Alex Casey speaks to Robyn Malcolm and Melanie Lynskey about how Pike River forged their close friendship, and became a highlight of both their decorated careers.
Only in Aotearoa would an interview with two A-list superstars come with so much casual unbridled chaos. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” cackles Robyn Malcolm from her bedroom in the gloomy United Kingdom, furtively trying to escape her creepy Zoom camera as it oscillates to follow her every move. “I’m trying to stop it, but I don’t know how – hang on.” Meanwhile in sunny Los Angeles, Melanie Lynskey, perhaps practiced in turning Malcolm’s mayhem into productive time, takes the opportunity to quickly order lunch for the men doing work on her house.
Malcolm is now glitching out. “Am I frozen?” her disembodied voice yells from behind an extreme close-up of her forehead. “Jesus Christ, what have I done? Now I have a green screen.” She is now gone. “Sorry, I’m trying to cancel this fucking thing, and it won’t cancel.”
It feels less like a movie press tour and more like FaceTiming over a couple of wines with two close friends, which is precisely what Malcolm and Lynskey have become since working on Pike River together. Starring as Sonya Rockhouse (Malcolm) and Anna Osborne (Lynksey), the real women who forged a deep friendship during their fight for justice for their lost loved ones Ben Rockhouse and Milton Osborne, the pair say it is very much a case of art imitating life. “Within seconds of meeting, we just went, ‘oh yeah, I love you’,” laughs Malcolm, mercifully now unfrozen.
Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm at an early read-through for Pike River. Image: Matt Grace.
That is not to say that there wasn’t some early trepidation around telling a story of this enormity, tragedy and national significance. The explosion at the Pike River mine in November 2010 killed 29 men, the majority of whom have still not been recovered 15 years on. A royal commission of inquiry in the aftermath found a raft of health and safety failures at the mine leading up to the disaster, and grieving families were left stunned when all 12 charges against Pike River Coal Ltd CEO Peter Whittall were dropped in 2013 in exchange for a payout to families.
Rockhouse and Osborne challenged this decision all the way to the Supreme Court, their journey of tenacity and grit forming the backbone of Pike River, written by Fiona Samuel (Consent: The Louise Nicholas Story) and directed by Rob Sarkies (Out of the Blue). “I felt very honoured to be asked, but I was very, very nervous,” says Lynskey on getting the call. “I really wanted to do it justice.” Malcolm had briefly met Rockhouse and Osborne at the funeral for advocate Helen Kelly in 2016 and felt motivated to “give a voice to such brilliant Kiwi women”.
Sonya Rockhouse, Robyn Malcolm, Anna Osborne and Melanie Lynskey at the premiere of Pike River.
When all four of the women met in real life for the first time – Rockhouse and Osborne, along with many from the Pike River community, were involved throughout the film’s production – any nerves melted away. “They’re so wonderful, and they’re just so honest as well,” says Lynskey. “The most important thing for me was getting across how much Anna’s marriage meant to her, and how much she loved her husband and how much she misses him, but also how much she loves Sonya, and what this whole journey has meant to both of them.”
Shooting all the exterior scenes in the film on location in Greymouth, including at the Pike River site, was “an incredible privilege” that added a whole new dimension to the experience, says Lynskey. “It is such a specific landscape, and you can really feel the tragedy, literally in the earth.” Malcolm agrees, but adds that actors must strike a careful balance. “The toughest stuff but also the most rewarding stuff was being in that place and feeling the weight of that story, but you also have to tread lightly – you can’t let it get to you otherwise you can’t do your job.”
Anna Osborne, Melanie Lynskey and Sonya Rockhouse on location in Greymouth. Image: Matt Grace
That said, there are plenty of moments of levity in the film, informed by Rockhouse and Osborne’s own wicked dark streak. “They’ve got the most brilliantly grubby senses of humour, really really naughty,” says Malcolm, repeating a joke that will remain between our hallowed Zoom call. “The scenes that had humour were an absolute joy to play, because it was a relief from the other stuff, which was just so profoundly tragic.” And, with many from the community involved both on screen and off, there were also a few “good nights at the pub”.
Beyond their time in Greymouth being immortalised in the film, Malcolm and Lynskey have taken home another lasting memento from Pike River. “You tell the story, and I’ll find it,” says Malcolm, contorting to bring her leg up to the camera. “Hang on, I need to go the other way. Fuck, I’m such a techno knob.” Poised as ever on the other side of the world, Lynskey dutifully explains that they got matching tattoos in homage to Rockhouse, Osborne and each other. “They bonded over sharing sweets with each other in court, so we thought it would be a nice way to honour them.”
Robyn Malcolm and Melanie Lynskey got matching tattoos after filming. Image: Matt Grace
Malcolm has finally figured out her angles, and I see a blurry flash of pink and green – it’s a pair of licorice allsorts, right there on the ankle of one of our most decorated actors. “It’s so brilliant, because we live on other sides of the world, and we met and fell in love with each other when we did this movie, but we never see each other,” she says. “And now I have Mel on my ankle, you know? And I love it for that, every single day.” Lynskey has the same tattoo, and feels exactly the same way: “it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. She’s a genius.”
While Pike River forged an unbreakable bond between the two actors, they both emphasise that none of this is really about them. “We never really lost sight of the magnitude and the responsibility of telling the story,” says Lynskey. “When a huge tragedy like this happens, the people who were the victims become remembered entirely as the victims of the tragedy. I think it’s hugely important to anyone who loses someone in a terrible tragedy like this, to have the people who were lost be remembered as the most precious people on earth to them.”
And in a world where corporate greed remains insatiable, Malcolm underscores the conditions under which the disaster at Pike River occurred. “These men lost their lives as collateral for big business and money makers. They lost their lives because of greed and because of a lack of care and it never should have happened.” Like Lynskey, her hope is to highlight the humanity of those lost, and those who were left behind. “These were people with lives and hopes and dreams for the future and families, and they were not treated with respect at the time,” she says.
“This movie is part of healing that, I think.”
Pike River is in cinemas nationwide from October 30