In The Convert, Thomas Munro is a lay preacher sent to a British settlement in New Zealand in the 1830s. Where he hopes to find peace and escape the demons of his past, he is thrust into the middle of a conflict between two Maori tribes and a settlement full of ignorant British people who don’t understand the ways of the Indigenous people living on the land they now occupy. Munro’s faith and hope of redemption are tested as he attempts to stop the war between the Maori tribes and opens his mind to understanding their culture.

The Convert subverts what many would expect, with Guy Pearce bringing humanity, empathy, and a hauntedness to the character of Munro. The brutality of the action sequences featuring the Maori is the perfect juxtaposition to the Maori culture and curiosity of some of the members of the tribe. Lee Tamahori helmed the project not only as the director but as a co-writer, bringing a completely different perspective to the story, especially Munro’s journey.

Screen Rant interviewed The Convert director Lee Tamahori. He explained how he approached the action in The Convert differently from how he approached the action with James Bond. He also praised Pearce’s ability to bring the character to life and discussed how the main character, Munro, is fascinated by the Maori culture which influences his journey throughout the movie.

Lee Tamahori Wanted “A Story More About A Humanist Who’s Hiding Out In Clerical Clothes”

Tamahori explained how the story of The Convert changed after he got his hands on the script in order to make the character more enticing to him. Instead of following a religious zealot set on converting the indigenous people of New Zealand, as the title may imply, The Convert follows a different path. With Munro and the Maori influencing each other.

Lee Tamahori: Well, I inherited the script from my producer, which was about a character I wasn’t drawn to. I didn’t like him much at all. He was a religious zealot and I don’t like characters about religious zealots. It doesn’t hold much sway with me. They don’t have anywhere to go with them. You know what they are there. They just believe in a higher power and that dominates the story. I didn’t want to tell that. I wanted a story more about a humanist who’s hiding out in clerical clothes, so to speak, trying to get away from a nightmare in his head.

Trying to get as far away from the United Kingdom or Great Britain as it was called then as he could, and he took his demons with him wherever he went. I was more interested in creating a character that was interested in other cultures and trying to find some meaning in his life. So once I started adapting that screenplay, a lot of things from that screenplay fell away and new things, new elements came into replace them. Which I’m very happy [about].

One of the things I had to do was watch the languages spoken is Maori, te reo, as it’s called, and I didn’t want everything to be subtitled. I needed someone to translate. So I invented a translator who became [Charlotte]. Anyway, she interprets Maori into English so that we can understand, the audience. And other times it’s subtitle and at other times the Maori that’s spoken is not subtitled because you don’t need to know what’s being said. It’s not relevant to the narrative. It’s just stuff that people say to each other or something and it doesn’t need to be. So it was interesting to bounce around all these different elements so that we didn’t have the Maori speaking English.

One of the things I was curious about is kind of the significance of the title for you, The Convert, because this completely subverted what I expected to see based on the title and knowing that there was a preacherat the center of this.

Lee Tamahori: Yeah, exactly. That’s why I was interested. I like the title because they hadn’t been converted rather than the Maori he’s supposed to convert.

Unlike A James Bond Action Sequence, The Convert “Has To Be Scarily Authentic”

Tamahori has directed many movies over the course of his career, including the James Bond movie Die Another Day. He explained how the action in a James Bond movie is different from how he approached the action in The Convert. The brutality of hand-to-hand combat is showcased in The Convert in part because of how stripped down it is compared to most of the action sequences shown in movies today.

Lee Tamahori: Well, we haven’t seen combat like this much on film. There’s been a film called The Dead Lands, and another couple. There is now a highly trained number of Rākau experts. This is Maori hand to hand combat with edged weapon. They call them patu and taiaha. So there’s weapons like most indigenous cultures had spears clubs edged weapons. So there’s a lot of people trained in that now, young Maori. They’re all in the film. They’re a combat unit, which we put together.

Action is just something you make up in your head and you do it shot by shot by shot by shot, and work your way through it. To me it is always important, and in the difference between a James Bond action sequence and a Convert action sequence is The Convert the action has to be scarily authentic. It has to be brutal. It’s fast. There’s no slow motion, no trickery going on. It’s just shot by shot by shot, edited down to a point. Whereas with something like most modern action films have speed ramps, and all sorts of post-production tricks on them. But I didn’t want to do anything other than show the brutality of hand-to-hand combat as it was.

Can you tell me what Guy Pierce brought to the role of Munro that made you immediately go, Oh, that’s my lead?

Lee Tamahori: Well, he instinctively understood who the character was. Once I talked to him, as I said to you, Look, he’s a humanist hiding out, and he’s looking for something, and he does not even know what he’s looking for, but he’s looking for redemption. Even the Maori spot that. There’s a character in there who’s a tohunga, which is a medicine man. He says, Are you seeking redemption, Munro? Only blood can redeem blood, et cetera, et cetera like that. Guy’s veracity to the character, he made him come to life.

I knew he would because everything I’ve seen him do is just so spectacular. He makes you believe in the character he is playing at the time. So we just had a few conversations about the character, but then I just let him run with it. I said, This is what I want from the guy. He speaks like this. He’s taciturn, but he’s open to anything anyone has to say. He’s not prejudiced in any way, shape or form. He’s just a humanist. So once I just, short packet of instructions like that to Guy and he just runs off of the rest of it and does it himself. Just brilliant.

Guy Pearce’s Character Is “Fascinated To See What They’re Like As A Tribal Structure”

Tamahori broke down the dynamic between Munro and the Maori tribes he encounters in the movie. He revealed how Munro’s mission was primarily to convert the Indigenous people of New Zealand to Christianity, but because of Munro’s humanist tendencies and fascination with the Maori, this quickly falls to the wayside.

Lee Tamahori: Well, he comes down there with a view to the leaders of his mission back in Great Britain would’ve told him to go up there and convert the natives to Christianity. So he starts by being hired as a local preacher for his European community, but his intention is 50% of his job is to convert the natives to Christianity. There’s a lot of records of that. That the first Europeans in New Zealand were missionaries and lay preachers. As his first meeting with Maori, he’s fascinated to see what they’re like as a tribal structure and people.

His first meeting with them was brutal. There’s a thing about his horse, but then he’s caught up in a combat situation where he sees that this is just a bloody mess. That doesn’t stop him thinking that if he’s got a chance he can convert them to a peaceful path, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So he becomes fascinated with the young woman he’s rescued, Rangimai, because she’s such an unknown character. He can’t figure out her customs and the way she behaves and what she says and what she does are all alien to him.

But at the same time, they’re fascinating and the further progress into the story, the more respect he has for her and her tribal structure and her father and others like that. But he’s also a bit weary at the same time because he doesn’t realize he’s being used by her father as an mechanism too. There’s a line in there from Charlotte, the other female character who says, watch out for Maianui. He’ll always act in the interest of his tribe.

Basically, meaning you are irrelevant to the greater story, but if you go and talk to this guy and he decides to go and the path of peace, I’ll believe in your God, things like that. That fascinates, the Maori culture, fascinates him because they’re capable of building beautiful things like canoes, and they’re just fascinating people to study from his perspective.

What was the most difficult aspect of filming a period piece?

Lee Tamahori: Most difficult thing was finding locations to shoot in which are untouched by human hands. That meant the shooting in regional parks and state parks where there’s no buildings. Everywhere I looked to build a town, there’s already a town there. So I had to find parts of our natural native parks.

So I wanted to build a vision or a picture of New Zealand that no one had seen before, which is completely untouched by human hand, vegetation everywhere, bird life. [Munro’s] fascinated with that. It’s just like a Garden of Eden to him. But that was the hardest thing. It’s a patchwork of about 12 locations all cobbled together to look like one place. I think it works pretty well.

About The Convert

A lay preacher arrives at a British settlement in 1830s. His violent past is soon drawn into question and his faith put to the test, as he finds himself caught in the middle of a bloody war between Maori tribes. A fight for peace.

Check out our The Convert interview with Guy Pearce.