He is often grossly prejudged and misrepresented, due I think mostly because he has a full facial moko (tattoo).
Anytime I get to go to these gatherings, of arty folk, celebrities etc, it's great as they are the places I get to catch up with some old friends. We all live our own lives going about our own journeys, so these soiries are perfect for a catch up. The great thing about this one was that Tame had done some bloody great art work also. I actually bought a couple of the smaller pieces, and feel really good about having done so.
Now to my final rant today, huge congratulations to "localish" girl Jessica Rose for being part of a team that seems to have pulled off cyberspaces latest major coup, by conning millions around the world to follow the online video diaries of "Bree". It turns out Jessica who lived in NZ for much of her life, trained as an actor here and is now living in LA, is the LonelyGirl15, on YouTube. essentially now that this news has broken, I would guess Jessica is going to be inundated with film offers, TV appearances etc. Bloody well done, to a cynical old hack like me, if you can get in through the side door the back door, or even the bloody roof,...why not. Go for it Jessica!!!
To finish off check out this article. It is about one of NZs most loved sons of all things music, Neil Finn, and his reaction to the thought of NZ Idol winners singing his songs. Good on him for taking a stand against exploitive television.
I'm outta here.
be cool, not only to yoursleves but to the rest of humanity. Actually, you haven't got rid of me yet, last bit of news it's so cool, my kids and I have sponsored a guy, Engeda, from Ethiopia, since he was about 10 yrs old. We just got word he has now graduated from University and is self supporting, so we are being asked to take on a beautifl young 4 yr old girl, Hayat, who also lives in Adis Ababa Ethiopia. If you want to make a small difference, get online and sponsor a child. Hayats father makes US$400 a friggin year as a labourer. Our money will help Hayat to receive an education and maybe break free of what will surely be the cycle of desperate poverty that she has been assigned to otherwise. Go on do it, it costs about a dollar a day.
ciao for now
to explore creating wealth for yourself, check out this site.

My love to Steve Irwins family...& things Radio

2006-09-05T17:39:00.000+12:45

(Myself, Bruce/Les,on right, and my mate Joe/Des on left, in the studio at our weekly radio show)
Gidday, welcome to another posting, yet again created about a week or so after I thought I should do a new posting!!! how do you spel prokrastination agin....
First off my heart felt love goes to Steve Irwins family. To the world at large it seems like a misplaced act of nature that something like this could happen. However when someone so rich in life so in love with life, to be taken like this wipes the mist off the window of reality for me. by this I mean that as an actor sometimes you are called upon to create an emotion/response, a state of being. However it is just this kind of event that can give me a kick in the arse to know that I have no bloody idea what it must be like for Steves family at present, no acting could ever hope to penetrate the depths of feeling that they will be spinning through, so I send my love to them for what it may be worth. Steve you wrote a page in the history of mankind demonstrating the art of living life to the full while you have it.

So now I get on with my life and right now it is writing this blog!!! I am trying to teach myself how to type with more than 3 fingers. My normal styles seem to incorporate the index finger of my left hand and the index and middle fingers of my right hand. Right now as I type this I have to concentrate really really hard (you know the tongue out type concentration!!!)to get at least 4 fingers going.
I figured I would have a brief rave about the radio station scene here in New Zealand.
We actually have an absolute overload of radio stations, I remember reading a few years ago that here in Auckland we had the most stations per capita, in the world. The incredible thing is that much like television, in my humble opinion, most of it is absolute crap and could qualify for air pollution! However the photo above shows the two hosts of one of the true quality programmes on air, "The Dawn Patrol with Des & Les". Thats me(Les) on the right, and my bestest mate of 36 yrs, Joe Reid(Des) on the left. We have a had a comedy duo for 21 yrs and after many years of calling ourselves "The Golden Holdens" we just started calling each other Des and Les, and that's what we remain. If you are ever thinking of getting some sort of act together,... a word of advice... don't call yourself by a different name.
As an actor it would actually benefit me if various people knew that I was Les of "Des & Les", however they know of me as Bruce and so don't make the connection. This can lead to confusion, but Bruce and Joe don't ryhme, so what are you to do??? You are hereby commanded to tune into our show at some stage. It is on at a great time for those of you in the US or Europe. Saturday morning or there abouts. We are on 1am -6am Sunday mornings NZtime
(click the link to go to current NZ time)
As for the rest of the fare, there are a couple or real gems in amongst the mire. My number one choice and the station that is honestly one of the things I look forward to most when returning from a trip overseas, is 95bfm. This is a station based at the Auckland University campus and as with most independent stations anywhere has a great variety of niche shows, from absolute metal to jazz. However let me recommend you go to the link above and check out the breakfast show from 7am-10am weekdays NZ time. Your host if you listen in is the one and only Mickey
Havoc. The guy is bloody brilliant, he combines, a wicked humour, massive compassion and some of the best tunes you will ever hear (many of them you will probably never have heard previously). 95bfm has been repsonsible for breaking a number of artists who have gone on to become really big on the indie circuit around the world, including Ben Harper who had his first ever no.1 song here in NZ. Mickey is a true beacon and stands out so far above almost every other on air host on any station. I put him up there with Howard Stern, and if you have not heard of Howard Stern where the hell have you been!!!

