The Country 19/11/25: Celia Jaspers talks to Jamie Mackay

We head to a Wairarapa farm to talk to one of the producers of a new movie currently being filmed - A Dog's Show - as we take a nostalgic trip back to the 1970s and an iconic Kiwi TV show. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're concerned about my happiness.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
But that you've given me this. So, as we've been
talking about today on the show, a Dog Show is back. No,
not the iconic TV program, but a movie about the
iconic TV program. Really looking forward to this one being
released later next year. The producer is Celia Jaspers. And Celia,

(00:24):
you've got a good background when it comes to rural
films if you want, because you're a longtime producer of
Country Calendar. Good afternoon, welcome to the country.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you, Jamy to you, yes, very much like a
young one of the directors of Country Calendar. I've been
doing that for about ten years. I'm got about forty
plus episodes over the years, and I didn't want to
farm hoops.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
You're just cutting out on me. Do you live in
the back block somewhere? I do.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm just out of Martin ber at the moment. Yeah.
So I farm here with my husband. We've got a sheep,
beef and cropping block. So yeah, I literally stand in
the film world in the farming world a little bit.
So it's a positioned I think for this kind of film.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Now. The original Dog Show was on nineteen seventy seven
to nineteen ninety two. And when I think about that
show and we all used to watch it on a Sunday,
I think it was a Sunday. I'm thinking of the
late John Gordon, who was the commentator, narrator. He was brilliant.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yes, he was so iconic for that time. And Frank
Taorley of course produced the Dog Show back then. So
and then we're on to do country Calendar as well,
so there's a lot of cross over there. But John
Gordon has involved in the pre production of this script
in this film, and he worked with Alex Galvin, our writer,
to actually work through this Dog Trailing to understand what
would work for us and what we needed for story.
And he gave his blessing before he passed, and we're

(01:42):
very sad that he can't be with us now to
see this be imagined on the screen. But you see
fully endorsed what we were doing and it's such a positive
story for dog Trailing and all of these Zealand certainly
rural sector as well, so we really hopeful.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
So the film's based effectively on fictitious characters, But do you,
for instance, have a character resembling John Gordon.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, I couldn't say if it's ring. But there is
a commentator who has quite large beer, so you can
read into that if you like. But his lines were iconic,
and certainly the tone of that style is really fund
So we're leaning into as much authenticity of the seventies
as we can.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
So you've got real actors in there and some well
known New Zealanders who are taking leading roles. But in
the extras you've got to have some real dog trialists.
I'm assuming Celia.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Really and I think because I'm a documentarian by trade
and I make real I really want to make this authentic.
So we've op posting, getting moved and we handle dogs.
We actually have reached out to the whole dog trailing
community and a lot of people from Carpany, Hawk's Bay
and the Wairappa clubs have all have signed up. We've
been casting for months and months. I've been literally casting dogs,

(02:48):
standing in packs, looking at dogs, meeting the owners, going right,
are they up for the regulars of this? And so yeah,
we've got a lovely selection of people have given a
lot of time and a lot of training and also
helping us learn well.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Celia, is it more important to be to handle the
dog well? Or act in front of a camera and
not be totally wooden.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, I think we could teach people to act, but
you can't teach people to dog y well, so i'd
much either they were good at that.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
First, Are you prepared to throw out a couple of
names of the dog trollers Sura involved? I mean, I
think back to people like Ginger Anderson, who was famous
back in the day for being on a dog show.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Absolutely well, Ginger was one of the inspirations and is
an elderly gent now, but we would have loved to
if we could get a few cameos of those kind
of guys as well. But yeah, current trialist Sheena Martin
has given us a lot of time, and Eastman from
the Wide Rappa and John Harvey who's the former president
of the Colleague Club I believe, and he lives in
Martin and down the road from us, and he's been
very supportive over the last of three years while I've

(03:41):
been developing it. So yeah, they certainly all the dogs
are real deal, and they're all very good at what
they do, so it's pretty cool at introducing them into
the film world. These poor dogs came along to set
last week for our first week and pretty overwhelming with
all the technology and all the cameras, but they handled
it like pros. They've really been quite amazing. Well.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Lloyd Smith as a former brother in law of John
Gordon and he's still currently in the New Zealand dog
Trilling team, but I think he's based down south. He
might have been a bit expensive to get up there.
So what's the guts of the storyline, because I'm reading
that the story or the film story centers on Jack
and this is wonderful, a retired sheep dog trialist who

(04:20):
must come out of retirement with his granddaughter to save
the family farm by winning one last competition.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yep, exactly. That's a synopsis there, and it is. It's
a lovely it's a family story, very fictitious, but it
is a sort of multi generation and Jack is our
elderly if you like, grandfather character and his very enthusiastic
granddaughter is desperate to dog trial. But Jack was embarrassed
on National TV on the Dog Show and he doesn't
want to trial anymore, so she's really convincing him to

(04:48):
come back. And meanwhile, some struggles, struggles are happening on
the farm and they end up having to go into
a team's competition, which we don't do very often in
New Zealand, but it has happened overseas in the UK.
And yes, we've got a very a huge teams event
if you like ISZFINALI and so a lot of dogs,
a lot of people and yeah, see who wins.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
They face an old rival and the movie is described
as an intergenerational redemption story. Any good movie, Celia, and
I don't need to tell you this because you're much
more experienced than I am in this field needs a baddie?
Have we got a baddie in this one? We do?

Speaker 1 (05:20):
We do have a villain, yes, played by the David
Wenhem from Australia who was in The Hobbit and a
lot of you. So yeah, David's really enjoying this.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
He's loving all the always baddie Okay, so we also
have some leading New Zealand actors in there as well. Well, look,
we haven't got we haven't got a great line. So
we're expecting this thing to come out late twenty twenty six.
And I'm sure with the iconic music tagline which you've
been playing today, Celia, this is going to be so
well received and it will bring back so many wonderful

(05:51):
nostalgic memories for many New Zealanders.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh we hope so too, and we just will you
all love it. Every time you mentioned the name, everyone
just goes. I remember that from when I was a kid,
So we know there's a lot of support there and
travel around New Zealand and all cinemas and the provincial
cinemas as well as the city. So we're really hopeful
that we get a lot of support as well. And
I just think we're a lovely family film to take
your kids long term and really enjoy enjoy the world
of the seventies.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Celia Jaspers, thank you very much for your time today
on the country. Looking forward to seeing this movie go well.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Thank you, Jamie