James Napier Robertson: The Dark Horse director…

Interview – 2014

James Napier Robertson began his career as an actor, on teen hits Being Eve and The Tribe. Finding performing unfulfilling, he moved into writing and directing, and formed a production company with Tom Hern. Since then Napier Robertson has directed three features: thriller I’m Not Harry Jenson, the multi award-winning The Dark Horse, and Whina (which he directed with Paula Whetu Jones).

In this ScreenTalk interview, Napier Robertson talks about:

Feeling validated yet unfulfilled as an actor on Being Eve
Meeting his future production partner Tom Hern on sci-fi hit The Tribe
Possibly taking on too many roles directing his short film Foul Play
Underestimating the budget on his first feature film I’m Not Harry Jenson
Thinking he’d almost killed one of the actors while on location
The responsibility of adapting the true story of The Dark Horse
Working with Cliff Curtis and first-time actor Wayne Hapi on the film

This video was first uploaded on 4 August 2014, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Harry Jenson was the first time for me or for Tom of making a full-length film. We didn't really know what we were getting in for. I think if we had known, we might have thought twice at the beginning about whether we wanted to do it.
– James Napier Robertson on directing his first feature film, I'm Not Harry Jenson, which he made with producer Tom Hern

James's Full Profile