ScreenTalk Interviews: Madeline Sami and Barbara Darragh

Posted Tuesday 28 Jun 2011

Not one but two great ScreenTalk Interviews with women in diverse disciplines have recently been uploaded at NZ On Screen.
Most recently, there's an interview with costume designer Barbara Darragh, the creator of Xena's iconic outfit, Billy T James' look as the Tainuia Kid in Came a Hot Friday. She's won awards for her work on the feature films The End of the Golden Weather and River Queen. Darragh's television credits include Under the Mountain, Greenstone, Hercules and Xena, and, most recently, Spartacus.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Darragh talks about:

  • Helping create special effects on the classic TV series Under the Mountain.

  • Using an assortment of odds and ends to create Billy T James' Tainuia Kid costume.

  • How winning an award for the The End of the Golden Weather recognised the costume designing craft

  • Having fun creating costumes for the 'sandals and swords' fantasy show Hercules

  • Never intending to create a lesbian icon when designing the signature costume for Xena

  • Managing tension on set over different views on how the film should look

  • How beauty, pain, dirt and nudity make designing for Spartacus a 'dream'

Then there's also Madeline Sami, actor, musician and comedian, who's been on our TV screens since the age of 18 when she debuted on Pio! And Shortland Street. Since then she has appeared in a number of TV shows including The Insiders Guide to Happiness, The Jacquie Brown Diaries, and Diplomatic Immunity. Sami has also graced the big screen in Sione's Wedding, Under the Mountain, and in 2012 a sequel to Sione's Wedding. Her most recent TV appearance was in Super City - a programme of her own creation in which she played five roles. In this ScreenTalk interview, Sami talks about:

  • Having to be taught continuity on the set of Shortland Street

  • Learning a lot from her more experienced co-stars on the soap

  • The fun and chaos on the set of the feature film Sione's wedding

  • How action in her most memorable scene was not actually in the script

  • Wanting to create a different type of comedy in Super City

  • Mixed reactions to the show - from confusion to a cultural icon

  • And more