Keeping up with the Morrisons

Temuera Morrison is planning a television comeback with his own reality show on TV One.

The former Shortland Street actor, who has starred in Hollywood movies such as Green Lantern, Scorpion King 3 and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, will star in The Life and Times of Temuera Morrison, from the makers of The GC. The television series is being produced by Bailey Mackey from Black Inc Media, part of Eyeworks NZ. Managing director Ashley Coupland, who's been in the job since Monday, told The Diary that NZ on Air signed off on the project last month.

The series, comprising eight 30-minute episodes, has received nearly $425,000 in public funding from Rautaki Maori.

NZ On Air describes it as a look at "one of Maori's favourite sons as he re-evaluates his acting career, engages in competitive kapa haka and reveals his evolving relationships with whanau".

TVNZ executive Andrew Shaw said the network was "looking forward to showing New Zealand more of Tem".

The star told Radio New Zealand this week he's keen to add another string to his bow and follow the reality TV craze.

"I'm sort of taking a leaf out of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Ridges. I said, well, I'm going to do a show called Keeping Up With the Morrisons, and someone has liked that idea."

Morrison, who has a feature film coming out next month with Stan Walker called Mt Zion, said compared to movie-making, reality television was inexpensive and straightforward to produce.

"TV is cheap. You just grab two video cameras and we run around. The days of the English drama and all that are gone now. It's too expensive, you know. Hiring all the crew, getting all the sets made, getting all the vehicles, hiring all the writers and actors. It's too expensive. It's all reality TV for the moment."

Morrison admits the Hollywood movie business has slowed down for him. "To be quite honest, I'm not in that position where there is a pile of scripts, where I'll go, yes, I'll tackle this project now. Sometimes there's a pile of Sunday papers on the table instead of scripts."

He says he's all too aware of the fickleness of Hollywood. "You're flavour of the month and you have your turn, and then you have to try and sustain it, otherwise the next Once Were Warriors comes out the following week and it's their turn."

Aussies, he reckons, are de rigueur in Hollywood these days. "The exotic Maori from New Zealand seems to be wavering a bit," he said.

Evidently not, however, when it comes to our local telly shows.

Source: New Zealand Herald