One of the biggest buzzes out of going to LA for the Academy Award season each year when Lord Of The Rings was up, came when I finally got to tune into Howard Sterns show on air. This is of course before the idiots at the highest level dictated that he was too much of a threat to their conceited ideals and he had to leave the airwaves of america. That was a sad day for democracy in that country.
Many years ago, Des and I did our first ever radio talk back show and the station manager gave us a tape of Howard Stern to listen to. He became an immediate idol!!!, brilliantly irrevent.
Another show to catch is a guy called Graeme Hill who does 8am-noon saturdays and noon -4pm sundays on Radiolive, the station that I do my show with Des on. This guy is seriously talented, he has a great mind, from astronomy/mathematics to sport, he is well versed on it all, and he has some great guests on each week. Graeme is also a superb musician having been in a great bnad called The Able Tasmans many years ago. In fact my first meetings with Graeme came when I was a dancer in Limbs Dance Co here in Auckland way back ( if you go to the link you will see references to Limbs on a site about music from another of our amazingly talented musicians, Don McGlashin ). Graeme used to play music, improvising on the piano for our dance class.
I better get outta here, the Sopranos is on. I was hooked on the first season have not watched it since but this final season is a stunner, this is how the medium of television can be usefd when put in the hands and minds of real talent, thankyou so much all of you who make this programme.

My son Joe and I on a trip to LA a couple of years ago, hope Tony don't see dis!!!

Ciao

NZ Film Awards, been & gone

2006-08-28T17:16:00.000+12:45

Yes, sometimes the life of a actor/performer, can take you to strange places!!! As you can see in the photo above ( thats me on the right and my mate/director, Amarbir Singh, on the left. We shot a music video with me running around dowtown Auckland like that!, I also played a parking warden. It was for a great kiwi band called Kitsch. Anyway lets get on with the blog...
Well there ya bloody go eh! The NZ Screen Directors Guild Screen Awards, this year known as the "Air New Zealand Screen Awards", have been handed out for another year. In fact it's only the second year they have been handed out, in their current form. As I have stated previously, for many years the New Zealand film industry has not been able to create an awards event that would last more than a few years, before it would slide or implode into oblivion. Highlighting the sad arse nature of it all was that no one ( other than a few industry folk ) cared.
However, since we as a nation got used to watching on tele as fellow new zealanders walked up to collect arms full of Oscars for their genius in creating Peter Jacksons vision that was Lord OF The Rings, the concept of our own film awards is a little more tangible.
So last thursday 24th August, 700 of us gathered at the appointed venue and time, we threw back a good fill of beverages on offer and then settled in for the three and a half hour parade.
Local lad Oliver Driver was once again the host (he is our Billy Crystal, and now hosts pretty much anything with an award involved, and he's bloody good at it),
It is a bit of a shame that these gigs tend to start with the best bit,... the comedy routine by the host,...and then the rest of the night rapidly settles into a monotone pace, begging for someone to haul out a bagfull of energy to the stage. Understand,..there are 47 awards to be given out!!! Despite Oliver presenting a very funny and reasoned demo in the art of speaking in to mic, at the start, almost none of the award presenters or recipients raised their voices above a half heard mist of self imposed humility. Bloody hell it is fascinating to observe. These are people who make their livings in the entertainment industry! I guess it bears out the fact that whenever surveys are conducted about peoples fears, ...public speaking emerges as the regular numero uno, even more feared than death itself. Without wanting to pour cold vomit on the winners flame,..it seemed like some of them were dead..ish! Mind you I must admit a big part of the problem could have been solved by having a decent podium set up. Maybe it was the designers first job since Lord Of The Rings, as the podium was exactly the right height for a hobbit. The fact that Olly Driver, the host, is 7' tall meant the microphones came to his knees,... and yet he could be heard. Now thats good projection for you!
All of that aside it was a bloody good night, great finger food,.. food for eating using your fingers ( and that bloody handy opposable thumb , not food made of fingers, lots of free flowing beverages, many "hiii, haven't seen you for ages, what are you up to?" type conversations, you know the ones, not too taxing, as despite the questions being asked, the answers are not really being listened to!!!
It all ended in another bar with a some dancing, so a great night was had. Now here are some results just in case you were wondering...who...what...etc.
Best Actor... Anthony Hopkins for Worlds Fastest Indian. Of course Anthony was not there, but did anyone think to create the best gag of the night and have me accept his award on his behalf??? ....after all I'm Bruce Hopkins, I could have said siomething really funny like,.."uncle Tony asked me to tell you...." all in a thick New York Italian accent (which I happen to do very well, even better than my south african accent,... which is shit!)...ah well opportunity lost!
Best actress... Ruby Dee, for her role in No. 2, a wonderful local tale adpated from a stage play that was hugely successful and introduced the phenomenally talented local actor Madeleine Sami, to the world. In the stage play No. 2 Madeleine played the entire cast, something like 12 or so totally individual characters.

