Podcast 108: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

The 3 Guys Podcast

Recorded on 3/30/2023

Nature just got gangster. This week we are reviewing the movie “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” starring Sam Neill, Julian Dennison and directed by Taika Waititi. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS!

The 3 Guys Rating

4.25/5

Notes From The Show

  • Quick Synopsis

  • Released: January 22, 2016

    Directed By: Taika Waititi

    Screenplay By: Taika Waititi

    Based on the Book: “Wild Pork and Watercress” by Barry Crump

    Music By: Lukasz Buda, Samuel Scott & Conrad Wedde

    Cinematography By:  Lachlan Milne

    Stars: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House and a bunch of other actors.

    Plot:
    A national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.

    Taglines:  Nature just got gangster

    How did this movie do?
    Budget: $2.5 Million
    Box Office: $23 Million

  • Casting

    • An open casting call was held for a 12 to 15 year-old Maori girl to play the role of Kahu, with Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne selected out of 150 applicants. Ngatai-Melbourne auditioned after her friends thought the character description of Kahu sounded like her.

    • Sir Sam Neill described the film as very funny with many funny people in it and one unfunny person, that last one being himself.
  • Trivia

    • The film was the first local feature to gross more than NZ$1 million in its opening weekend at the New Zealand box office.

    • All of the news presenters in the film were actual news presenters on New Zealand TV at the time of filming.

    • The fourth film directed by Taika Waititi to premiere at Sundance Festival, after Eagle vs Shark (2007), Boy (2010), and What We Do in the Shadows (2014), which all won critical acclaim.

    • The movie’s director Taika Waititi has a small role as the minister.

    • In Ricky’s haiku, he says that he hates Kingi. Kingi was a character in Boy (2010), another film directed by Taika Waititi.

    • Ricky Baker does not believe that Uncle Hec’s use of “majestical” is correct. The word majestical was used by William Shakespeare and appears in Hamlet (Act 1,Scene 1) when Marcellus refers to the departing Ghost’s monarchial appearance: ‘Tis gone. We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence, For it is, as the air, invulnerable, And our vain blows malicious mockery.’

    • The “Ricky Baker, Happy Birthday” song was created especially for the film because the producers did not have the rights to use the traditional “Happy Birthday” song. EDIT: However, in September 2015 the copyright claim by Warner Chappell Music was declared invalid and there were no current claimants to the copyright for the song. The song effectively became public domain in the US and EU with this decision and there would have been no copyright issue when the film was released (2016) if the originally filmed scenes using the traditional “Happy Birthday” song had been used.

    • The “boar” was created using a mix of CGI and a physical costume operated by two people underneath – one as the front legs, the second person as the rear.

    • The song that Ricky was dancing to as he listened to his Walkman was Magic What She Do by Dave Dobbyn.

    • Ricky mentions a situation is just like the Lord of the Rings, the Peter Jackson film series which was also filmed entirely in the New Zealand wilderness.

    • The Uncle is portrayed as illiterate. The actor who plays him, Sir Sam Neill, however has a BA in English Literature.

    • Sir Sam Neill also appeared as a man on the run from the government in the New Zealand bush in Sleeping Dogs (1977).

    • The magpie spotted in Ricky’s room near the end is wearing a Collingwood Football Club jersey.

    • Ricky names his dog Tupac after the famous late rapper. Tupac is also the name of Ali G’s dog in Ali G Indahouse (2002).

    • One part of the chase scene with the red Toyota Hilux copies a 1980’s New Zealand TV commercial for the Toyota Hilux (Crumpy and Scotty) shot for shot.

    • The scene at Bella’s funeral with the Minister’s bizarre eulogy was based on an actual experience that writer-director Taika Waititi witnessed.

    • The Toyota that Hec and Ricky use to escape from Psycho Sam’s hideout is called Crumpy, in reference to Barry Crump, the author of the book the screenplay was based on. An identical vehicle was driven by Barry Crump in a long running series of Toyota commercials in New Zealand, where Barry played a bushman taking a city slicker named Scotty for a drive through the Bush. Scotty was played by Lloyd Scott, who appears in this film as “Tourist”.

