ScreenTalk: Paul Gittins
18 Oct 2011
Actor Paul Gittins is best known for his portrayal of Dr Michael McKenna, the original clinic director, on the long-running soap opera Shortland Street.
Actor Paul Gittins is best known for his portrayal of Dr Michael McKenna, the original clinic director, on the long-running soap opera Shortland Street. He has also acted in a number of feature films, including Other Halves, The End of the Golden Weather, and The Whole of the Moon.
Gittins’ love of history led to the creation of two popular docu-drama series Epitaph and Shipwreck, which he hosted and sometimes directed.
In this ScreenTalk interview, Gittins talks about:
- How a novice actor inspired him on the set of Other Halves
- Learning lessons about life in Ian Mune’s The End of the Golden Weather
- Initially struggling to adapt to the face-paced shooting schedule on Shortland Street
- How Epitaph gave him a unique sense of New Zealand history
- Learning how to research, write, and direct television by doing the show
- Finding a solution to his seasickness while shooting Shipwreck
- Loving the process of ‘getting into someone else’s head’ when acting
This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.
NZ On Screen: Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside