Out of the Blue

It's a powerful piece of work, made more so by a fierce restraint in its delivery. Its makers have shaped a narrative from the haphazard events of that day — and a little before in scenes showing the solitary and angry Gray approaching breaking point — but without making this run to a conventional thriller timetable.

– Russell Baillie, in a five star review of Out of the Blue, The NZ Herald, 5 October 2006

Like Steven Spielberg’s historical epics, the film shows the nastiest incidents from a great distance, or cuts away before a bullet’s impact to show an onlooker’s shocked reaction. The director confronts horror without wallowing in it, a strategy befitting a film that’s not about how people die, but how they live.

– Reviewer Matt Zoller Seitz in The New York Times, 19 October 2007

I felt there was a real chance with this story to explore the smaller details of people's lives, in a way that could only be interesting if those lives were about to change forever.

– Director Robert Sarkies in an interview for website Fangoria, 2006

I've just had my hips done . . . hang on, it might take me a bit.

– Helen Dickson (Lois Lawn) to Chris (Bruce Phillips), after Bruce has been shot

I find it very hopeful material in the end because what it's about is ... I'm going to cry ... is about extremely ordinary people coping in an extraordinary situation. And I find that really it gives me heart because I see the way that they coped. And they did cope extraordinarily. And it makes me think, well, maybe that's how I'd cope.

– Actor Tandi Wright (who played Julie Anne Bryson) in the behind-the-scenes featurette

People were understandably nervous about the fact that a film was being made about that event because everyone, I think, had this image of the worst version of the film that could be made about it. The great thing for me personally is that I knew that we weren't making that, so I was able to stand up for the film from the start and be very genuine about my intent and not feel like I was bullshitting anyone. I also knew that when the film came out, they would see that, and that's exactly what happened.

– Director Robert Sarkies in an interview with NZ On Screen in 2012

It's certainly not my job to judge him in any way, and I certainly came out of the whole process with a lot of empathy for him.

– Actor Matthew Sunderland on playing David Gray, quoted in the making of featurette

[Robert] Sarkies’ film faced some backlash in pre-production — notably from Chiquita Holden, whose sister, father, and father’s partner were all killed in the Aramoana attack. Holden questioned the filmmakers’ right to tell her family’s story; but, Sarkies says, her stance changed over time. She ended up working closely with the production, and was one of the community representatives who read the script before production.

– RNZ show The Detail, 2021

Director Robert Sarkies grew up near the town and radiates a warmness around its community: his film opens with a swell of tension as the town goes about its business in the hours before the killing, making for unbearably intimate viewing.

– Guardian reviewer Cath Clarke in a three star review, 14 March 2008

...an inspiring film on a bleak subject, an account of everyday people who struggle to protect their loved ones from horror while processing and judging their own reactions to it.

– New York Times reviewer Matt Zoller Seitz, 19 October 2007

The man said the ambulance is on its way . . . and the police are on their way too, so you'll soon be out of it.

– Helen Dickson (Lois Lawn) returns to the injured Chris Cole (Bruce Phillips)

Out of the Blue Quotes I played that scene like the little boy was alive, still in my arms ... That's the only way I could do it.

– Actor Paul Glover on the police car scene in Out of the Blue, in his video interview (see video player descriptions)

[Cinematographer] Greig [Fraser] and I wanted to infuse the world of Aramoana with life. So anytime you see kids running about, or families — and there's a lot of that in the film — the camera's always handheld and energetic . . . . The camera is living along with the characters. Whenever you see David Gray, by contrast, the camera is usually static; it's completely still. The only time we ever put the camera on a tripod was when we were shooting David Gray.

– Director Robert Sarkies, quoted in the making of featurette

For director Sarkies, the 36-day shoot was at times gruelling as he contended with unpredictable weather, a large cast and a very tight schedule.

– NZ Film issue 80, September 2006, page 4