Anyway, for a look at photos from the evening check out the link below. I will just fill you in though, you will go to a photo of me first...why not!!!... bloody hell it's my blog!, An explanation might be in order, in the photo I have a polystyrene cup in my hand, not exactly A list, but they would not let us take glass into the theatre, so we had to transfer to the poly cups, and I was not leaving my grog behind! There are shots of Karl Urban for all you Urbanites out there as well as some of the other LOTR folk who were present ( Grant Major, Michael Hedge etc . Anyway for a look click here.
Clicking on the photos will bring up the names of the people you are looking at.

Before I head out of here, a couple of things, i saw a live show on the weekend called "The Nature Of Wishing" in the cast was my kids Mum, Felicity. We were in professional dance companies together many years back, thats how we met, 3 kids, a divorce and years later we continue to operate as a family, just one where mum and dad are not married or living together. So I went to see the show because she was in it. What a wonderful surprise. It was basically physical theatre, fused with dance theatre. A really delightful show, that was such a relief from the standard talking head theatre we get served up so often. I think Shakespeare was a genius and his words are still stunning when read, or when you watch someone like the brilliant Steven Berkoff do his thing in a solo show, playing the villians of Shakespeare... have a look at his website, he is truely one of the most inspiring performers of our time!!! ( I got to work on a project recently that Steven played a significant role in, altough I never got to meet him...damn.. can't say anymore, top secret-I'd have to kill you if i did say anything!.
Anyway, I am now tiring of going to theatre and having to sit there while actors regurgitate words written by sometimes gifted writers. I would say about 90% of the shows I see are directed by totally bland directors who just happen to have got into the "directing" scene and who often seem to completely lack their own vision. Sooo....back to "The Nature Of Wishing", the show my kids Mum was in. It was such a fresh breathe of air, fantastic.
While I'm talking live theatre, why not show off, here are a couple of photos from a show I did with my mates Mike Mizrahi and mari Adams at the International Festival in Wellington in March this year

late beaking news....just got a call from a journalist at National Radio (sort of like our BBC or PBS), I was aksed to give my reaction to an announcement that the national TV broadcaster TVNZ and the govt funding agency, New Zealand On Air, have committed to funding and broadcasting a new 1/2 hr early evening soap! New opportunities for work have got to be good, now lets see what the contracts are like!!!
All right I'm gone, you be cool, always make room for love in your heart (and I don't mean the between the bedsheets sort,..well maybe some of that as well!). see ya soon.