    • The Huia bird that is “spotted” by RIckey and Hec in the movie is a real species of New Zealand wattle bird. The last confirmed sighting of the bird was in 1907, but there were some credible sightings in the early 1960s. It is believed to be extinct.

    • The scene with the boar coming at Hec is near identical to a scene in New Zealand movie What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999) starring Temuera Morrison which is the sequel to Once Were Warriors (1994).

Released: January 22, 2016

Directed By: Taika Waititi

Screenplay By: Taika Waititi

Based on the Book: “Wild Pork and Watercress” by Barry Crump

Music By: Lukasz Buda, Samuel Scott & Conrad Wedde

Cinematography By:  Lachlan Milne

Stars: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House and a bunch of other actors.

Plot:
A national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.

Taglines:  Nature just got gangster

How did this movie do?
Budget: $2.5 Million
Box Office: $23 Million

  • An open casting call was held for a 12 to 15 year-old Maori girl to play the role of Kahu, with Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne selected out of 150 applicants. Ngatai-Melbourne auditioned after her friends thought the character description of Kahu sounded like her.

  • Sir Sam Neill described the film as very funny with many funny people in it and one unfunny person, that last one being himself.
  • The film was the first local feature to gross more than NZ$1 million in its opening weekend at the New Zealand box office.

  • All of the news presenters in the film were actual news presenters on New Zealand TV at the time of filming.

  • The fourth film directed by Taika Waititi to premiere at Sundance Festival, after Eagle vs Shark (2007), Boy (2010), and What We Do in the Shadows (2014), which all won critical acclaim.

  • The movie’s director Taika Waititi has a small role as the minister.

  • In Ricky’s haiku, he says that he hates Kingi. Kingi was a character in Boy (2010), another film directed by Taika Waititi.

  • Ricky Baker does not believe that Uncle Hec’s use of “majestical” is correct. The word majestical was used by William Shakespeare and appears in Hamlet (Act 1,Scene 1) when Marcellus refers to the departing Ghost’s monarchial appearance: ‘Tis gone. We do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence, For it is, as the air, invulnerable, And our vain blows malicious mockery.’

  • The “Ricky Baker, Happy Birthday” song was created especially for the film because the producers did not have the rights to use the traditional “Happy Birthday” song. EDIT: However, in September 2015 the copyright claim by Warner Chappell Music was declared invalid and there were no current claimants to the copyright for the song. The song effectively became public domain in the US and EU with this decision and there would have been no copyright issue when the film was released (2016) if the originally filmed scenes using the traditional “Happy Birthday” song had been used.

  • The “boar” was created using a mix of CGI and a physical costume operated by two people underneath – one as the front legs, the second person as the rear.

  • The song that Ricky was dancing to as he listened to his Walkman was Magic What She Do by Dave Dobbyn.

  • Ricky mentions a situation is just like the Lord of the Rings, the Peter Jackson film series which was also filmed entirely in the New Zealand wilderness.

  • The Uncle is portrayed as illiterate. The actor who plays him, Sir Sam Neill, however has a BA in English Literature.

  • Sir Sam Neill also appeared as a man on the run from the government in the New Zealand bush in Sleeping Dogs (1977).

  • The magpie spotted in Ricky’s room near the end is wearing a Collingwood Football Club jersey.

  • Ricky names his dog Tupac after the famous late rapper. Tupac is also the name of Ali G’s dog in Ali G Indahouse (2002).

  • One part of the chase scene with the red Toyota Hilux copies a 1980’s New Zealand TV commercial for the Toyota Hilux (Crumpy and Scotty) shot for shot.

  • The scene at Bella’s funeral with the Minister’s bizarre eulogy was based on an actual experience that writer-director Taika Waititi witnessed.

  • The Toyota that Hec and Ricky use to escape from Psycho Sam’s hideout is called Crumpy, in reference to Barry Crump, the author of the book the screenplay was based on. An identical vehicle was driven by Barry Crump in a long running series of Toyota commercials in New Zealand, where Barry played a bushman taking a city slicker named Scotty for a drive through the Bush. Scotty was played by Lloyd Scott, who appears in this film as “Tourist”.

