The New Zealand culture and nature is such that we find it very difficult to celebrate creative achievement. In order to get New Zealanders’ respect you have to dominate the world like Peter Jackson has done. He is absolutely revered. Niki Caro Read Quote
I never had a mentor. God, it would have been nice, but I just didn’t. I look up to Jane Campion. And my most favorite director Lynne Ramsay. Niki Caro Read Quote
Personally, I have nothing to prove. But I’m tremendously curious about human nature. Female life is so incredibly underexplored in cinema, so these stories feel very exotic. Niki Caro Read Quote
I think a lot of action films, and I’m just saying this as a moviegoer, the default setting on action films seems to be how could it be cooler? Niki Caro Read Quote
A film like ‘Whale Rider’ is equally truthful, perhaps more so, to the Maori experience; Maori people respond to ‘Whale Rider’ because it’s a world that they understand. Niki Caro Read Quote
I was always stealing 40-gallon drums off the road at night, bringing them back to the workshop and cutting them up with a gas axe because I loved to weld. I would make creatures out of these old metal drums. Niki Caro Read Quote
When I made ‘Whale Rider’ – of course, I’m not Maori and have no business, as a white girl, telling people how to be in this movie – I started by learning the language, as best I could. Niki Caro Read Quote
Sense of place is really big for me – as a filmmaker and as an audience member, it’s huge. Niki Caro Read Quote
It’s a privilege to tell stories on film. It can be a great community to live a professional life. All of us that do this work should feel very grateful that we can. Niki Caro Read Quote
I really value the skill and sensitivity of my collaborators, and I am really interested in – perhaps more so than if I was a male director – the hair, makeup and the textures of the fabric and the wallpaper. Niki Caro Read Quote