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NZ creatives pumping

2006-08-12T17:32:00.000+12:45

New Zealand, August 2006,... winter..., outside the winter sun is taking a well earned rest, napping behind blankets of cloud which sit low overhead, not threateningly, but in a manner that means you cannot ignore them and their potent presence. This is all ok, at least it's not pouring down with rain.
Reports are that fresh snow has descended upon the mountains of New Zealand, which means I can state uncategorically,... my eldest son, Tom, is smiling wildly,... you see he works in a ski shop at Ohakune on the base of Mt Ruapehu in the North Island. Fresh snow equates to....snowboarding!!! In fact I got a txt not long ago saying that he had had a couple of days of fast fresh powder on the slopes, and life was good.
Ahhhhhh... such is life, as my kids grow and begin to live their own lives, I end up living a section of my life vicariously through them,... does this mean I'm a sad old bastard, who should get on with my own life. I like to think it is an indication of the bond that I have with my progeny and that I will always be inextricably connected to their journeys.
Whateeevvaaa!
It is nearly 3 weeks since my last post here, and when I started this blog I fully intended making very regular updates,...my apologies! a lot has happened since that last post.
I have said I will try to provide a glimpse at whats happening in the New Zealand film scene, from my view point, in this here blog, so here we go.
In the near future, I will endeavour to post a link for you to view an item that recently played on TV about yet another possessed start up NZ film maker, in the vein of Peter Jackson. This guy took 10 yrs to make a time travel story for $60,000. It cost him his marriage and his wife moved back to Japan, taking their child with her. An amazing story and well worth a look. I have emailed TVNZ to check out getting me the link so that I can post it on this blog in future.
A few weeks back I auditioned ( unsuccessfully I can now add!!! ) for a role in a new Sam Raimi / Robert Tapert blood fest! 30 Days Of Night. The reason I know I did not get the role I auditioned for, even though I know I would have been brilliant!, is that it has now started shooting and I just spoke to 2 of the more senior stunt performers today. These two guys form part of the core component of why offshore production companies come here to shoot. They are superb at their job, doing stunts, but they are also bloody nice people. They also happen to have done it all, Lord Of The Rings, King Kong, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Last Samurai etc etc,... they said from their point of view 30 Days of Night is a huge job. Anyone familiar with the Raimi/Tapert history of film making will know that they are a couple of the masters at the genre, and don't pull any punches when they make their horror flicks. They were also almost single handedly responsible for hauling NZ film makers into the lime light of the global audience, when they chose to come to NZ to make the TV productions, Hercules and Xena. Of course Rob Tapert went on to marry Lucy Lawless who snared the role of Xena. Lucy and Rob have a couple of kids so Rob is pretty much an honourary kiwi! Back in the day, it was always a buzz to get a call informing me I had scored a role in an episode of either Herc or Xena, they were truely fun shows to work on, and it was always bloody great to spend a few days with mates who were crewing the shows. So these guys, Sam and Rob, created what was a golden era for the local film/TV production scene. I have many friends in the crews and production side of things, who purchased houses because for the first time in their careers they had a regular and decent income.
Cheers Rob and Sam for coming back. The fact that David Slade (Hard Candy)is directing immediately raises the interest level. To have a look at the details of 30 Days of Night click here.
Next week (thursday 24th) sees the hosting for the second year, of the NZ Screen Directors Guild Film and TV Awards. The fact that we host film and television at the same awards night gives you an idea of how small the industry is here. We are, after all, a country of only 4 million people. However this year it is bloody brilliant that demand for tickets has seen the event sold out well ahead of the night. For many years, when an awards evening was held for film in NZ, it was just a good excuse for various people to get together, get pissed, yell abuse at winners that were not agreed with and basically have a lot of in house jokes. This meant that television broadcasters were never fully into providing coverage and so the awards were not really taken seriously. I think that an off spin was also that the public never gave the local film industry a hell of a lot of regard. Mind you this raises the issue, ... should industry awards ever be taken seriously, there is always a crap load of politics going on behind the scenes, some incredible work is inevitably overlooked, while polically correct decisions can lead to some stunningly average work being lauded!!! My semi bitter cynicism aside,... the Screen Directors Guild look to have done something no one really thought possible, create an awards event that allows for both, a damn good reason to get together and get pissed, catching up with old mates, work colleagues etc, as well honouring some bloody good work and having those practitioners who are awarded, acknowledged outside the industry. What makes it even more astounding in my opinion is that the NZSDG have managed to do this straight off the bat. They held their first awards event last yeat so this is only their second attempt. This year we have Anthony Hopkins, Ruby Dee and Samantha Morton among the line up of finalists. Not bad for a country that is well reputed for knocking those who dare to celebrate their own achievement!!! ( otherwise known as the tall poppy syndrome ). It is a bloody nuisance that the television broadcasting industry in NZ decided last year to essentially compete with the NZSDG awards by creating their own awards event.... anyone else like to have an awards night???, a classic case of dividing the resources,... this is fairly indicative of the attitudes and personal politics that have impeded NZs television industry from maturing for a long time.
I recently took part in the loop group, for an animated feature called " The 10 Commandments", featuring voices from the likes of Ben Kingsly and Christian Slater, not bad company to be keeping I guess! These small ancillary film jobs are part of what keeps a number of NZ performers alive!
Having not been to Sydney for some time I jumped at the chance a couple of weeks ago to head over there with my buddy and creative guru, Mike Mizrahi to create the David Jones 2006 Summer Fashion Event( check out Mikes web site. I first worked with Mike and his partner Mari when they moved here 20 yrs ago. They have gone on to become some of the most inspiring live event creatives in the world, hosting many major international events for companies such as Louis Vuitton etc). Basically I was Mikes side kick ( just like my film roles!!! )and got to hang round oggling models all day! Mischa Barton (OC)was the major guest David Jones flew out for the event. Not being a fan of much US television product, I had no idea who Mischa was but she turned out to be a real nice ambassador, and Sydneytown was all over her. Here are some photos of the event, including Megan Gale the face of David Jones, and a shot of Mike and I;

