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Local ‘All Greys’ get taste of rugby stardom

 

 

20 Sept, 2021

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When Mangawhai Park resident Jim Towers and wife Mary had a chance meeting on a morning walk in Mangawhai Village earlier this year it led to a group of local old-timers appearing on national TV.

Television director Rob Walters of Tutu Films, had been commissioned to make a commercial featuring Alex ‘Grizz’ Wyllie and was on the lookout for extras to fill the roles of the rugby icon’s former teammates. The storyline had Wyllie, an amateur throughout his playing career, putting together a team, the All Greys, in a bid to cash in on the sport’s professional status.

With Grizz now a grizzled septuagenarian, Rob’s cast had to be in the 65 to 80 age range, into which Jim neatly slotted. And when Rob asked Jim if any of his Park neighbours might be interested, he found himself with another four starters, giving him a third of the All Greys XV.

Rob has used his fellow Mangawhaians in previous filmings, saying he likes to cast locally when he can and explaining that untrained extras tend to give an authentic edge to the finished product, ‘there’s a lot of hidden talent here’.

“I was approached by advertising agency Special Group who asked me to direct a campaign for their client Simplicity, the idea being that Grizz Wyllie comes out of retirement and puts a team together to make some money on the side. I approached some of the gentlemen who live at Mangawhai Holiday Park to see if they would be keen to appear in the ad and they jumped at the opportunity. The Auckland casting agencies will fill the rest of the slots, the guys who do the close-ups,” he told his tyro thespians at their first meeting, an audition at the Park. “But you blokes look the part and will fit in nicely.”

When Rob’s audition video of Jim and fellow Park dwellers Ben Bester, Phil Baker, Gil Dymock and Fred Swney duly received a tick of approval from the production house, the Boys’ Big Day Out became a reality.

And what a day it was.

Filming took place at the Ponsonby Rugby Club’s grounds at Western Springs on the last Thursday of May, when Mother Nature turned on her best effort – the warm sunshine, cloudless skies, and not a breath of wind proving handy as kick-off time was 7am with the last scenes not completed until 5pm had passed.

The first thing noticed by the Mangawhai team was that film crews are well looked after. Breakfast was provided on arrival with morning coffee and tea constantly at hand. The only total break in the day came at lunchtime, the tables laden with fare that would make a five-star-hotel guest happy.

As Ponsonby is one of the great clubs of New Zealand rugby, having its clubrooms for a base meant comfortable surroundings for the long day. And there was no doubt that the boys were in a rugby temple – the club has provided more All Blacks than any other, their photos and memorabilia festooning the walls.

Another standout memory was that a friendly atmosphere pervaded the entire shoot. From the moment of arrival until the last scene was wrapped up, not a harsh word was spoken, not a raised voice was heard, not one instruction was given without a friendly smile.

“Whether this is a deliberate policy of the production company or if they are naturally cordial people who genuinely love their work was never figured out by the boys,” says Gil Dymock. “Whatever the case, it was nothing like filming is portrayed in movies, where there’s tension at every shot. Our whole day was completely stress-free.”

The boys’ “work” consisted of getting kitted out in rugby gear, standing where they were told to stand, moving to where they were told to move, looking grim (but not looking at the camera), keeping out of the way when they weren’t in shot and pretending to practise rugby moves as a backdrop to close-up scenes.

Give an old fella a pair of rugby boots and put a ball in his hands and the years just peel away. Once again he’s firing bullet passes to a five-eighth, working a scissors movement with a centre, hoisting an up-and-under or working a Willie Away.

Unfortunately for the boys, though, the bullets tended to be blanks, the scissors were blunt, the up-and-unders had more under than up and the Willie Aways turned into Wally Aways.

“And the bodies don’t cope like they used to,” says Gil.

With plenty of downtime between takes, the boys got to know the other extras, all of whom were regulars on the commercials circuit with most also having a rugby background.

“Given the location and script, there was plenty of yarn-swapping with names such as Whineray, Hart, and Meads thrown around as tales from the Sixties emerged,” says Gil. “And working alongside a legend like Grizz was a real buzz.”

Give an old fella a pair of rugby boots and put a ball in his hands and the years just peel away.

 

The All Greys; Hanging out with the legendary Grizz Wylie was a day to remember for locals (top row, second and third from left) Ben Bester and Jim Towers, (middle row, third from left and extreme right) Phil Baker and Gil Dymock, and

(front row, first left) Fred Swney. Grizz commandeers the captains position in the centre of his ‘team’. PHOTO/SUPPLIED


 
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