  • The Huia bird that is “spotted” by RIckey and Hec in the movie is a real species of New Zealand wattle bird. The last confirmed sighting of the bird was in 1907, but there were some credible sightings in the early 1960s. It is believed to be extinct.

  • The scene with the boar coming at Hec is near identical to a scene in New Zealand movie What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999) starring Temuera Morrison which is the sequel to Once Were Warriors (1994).

About The Movie From IMDB

Hunt for the Wilderpeople | July 1, 2016 (United States) 7.8

Photos


See all photos >>

Videos


See all videos >>

Cast

...
Hec
...
Ricky Baker
...
Bella Faulkner
...
Paula Hall
...
PC Andy Tappert
...
Ron
...
Joe
...
Hugh
...
Psycho Sam
...
TK
...
Minister
...
Gavin
...
Sick Man
...
Tourist
...
Organ Player
...
Church Lady
...
Court Lawyer

See full cast >>

Countries: New ZealandLanguages: English

Note: All images are property of their respected owners and used for editorial purposes.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople | July 1, 2016 (United States) Summary: A national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.
Countries: New ZealandLanguages: English

Quotes

Hec: Me and this fat kid / We ran we ate and read books / And it was the best.


Ricky Baker: [reading wanted poster] "Faulkner is cauc-asian" - well, they got that wrong because you're obviously white.


Ricky Baker: Trees. Birds. Rivers. Sky. / Running with my Uncle Hec / Living forever.


Ricky Baker: [Reciting a haiku he wrote] Kingi you wanker / You arsehole, I hate you heaps / Please die soon, in pain.


Officer Andy: Oh look, he's giving a pig a piggyback ride.


Ricky Baker: I didn't choose the skuxx life, the skuxx life chose me.


Ricky Baker: I'll never stop running!

Paula: Yeah, and I'll never stop chasing you - I'm relentless, I'm like the Terminator.

Ricky Baker: I'm more like the Terminator than you!

Paula: I said it first, you're more like Sarah Connor, and in the first movie too, before she could do chinups.


Minister: You know, sometimes in life it seems like there's no way out. Like a sheep trapped in a maze designed by wolves.


Hec: Pretty majestical, aye?

Ricky Baker: I don't think that's a word.

Hec: Majestical? Sure it is.

Ricky Baker: Nah, it's not real.

Hec: What would you know?

Ricky Baker: It's majestic.

Hec: That doesn't sound very special, majestical's way better.


Officer Andy: We're offering ten thousand dollars to anyone who can capture them, dead or alive.

Officer Andy: Oh. Alive. They should be alive.


Hec: Sam, what's the fastest way out of here?

Psycho Sam: Jetpack.

Ricky Baker: [excited] Do you actually have a jetpack?


[Last lines]

Ricky Baker: Here we go. Reckon you can handle it?

Hec: What do you think? Reckon you can find that bird?

Ricky Baker: Yeah, I think I know where it is.

Hec: Seem to remember it was a pretty beautiful place.

Ricky Baker: Yeah, majestical. Come on, let's go. Don't slow me down, old fella.

Hec: You keep up with yourself, young player. Get in my way I'll have your guts for garters.

Ricky Baker: I honestly don't know what "guts for garters" is, so...

Hec: Those gangster talk.

Ricky Baker: Yeah, we didn't choose the Skux life.

Hec: The Skux life chose us.

Ricky Baker: Yeah.


Ricky Baker: Uncle, you're basically a criminal now. But on the bright side, you're famous.


Ricky Baker: Shit just got real! Back up, homies, and let go of my uncle!


Minister: You would think Jesus. I thought Jesus the first time I came across that door. It's not Jesus. It's another door. And guess what's on the other side of that door? Yeah, Jesus. He's tricky like that, Jesus.


Ricky Baker: We'll just tell them you were looking after me.

