When Rena Owen sees herself on the viewing screen, dressed as Beth Heke in the opening minutes of Once were Warriors she lets out a hearty cackle, exclaiming: “My god, (director) Lee Tamahori knew what he was doing when he put that bloody tattoo and leather vest on me I tell ya.”
She says she initially thought Beth would be in sweat pants, “he (Lee) just looked at me and said ‘Rena, its not that kind of movie'”.
It wasn’t a movie any of us had seen before.
Once Were Warriors took us into a world we liked to pretend didn’t exist in New Zealand. An often times hard to watch depiction of domestic violence and gang life amongst urban Māori, based on a book by Alan Duff.
Owen played the family matriarch, Beth with Temuera Morrison opposite her as the brutal Jake the Muss.
The film released in 1994 immediately had an impact.
“This film helped to open the door and anger management groups women’s groups were inundated with callers saying I’ve got a warriors problem.”
Even today, Owen said people still come up to her to tell their story.
“I literally had woman come up to my table and burst into tears and go your performance help me to walk away from a violent relationship men saying your film was a an eye-opener.”
The movie could be heavy to shoot, Owen remembers crew members having to leave set because they were breaking down, but thinks it was cathartic for a lot of people.
The actors pride in the movie is clear, but as a young girl in the Far North it wasn’t what she imagined.
“I didn’t grow up with brown faces on our screens / I didn’t see it as a career option for me So 15 years later the thing that pleases me most about the success of Once Were Warriors is that this film Told every little brown child That they could be an actor that they could be writers that they could be filmmakers.”
She also wasn’t prepared for the attention that came with the break out role, calling it “intense”.
“I self destructed and I couldn’t handle it that first year.”
She retreated and battled with alcohol, but gradually learnt to take care better care of herself. That’s paying of now – Hollywood did come calling, she’s had roles in Star Wars and next year will star in a the live action movie Moana as Gramma Tala next year.
But she says it all started with Once were Warriors and she still carries Beth with her.
“Beth was my privilege because I knew, I knew that her and her story, I’m not a mother and I’ve never had children. I knew, though, that her story belonged to a lot of women around the world, Grace’s story, Jake’s story, all of those character stories resonated with people.”