"We were still kind of innocent and hokey [in the '80s]. New Zealand was almost like a teenager, you know?"
Award-winning writer Oscar Kightley revisits his '80s childhood in the upcoming TV series Duckrockers.
Oscar Kightley Photo: supplied
Oscar Kightley is casting for Duckrockers now and is keen to hear from males and females aged 13 - 17 who can dance, act and sing. Show off your skills!
New Zealand was a fun, innocent place to be a teenager in the 1980s, and that decade was an interesting one for Aotearoa as a country, Oscar tells Nathan Rarere.
"[The decade] was bookended by the Springbok Tour in '81 when everyone's suddenly like 'oh what? We're not like England' … and then Black Monday stock market crash in '89.
"We were still kind of innocent and hokey [in the '80s]. New Zealand was almost like a teenager, you know?"
Duckrockers is a prequel to the hit comedy films Sione's Wedding (2006) and Sione's 2 (2012).
It follows five young Pasifika "boppers" [breakdancers] who are teenage versions of the characters in the Sione's films.
We first meet them as 14-year-olds in 1984 - the same year Oscar was also 14 and bopping in his beloved two-tone Lenco tracksuit.
"Backspins was like the first move you tried, eh? After you did the wave… and then when Rock Steady Crew came in everyone's suddenly doing the Crazy Legs and adding that to their routines."
The arrival of hip-hop culture in the 1980s was a big deal for Pasifika and Māori kids, Oscar says.
"Suddenly there was this music expression and this culture that [we] could resonate with and latch on to.
"For the first time, it was like seeing popular culture reflecting something we could kind of do and get into."
Sione's Wedding co-creator James Griffin first had the idea of a prequel feature film, Oscar says, then Andrew Szusterman from South Pacific Pictures suggested they make a series instead.
"Now we're doing it, we got funding, we convinced the powers that be and we're going into production next year."
Oscar hopes Duckrockers will continue after its first season and offer cool opportunities for young New Zealand actors in the future.
Oscar Kightly is the host of the RNZ podcast Untold Pacific History. He spoke to RNZ's Kim Hill about his documentary Dawn Raid in January 2021.
