Tara Ward goes into battle on the Chief of War press junket.
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Being part of an international press junket for a new TV show is a weird experience. To begin, you open an email filled with instructions about the types of questions you can ask, whether you’ll see the “talent” on camera or simply hear their voice, and how many minutes you have to chat. Then, you’re transported into a Zoom waiting room, where you speak with several different but equally upbeat American publicists, who bounce you from one waiting room to another and back again. It’s a slick operation run with impressive military precision, as other journalists from around the world also jump in and out and publicists say things like “head on over for a six-minute wait,” and “Amy, is there an embargo for Korea?”
Just when you think you’re going to be trapped in that Zoom void for the rest of your life, you’re suddenly thrust into the bright sunshine and New Zealand actor Luciane Buchanan is on the screen in front of you. Buchanan is sitting on a balcony somewhere in Hawai’i, a stunning vista of blue skies and calm seas stretching far behind her (I am in Dunedin, it’s 6 degrees celsius and my lunch dishes are piled up next to me). Buchanan is immediately warm and friendly, and gives no hint that she’s stuck in an endless cycle of interviews with journalists like me, who all want to squeeze what juice they can out of a tightly-managed 10-minute chat about her new Apple TV+ show, Chief of War.
Based on true events, Chief of War is a sweeping historical drama that tells the story of the unification and colonisation of Hawai’i at the turn of the 18th century, through the eyes of warrior Ka’iana (Jason Momoa). The nine-part epic has been a passion project for Momoa, who not only stars in the series, but also co-created, co-wrote and co-directed. Chief of War filmed in both Hawai’i and New Zealand, and features several New Zealand actors including Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Te Ao o Hinepehinga and Te Kohe Tuhaka.
Buchanan plays Ka’ahumanu, who was trusted friend to Ka’iana and wife of King Kamehameha, and who also became one of Hawai’i’s most powerful political leaders of the 19th century. It’s the latest starring role in a big-budget drama for Buchanan, who most recently impressed audiences around the world as Rose in Netflix thriller The Night Agent. It’s also a long way from her first acting role at the age of 17, when Buchanan played Billy T James’s daughter Cherie in the 2011 biopic Billy. “I was petrified, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Buchanan remembers.
As intimidating as that experience was, Buchanan left the three-week Billy shoot with the realisation that she wanted to pursue a career in acting. Roles in shows like Filthy Rich, The Brokenwood Mysteries and The New Legend of Monkey soon followed. Buchanan also co-wrote and starred in the short film Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue, which screened at Sundance Festival. She then decided to try her luck in Los Angeles, where her 2022 breakthrough role in The Night Agent saw her hit the top of IMDb’s list of most searched actresses in the world.
In fact, Buchanan was sitting in a Los Angeles bar watching a Dodgers game when her manager casually revealed she’d won the role of Ka’ahumanu. Buchanan immediately felt the pressure of bringing such an important historical figure to life on the small screen, and began the “huge learning curve” of researching Ka’ahumanu’s life and understanding the rich and complex history of Hawai’i. “I’m a big fan of Polynesian history, and I love learning about my Tongan history when I’m sitting around with family, so being able to deep dive into this world felt like a dream,” she says.
Buchanan also dedicated herself to learning ‘Olelo Hawai’i, the indigenous language of Hawai’i (the first two episodes of Chief of War are spoken only in ‘Olelo Hawai’i). Mastering a new language added an immense challenge to the role, but Buchanan was determined to do justice to Ka’ahumanu’s legacy. “I said to myself, what if I went all-in for this character? What if I did everything I possibly could – what would that look like?” she recalls. “I truly feel proud of myself. I gave it everything.”
Chief of War is a large-scale international production, but Buchanan says it was special to film part of the series in Aotearoa, working with the small local crew (some of whom she met all those years ago on Billy) and New Zealand acting icons like Morrison and Curtis. And while she flew to Hawai’i for the Chief of War press tour, Buchanan is now back in Auckland filming a movie – “New Zealand just keeps on calling me home” – and is so busy that she hasn’t had time to catch up on any of her favourite television shows, including Mobland and The Bear.
As we speed towards the nine-minute mark, I realise I’ve forgotten everything from the PR email and have committed the sin of having the chat box on my Zoom call closed. I’ve missed the crucial PR warning messages of “2 minutes”, “1 minute” and “wrap”, and expect the Apple TV+ police to pull up outside my door at any moment. As we say our goodbyes, nine-and-a-half minutes after we first met, Buchanan says what a privilege it was to play Ka’ahumanu, a woman so important to the Hawai’ian people. “I still pinch myself to this day that I was the lucky one who got to portray her.”
Watch Chief of War on Apple TV+ from August 1.
