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Nikola Jean Caro MNZM (born 20 September 1966) is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film Whale Rider was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals. She directed the 2020 live action version of Disney's Mulan, making her the second female and the second New Zealand director hired by Disney to direct a film budgeted at over $100 million. Caro's works ranged from music videos, commercials, television dramas, and films, etc. As a New Zealand woman filmmaker, she managed to combat the imbalance in Hollywood filmmaking industry and bring out women's significant position behind the camera.

Early career

Caro first found interest in working with metal sculptures, but later turned her interests toward film. She did not receive any formal training in the field, but instead began by reading narrative film books and writing rough drafts for scripts. Caro's mother would type her handwritten drafts after she finished writing each one.

Caro's first experience in directing was when she was hired to create commercials for different companies such as the New Zealand Land Transport Safety Authority, Nike and Tower Insurance, but it was only after being signed by a production company to write and direct for the television series, Another Country that she had her first breakthrough. She did not have any experience in directing, but it felt it was instinctual once she started working with the actors. article Caro's work also includes short films, an award-nominated episode of Kiwi TV series Jackson's Wharf, and a number of music videos — including an award-winning interpretation of Straitjacket Fits single ‘Bad Note for a Heart ’ which was later judged Best Music Video at the 1990 New Zealand Music Awards.

Her focus then turned into TV dramas after producer Owen Hughes invited her to contribute to a trilogy of half-hour TV dramas in 1992. The Summer the Queen Came, which was contributed by Caro, earned three nominations at the 1994 NZ Film and Television Awards. Notably, Caro's other works: Sure To Rise and Lemming Aid were selected to compete at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

Caro's earlier works were intentionally depicting women's search for life goals, relationships, and desires. Her acclaimed drama Plain Tastes was about a middle class woman searching for the ultimate happiness and love and was nominated for "Best Television Drama" and "Best Writer" at the 1996 NZ Film and Television Awards.

Along with her productions of television dramas, she also has developed pursue in documentary fields, including her short film Old Bastards (1994) and Footage (1996).

Whale Rider

Main article: Whale Rider

Caro went on to write and direct Whale Rider, which is about a Māori girl that has to stand up against the other men and her grandfather in the tribe to show she can be as much of a leader as the boys who were being trained to be leaders. This film is the reproduction of the book "Whale Rider", while according to the author Witi Ihimaera, this book is the one "that the Māori community accepts best, and a response to the Katherine Mansfield centenary celebrations which rewrites her stories from a Māori perspective." However, in order to strengthen her idea on women development and bringing out women's position in the society, Niki Caro intelligently modified this retelling of a Maori legend. Caro argues that Whale Rider is more about leadership than sexism because the Māori are also profoundly matriarchal. Caro says there is a Māori saying that "women lead from behind". Based on Caro's contributions, “Whale Rider” became more as a delineation of women empowerment.

She directed thirteen-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes to a performance nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. The film had a budget of $2 million, which is considered small for a major film, but it was still considered to be a good interpretation of the indigenous story that it was trying to interpret and demonstrate. Whale Rider would also go on to become New Zealand's most financially successful film and either the film, or Caro herself, would win or be nominated for over 50 different awards by different, international film festivals.

North Country

With the success of Whale Rider under her belt, