Jason Stutter – director of Ronald Hugh Morrieson adaptation Predicament – has a talent for going for the jugular, yet doing it in style.

In Stutter’s movies, the camera plunges headfirst into haunted hospitals, dodgy smalltown dealings, and fight scenes with Pacific Island Ninjas whose parents were unexpectedly half-gobbled by fish.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Stutter talks about

• Why he makes films

• His many projects featuring Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement

• Falling in love with the dialogue in Ronald Hugh Morrieson’s novel Predicament

• The lessons that can be learnt from Morrieson’s career

• The bravery of comedians, and why he loves giving them acting roles in his movies

• The genesis of Tongan Ninja, Stutter’s no-budget, three years in the making feature debut

• The unusual way haunted hospital tale Diagnosis: Death was funded

• The importance of staying loyal to the original text

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

NZ On Screen: Direction and Interview – Ian Pryor; Camera and Editing – Alex Backhouse