The Making of Chunuk Bair

Television (Full Length) – 1991

Movie Chunuk Bair was adapted from Maurice Shadbolt's acclaimed 1982 play Once on Chunuk Bair. This behind the scenes documentary contains interviews with key figures behind the film, including first-time director Dale Bradley and British actor Robert Powell (star of Jesus of Nazareth), who plays Kiwi soldier Frank South. Making a war movie is tough at the best of times; the doco reveals the long hours and tight constraints faced by this production which filmed largely at Avalon Studios, with the Wainuiomata coastline filling in for Turkey's Suvla Bay.

It's such a small acting community in New Zealand and we all get to work with each other so often — time and time again — and it's really great to have a fresh actor come in, especially an international actor like Robert, who's worked on so much.
– Actor Kevin J Wilson on working alongside British actor Robert Powell