Greenstone
Greenstone is shown periodically on The Odyssey Channel. Check www.odysseychannel.com for programming information.
From the makers of the smash hit film Once Were Warriors comes Greenstone,
an epic TV drama about a love story played out on a grand scale against
impossible odds.
Launching with a special two-hour premiere, Greenstone is the sweeping
saga of a woman caught in a love during New Zealand's turbulent birth
as a nation in the mid-1800s .
Samuel Markham (Matthew Rhys) is a lower middle-class Englishman,
Marama (Simone Kessell) is the daughter of one of the most powerful
and feared Maori warrior chiefs, and Sir Geoffrey is a dashing soldier
and peer of the realm. They are from opposite sides of the planet
and entirely opposite cultures.
Producer Robin Scholes sees Greenstone as an historical saga which
traverses romance and war. "The key things about it is that all the characters are involved in
a period of history where things are changing enormously. The decisions
and choices they make are going to change history," she says.
Greenstone enables two worlds to meet - the English and the Maori.
Scholes says the theme is set against the wider canvas of the political
story as the English culture comes into contact with Maoridom. "It's about two cultures working in a partnership."
In the first episode, Marama and her father arrive in England to officially
meet Queen Victoria, but Te Manahau (George Henare), Marama's father,
secretly wants to buy guns. Marama meets and falls in love with Sir
Geoffrey Halford, but the unsuitability of their match soon becomes
apparent.
"Matthew and Richard are such wonderful actors and I was very interested
to see the way they worked," says Kessell. "It's interesting to see
how different the English style is to New Zealand. "I remember when Richard (who plays Sir Geoffrey) walked into the
make-up room, he had just arrived in New Zealand. "I had only seen a picture of him and my illusions of Sir Geoffrey
were shattered. He is the ultimate love of Marama's life, but once
he was in full costume and had had a haircut, I was proven wrong -
he's very debonair and suave, he's just gorgeous," Kessell says.
Greenstone tells the story of a battle for primacy between the old
world and the new - a time when one man will trade guns and principles
for the love of a woman.
AS SOON as Matthew Rhys read the script for Greenstone he says
he loved the ideas - especially the meeting of two different cultures.
Rhys stars as Sam Markham - a young, bold, optimistic gunsmith
who is the product of the Victorian industrial hinterland. He falls under the spell of Marama (Simone Kessell) and his
love for her places him at the centre of a brutal blood clash between Maori
and pakeha. "It's a very rich story with so many things in it. It's
a love story, it's got wars and it's historical. I loved the thought of riding
and the shooting. It's a real adventure story as well," he
says.
Rhys feels his character is basically an angry young man, but
there are parts of him that he relates to well. "He's tired of the aristocratic oppressive rulers of England,
he wants to get out and make a new world for himself. He's very interested
in change and progress - he hates the suffocating feeling that
heritage and ritual imposes on him," he says. "He's also very
idealistic and very determined in what he wants. He's a believer and he'll follow
through to the end. I can be like that."
Acting with children was a new experience for Markham who at
times says he nearly lost his patience. "It's been very trying
- you definitely have to have a lot of patience," he says.
He found acting with animals was more fun. "There's been
a lot on the horses - I loved it. The wagon driving and so on was fantastic.
I've done a little but not much so it was a real baptism of fire."
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