5 ...brought to you by the first-ever Mazda CX-3. Tonight on Sunday, the real Kiwi tale behind a film that is Kiwi as. DOGS BARK It's kinda Taika meets Barry. Star director Taika Waititi takes on Kiwi icon Barry Crump. People have been trying to make this film or wanting to make this film for a long, long time. How you doing? Really pleased to meet you. The Hunt for The Wilderpeople,... Imagine living with him. No, thank you. I think he did the good thing by leaving. ...and the hunt for the truth. We became good mates. We actually quite liked each other. ALL ROAR This is Thunderdome. Two men enter. One man leaves. Meet the hard-core Mad Max fans who are living their dreams. When you walk through the gates of Wasteland city, you can suspend all disbelief. It's just... Oh. It was just amazing. It's like being in the film. Captions by Anne Langford. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. It's about as Kiwi as a Kiwi film could get. Hollywood-bound director Taika Waititi's new film is set in remote NZ bushland. It features working dogs, bush shirts, pig hunting and Sam Neill, and it's based on a novel by arguably the best-known Kiwi character of all, the late Barry Crump. It's the first major screen adaptation of Crump's work since his death 20 years ago. Here's Sonya Wilson with the story behind the film and the son who fought for the right to get it made. It's June 2015, and we're on our way to a film set. I've been waiting over 20 years for this so it owes me; it owes me greatly, really. It's a 40-minute drive for me, the end of a 20-year journey for Martin Crump. Very nervous about it. If this one falls over, nothing will get off the ground. CHORAL MUSIC The film, set in the lush and watery Waitakere Ranges, belongs to Taika Waititi's new movie Hunt For The Wilderpeople. OK. Here we go. Camera rehearsal. Stand by, please. But before we meet this guy, this guy, and this guy, to understand why Martin Crump thinks this movie 'owes' him, we need to go back 30 years south to where this story began. It's not so bumpy this way. Because the film started life as the novel ` Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump; Kiwi icon and Martin's dad. Well, Kiwi bushman is what he called himself first up, but he was an author, he was an entertainer, he was a poet. Um, he was a lot of things to a lot of people. How good of a storyteller was your old man? Oh, if you were in his company, you knew you were with somebody quite special. Song Of A Drifter. This is me. I'll read it to you, eh? READS: I've cut me load and that's me song. It's time I hit the track. Barry Crump was the consummate raconteur, a bloke who, when he wasn't hunting pigs or trapping possums, was writing poetry and prose. ARCHIVE: Novelist Barry Crump, the author of many humorous tales of the outdoor life. He can hunt deer and kill pigs with the best of his mates. He was a great bushman, a great author, but here's the thing, he wasn't much of a dad. He was a little bit complicated ` Barry. It wasn't always beer and skittles. In fact, Martin recalls seeing his father just once when he was 9 and again when he was 14. Barry was violent. Let's be honest here. He was a drug taker. He drank a lot. He smoked like a chimney. He` He punished himself hard. He was here for a good time, not a long time. Barry shot through, and that was the kindest thing he could have done. Imagine living with him. No, thank you. I think he did the good thing by leaving. They did eventually manage to form a relationship, bonding years later over golf. We'd have a couple of rounds a day on a Monday and a Tuesday, and got to know each other quite well ` became friends. I liked his company. I mean, why wouldn't you? You'd hear his stories and good times, and a bit of competitive golf. So, you know, we became good mates for that 12 months. I think the dad thing` I don't think it ever really happened, but the friendship ` absolutely. I think we actually quite liked each other. Barry Crump didn't stick around anywhere for long, though, and by 1986 he was living near Opotiki and writing again. ARCHIVE: Crump, who has just completed his latest book, Wild Pork and Watercress, and some say his best yet. His new book? About the relationship between a bad-tempered old bushman and a young city kid. I don't really think you're a bastard. Yeah, you do. The book was based on a real relationship between Barry and this little` and this little Maori boy. There's no race, there's no nothing between them except that relationship between an older man and a younger boy, and it works, it works, so I'm really pleased that Barry got this down. For me, it's` I think his best book. It must have been hard on you to see him able to develop a relationship and a respect for another kid who wasn't his own. Barry found other people's children a lot easier to take care of. Why is that? The responsibility of it. Didn't want it. Didn't want the responsibility of his own children. Couldn't handle it. As simple as that, and it was only after his death that I really understood why Barry couldn't hang around and be the dad that he should have been or could have been or what have you. BAGPIPES PLAY Barry Crump died in 1996, and that's when Martin's fight to be part of his father's story began anew. He had a will. It said, 'I leave everything to my fifth wife, Maggie. 