Hec: Doesn't matter what you tell them, they won't believe you. They'll think I made you do it. I'm not going back to jail, I'm better off up here. This is no place for a kid. You're gonna have to go back, Ricky.

Ricky Baker: To what?

Hec: To the welfare people.

Ricky Baker: No!

Hec: They'll look after you.

Ricky Baker: No, they won't!

Hec: They'll find you another home, you'll be fine.

Ricky Baker: You're not listening! Nobody listens! There's no more homes, just juvy!

Hec: What's juvy?

Ricky Baker: Juvenile prison. They don't care about kids like me, they just keep moving us around until something happens like... Amber.

Hec: Oh no, bugger then. Okay, okay. We're in about a million hectares of bush, that's big, it's big enough to hide in for a while, anyway.

Ricky Baker: Good enough for me.

Hec: But we're heading into winter. It's gonna be rough, no huts, no tents, real bush life. Can you handle that?

Ricky Baker: I can handle it.

Hec: Yeah. And if you play up, I dump you.

Ricky Baker: Okay, Uncle.

Hec: I'd still prefer if you don't call me Uncle.

Ricky Baker: Okay, Hec. So what do we do now?

Hec: We run.

[They run for a few seconds, then stop out of breathe]

Hec: Wait, wait wait. Maybe we don't need to run.

Ricky Baker: Oh yeah, let's just fast walk.


Ricky Baker: It was a relaxing song... and a relaxing sausage.


Hec: You can take him, but I'm staying here.

Hugh: Like hell. People want answers.

Ron: Yeah, answers.

Hec: Look, we got lost, I got injured, he's fine, it was basically a holiday.

Ricky Baker: Not a real holiday because he made me do stuff.

Hugh: Like what?

Ricky Baker: Just stuff. He had a sore leg so he made me do things for him. It was hard at first because my hands are so soft, but I got used to it. I didn't really wanna do it, but it was the only way to survive. It wasn't always hard, sometimes I got to do my own thing. He pretty much never joined in with me though. I asked if he wanted to play with me, but he would just make me play with myself.

Ron: I feel sick.


Ricky Baker: That's not very fair. Some people can't even have babies, and the ones who can, they don't even want them.


Ricky Baker: Ricky town, population... Ricky


Hec: I've been to prison.

Ricky Baker: Gangster! For what?

Hec: Manslaughter.

Ricky Baker: Double gangster! You need a teardrop tattoo!


Bella: [singing] Ricky Baker, now you are 13 years old. / You are a teenager and you're as good as gold. / Ricky Baker, Ricky Baker, / Happy Birthday. / Once rejected, now accepted, / By me and Hector. / We're trifecta.


Bella: [to Ricky] What you wanna do, you hungry? That's a silly question, isn't it? Look at you.


Ricky Baker: I ran out of toilet paper, give me some of yours.

Hec: Eh?

Ricky Baker: I've gotta poop. I need to poop, you need to poop, we all poop.

Hec: Use a leaf.

Ricky Baker: A leaf? Ugh! I hate you.

[Ricky walks away]

Hec: And bury it!

Ricky Baker: I'll bury you.


Ricky Baker: He's molestering me!


Hec: Shit just got real... again


Ricky Baker: Why do you reckon he calls himself "Psycho Sam?"

[Psycho Sam puts kitchen pots on Ricky and Hec's head]

Joe: Here you go. Put these on, to stop the government from tracking you.

Ricky Baker: Never mind.


Bella: [to Ricky] Come on, have some breakfast, then you can run away.


Paula: This ain't no charred foster kid.


Hec: [meeting Ricky] You ever worked on a farm before or you just... ornamental?


Ricky Baker: Shit just got real

Hec: Yeah shit just got real


[last lines]

Ricky Baker: We didn't choose the skux life.

[last lines]

Hec: The skux life chose us.


Bella: [after Ricky gets a dog] What are you gonna call him?

Ricky Baker: I'm still thinking. Something fierce to reflect its true nature. Either Psycho, Megatron or Tupac.

Bella: What's a Tupac?


Minister: Thank you, Selena. Take it away.

[Selena begins to play a funeral piece on the organ]

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