Actor plays action hero after doing his homework

Warkworth’s Rama Marrow, 12, will star on the silver screen this year in Northspur, a Kiwi production about the downfall of modern society in the wake of an electromagnetic pulse.

Rama has been with an acting agency for most of his life, but this will be his first feature film.

He turned down his first job when he was just four years old, filming an advertisement for Air New Zealand, because it featured meat, and he was vegetarian.

“I think he was quite freaked out by the lobster,” his father Dan Marrow says.

Rama has performed in plays at Matakana School and Mahurangi College and says he has always known he wanted to be an actor.

“I used to dress up a lot as Indiana Jones and Spiderman. I’ve never been shy, and when I found out about acting, I knew it was what I wanted to do.”

Rama says he felt right at home on set in Marlborough, shooting Northspur over four weeks in November last year, and enjoyed crawling through tunnels in bunkers, pretending to get shot.

He especially liked working with actor Michael Hearst, who has starred in Hercules and Spartacus.

Rama says his most difficult scene required him to break down and cry while explaining how his parents died.

“He hasn’t had any formal training, but he nailed it and never forgot his lines or had to do retakes,” his father says.

The film is being promoted overseas and will be great exposure for Rama, who is named fourth on the credits.

It is expected to be released in September, possibly in theatres or on online streaming services.

When it comes out, Rama may not officially be allowed to watch it because the action-packed film could end up with an R13 rating.

The film is set after an electromagnetic pulse strike brings down modern society. The protagonist must compete with gangsters to secure lifesaving medicine for his wife.

Rama plays a young boy who has escaped the captivity of a gang and is trying to survive in a cabin.

Rama intends to pursue acting after school and hopes to audition for more roles soon.

Before Covid-19 disrupted the film industry, Rama had auditions for the Lord of the Rings television series and a Peter Pan movie.