'I want no squabbling over my possessions.' < That's what it said in the will? That's what it said in the will. So he'd left nothing to any of his six sons? Nothing. > And when I read that will and it said that he didn't acknowledge that any of us existed, that was the one thing, the one thing that made me go along to the lawyer and say, 'I'm contesting that will.' And with all the fees and everything that started coming through, I had to sell the family home to pay for it. At the moment it owes me plenty financially, and emotionally it owes me as well. So this is the first of any of that coming back after 20 years. Yes, two decades after Martin won the rights to his late father's books, and here we are. Hey, how are you, Taika? Good, mate. Good. Wild Pork and Watercress... How you doing? Really pleased to meet you. You too. ...is being transformed into 'Hunt For The Wilderpeople', and you get the sense that Martin's pretty chuffed to be here to see it happen. DOGS BARK No, no. We don't need to run. Oh yeah, let's just fast walk. This is the fun part. It's just cool being on set with everyone. We're having fun. I mean, I got invited to the film set. I watched that thing going on. I met Sam and I` I'm seeing all this, and this is great. So here we are. The film follows cantankerous old bushman Uncle Hec and young foster kid Ricky who are on the run from Child Welfare. Nah. We've got no choice but to camp out here for a few weeks. But I'm hungry. There's plenty to eat if you know where to look. Well, I don't know where to look, Hector! Also, I ran out of toilet paper. Give me some of yours. Eh? I've got to poop. I need to poop. You need to poop. We all poop. It stars Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, and its director? Indie superstar Taika Waititi. How much of Barry is present in this shoot? It's a bit of a departure from the book in that we've made it more of a cinematic experience, put in car chases and stuff, and all these big kind of, um, movie tropes in there and... But I think Barry would probably embrace that because he was also famous for saying, 'Don't let the truth get in the way of spinning a good yarn.' Anything for a good story, right? > Exactly. BLADES WHIRR Have you, kind of, inadvertently or deliberately, perhaps, made an action film? Totally. That was, um, a big evolutionary step for me in terms of, like, most of my films have, you know, been labelled, for better or worse, quirky, you know, or whimsical. But, um... And this sort of has a little bit of that quirk and whimsy, but it's definitely gone way more mainstream. I think what's wonderful about the script that I got from Taika is that it's kind of Taika meets Barry, so it has all that Taika offbeat, strange, whacky, brilliant humour combined with that solid Crump material. Smashing stuff, burning stuff, breaking stuff, stealing stuff,... Hey! ...throwing rocks. I think maybe it's a mixture of comedy and pathos, trying to, like, find a balance in there where you can pull an audience in with the entertainment and the laughs, and then... but then somewhere within that story deliver, you know, a deeper message. As for what that message might be, for that we'll defer to the film's 12-year-old star. I feel like it's sort of a love story between this foster boy and this, um, grumpy old man who go out into the bush and have a great time together. Bella told me to tell you that you should give me something to do. Is there anything you want me to do? Yeah, leave me alone. Cool. So what has been like working with Sam? It's great working with Sam. He's so big out in the Jurassic Park and all of those sort of movies. This is only my third film and I'm already filming with such a big star in NZ. And I never knew he was a NZer. Really? So it's been amazing. I've been hanging out with him. Julian has been the best possible company. He's about the funniest kid I've come across in my life, and he just makes me laugh all day. Yes, there's been plenty of laughs on set apparently, but, also, they tell me, plenty of hard work. It was rough. I mean, it was really, like, it was hard work. It was nuts. Cold, um, very cold. Like, I know The Revenant is like` they did some amazing stuff, but, like, try doing it in 25 days. DRAMATIC MUSIC This is the first major project to roll out since I got the copyright back in the hands of the Crumps. So if this one falls over, nothing will get off the ground, and I lost my family home getting it. So this has got high importance for me that this works well. People have been trying to make this film and wanting to make this film for a long, long time. So, no pressure, then, eh? Are you happy with what you've got? Yeah. Really happy. Um, I was happy once we cast Julian and Sam because Julian is a great actor. Sam is a great actor. It's always a relief if you write, definitely if you write dialogue and you're writing characters, to find people who embody those characters, and that's most of the work done, I think. Hip hip... ...hooray! Go on. Blow out your candles. OK. What do you think Barry would make of all of this? Oh, he'd love it. Yeah? He'd love it. What I hope more than anything is that the relationship between Uncle Hec and Ricky shine. If they capture that, they've got it. I think people are going to fall in love with the pair of them. BOTH SCREAM Mate, she's a bit bumpy around here. And Taika's film Hunt For The Wilderpeople comes out at the end of March. Now, we're all about the silver screen tonight. Next, Mad Max swept up a swag of Oscars this year. Now meet the obsessive fans who go mad in the Wasteland. When