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Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'True Detective,' 'North of North' Inuk star Anna Lambe on taking risks and telling Indigenous stories with humour
In recent years, Anna Lambe's acting career has skyrocketed. The Inuk actor from Iqaluit got her start at 15 years old on the film The Grizzlies, then went on to star alongside Alfred Molina in the Prime Video series Three Pines, and worked with Jodie Foster in True Detective: Night Country. Most recently, Lambe starred as Siaja in the CBC and Netflix series North of North, with the first released to rave reviews. Next up for Lambe? She will star alongside Brad Pitt in David Ayer's movie Heart of the Beast. "It's pretty surreal. It's really, really cool," Lambe told Yahoo Canada about being cast in Heart of the Beast. "Every new project just feels so exciting. But I mean, the caliber and the size of Heart of the Beast is just, I feel very honoured to have the trust of the team to hop in and do my thing." Lambe's acting career started at her Nunavut high school, where there were posters put up to attract students to join a workshop for The Grizzlies, and Lambe's drama teacher recommended that she participate. In an interesting turn of events, Lambe almost "backed out" of the workshop, feeling too shy and anxious to participate, but her dad was already on his way to pick her up, so she went. And the rest is history. "Every time I get a new job, it's something that my dad always makes sure to remind me of is, 'Can you imagine if you never went and did that audition?'" Lambe said. "It's really humbling and it just makes me think about it in the big picture." "I am grateful that I just took the chance. I mean, it was a low risk chance, but it has kind of led to so many bigger things. I've had to take risks over and over again along the way, that's just how this industry rolls. And everything's a bit of a roll of the dice, but I've embraced that a little bit more, and I'm really curious to see what what comes next." Lambe would go on to work with the team behind The Grizzlies again on North of North. "They took a chance on me when I was 15 and then they took a chance on me again when I was 23, and I am so grateful for the way that they always lead with the community at the forefront of their minds," Lambe said. "And that it's always about how they can give back and how they can tell stories with nuance and complexity, and appropriately and authentically." The Grizzlies is a film about a group of teens in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, the town with the highest suicide rate in all of North America, who connect by playing lacrosse. Lambe plays the only female player on the team, Spring, and was tasked with taking on particularly difficult topics, like domestic violence. "In playing Spring and taking up space, she really goes through this arc where she finds her strength after such significant loss and trauma, and how she, as a young woman, was like, 'I'm not going to be scared out of things that I want to do,'" Lambe said. "We're so often encouraged to make ourselves smaller for other people, and recognizing that your story and your strength and your resilience is valid, and is important, and is, I think, something that we all deserve to hear, to see." When Lambe was filming The Grizzlies, she didn't fully grasp what being in a movie meant. She was just excited to make friends and tell an important story, and that desire to have fun and attraction to storytelling is still what drives her. "I just get to move through this industry with a smile on my face, because I'm just having the time of my life," Lambe said. Once Lambe got to Three Pines, the story of the show was particularly emotional, and difficult for the actor to both work on and watch. Adapted from Louise Penny's best-selling book, the show is centred around investigations into murders in a Quebec town, including the disappearance of an Indigenous girl, Blue Two-Rivers, played by Lambe. While Blue's family is adamant she wouldn't mysteriously leave, and certainly wouldn't leave her daughter behind, the Quebec police are quick to dismiss her case. "Three Pines was a heavy project and I think there was a lot happening at the time that made it that much harder. And it's a deeply personal thing to me, and something that I was struggling with at the time and trying to kind of deal with all of these different feelings that I was having," Lambe said. "But the very real issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women is something that, I think, we can never stop talking about, and something that I think deserves that space and that platform." "It was very much a difficult one, and one that I really also struggled to watch. Violence against Indigenous women is a very real threat and also something that many of us have experienced, or have loved ones who have experienced. Three Pines was so different from anything else that I had done up until that point, and continues to be different from anything else I've done since. ... Because of how difficult it was for me, I don't know if I would choose to do that kind of thing again. But those kinds of stories are so important in continuing to highlight that crisis that very much is still happening within our communities." While Lambe shared the screen with great talents like Alfred Molina, Rossif Sutherland, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Tantoo Cardinal in Three Pines, the celebrity of her collaborators certainly grew in True Detective: Night Country. "Stepping into True Detective was such a dream," Lambe said. "The cast on that show was so incredible. I mean Jodie Foster, of