Eagle vs Shark

Writer-Director: Taika Waititi
Starring: Loren Horsley, Jemaine Clement
Studio: Miramax Films
Production Budget: US$200,000 (NZ$1.8 million)

A story of Lovable Losers framed within a Wellington, New Zealand, absurdly quirky romantic comedy. Comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine waft in the aftertaste of audiences' viewing. The film will find a distinct and large niche audience (if you loved and laughed with Napoleon Dynamite, you will love and laugh with Eagle vs Shark).

Lily (Loren Horsley) is a shy, awkward, burger-flipping oddball of a young woman who reveals a strength of character and force of personality that proves irresistible to equally oddball Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), Lily's chosen object of affection. When Jarrod tries to slip an invitation to his party to Lily's co-worker, she takes the invitation for herself.

The party's theme? Come dressed as an animal and compete in the video game-athon. The winner gets to play Eagle Lord himself - aka Jarrod. Fiercely optimistic, Lily impresses when she shows up to the party dressed as a shark. She then demonstrates killer video game prowess, thus earning the privilege of competing in the final showdown with Eagle Lord. This earns her a hookup with Eagle Lord, and they embark on a ridiculous road to falling in love.

The film encourages us to feel that all those ugly, unlovable parts of ourselves we hope no one else notices or knows about, can, in fact be loved and redeemed. Humanity lies in our magnificent imperfection.

Cliff Curtis, New Zealand's locally celebrated and most recognizable male actor today (Whale Rider, Live Free or Die Hard, Sunshine) produced Eagle vs Shark; sharing an indirect Maori tribal affiliation, Curtis has mentored writer-director Taika Waititi since Waititi began shooting his short films in 1995 while still attending university in New Zealand.

Waititi's Oscar-nominated short film Two Cars, One Night (2005) succeeded in putting him on the map. In May 2005, he submitted a script for Eagle vs Shark to the Sundance Lab, was accepted and attended the lab in June. By August, Waititi had the funding for the film in place, and had started shooting by October of the same year.

Lead actress Horsley, who shares story credit, is Waititi's long-time girlfriend. Wanting to play something other than the cliché "glamorous, beautiful woman" lead, she created Lily and imbued her with vulnerability and emotional depth.

Waititi focused on the animals of eagle and shark because "these two animals would never have met. They live in two different worlds; separate elements. They are both animals existing on the same planet, but in different worlds."

Yet they do meet. Love finds a way.