A local film that is about to go into production is "Tatooist". No real info at this stage as it is still in hush hush mode, you know the one, my lips are sealed, like a road. I did an audition for that as well. Really, if you are thinking of me for a film, just give me the job, I'll come up with more than you had hoped for, but if I have to audition chances are I won't get the job in the first place, auditions and I make for stilted performances. You think rhinoceros' have thick skin,...pinch an actor whose been around for a while next time your standing next to one, we have the thickest skin of all, .. delicate egos but thick skin! Nothing like rejection to harden the exterior. Enough of my self pity..
Most recently, I got to host an event called Creative Careers, in which school kids from west Auckland get to come and meet practitioners from the film, writing, art, music, greative worlds. Part of the line up was a graffiti artist, John from the TMP crew associated with a local hip hop gallery and collective called Distruptiv. These guys just returned from Germany where they won the overall title at the 2006 International Write4Gold finals at Germany's Splash Festival.
Here are some photos of a work he whipped up in about 2 hrs for the students at the Creative Careers day.

This is now evolving into raving so, I'll get outta here. Be cool, till after school.

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a damn fine life

2006-08-02T16:03:00.000+12:45

Kia Ora nga hoa ( kind of ...gidday my friends )
sometimes I have to push the pause button and grab a little reflective time, to allow myself to appreciate the life I am living. Ultimately of course, that sense of awareness is ever present as you go about the living of your life...."what the hell is he talking about".. I hear you wondering. Basically what I am saying is I feel blessed. To give you an idea of what I am on about, here is a brief run down on what I have had the pleasure of being involved in since I created this here blog on Sat 22nd July, the diary of me!.... not quite as saucy as bridget joneses but hers was pretend!!!
22nd july...
after attending a seminar where I created this blog, I literally went straight to a theatre in downtown Auckland, to host a screening of New Zealand short films, showing as part of the HomeGrown Series, a programme within the 2006 Telecom New Zealand International Film Festival. This series of short film programmes is hosted each year by the wonderful Moving Image Centre here in Auckland. Later that night I had a couple of hours sleep before heading out at 1am on sunday morning to my one regular job each week, hosting a talk back radio show, called "The Dawn Patrol,with Des & Les"......I'm the Les component of Des & Les.(check it out streaming,1am-6am every sunday NZ time).

Sunday 23rd...
After work, at 6am sunday, a couple of hours sleep was all there was time for before I put the foot to the pedal and drove 5 hrs to Ohakune, nestled at the lower southern slopes of Mt Ruapehu ( Mt Doom for you Tolkienites!!!) . The purpose of this journey was to spend a couple of nights with the senior citizen of my progeny (otherwise known as my eldest child), who is currently working in a snow board shop for the winter season.
Monday 24th....
was spent with said son, on the upper slopes of said mountain looking down upon a blanket of cloud that engulfed planet earth below. Totally stunning!!!