course, but Kali Reis, Finn Bennett, John Hawkes, Chris Eccleston, Isabella LaBlanc, what an incredible cast and lovely people. Really such a great group of people to work with." "[Showrunner] Issa López, I adore her with my whole heart. And she put so much attention to detail into everything that she did, everything she wrote, everything she directed. She was such a powerhouse. And I admire her work so dearly. And as well as the Alaskan producers, Cathy Tagnak Rexford and Princess Johnson." In True Detective: Night Country, set in Alaska, Lambe plays Kayla Prior, whose husband Peter (Finn Bennett) is a rookie detective working under Foster's character Liz Danvers. Lambe has said the relationship reminded her of her own parents. "[True Detective: Night Country] gave me a taste of what could be and something to chase for the rest of my career," Lambe said. "It allowed me the time and the space, with the acting coaches and the dialect coaches and everything, to try and do my best, to level myself up." "That shoot was just such a privilege and getting to meet everyone on it was such a privilege. And the story that we told was one that was deeply important, again about missing and murdered Indigenous women, but also about empowerment and reclamation, and taking back and justice, whatever that may look like, or whatever that might mean. And whether you agree with that or not is always something that can be debated. It was just really exciting and empowering, and it's a point of my career that I often look on and I'm like, 'I can't believe that happened. That's so cool.'" Lambe moved into comedy in a big way for North of North, a show that's outrageously funny and balances its emotional moments with perfection. Lambe plays Siaja, a young Inuk woman who goes through a very public separation from her husband in their small town, having to reevaluate her life under the close eye of her community, while also providing for her daughter. "The amount of people that have loved it has been just really humbling, overwhelming, heartwarming," Lambe said. "I'm so grateful that so many people have been open and receptive to seeing the story in a place they might not have seen before, and allowed themselves to kind of fall in love with these characters and the show that we created." But it was the light-hearted nature of the story that really appealed to Lambe, versus having to work through a lot of trauma-based storyline in her previous work. "It was going to be hard and it was going to be really long days, and we were going to be battling the cold, and that definitely posed challenges throughout filming, but in terms of content it was like, this is going to be fun," Lambe said. "And there were so many times where, in approaching episodes and scenes that we were filming, amongst the cast and amongst the crew, we'd be chatting with each other like, 'I can't wait to do this part. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to do Inuk Bridgerton. That's going to be so beautiful. I can't wait to do the underwater sequences. That's going to be really cool.' So just getting to kind of exist and play in so many different forms and moods and and tempos was really nice. Because we can go from like really high comedy, clown-esque comedy, and we kind of break your heart a little bit. ... I think to have that full swing is really fun and a huge privilege as an actor." Another highlight from North of North is how the show really uses costumes as a tool to tell this story, particularly if you look at how Siaja dresses, versus her mother Neevee (Maika Harper), and Siaja's daughter Bun (Keira Cooper). "The costumes played such a huge part into how I understood Siaja. Her love of colour and fun cuts and fun patterns, and fun prints," Lambe said. "And even more so, I think what I loved was how Bun was dressed. She had such bold parkas, and she wore whatever she wanted, and these kind of cool, little funky outfits. I think there was something really interesting about going from Neevee's colour palette to Siaja to Bun's, because there is a kind of gradual shift into into bright and bold colours and expression, and fun. And that, to me, really exemplified the intergenerational healing that happened amongst those those three generations, and that with each generation people get to express themselves a little bit more. That we create safer spaces for our children to grow and be who they are. And I think the costume department did such an incredible job of representing that." But when the show does have to lean into its more emotional moments, including a scene where Neevee tells Siaja that before she was born, she had another child who was taken by her white father, it's handled with so much care and adds such a richness of the storytelling in North of North. "I think at the core of the show, what was most important for us was the authenticity of it, and the experience of living in the North, and the complexities of our communities and our family dynamics," Lambe said. "And something that's very real is how our community really struggles with the trauma from colonialism and how we navigate that." "But for the most part, we do it through humour. ... From really dry humour to really silly like fart joke humour, the coping exists within all of that. And those moments where you do just break open, those are real too. And I think defining the show as one thing or the other, as just a comedy or just a drama, doesn't do it the service of, it's just a human experience, and just a human story. So it was nice to feel like we weren't needing to exist in one or the other, and that we can have both at different moments, and they both serve the story equally importantly."
