A Word With Josh Frizzell

Industry stalwart, Josh Frizzell, speaks about how he got his start in the film industry and how he hung on to make some of this country’s most iconic ads.

Al:
Tell me about how you fell into the film game.

Josh:
I got a job as an extra in a coal mining TV show when I was going to high school. And then I ended up - what’s the word’ - pairing up’ with the third AD at the wrap party. Then she was off on a 10-week Hong Kong sort of James Bond movie. She got me a job on that and I’ve been working in the film industry ever since.

Al:
So you fell into it accidentally through a girlfriend, and never looked back from then? From Hong Kong?

Josh:
Well, no. I was straight down to Queenstown delivering machine guns in a helicopter at the Shotover. I was standby props assistant. That was a great gig. I just worked in the art department from there. I was standby props. Machine guns literally on my lap.

‘Aces Go Places’, that was the film. Big stunts, a helicopter crashing into a cliff and tumbling down in flames, exploding over the river as a jet boat jumped through it. It was that kind of stuff, you know? I was helping stretch the cordite tubing across the river, which they filled with petrol and blew as the jet boat jumped. It was one of those…

Al:
Tell us about a film that inspired you early on. What influenced how you see the world and how you tell stories?

Josh:
Well, dad used to take me to all the Bruce Lee and Terence Hill movies. Those are the first big films that made an impact. And Star Wars, of course. Dad was right into all of those films. But, certainly, when I moved to Wellington when I was 19, going and seeing all those Jim Jarmusch films, Down by Law and Stranger Than Paradise, we all loved that, and David Lynch. Those foreign art films was what everybody loved and everyone went to film festivals back then - that was the only way to see them. All the big ones, too. Blade Runner, Alien... Altered States. Everyone loved Altered States. So that was the groove.

“Dad used to take me to all the Bruce Lee and Terence Hill movies. Those are the first big films that made an impact. And Star Wars, of course. Dad was right into all of those films.”

Al:
Is there an actor or a composer or somebody dead or alive that you’d love to work with or cast?

Josh:
Actors are so funny. You could say “Robert De Niro” or somebody like that, but I work with big actors often and it comes with a lot. They’re a loaded presence, complex. But, no, a composer? No. Obviously I’d love to make a big Hollywood impact with anybody, who wouldn’t? But, no, I don’t have specific favourites. Everyone loved Harvey Keitel back in the Reservoir Dogs days, buthat have I watched recently that I really thought was amazing? I don’t know. Well, I’ll tell you what’s fucking great is Better Call Saul. If you’re looking, Better Call Saul is still the one.

“I work with big actors often and it comes with
a lot. They’re a loaded presence, complex.”

Al:
Tell us how would you describe your style of filmmaking?

Josh:
My style was certainly informed from those early art film days, but it’s such a tricky one to say. Sometimes I think they’re informed by all the comics I read as a kid, and because I can draw, I can sketch up those frames and visualise it all quite quickly. With Hyundai Tucson, for example, that was quite a major flip on what the script was and I could pre-visualise that in a way that I knew how to execute. But a lot of them, like those KFC ads, they really do remind me of those old Uncle Scrooge comics or Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. If I was going to look back through the greater record, all those crazy old beer ads, they were 100% Furry Freak Brothers. But it depends… If I’m doing drama, it’s a whole different ball game - I’m just a gun for hire really. Ultimately I just analyse the brief for what’s right for the client in a way that we can all be proud of.