JORDAN Oosterhof

Interview By: Daniel May

We get to know Jordan Oosterhof and chat about his starring role in Punch!

Jordan plays Seventeen-year-old Jim, a small-town boxing hero who carries the hopes and dreams of his father Stan (Tim Roth, The Hateful Eight) on his shoulders. But when he becomes aware of his strong attraction to Whetu (Conan Hayes), a feisty gay Maori teenager ostracised from the local community, Jim starts to see the limitations of his world, and understand what he and Whetu must do to break free.

I’ve got to say I thoroughly enjoyed the movie , I could relate to so many things and emotions, I honestly didn’t want it to end in general nor did I expect it to end how it actually did lol though we will get into that first though I’d like to get to know more about you.

Tell us about you - your upbringing , family , where you called home when younger and where you live now.

Born and raised in the suburbs of beautiful Auckland, with a twin-sister, a Dutch father and an Indian mother. Safe to say, very contrasting cultural backgrounds. But I love both ways of looking at life. Grew up at the perfect point in time where we rode bikes and climbed trees endlessly, plus played football almost daily. Surrounded by heaps of great friends and constantly going on cool adventures. Still flatting in Auckland with 5 of my closest friends! Loving life.

What made you want to get into acting?

Did so much reading of books as a kid, so have always loved stories. Also, my entire life I’ve been so fascinated by people: their laughs, their idiosyncrasies, the events that shaped their lives. After school I had no idea what to do, but I knew

I was motivated by that and I knew I thoroughly enjoyed mucking about, making things up and playing around with people - so thought it might be the perfect fit. As well as getting to learn from and consider every emotion of any character we get to portray. I also have a very short attention span coupled with a curiosity for most things in life, so I love the idea of intensely focusing on things for months at a time and then moving on to the next interesting field.

Who inspires you - what’s your favourite movie and who is your fav actor?

My favourite movie is La Vita E Bella! Adore that film. Wouldn’t be able to pick a favourite actor though! There are too many I love - Jake Gyllenhaal, Leo (of course), Gary Oldman, Jim Carrey, Joaquin Phoenix, that lady who is in both Derek and After Life, holy shit she is amazing. No other actor can make me feel emotion the way she does.

Take us back to the casting and auditioning process - did you have to audition or were you approached for this role?

I had to audition! Loved the script from the moment I read it. I could feel the heart and soul on every page, so I did everything I could to get the role. Including making detailed notes of every single moment in the film - even for the first audition!

Visually the part seems perfect for you, you are in great shape, do/did you work out ahead of filming? Haha why thank you! I was always in pretty go od shape considering I’ve played fairly high level football my whole life, but really put on some muscle when I got to do boxing training 5 days a week for three months before we started shooting! Loved every minute of it.

How was working with Tim Roth?

It was something I’ll never forget. He was a legend. A well of knowledge coupled with a great sense of humour and some phenomenal stories! We still chat every few months.

He was both complex and confused though it’s a very common situation for millions of people to be in - struggling with their identity . Did you find it hard to relate to the character at all?

I can’t say that I relate to the exact circumstances of Jim, but like you said, the struggle of finding your identity is a universal feeling. We’ve all been at that stage of our lives, unsure of ourselves and our place in the world. It was beautiful to be able to channel that feeling and try to understand how Jim felt.

You had to learn to box and trained a lot ahead of filming - has it become a new hobby and form or exercise or have you had your fill now ?

I loved boxing! And still do. I got to train and learn with some commonwealth games boxers too! What an experience, I just tried to be a sponge and soak up as much from them all as possible. I boxed 5 days a week for a year and since then I have only trained sporadically, honestly, I was just getting punched in the head too much!

Working on a movie can be both exhilarating and exhausting - what were the most and least enjoyable things for you?

Every single part of it was a rush. Every day a new set of challenges, a new location, a new opportunity to find emotional depth. We ran the gamut of all different types of scenes - action scenes, emotional scenes, comedic scenes, sex scenes (wink wink), stunt work, we blew up a flipping car!! Was just beyond happy to be there.

Was making your first movie everything you hoped it would be?

Hell yeah, that and so much more! You learn so much about yourself in that environment, you know? You tell yourself “yeah, I’m capable of doing this” But when you are really there, really doing it, on a big stage - it’s the most beautiful challenge, a real sink or swim moment. Now or never. Radical.

Did you get any injuries while training or filming? -Some of those punches looked so real !

Thankfully no, although I did accidentally punch some of the other boxers occasionally when we were running through our stunt choreography! But that was just to keep them in line, you know lol.

Was that Conan singing at the end? It’s such a beautiful song.

Yes, it was!! Conan has potentially the most amazing singing voice of anyone I’ve ever met. When he was coming in for callbacks there was a scene where Jim was surprised by how well he could sing - there was honestly no acting involved, I was absolutely blown away. I LOVE his rendition of that song.

Any chance of a sequel - a few years on to see where they are?

Sadly, I highly doubt it. PUNCH is a very personal and emotional piece that Welby has crafted over many years. We’ve all just gotta appreciate it for what it was (and of course buy thousands of copies of the DVD each).

Can you summarise why you think audiences should watch and support the movie?

I think anyone can find something they relate to in PUNCH. We’ve all arrived at that moment where we have ached to find our people, our niche, the place we ‘belong’. Everybody can understand the struggle of trying on and shrugging off identities on the path to becoming our true selves, if we ever get there. Punch is the story of two young people in the midst of that journey, just starting to comprehend who they are, what ‘love’ is to them and where they fit in. I may be a tad biased but I think it is beautifully crafted and so very vulnerable. It’s like taking a sneak peek into a very personal, raw experience of the challenges we all face, and I hope you decide to take a look.

And finally, do you have any current projects that you would want to share with us?

I have a few exciting prospects in the pipeline, however I can’t reveal too much about those yet. But just keep an eye out ;)

Thanks for taking the time to chat with me

Interview with Daniel May

Punch is OUT NOW! Available on DVD and On-Demand in the UK and Ireland via Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, Rakuten, BFI Player, and Peccadillo On Demand