Otago Daily Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Prime farmland snapped up for $9m
Kahu Heights has been bought by Eastburn Station owner Tim Edney. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Prominent Wakatipu farm owner Tim Edney has bought a 65ha slice of prime Crown Terrace land following post-auction negotiations. Known as Kahu Heights, the property, comprising two titles, had gone to mortgagee auction on June 6, but was passed in by the vendor after bidding reached $7.5 million. Edney's company, The Station at Waitiri Ltd, subsequently bought the property — which includes a renovated five-bedroom homestead — for an undisclosed price, but believed to be between $8.5m and $9m. "They just had to squeeze me up, so I just had to kill a few more sheep," he said. Mr Edney already owns the neighbouring Eastburn Station, which is about 1500ha. "Land on the Crown Terrace is extremely tightly held, so when this opportunity came up — in fairly sad circumstances — to buy the old homestead, it just had to happen. "It was the original homestead for Eastburn, so it's just nice to put them back together — I'm a very pleased purchaser." In addition to running stock, "we'll use it to add to our grain production, and it's got some good silage on it". There was a consent in place for five luxury two-bedroom cottages on the smaller title, but "I honestly think that site is better for a very nice lodge or major homestead". A part-time Arrowtowner, Mr Edney also owns Waitiri Station on the Crown Terrace, Wentworth and Glenroy in Gibbston and Arcadia, near Glenorchy. A popular location for film shoots, Arcadia is understood to have been used as a setting early this year for Hollywood mega-star Brad Pitt's latest movie, Heart of the Beast. Meanwhile, local Ray White owner Bas Smith, who co-listed Kahu Heights with colleague Peter Werbrouck, confirmed it sold following the auction and said he expected it would be settled in full by the end of this week. He noted the combined valuation of the two lots, as at last September, was $7.17m.
Otago Daily Times
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Farm owner buys 65ha Kahu Heights
Kahu Heights has been bought by Eastburn Station owner Tim Edney. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Prominent Wakatipu farm owner Tim Edney has bought a 65ha slice of prime Crown Terrace land following post-auction negotiations. Known as Kahu Heights, the property, comprising two titles, had gone to mortgagee auction on June 6, but was passed in by the vendor after bidding reached $7.5 million. Edney's company, The Station at Waitiri Ltd, subsequently bought the property — which includes a renovated five-bedroom homestead — for an undisclosed price, but believed to be between $8.5m and $9m. "They just had to squeeze me up, so I just had to kill a few more sheep," he said. Mr Edney already owns the neighbouring Eastburn Station, which is about 1500ha. "Land on the Crown Terrace is extremely tightly held, so when this opportunity came up — in fairly sad circumstances — to buy the old homestead, it just had to happen. "It was the original homestead for Eastburn, so it's just nice to put them back together — I'm a very pleased purchaser." In addition to running stock, "we'll use it to add to our grain production, and it's got some good silage on it". There was a consent in place for five luxury two-bedroom cottages on the smaller title, but "I honestly think that site is better for a very nice lodge or major homestead". A part-time Arrowtowner, Mr Edney also owns Waitiri Station on the Crown Terrace, Wentworth and Glenroy in Gibbston and Arcadia, near Glenorchy. A popular location for film shoots, Arcadia is understood to have been used as a setting early this year for Hollywood mega-star Brad Pitt's latest movie, Heart of the Beast. Meanwhile, local Ray White owner Bas Smith, who co-listed Kahu Heights with colleague Peter Werbrouck, confirmed it sold following the auction and said he expected it would be settled in full by the end of this week. He noted the combined valuation of the two lots, as at last September, was $7.17m.
