Jemaine Clement on kids’ films, Flight of the Conchords and slowing down

Jemaine Clement is working for kids these days. But as he tells Mitchell Hageman, he reckons parents should think twice about taking children to see movies like his.

Jemaine Clement is recovering from a cold. He looks tired, but he’s still in good spirits.

“Ah, it’s not too bad. I feel better than I did,” he says.

It’s probably a bit of an occupational hazard. His travel schedule has been rather hectic of late; he flew in from France to his windy Wellington home just a couple of days ago after promoting his new kids’ film Kiri and Lou Go Raaa!

For some people, keeping busy is key. For others, it’s a pain that must be endured. Is Clement ever okay just doing nothing? Or is he what we would call an active relaxer?

“Good question. It depends on how busy I’ve been,” the 52-year-old laughs.

“If I’ve been really busy, I can do nothing for a long time. But generally, it takes me about two weeks before I’m texting my mates going, what about that idea we talked about?”

And there are so many ideas and so many projects to get on with.

Clement currently has six films that have either just been released or are in the box office pipeline. He recently starred in a slightly controversial United Kingdom TV series, Alice and Steve (he plays a middle-aged man who starts dating his best friend’s daughter). And he’s writing two films, both set to be directed by long-time collaborator Taika Waititi.

So, while he finally has time to indulge in one of his lesser undertaken pastimes (reading books, fiction ones for a change), there’s no shortage of projects to promote. Most of them, maybe surprisingly, are for kids – and almost none of them feature Clement’s face.

“I think there’s a creativity in kids’ films ... maybe because they’re less checked [heavily controlled] than other films, and can be more creative perhaps,” he says.

In Kiri and Lou, the prequel to the hit Kiwi animated kids TV series, Clement plays Lou, a purple palorchecie, which is essentially a mix between an elephant and dinosaur.

In I, Object, shot in Wellington, he plays a can of fizzy drink.

In Wildwood he plays a royal owl and in the new live action version of Moana he plays one of the only characters still animated, the giant crab Tamatoa.

So creative is certainly one word for it. But working in animation isn’t new for Clement.

“I started working on the Kiri and Lou series when my son was quite young. He’s a teenager now, but he was of that age when we recorded the very first episode years and years ago.”

He doubts his 17-year-old son, Sophocles Iraia, will be heading to the cinemas to see Kiri and Lou. But he reckons children’s films can hold sway over older audiences as well as the younger ones.

“When we watched it in Annecy [at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France], that audience was almost completely grown-up. And it actually played well with a grown-up audience,” he says.

“I’m just remembering, from being a kid myself, it can be pretty magical, watching a story play out that big in front of you. There’s a social aspect of enjoying something with other people.”

He enjoyed working at home in Wellington on I, Object, also set to release this month.

The film follows a 10-year-old boy who loses his dad and takes comfort in everyday objects around him who sort of come to life.

It co-stars fellow Kiwi Karl Urban and was directed by fellow Kiwi and Oscar-nominee Andrew Niccol. .

“I like Andrew, and I really enjoyed working with him. A lot of people don’t know that a New Zealander wrote The Truman Show and Gattaca, two fantastic movies,” Clement says.

“I saw him in LA when we played with [Flight of the] Conchords, and he came to our show. It is a cute film, I think.”

The film, like many of his other kids’ projects, also deals with morals and problems that kids deal with daily. Even Kiri and Lou depicts the characters navigating friendships and family relationships throughout their adventure.

“In a way, it’s kind of realistic, even though they’re prehistoric animals that are completely made up,” Clement says.

“They’re dealing with morals, like work through your problems rather than just beat someone up.”

All good lessons. But the actor has some advice for parents thinking about taking their kids to the cinema, at least when they are very young: maybe don’t.

“You don’t want to bring kids to the movies too early, I think, in general, because it can be overwhelming. [But] Kiri and Lou, it’s safe and it’s fun and I think the parents will enjoy it as well.”

Of course parents are probably more familiar with Clement’s other work.

On our Zoom call, a guitar sits next to him and a Flight of the Conchords poster is also in the peripheral. He and Bret McKenzie recently reunited the folk comedy act for a handful of shows, delighting fans.

Their Wellington warm-up shows at Meow Nui in April sold out within 30 minutes, according to media reports.

Clement admits the most challenging part of the reunion was simply remembering songs the duo hadn’t played in eight, and in some cases, 18 years.

“Remembering them and committing them to memory again felt impossible in our first few days of rehearsal, but we eventually got there, and it was really fun,” he says.

The audience reception was heart-warming, and a little surprising.

“We’ve had a lot of New Zealanders in America actually thank us for making their accent understandable to Americans.”

Americans, and Kiwis in the US, also thank him for bringing the bloody vampiric series What We Do In The Shadows to their shores. Clement produced, wrote, and had a cameo in the US TV version of Taika Waititi’s Moa-award-winning Kiwi film, which had its final season in 2024.

But things weren’t always so certain, and Clement had his doubters in the early stages.

“I knew the audience would be into it, but the network wasn’t always on board,” Clement says.

“I had to convince them that it should be a mockumentary, for instance, because there were [already] lots of other mockumentary shows at the time like The Office and Parks and Recreation."

The network needn’t have worried. The show became a ginormous hit, spanning six seasons and racking up 35 Emmy Award nominations.

Hollywood is fun, but for now, Clement is happy settling down in Wellington for a bit. Just don’t expect to see him partying on Cuba Street like the old days – a nice comfy chair and a good book will do just fine.

“I hardly ever go to bars these days. It used to be every night, but now it’s barely ever.”

Kiri and Lou Go Raaa! hits Kiwi cinemas August 8.

Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.