Photo credit: Joy Ascio
“I saw a documentary about Genesis. It was not very well known, but I was immediately struck by how incredible and articulate and intelligent yet complex and almost contradictory he was as a person, as a character. I thought he’d make a most remarkable character to try and capture in a 2 hour narrative of the film,” writer-director James Napier Robertson told Hollywood on the Potomac at a screening at MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) in conjunction with the Embassy of New Zealand. The film is “The Dark Horse” based on the true story of Genesis Potini, a brilliant chess champion struggling with mental illness who searches for purpose and finds it in passing on his gift to children in his community. The Maori people, a unique culture that holds its roots in New Zealand, are a key focus of the film, giving audiences a glimpse into their lives.
Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“I was in LA at the time when I saw it. My producer had sent it to me. I immediately booked my flights and flew back to New Zealand and went down to Gizban and met with Genesis,” Robertson added. “Very quickly after meeting with him, we sat down across a chess board. Fortunately for me, I played chess since I was a kid. I was able to lose, but lose not too quickly. I think that earned me a bit of respect from him and kind of kicked off our relationship. From there, over the next year, we’ve played hundreds of games of chess. We just talked all about his life, his experiences, his philosophies about the world. While we were doing this I started writing the screenplay. I think that my first unpredictable and messy and challenging in a way, particularly for someone like Genesis, chess was a way of finding order within the world. That structure within it, but of course, you can’t ignore the real world for that long. I guess in a way that’s what my film is about. As far as, also, that thing of having a singular focus, I think film can be that same for me just as something like chess could be at someone like Genesis. I think in a way we all benefit from having some sort of passion or something that we love that we. For someone like Genesis, chess was a way of finding order within the world. That structure within it, but of course, you can’t ignore the real world for that long. I guess in a way that’s what my film is about.”
James Napier Robertson with Ambassador Tim Goser
Both Robertson and Tim Groser, The Ambassador of New Zealand who hosted the event, see the rising tide of their country’s film industry. “I think there seems to be a really implied proportion of storytellers in New Zealand. For some reason there’s a lot of people in New Zealand who have a story they want to tell or something they want to talk about. It seems like film is something that’s very inherent to us for some reason. I’m not quite sure why, but I’m happy to be part of that,” said Robertson.
“I think there’s a number of reasons for this,” Ambassador Groser told Hollywood on the Potomac. “I’m a very biased person actually; not so much because I’m a New Zealander and the New Zealand Ambassador, but I was brought up in professional theatre. My parents were both professional actors and I was a professional actor from the age of 8 through to about 23. I’ve always understood New Zealand has very strong theatre. but film has been very difficult mainly for financial reasons. I remember when I was, – I suppose really I could say – I was New Zealand’s leading child actor because when professional actors need children to play parts, who do they use? They use their own. I remember one of our leading playwrights trying to make a film of a very famous play but being held back. Historically we would be held back by a lack of cash, and anyone in the movie industry knows what’s bad about that. I think for a set of reasons, partly to do with government support measures, partly to do with internationalization, we started to attract serious money into New Zealand recently.”
Ambassador Tim Groser
“It was a huge bite to get the Lord of the Rings trilogy filmed in New Zealand. Peter Jackson, who’s of course by far the best known director for New Zealand, has spent a huge amount of time and effort with people and capital here in the United States in particular, to raise the financing to do big budget stuff. We as the government have supported big budget production. The other aspect to it is that typically New Zealand is a very advanced country. The fact that we’re only 4.5 million people doesn’t make that a silly statement, I don’t think. I always like to think of the United States as Los Estados Unidos, United States, as 50 states. We’re about the size of Oregon, which is about 4.5 million people or so and about the same size. Oregon’s a sophisticated place. Go to Portland, you can see. We’ve got very sophisticated facilities and our cost structures have been under control. We’re very competitive in terms of cost and we have very strong technical backing. Put this together as a package plus the incredible scenery of New Zealand and you’ve got a deal. Film is a hugely important part of our cultures. Children are fascinated by it.” Ambassador goes on to compare taking kids to Disneyland, or Hollywood Studios and explains it is the same when the families go to New Zealand film sets. “When I make a few comments in public later on I’ll be quoting a survey that I think is fascinating. HBO did it in 2015 and they came up with the linkage with the broader economy, tourism which is quite extraordinary. HBO’s survey found that 1 in 4 Americans chose their destination for their holiday on the basis of which film set they wanted to go to. It’s unbelievable. Guess which country came out numero uno? New Zealand.”
Ambassador Tim Groser Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“The film is from the dark side of New Zealand Polynesian culture,” Ambassador Groser went on to explain. “While we’re very proud of things we’re doing well, there’s a heck of a lot we need to lift our game. This is set in the underclass gang culture of Maori society, the first people of New Zealand and this is a true story, unbelievable story, about this bipolar genius, chess genius. I’ve often thought as I watch chess grand masters over the years that that really is a case in point of the line between madness and genius – it’s a very, very fine one. This is a true story about a Maori guy with serious mental illness issues who happened to be a chess genius, particularly at speed chess. You know, chess games you can play under 1 minute. It’s the story about how he got a group of kids who are out of control living in gangland culture, and taught them chess. I’m very intrigued by it and I think it’s going to be a good evening.”
James Napier Robertson and Ted Robbins
Following the screening, the audience was treated to a Q&A moderated by Ted Robbins of NPR with writer/director James Napier Robertson, who won Best Director at the 2014 New Zealand Festival, where “The Dark Horse” also took home awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Score.
“The Dark Horse” Trailer”