Hindustan Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
When Brad Pitt played chess on ghats, got his beard trimmed at barber shop in Banaras. See pics
Hollywood star Brad Pitt never fails to mesmerise fans with his good looks. A set of old photos that have resurfaced online is once again reminding people how the actor is one of the most handsome men in Hollywood. The pictures show the Oscar-winning star exploring the streets of Banaras (Varanasi) during the shoot of his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. (Also Read: Brad Pitt reportedly reeling from divorce, but 'admitting that publicly would give Angelina Jolie…') In one of the photos, Brad is seen getting his beard groomed at a local barber shop. Another shows him reading a newspaper while the barber trims his hair. In yet another picture, the actor is spotted sitting on the ghats of Banaras, playing chess with a local. He was also seen posing with people while sitting under a tree and riding a bike through the city's narrow streets. Talking about his visit to the city, Brad Pitt had earlier told DNA, "On my last visit, I got to see a lot of India. There is no place like it. And it's so diverse — both the South and the North — that one cannot get to see all of it in a couple of weeks. But I found Varanasi absolutely staggering. I have never seen anything like it before. The city just spills into the river Ganges. It's a holy place where people go to die. It's really, really extraordinary!" The photos had fans swooning over his looks and simplicity. One fan commented, "How is he looking so magnificent doing normal everyday stuff in the same backdrop we all live in?" Another wrote, "Honestly, he looks like one of those college bachelors – the cool dudes of the group – who don't bathe for a few days but are still good looking." A third joked, "Plot twist: He aged backwards so fast, he ended up in a previous life in Varanasi." Another user wrote, "This dude is ageing like fine wine." And one summed it up by saying, "Ridiculously good looking and a cool dude at the same time." The American romantic fantasy drama, directed by David Fincher and adapted by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 short story, stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse and Cate Blanchett as the love of his life. The film also features Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, and Tilda Swinton. Brad Pitt will next be seen in F1. It is directed by Joseph Kosinski and will be out on June 27. He also has Heart of the Beast, directed by David Ayer. The American action-adventure film follows a former Navy SEAL and his retired combat dog as they attempt to return to civilisation after a catastrophic accident in the Alaskan wilderness. The film is scheduled for release in 2026.
Herald Sun
09-06-2025
- Herald Sun
I stayed at 3 of New Zealand's best luxury lodges, it was incredible
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. The first few tentative steps atop the white snowy caps of New Zealand's Southern Alps are not what I expected. From a distance, the ancient glaciers appear as a soft blanket of freshly fallen snow blanketing the mountaintops, not the hard, compacted ice we find when our helicopter lands among Fiordland National Park's highest peaks. 'Edmund Hillary climbed that peak three times in training before he tackled Everest,' our pilot says, pointing at Mount Tutoko. 'Sadly, these glaciers are disappearing. I remember seeing those mountain peaks covered in snow, not exposed like that.' His commentary forces me to put down my camera and take in the precious moment; breathe in the crisp, clean air and marvel at the silence and glaring whiteness stretched out before me. Mercedes Maguire on a helitour of Fiordland National Park. We were picked up from the front lawn of Blanket Bay luxury lodge for a helitour of Fiordland National Park. En route, our pilot points out the remote cabin on the edge of Lake Wakatipu where Brad Pitt's still-in-production film Heart of the Beast recently wrapped filming, and fans of The Lord of the Rings and Mission Impossible: Fallout movies will recognise the scenery of the lake sandwiched between mountains. The Southern Alps is the final stop in a multi-lodge holiday of New Zealand. New Zealand's lodges are different to those anywhere else – often in remote, natural settings, they offer the perfect combo of intimate service, amazing food and genuine sustainability. I like to think of this trip, which will include a stay in three of the country's best luxury lodges, as a bit like an island-hopping adventure with a twist – lodge leaping, perhaps? The Otahuna