Oscar nomination for Conchords star   7 Feb 2012

Anna Blair

Coming out this Thursday at UK cinemas is a film featuring New Zealand’s biggest chance of winning an Oscar for 2011. While this Academy Award season is unusually light-hearted, The Muppets is especially so, and Bret McKenzie’s ‘Man or Muppet,’ nominated for Best Original Song, is sure to bring a smile to any face.

This is the sole Academy Award nomination for The Muppets, a film reviving Jim Henson’s popular comic puppets, an American institution. McKenzie worked as music supervisor for the film and wrote five songs, including ‘Man or Muppet, which is currently the favourite amongst bookies to win Best Original Song.

Bret McKenzie is a comedian and musician best known as one half of Flight of the Conchords. McKenzie was born and grew up in Wellington, attending Victoria University. It was here that he met Jemaine Clement, his collaborator for Flight of the Conchord’s four albums and television series. Flight of the Conchords were successful internationally, securing the stars global reputations.

Thus far, 16 Academy Awards have been won by New Zealanders. Most famously, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings won in 2003 and Jane Campion’s The Piano in 1993. Anna Paquin was famously too young to watch her own performance in the latter, which won her the prize for Best Supporting Actress.

Most recently, Keisha Castle Hughes was nominated for Best Actress in 2004’s Whale Rider. In the same year, Mount Taranaki stood in for Mount Fuji in The Last Samurai, a film which earnt Nigela Dickson, another New Zealander, a nomination for Best Costume Design.

If McKenzie takes home the prize, it won’t be his first brush with this proud tradition. Before his success with Flight of the Conchords, McKenzie played an elf in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first instalment of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. His father and brother also had small parts in the same film.

While appearing for no more than three seconds in the background of group scenes, McKenzie’s elf became an internet sensation, named ‘Figwit’ by fans. This popularity was such that he was given a line in the third film, Return of the King, credited as ‘Elf Escort’ in the year that New Zealanders won 11 Academy Awards.

This year, McKenzie’s contribution is very different. ‘Man or Muppet’ is a humorous take on the soul-searching ballad in which characters sing about the unusual dilemma of being on the border between the Muppet and human worlds. McKenzie’s musical style is in keeping with the spirit of the original Muppets. His sincerity and ease with unusual themes resonates, and the song will appeal both to long-time fans and those hearing his work for the first time.

Interestingly, ‘Man or Muppet’ is up against ‘Real in Rio’, from Rio, a film featuring McKenzie’s well-known collaborator, Jemaine Clement. Clement stars in Rio as Nigel, a cockatoo working as a bird smuggler. Clement does not sing in Rio, however, and was not involved in penning the soundtrack, so the two friends will not be pitted against one another.

After this, McKenzie is slated to appear in Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of The Hobbit. Currently based in Los Angeles, part of the kiwi expat community that stretches across the world, filming for this production will take McKenzie back to New Zealand. In addition to this, fans can hope for a Flight of the Conchords film; in late 2011, McKenzie and Clement announced their interest in this, though as yet no plans are set.

For those wanting to watch the 84th Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles on the 26th of February, the awards will screen from midnight in the UK, an unfortunate time for those with work the following day. There’s not much on offer for those wishing to cheer on their compatriot en masse, though the Rich Mix in Bethnal Green are hosting an event for those wanting to dress up, make predictions and watch the Awards on a big screen.

Either way, one can look forward to the live performance of ‘Man or Muppet’ in the Academy Award Ceremony, and hope that the future sees as many nominations for outstanding New Zealanders in film as in the past. If a Flight of the Conchords film does crop up, it seems hopeful that more nominations in a similar spirit will follow.

 

Anna Blair is a freelance writer and architectural historian studying hotels from the 1920s. She currently divides her time between Paris and East London.

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