No major wipeouts to report either, thankfully.......as a parent I find it such a joy to be in the company of my 19 yr old, having to step back and assume the role of a companion/observer. The temptation is to step in and direct proceedings as was the case when the kids were young, but no... he is now a young adult and my role is to be there should he need me.....bugger.... who can I order around!!!
Tuesday 25th....
up early driving back to Auckland, sound system ablaze with the stunning sounds of local NZ band The Phoenix Foundation ( if you ever have a chance gooo see them live, click the link for some real cool sounds, brilliantly talented ), and a revisit of some Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zepplin and others.
Wednesday26th...
the day I had been hanging out for was here!!! after some standard activity, I boarded a silver bird and jetted to Wellington to go party with some of the funnest folks I've spent time with for many moons. It was the wrap party for the NZ component of the production for the hugely anticipated Playstation3 game " Heavenly Sword ". I had the absolute pleasure of working on this stunning project with the phenomenally talented Andy Serkis. So the night was spent partying in damn fine style with Tameem and the The Ninja Theory crew as well the local production company team who are also superbly talented and just damn fine folks.
27th...
no hang over...yayyyy!!! I hate hang overs,.. the absolute best cure is in fact prevention in the form of drinking water alongside the alcohol for the last 2 hrs your session ( in my case this was from about 3am-5am!!!).
Flew back to Auckland and went to host another showing of short films at the festival.
Friday 28th...
cruisey day, leading up to hosting another programme of short films, this programme being called "Love and Other Catastrophies". .........Let me tell you there are some very fine film makers emerging here in NZ, this was a great programme. There has been a long held view that in general New Zealand film makers tend to make fairly dark brooding stories, aka The Piano, Once Were Warriors, Quiet Earth, Sleeping Dogs etc. Well that tradition is in good hands, a number of these short films were definitely in keeping with that vein.
The night was polished off by heading along to a small bar to watch a new band play their first ever gig. A friend of mine has a son who is in the band, and they kicked out a full on wall of raw rock infused with a healthy dose of blues... these guys went to school with my son who is working at the mountain... again it is such a buzz to watch these kids grow into their lives!!!
sat and sunday 29/30th...
I attended a communication course run by Landmark Education, a global education programme. I have done a number of their courses now and despite attending each time with my cynical hat firmly on my head, once again I walked out with a new take on life!!! .... having finished the sat session of the course at 11.30pm I went to work at RadioLive at 1am sunday, then finishing the radio at 6am on sunday I started the course again at 9am, needless to say by the end of the course at 10.30pm sunday, I was totally knackered!
Monday 31st july and Tuesday 1st August ...
these were catch up days, getting to this here blog, making phone calls, doing a voice over for a radio ad, an audition for a canadian television commercial, etc etc.

This all brings me back to the original statement, I feel blessed to be living the life I choose to live.
The film industry here in NZ is in its winter phase, local production has slowed and the off shore projects that come here tend to stay clear in winter as we do not have the shelter provided by genuine film sound stage facilities. Shooting films out on location during winter in NZ is basically a huge gamble played opposite the gods of weather. This only highlights the incredible achievement of Peter Jackson and his massive team who shot Lord Of The Rings continuosly for 18 months here in the land of the long white cloud!
We have the NZ Screen Directors Film Awards coming up soon, I'll keep you posted.
For now, get out there and live the life you choose for yourself, make it a life worth living for!!!
ciao
Bruce
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Up and running in New Zealand

2006-07-22T14:15:00.000+12:45

Gidday,
welcome to InsideNZfilm, a freshly created as I sit here attending a wonderful seminar on Internet Business. As with all aspects of life, be it film, business, or just idle chat, the internet has been impacting a huge cross section of the global village for years. Finally after many moons contemplating getting involved online, here I am, doing so, all as part of an exercise in the seminar I am attending!!!
Why am I creating this blog... what do I have to offer...without just creating another item of junk to the cyber rubbish tip that is growing exponentially online, as I type.
Bloody good question! Some of you may have seen the Peter Jackson trilology of films " The Lord Of The Rings", well I had the joy of being called up to play the role of " Gamling" right hand man to King Theoden, of the Rohirrim.
So I am now going to hopefully provide a small window into the industry of film that exists in New Zealand, from a practitioners point of view.
Must go, Mathew Taylor our fantastic tutor is calling us back to class. See you again soon
Caio for now
Bruce
www.bruce-hopkins.com
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