you walk through the gates of Wasteland city, you can suspend all disbelief. ALL YELL This is the best. This is the best ever! ENGINE ROARS Welcome back. It's a four-day annual festival of Mad Max madness. Only those who live and breathe the post-apocalyptic world are welcome to the Wasteland. Alex Cullen got an invite to the California desert where the most devout fans of the cult classic live in the Mad Max movie. ENGINES REV, RUMBLE I thought I was the only person out there like that ` that sort of craziness. Once a year, deep in the California desert,... Every one of these people here understands my insanity, and they love it. I'm home! ...some very obsessive fans from all parts of the planet go absolutely mad. You can run but you can't hide! This desolate landscape is transformed into the make-believe world of the Mad Max movies. When you walk through the gates of Wasteland city, you can suspend all disbelief. You are now in a post-apocalyptic world. Every which way you look, 360 degrees, it's there. Mad Max was set in the Australian outback; a story about the end of civilisation where marauding gangs roam the desert, and fuel, a precious commodity, is in short supply. Come on! The fourth movie in the series, Fury Road, has a new hero and a new heroine. A film franchise that just gets better. Nothing's going to stop me from going to this event this year. And, uh, yeah, it's absolutely a dream come true. Adelaide tattooist Steve Scholz is obsessed with Mad Max and has the movies playing on loop in his studio. He's going to Wasteland Weekend in California for the first time. Do you have a favourite character? Absolutely. It has to be Wes. As a personality, he's obsessed with just controlling and fighting. A madman. He's absolutely feral. By the time he gets to Wasteland, Steve won't be Steve any more. (LAUGHS) Grrrrrr. Well, there it is. Wasteland is as close as most will ever get to being in a Mad Max film. MAN: Yay! We're going to Wasteland! ALL: Wasteland! If you don't dress up, you don't get in. So I joined the tribe. Chris? Alex. Welcome to Wasteland. Welcome to my home. How good is this? This is the best. This is the best. This is the best ever! ALL SHOUT, ROAR < Is that who I think it is? That's Humongous. < My Lord Humongous. Guard. Greetings. Uh, thank you for inviting me to the Wasteland. It wouldn't be the Wasteland without you. Thanks, man. Thank you, my Lord. Thank you. Um, hi, Humongous. I'm Alex. Greetings. Greetings. Thanks for having me. It's all right, mate. Can you give me your best Humongous line? 'Be still, my dogs of war.' Be still, my dog of war. I understand your pain. We've all lost someone we loved. Can we do that again while you choke me? This is a true dog of war. (GRUNTS) Be still, my dog of war. Losers. Losers. I understand your pain. We've all lost someone we loved. But we can do it my way. We do it my way. Here. The gasoline will be ours, then you shall have your revenge. (CHOKES) Take him away. And when you're not Humongous, who are you? I'm Jim the pool guy. LAUGHS: Jim the pool guy. (LAUGHS) The desert is the perfect place for what the aftermath of the apocalypse might look like. There's no escape from the dust and the heat. How are you going? Pretty good. Hot. Yeah. (LAUGHS) ENGINE REVS The stars of these films are also the souped-up, high-octane motorbikes, cars, trucks ` much like this one called 'Screw Loose'. These vehicles have been transformed into works of art. HORN TOOTS It's a great feeling to get up in the morning and all you can smell is petrol and all you can see is... just... Yeah. All you can hear is the buzzword ` Mad Max. It's just fantastic. A strange land of even stranger characters where the bizarre is commonplace; WEDDING MARCH PLAYS a place where even Humongous takes on the unlikely role of a marriage celebrant. As lord of the Wasteland, I now pronounce you husband and wife. ALL ROAR, CHEER As darkness falls, the Thunderdome transforms from wedding chapel to colosseum. Two men enter. One man leaves. And Wes, or Steve, engages in mortal combat... This is Thunderdome. ...with a styrofoam bat. # We don't need another hero. # We don't need to know the way home. # All we want is life beyond Thunderdome. # BOTH YELL What was so good about it? It was just... just... Oh! It was just amazing. It was like being in the film. Yeah. You've got to admire the commitment, don't you? Well, growing up singing on the marae and a choir certainly paid off. Billboard says he's got the voice of an angel. Next, a sneak peak at our story on Marlon Williams. PEOPLE CHEER Marlon Williams. ALL: Marlon Williams! He's had glowing reviews for his first album. He's been called the bastard son of Roy Orbison and Elvis. That kind of hype is extraordinary for a young artist. I haven't heard a voice like that since Elvis Presley. Welcome back. This guy captivated our crew with his angelic voice, and we're not the only converts. Take a look at our upcoming story. ALL CHEER Marlon Williams. ALL: Marlon Williams! He's had glowing reviews for his first album from Rolling Stone to Mojo to Billboard. He's been called the bastard son of Roy Orbison and Elvis. That kind of hype is extraordinary. What was it like the first time you heard him open his mouth and sing? A bit of a revelation, really. I hadn't heard a voice like that since Elvis Presley. # Fall on your knees... # Oh, such an amazing voice. That is our show for tonight. Join us on Facebook and Twitter, Sunday TVNZ.