Riding sharks, plunging off cliffs, fighting with clubs in the jungles of Hawai’i wearing feathered capes while saving an embattled kingdom – it’s a never-before-told story, headed up by one unique actor and a team of islander natives.
The epic new drama “Chief of War” – starring, executive produced and written by Jason Momoa, who has Hawaiian heritage – tells the true events of warrior Ka‘iana as he battles to unify the Pacific islands before Western colonization in the late 18th century.
It is the first such drama to be told by Kanaka Maoli, a Hawaiian term referring to the Indigenous people of Hawai’i.
Set amidst the beautiful backdrop of the islands of Hawai‘i, the nine-episode series makes its global debut on Apple TV+ on Friday, Aug.1, followed by new episodes every Friday through Sept. 19.
Led by a predominantly Polynesian cast, “Chief of War” follows the unification and colonization of Hawai‘i at the turn of the 18th century. Momoa stars as Ka’iana with an ensemble cast that also includes Luciane Buchanan as Ka’ahumanu, Temuera Morrison as King Kahekili, Te Ao o Hinepehinga as Kupuohi, Cliff Curtis as Keoua, newcomer Kaina Makua as King Kamehameha, and Moses Goods as Moku.
A true passion project for co-creators Momoa and Thomas Pa‘a Sibbett, who also has Native Hawaiian heritage, Momoa directs the season finale and serves as executive producer. “Chief of War” follows the worldwide success of Apple’s hit series “See,” starring Momoa, and Sibbett is a previous collaborator with Momoa on “Braven,” “The Last Manhunt,” and “Aquaman 2.”
At the “Chief of War” premiere on July 18, in Ko Olina Park in Hawai’i, Momoa was joined by the cast and his children, Nakoa-Wolf, 16, and daughter Lola. The family all wore matching feathered capes as seen in the film.
“It’s the greatest moment of my career,” Momoa told People on the carpet. “Yeah, it’s the greatest moment of my career; you want to have your loved ones there.”
Feathered foes
Ka’iana’s biggest foe is King Kahekili played by Morrison, who will not bow down to Ka’iana and is ready to send his own people into a world of war and bloodshed to keep power and control.
The Polynesians colonized 10 million square miles across the open Pacific while European sailors were still converting the western U.S. coasts. Still, there are not many Polynesian-centric stories on screen, with the animated film “Moana” being an exception, and a 2009 film starring Q’orianka Kilcher in “Princess Kaʻiulani”, that depicted her journey to England and the United States to plead her case for Hawaiian sovereignty in the late 19th century.
There are even fewer Hawaiian ones that are specifically Kanaka Maoli, focusing on and told from the Native Hawaiian point of view. “Chief of War” tells the action-packed story of how Hawai’i became Hawai’i, instead of a collection of warring islands.
Momoa’s fame allowed him to make a Hawaiian historical epic with a nearly all-Polynesian cast staged almost entirely in the Hawaiian language due to his dogged, single-minded commitment to his community. Captions in English are needed to follow the story.
Temuera Morrison, Māori, of Te Arawa (Ngāti Whakaue), and Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Rarua, whakapapa/descent, is internationally known for his portrayal of bounty hunter Jango Fett in “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” and in “Moana,” for voicing Chief Tui. He has worked with Momoa several times, playing his father in “Aquaman.”
Morrison plays the powerful and ambitious King Kahekili of Maui, who believes himself to be the prophesied ruler to unite the islands after visions that are told by a mysterious woman named Taula.
His approach is to conquer rather than unite, and he starts by tricking Ka’iana into helping him conquer the kingdom of O’ahu first. He is an antagonist to Ka’iana, as well as having a difficult relationship with his son Prince Kupule.
Asked how it was to be playing a king rival to Momoa on such a large-scale epic, not to mention having to only speak in Native dialect, Morrison admits he was nervous.
“I was very, very nervous,” Morrison told ICT from New Zealand. “I was wondering, especially when it came to handling the Hawaiian language, but it was just a great opportunity working with Jason again. I have had a wonderful relationship with Jason in the past.
“He really liked one of my earlier movies called, ‘Once Were Warriors,’” he said. “Now we’ve worked on “Frontier,” “Aquaman,” and now this big, huge epic. This was a time for a lot of us to really come together in support. Jason has always kept an eye on all the productions that are coming out of Hawai’i or New Zealand. He loves what we do down here. This is a story close to his heart.”
It is close to Morrison’s heart, as well; he is also part Hawaiian.
“Yeah, we’re all Polynesian in the cast,” he said. “It was the time for him to tell their story about their ancestors. He needed good, strong people around him, and he trusts me.”
Language and costumes
The filming brought its own difficulties, however, including learning the language spoken in the film.
“We’re very similar language-wise to my heritage actually, but yet we required a whole lot of work,” Morrison said. “We had dialogue coaches. We all had to go to the school and look at the blackboard and pay attention to our teachers. But we were blessed that a strong support group came around us. And I kept hearing from Jason, ‘We’re the same people. You go to Southern Hawaiians, we’re the Northern Māori. So right across the board we’re having an indigenous experience at different levels.”
A language advisor, known as a kumu, worked with the filming every day, he said.
“A lot of times while we were filming, the director would call this, ‘Yep, I got it,’ but he’d double-check with the language coach,” he said. “Sometimes we’d do another take with the correct language if the dialogue coach wasn’t happy. He’d be meticulously listening to all of us actors with his headphones. I literally had to break every syllable down … I practiced talking and walking, because when you start doing scene action and you’re learning a new language, you can get thrown quite easily.”
As King of Maui, Morrison wears elaborate costumes, with feathered capes, bone-and-claw necklaces and curled headpieces. They, too, posed some problems.
“My one outfit wouldn’t fit properly — it was a bit of a pain in the ass at times, but they looked spectacular,” he said. “I was in Hawai’i for a while and it was nice to see some of the costumes in a glass box at the museums, and I’d compare them to the ones that I was wearing. I was going, ‘Man, these costumes are really spot on’ … There were a lot of bird feathers involved in the original ones, and everything’s Polynesian, right across the board, the costuming, the different culture levels, the language, the stunt scenes, are all just incredible.”
A unifying experience
Morrison said the cast worked closely together during the filming.
“I’m really, really proud of the fact that .. we all came together as our ohana, our family, and we all supported one another in terms of learning the language. It was just an amazing Polynesian experience all around really, and we got a lot of support from the right people, too.
He hopes people will learn something in the process.
“I think it’ll blow people’s minds, and I think people will see Hawai’i, and its true origin, about the history and the culture, have a little bit more appreciation of it now, as opposed to just the hotels and the golf courses and beautiful Waikiki, but there is a lot of history there,” he said. “The whole world between the islands, the inter-island fighting domination, and things like that, so it certainly opened my eyes up to our connections again.
He continued, “It is quite a majestic piece, quite a huge epic at times, and yet it’s very, very enjoyable doing something Polynesian,” he said. “I just hope the whole of Polynesia is proud.”
This article first appeared on Underscore Native News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.