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THE director of The Bourne Supremacy, Paul Greengrass, obviously thinks cold-blooded assassins when he thinks New Zealand, because he has cast two Kiwis as hitmen in his film. Marton Csokas plays a German killer called Jarda, but it’s Karl Urban who is generating the most heat as Russian executioner Kirill. The 31-year-old father of one got his start on New Zealand’s version of Neighbours, Shortland Street, before playing Julius Caesar in Xena, but it was his part as Eomer in The Two Towers and The Return of the King that put him on the map. Urban (below) reportedly was paid a $400,000 bonus for his work on The Lord of the Rings films, which led to parts in Ghost Ship and The Chronicles of Riddick. The Rings films also gave him an insight into his home country. “I got to see more of my country in those 10 months than I had done living there all my life. There are incredible aspects of New Zealand geography, straight out of the pages of Tolkien, that I never knew existed. “Ironically, there were cast members from overseas who’d been on location longer than I, showing me around. Viggo Mortensen was showing me the best fishing spots!” he told Air New Zealand’s in-flight magazine. Greengrass, the award-winning British director of Bloody Sunday, about the 1972 Northern Ireland peace march, says he sees much of his countrymen in his Kiwi stars. “I think Kiwis have the same mindset as Brits in Hollywood. You have to be on the front foot and believe and try. “This movie alone indicates quite a depth of the talent coming from New Zealand." Damon says Urban, his nemesis in the film, “had even fewer scenes to speak than me, he had to convey a lot, and he did a great, great job. I hope it does great things for him. He deserves it, he’s a great actor.” |
