During downtime between gothic hit What We Do in the Shadows and his first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with next year’s Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi carved out time to direct an atypical adventure film in the form of Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Premiering at Sundance to rave reviews, today heralds the arrival of the film’s first full trailer, and it’s one that places a laser focus on Sam Neill and Julian Dennison’s unlikely duo. Neill, sporting a beard and a gruff attitude, takes point as Nec, the curmudgeonly foster uncle that is left caring for Dennison’s unruly young city kid.
One major misunderstanding later and Dennison and Neill’s mismatched twosome are off on the run from government officials.
Hunter for the Wilderpeople will be based on Barry Crump’s acclaimed adventure novel, Wild Pork And Watercress. First published in 1995, Crump’s story is described as so: “Ricky (Julian Dennison) is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his grumpy foster uncle (Sam Neill) in the wild New Zealand bush. A national manhunt ensues and the two are forced to put aside their differences and work together to survive in this hilarious and heartfelt adventure.”
Starring opposite Neill and Dennison are Rima Te Wiata, Rhys Darby, Rachel House, Oscar Kightley, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Troy Kingi, Cohen Holloway, Stan Walker, Mike Minogue, Hamish Parkinson, Lloyd Scott.
Outside of Sundance, Hunt for the Wilderpeople will open in Waititi’s native home of New Zealand on March 31. We expect to catch wind of a US theatrical release later in 2016.
