The Edge - Jane Campion interview

Television (Excerpts) – 1993

This 1993 interview from the first series of arts show The Edge screened while The Piano was in Kiwi cinemas. Earlier that year Jane Campion had become the first (and only) female director to share the top award at the Cannes Film Festival. Here, she discusses the antipodean character of her next project (The Portrait of a Lady) and the satisfaction of offering Nicole Kidman a role that isn’t “like a handbag to one of the male stars”. She also muses on working in Hollywood versus her hometown Sydney, and the influence of a New Zealand upbringing on forming her imagination.

There’s something about New Zealand that just keeps bringing me back here … I wouldn't be surprised if I end up once more with a New Zealand subject. I think it’s just something to do with…like your very early roots are from this country, and in a way it’s part of the way that you’ve formed your imagination.
– Jane Campion on returning to New Zealand