Lodge mansion dates back to 1895. First stop Otahuna Lodge may be just 30 minutes from Christchurch Airport, but it has getting-away-from-it-all vibes. The seven-room Queen Anne mansion – built in 1895 by politician Sir Heaton Rhodes for his new bride, Jessie – comes into view on approach along the long gravel driveway. Hall Cannon and Miles Refo took on the then-crumbling pile in 2006 (left derelict after its time as a Christian monastery and a 1960s hippie commune), opening the largest private historic property in New Zealand after a year-long restoration. My room is a light-drenched space styled in modern Victorian with high ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace and a large recessed picture window overlooking the grounds. The Botanical Suite at Otahuna Lodge. It was once the room of the lady of the house, and I'm happy to be its latest occupant, even if it's just for the night. While the lodge operates as a fine hotel under the Relais & Châteaux banner, it feels more like I'm a guest in a private country home, each room a perfect blend of authentic old and comfortable new. There's no minibar or television in my room, for example, because they didn't have them in Jessie's time. But on the main landing, an old timber sideboard serving as a shared minibar heaves with freshly baked friands and Anzac biscuits, tea, coffee and cold drinks. The extensive gardens were remodelled into a series of spaces that are like living jewellery boxes – the Dutch garden, rose garden, orchard and a 130-variety fruit and vegetable patch that inspires executive chef Jimmy McIntyre's seasonal menus. Guests are encouraged to book cooking demonstrations and garden tours for the full experience. Hall waves us off the next morning, after a country breakfast that included a delicious multigrain no-knead bread made from a 100-year-old recipe in New Zealand's beloved Edmonds Cookery Book, farm fresh eggs, homemade jams, honey and muesli. Whare Cottage at Wharekauhau Lodge. North Island hop A short plane trip to Wellington and a helicopter ride across the water (or a 90-minute drive) takes us to our second stop, Wharekauhau. If Otahuna Lodge is reminiscent of an old English hunting lodge, Wharekauhau is more like a luxe farmstay, cradled between the Remutaka mountains and Palliser Bay. The main building is the hub for meals, activity-planning, evening drinks, exercise or just a place to hang out, while the accommodation is away from the lodge in 16 cottage suites and a villa. Wharekauhau has a dedicated 'activity outfitter' and planning your days over cocktails in the formal lounge is all part of the experience. We toured the 1200ha estate on ATV quad bikes (keeping an eye out for movie-director neighbour James Cameron), hand-fed eels, went clay-target shooting and walked the black-sand beach at Palliser Bay – and that was without leaving the estate. A 45-minute drive takes you to the charming town of Martinborough, a great spot for lunch and shopping and the home of Lighthouse Gin, run by New Zealand's first female head distiller, Rachel Hall. Refusing to get caught up in the 'crazy-flavoured gin trend', Hall produces a core range of three gins: Original, Navy Strength and Barrel Aged, all made using nine botanicals and spring water from Wharekauhau. The picturesque Blanket Bay lodge at dusk. And back south The luxury lodge trifecta finishes at picture-perfect Blanket Bay, 45 minutes from Queenstown Airport. There are eight rooms in the main lodge plus four chalets and a four-bedroom villa elsewhere on the estate. The area is a perfect base for adventure activities like horse riding, ziplining, bungee jumping, helifishing, hiking and jetboating. But with a helipad on the grounds, flights over nearby Milford Sound and the glaciers of the Southern Alps are the ultimate local experience. Our pilot tells us that what appears to be dirt on the glacier tops is actually ash from Australian bushfires. That doesn't stop me bending to scoop the water, drip-fed from a glacier to a small steam, into my mouth. It's crisp, perfectly chilled and delicious. And after a week of pure indulgence, it seems like a fitting finale to New Zealand. The writer was a guest of Relais & Châteaux. The lodges Otahuna, 30 minutes from Christchurch Airport. Rooms from $NZ2600 a night for two adults twin share (about $2411). Wharekauhau, 90 minutes from Wellington. Rooms from $2700 a night for two adults twin share (about $2472). Blanket Bay, 40 minutes from Queenstown. Rooms from $NZ2250 a night for two adults twin share (about $2086). Originally published as I stayed at 3 of New Zealand's best luxury lodges, it was incredible
