10 YEARS ON BOY STARS’ CHOICE AS REUNION
Boy James Rolleston
Ten years ago, James Rolleston’s life was about to change forever. He’d just finished filming the lead in Boy and after its release, in March 2010, it would become the highest-grossing New Zealand film of all time. “I just thought it was going to be this little film in New Zealand,” says James. “But it was massive.”
He landed the lead role of Boy – an East Coast kid who reconnects with his dad when he gets out of jail – after auditioning for another role at Opotiki Primary School in the Bay of Plenty. “I was just an 11-year-old kid with no previous acting experience from Opotiki,” smiles James, now 22. “But I was a little bit of a playful and cheeky fella, which is like Boy.”
Filming spanned most of 2009 and in that time James fell in love with movie-making, thanks to director and writer Taika Waititi guiding him through his first role on
