‘So fulfilling': Xavier Horan on making new spiritual comedy Dead Ahead

The Spinoff

a day ago

The star of new TVNZ comedy Dead Ahead takes us through his life in television.
Few New Zealand actors can attribute their career to the early work of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Xavier Horan certainly does. As a young aspiring actor, Horan's first ever audition – for a BBC documentary series – saw him choose to reenact the dramatic final scene from his favourite movie, Commando. 'Arnold Schwarzenegger has come down to the sewer, and his daughter is in there, played by Alyssa Milano,' Horan remembers. Sadly he didn't get the role, but his love of watching action movies before he goes to sleep at night has never changed. 'Those are the foundations of my career. I've always got to go back and remember them.'
Since those early days, Horan's acting career has taken him out of the sewer and into everything from Shortland Street to The Dead Lands, The Bad Seed to Westside. Horan's latest project is new TVNZ series Dead Ahead, a comedy about a family that returns to Aotearoa after living in London for several years. When the Wharehoka whānau arrive at their new home, their presence sparks a shift in the delicate balance between the spiritual and physical realms. Strange things begin to happen, and before long, three tīpuna appear in the household to guide the whānau in the right direction.
Horan stars alongside Miriama Smith, Nicola Kawana, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Pana Hema Taylor and Scotty Cotter, and the show is produced by his wife, Nicole Horan. Dead Ahead's dialogue includes both reo Māori and English, and Horan loves that the show focuses on the connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. 'As Māori, we have this belief that there is a spiritual world, and when our time comes, our body may stay here but our spirit still lives.' Filled with interesting and quirky characters, Dead Ahead is a gentle, humorous exploration of how our ancestors can influence our lives in the present.
Before Dead Ahead launches on TVNZ+ next week, we sat down with Horan and asked him all about his life in television, including the cartoon he loved as a kid and the hit show he couldn't stop watching.
My earliest TV memory is… It's 1986, I'm four and I've just got home from kōhanga reo. My mum was going to teachers training college, so I'd be with my nanny. She was a little old kuia, who was quite a grumpy old lady. She was a teacher at the kōhanga reo, so I had to walk with her and walk back, and then I'd get home in time to watch Rawiri Paratene on Play School.
The TV show I used to rush home from school to watch was… Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think it was 1989 and I was in standard two. TV3 had just come out, and one of the first shows in the afternoon was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was like, 'holy crap, this is awesome'.
A moment from my own career that haunts me is… At Shakespeare's Globe in London. Rawiri Paratene and Rachel House cast a whole lot of us, and it was my first time acting on stage. The play was Troilus and Cressida and I played Hector. Maaka Pohatu and I had this big fight scene, and there's a lot of old people in their little bright yellow coats, just looking up at you. One night it was quite frosty, and I came flying in the air, thrusting at Maaka's head. My toe landed right on the edge of the stage, I skidded and ended up falling off the stage into these three old ladies. Luckily it wasn't with too much force.
The TV ad I can't stop thinking about is… Tina from Turners is pretty funny at the moment.
The last TV show I binge watched was… The Day of the Jackal with Eddie Redmayne. I just came back from Jordan with my wife, who was making a documentary series called Earth Oven with Temuera Morrison. On the flight there, I just couldn't stop watching the Day of the Jackal. I had to finish it on the way back.
My favourite TV moment from my own career is… I loved doing the boxing fights on Westside. I got to help choreograph the stunts in The Convert with Lee Tamahori, and it's a dance. It has to be well-rehearsed, because we can't get hurt. I've been fortunate enough to do all my stunts and now be a stunt coordinator. I love all of that stuff.
My favourite TV project is… Dead Ahead, for so many reasons. It was so fulfilling. It was made out here in South Auckland, so for once I was not traveling to bloody Bethells or Henderson and going to work was only a 15 minute drive. We started and finished every day with a karakia. The key marker for me is that at the wrap party, everyone was so grateful, so happy. That's what I valued, that human experience. No one was bickering, no one had problems, and the mahi was fun.
The TV show I loved and wished I was involved with is… The Night Agent. I hear they're doing season three, I've got to give Luciane [Buchanan] a call, man. I really like that show. That drama, that intrigue, the action, the fight scenes are awesome, all the twists and the turns.
The show I'll never watch, no matter how many people tell me to is… EastEnders. It just brings up memories. I feel like whenever EastEnders was on, there was always trouble.
The last show I watched on TV was… The Studio with Seth Rogen. They got a lot of great cameos. It's a really cool, interesting insight into the Hollywood industry, the decisions they have to make and some of the lies they tell to save their arse.