Interview: Sam Neill and Julian Dennison from Hunt For The Wilderpeople

If you were hoping to avoid being delighted today, you are out of luck.

Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, the stars of New Zealand’s biggest ever local hit Hunt for the Wilderpeople, arrived in Australia this week to spruik the movie’s release on Thursday.

In it, 13-year-old Dennison plays Ricky Baker, a troublemaking city kid shuttled off to live on a farm with reluctant foster dad Uncle Hec (Neill). After a terrible misunderstanding, the unlikely duo flees into the wilderness with the authorities on their tail, becoming "gangsta" folk heroes in the process.

Student Edge caught up with Sam and Julian to chat about their heart-warming, one-of-a-kind flick, and found that their hilarious double-act on screen translates perfectly to real life.

We asked Julian – a ninth-grader - what it’s like to return to school a celeb, whether or not they’d asked director Taika Waititi to cast them in Thor: Ragnarok yet, and how a screen legend like Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano) got involved. (“Well, I was down and out and homeless," he jokes. "Taika ran across me in the street in Auckland, took the meth bottle out of my hand and put me back on the straight and narrow.”)