This feature is part of a series on New Zealand cinema.
Between 1999 and 2025, stretching from his iconic debut, Scarfies, to the powerful Pike River, Rob Sarkies has worked with some of the finest Aotearoa New Zealand actors of the last 25 years.
In a wide-ranging new interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, coinciding with his second feature, Out of the Blue, returning to the big screen at New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) 2026, Sarkies reflected on his collaborations with some of the famous faces that have featured in his casts over the years.
In the aforementioned Out of the Blue, which depicts the 1990 Aramoana massacre, then the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand history until Ōtautahi Christchurch 2019, Karl Urban played local police officer Nick Harvey.
This was long before Urban played Billy Butcher in The Boys, which took him to another level of stardom entirely, but Sarkies noted that the actor “was already getting established internationally when we made the film, so it was a real coup to have him involved.”
According to the Dunedin-born director, Urban “took the responsibility of the role very seriously,” spending time with Nick Harvey before portraying the police officer. “Karl really ‘got’ the anchored tone of what I was going for and was a total pro to work with. It is a far cry from many of the more heightened roles he has played in Hollywood, which I think shows his breadth.”
Almost two decades later, Pike River united Sarkies with national treasures Robyn Malcolm (Outrageous Fortune, Top of the Lake) and Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures, Yellowjackets), and he said it was “a dream” to work with the pair.
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“I mean, honestly that combination felt like dream casting for this story, and we were so lucky to have them,” he continued. “Mel and Robyn are both lovely people, fantastic actors, and were so committed to honouring [their real-life characters] Sonya and Anna, who they were playing.”
Pike River, which carefully and honestly looked at the Pike River Mine disaster of 2010, received an “incredible” response from Kiwi audiences.
“I did about 20 Q&A screenings throughout the country and people were clearly deeply moved and angered by it,” Sarkies recalled. “There were 20 standing ovations for Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osbourne (the real people the film’s main characters are based on) everywhere it played. I think it opened a lot of eyes to what happened, and also what we are becoming as a country.”
Read our full interview with Sarkies here.
