Actor, screenwriter and director Loren Taylor has been prolific on screen in Aotearoa since starring in Young Hercules in the late 90s. Until recently the role she’s best-known for is Lily, the lead (alongside Jemaine Clement) in Eagle Vs Shark, which she also co-wrote with then partner Taika Waititi.
Upcoming release The Moon is Upside Down sees Taylor once again write and star; she also makes her feature directorial debut. An all-women producing team supported her, in what she describes as “an existential cathartic comedy”.
The film, which won Best First Feature at the prestigious Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, explores the lives of three women: a duped mail-order bride, a numbed anaesthetist determined to have a romantic weekend, and an empty-nester on an unexpected mission of mercy, as they each ‘venture through unfamiliar landscapes and the contours of the human heart.’
A Pōneke native, Taylor shares the last book she read, the last time she cried, and more.
When was the last time you cried?
Sitting in the dark in my living room watching Tatiana Huezo's extraordinary film, Prayers for the Stolen.
When was the last time you danced, and what were you dancing to?
Talking Heads’ This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) at a one song birthday party. What was at first a how-to-celebrate-without-expending-any-energy initiative by very tired parents has recently become a full family tradition. Pot luck dinner, birthday cake, dance like crazy to one song and then go home to bed.
What was the last thing you bought and loved?
Hōhepa candles. They smell like a beehive.
When was the last time you got really angry and what was it about?
The state of the world! The horrors in Gaza, the famines and what Vandana Shiva calls global ecosystem collapse. Yesterday it was looking at the photos SAFE sent me with regard to this government lifting the Live Export Ban. Please make yourself look at the pictures and sign up to support the protest – it's horrific.
What’s the last piece of clothing you bought?
A pair of cherry-red, 1990s, United Colours of Benetton cords from Trade Me.
What’s the last beauty product you finished?
N8 Essentials organic syrah tint lip balm! Paper compostable packaging and such a great colour. Must order another one.
When’s the last time you got drunk?
1996? In a sand dune in Waikanae with my girlfriends. Vodka. It made me so sick I've never drunk since. Dancing is my drink of choice.
What was the last really delicious thing you ate?
Parboiled and then crisp-roasted Agria spuds with tons of salt and rocket ripped from the plant by my four-year-old. And windfall feijoas – also collected and delivered by the four-year-old. She moves through the garden like a little grazing goat. The windfall, I realised afterwards, may have been helped along by some vigorous shaking of the branches...
The last song you listened to on Spotify?
That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn't Control ... Sh¥t Was Wild from Andre 3000's New Blue Sun album. Very hypnotic.
P.S. Yes I did have to look up the name of the song and cut and paste.
The last book you finished?
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. My darling friend Kip sent it to me. It's inspired me to tape my lips shut when I sleep. My husband thinks I look like a character from a horror film but I am waking up feeling full of sweet oxygen. Turns out I've been a mouth breather most of my life.
The last TV show you watched?
Another precious friend, Rachey, put me on to Home. Season two, episode two. A house made of volcanic rock in Mexico city owned by Pedro Reyes y Carla Fernandez. They have created such an incredible library in their home they decided to make it a public library. “A book sitting on a shelf safe is as if it were destroyed. That's not a way to love a book. Books flourish in the hands of people.”
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The last DM/text you sent? Who was it to?
‘Shall I tweak that,’ to my friend Raegen.
The last fight you had?
Currently in a fight with the government about joining AUKUS. My Mum was very active in the Nuclear Free movement when I was a kid and I grew up protesting and pamphleteering. And here I am now, with a daughter the age I was then, about to start the same fight all over again.
The last time you laughed so much your tummy hurt?
Singing Life on Mars at a friend's party sing-a-long. No idea why it was so funny. But it was.
What’s the last drug you took?
Do antibiotics count? I avoid them like the plague, but the strep throat that was going around my daughter's kindy nailed me. But then I discovered Blis probiotic lozenges. What the antibiotics failed to conquer was dealt to, superbly, by the good-fight of healthy throat bacteria. Magnificent.
When’s the last time you were home?
Now! To quote Naive Melody – it's where I want to be.
• The Moon is Upside Down is in cinemas across NZ from May 2.
