Former Offspring actor Caren Pistorius has traded hospital halls for the Wild West, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Caren Pistorius admits she wasn't much of a Western fan until she got a part in Slow West.
Now, she's hooked on the genre.
''I love them. I've watched heaps,'' the Auckland-based actor says, pausing to mentally scan writer and director John Maclean's list of required research, which included Sergio Leone's 1968 classic Once Upon a Time In The West.
A collaborative project involving Film4, the British Film Institute and the New Zealand Film Commission, among others, Slow West was shot largely in the South Island.
Yet there are no spectacular vistas of mountains and lakes; instead the landscape is of the tussock plains, silver beech forests and riverbanks of the Mackenzie Country.
Although Slow West has all the elements of a traditional Western - big landscapes, stand-offs and showdowns, dust and double-crossings, long coats and long days in the saddle - it has more than a few differences, too.
Set at the end of the 19th century, the film follows 16-year-old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as he journeys from a privileged life in the Scottish Highlands to Colorado, where he searches for childhood sweetheart Rose Ross (Pistorius), who had to flee Scotland after a tragic accident left her and her father with a bounty on their heads.
On the phone from Auckland before the film's nationwide release on Thursday Pistorius reflects on how the film's key themes: innocence, hope, greed, sacrifice are bundled into Jay's coming-of-age story.
Love is also explored, though any further explanation might spoil the plot for potential filmgoers.
As for the character of Rose, Pistorius says she ''jumped off the page''.
''The script was very inspiring. As soon as I read it, I thought, 'Wow, I want to play her'. I think she is a colourful character.
''She is not one-dimensional. She's strong but vulnerable; she's also flawed. All those things appealed to me.''
Displacement is another theme put under the spotlight by Scottish director Maclean, whose feature debut follows his Bafta award-winning short film Pitch Black Heist and, before that, a successful career in respected alternative rock outfit the Beta Band.
Thus Slow West is a Western viewed with an outsider's perspective: Jay arrives in the Wild West at a time when there were Germans, Irish, Scots and Swedes also roaming this new land in search of opportunities.
Likewise, Rose undergoes a metamorphosis. Unshackled from the societal hierarchy of the Scottish Highlands, she is a free spirit who often lives in the moment.
Yet, as Pistorius notes, there is a paradox to Rose's newfound freedom: she has a bounty on her head.
The hardest part of Pistorius' role in Slow West wasn't the requirement to master a Scottish Highlands accent but, rather, the fact she had to leave a popular Australian drama series in order to take up a fresh challenge.
Having played obstetrics intern Eloise Ward (the one who had a crush on main character Nina Proudman) in series four of Offspring, Pistorius asked to be written out of any forthcoming series.
The result: Eloise ''went on a volunteering mission to Africa'', and Pistorius ended up on a set that included Hollywood A-lister Michael Fassbender (who plays Silas Selleck, a mysterious and inscrutable stranger acting as paid protector to Jay).
''I was meant to go on to the next season of Offspring but I asked them to let me go and they kindly wrote me out. That meant I was able to do the film.
''Offspring felt like a family, so that was hard. And I was looking forward to returning to Melbourne. But, in saying that, I was so excited to experience something completely different.
''John [Maclean] comes from an artistic background and I think that comes through in the film. In terms of him on the set, it was very peaceful. He was very collaborative.''
So, too, was Fassbender, Pistorius says.
''The biggest thing I learned from him was the amazing energy he'd bring to the set. He would always keep things light and playful and joke around. It ended up permeating through the entire cast.''
Pistorius' performance in Slow West also opened doors, the actor securing a role in The Light Between Oceans, an adaptation of the best-selling book by M. L. Stedman, directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Fassbender and Rachel Weisz.
(Due to be released this year, The Light Between Oceans includes many key scenes shot in Dunedin and Central Otago late last year.)
''Immediately after Slow West, I travelled to South America with my boyfriend and spent about five months there,'' Pistorius explains.
''I got an audition sent through while I was in a little hut in Guatemala, which was surreal. I had to do several auditions and eventually got the part.''
See it
• Slow West opens at cinemas throughout New Zealand on Thursday, May 21.
