Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Zoe McIntosh, the Kiwi Lady Who Directed Israel Adesanya's New Movie!

Episode Date: September 26, 2023

We talk to the awesome Kiwi director Zoe McIntosh about her work on following and directing Stylebender for his new movie.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

And now a Kiwi film director, she's been getting a really revealing insight into the life of New Zealand UFC star Israel Adesanya in a new documentary movie, it's called Stylebender. Who is Israel Adesanya? Israel Adesanya! The best middleweight on planet Earth. It's going to be in cinemas September 28th with a special VIP preview screening this Friday at Sylvia Park. It looks amazing and she's an incredible director. She joins us in the studio right now. Zoe McIntosh, welcome.

Thank you very much. Lovely to have you here. Firstly, congratulations on the film. It's exceptional. I really appreciate that. You've done a great job and I imagine an interesting world for you to step into. The world of professional mixed martial arts. Yeah, it was pretty unusual,

especially given that I wasn't a UFC fan to begin with. So how did it all come about that you got to do this documentary with Izzy? Well, it came about that I actually initially was looking at a magazine and I just saw him and read about his incredible fighting journey but also there were things in there that I that I was interested in which were the contrast and the contrast within him he was talking about being really feminine he was talking about connecting with his vulnerability and I was like wow that is a delicious combo of this macho world with this feminine fella so i just wanted

to dig in and explore that he is such a unique character isn't it and you look at him and you like he's just got superstar qualities about him does it does he ooze that when you're hanging out with him i he certainly has superstar qualities i love the fact that he he's got this remarkable ability to like switch his state. So you never really hear him talking poorly about himself, which was an observation. I was like, wow, that's interesting. Might yoink some of that. But look, he's human.

And I think what this film does is really shows you that human side to him. He's like all of us. He's flawed. He's got his ups. He's got his downs. And he's got his challenges. And it certainly isn't a glossy puff piece, which I feel proud about. all of us he's flawed he's got his ups he's got his downs and he's got his challenges and it certainly isn't a glossy puff piece which I feel proud about you see a side of him you know

throughout the the movie as well with him you know crying and being upset you know as well a real vulnerability to him which is you know is that something that was hard for him to show and to trust you to show that story yeah I think it absolutely was like it took time and in the beginning I'll admit I was like man is this a film I actually want to do like is this just going to be these interviews talking about how awesome he is I was like ah and then I discovered that he went to see a therapist and I was like haha okay this might this might unlock him yeah and it was actually really where the film took a big turn. And I think, yeah, for the best,

because you really, really see what's going on for him underneath all that hype and that showmanship, I guess. Because you would probably say one of the most famous people to come out of this country, particularly at the moment, if you're thinking. How does he handle the fame? Because he's on a whole other level. This is mega fame.

I mean, there's Drake, you know, he's hanging out with Drake, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, knows who he is, Jason Momoa. I mean, he is a superstar level. He is certainly a superstar, and I think he's got the personality that can do that. Again, back to the film, you see the challenges and the struggles that fame, you know the challenges and the struggles that fame, you know, what it comes with.

Yeah, one thing that really surprised me is his house that he's got. And he was telling you and telling the crew, he's like, I know people actually come up to my front door, knock on the door, and ask for photos. And it happened in the film. And you're like, what are these people doing? It is nonstop, eh? He just has constant people.

And I think, again, one of the challenges is he's sitting down for a dinner with family and i think people just don't know when to stop that yeah the boundaries now if you as an experienced uh documentary maker ben boyce we're doing a documentary documentary on me now we've got we had some titles that we discussed previously we did we put them to chat GPT, I think? Yeah, we did. Well, because we're like, if Ben did a documentary, what would it be? And we'd just be getting your gauge on the title of the docker.

But they would all have to be pun titles because I like puns, you know. So that's, yeah. Don't judge me, but I like puns. I'd definitely be judging. Okay, here we go. Ben there done that. That's good, eh? Ben there done that.

What do you reckon, Zoe? I'm quite liking that. Yeah, okay. Beneath the surface. Been voiced. This is exactly from chat GPDA. This is what it delivers. Bending reality.

The real life story of Ben Boyce. And I saw him being there, done that. It's probably, or if I took up UFC, it would be style bender, but emphasis on the Ben, the Ben part. What do you think? I'm just really excited to see the visuals

that are going to go with this Ben Dean. It's not a lot of flexibility going on, that's for sure. He's vulnerable, he's available. Very vulnerable.

I don't have any confidence at all. Ben there, done there, coming soon. We'll talk more about that, that's for sure. We'll go out for dinner,

you can pay. Zoe McIntosh, the TV director of the brand new Israel Adesanya movie.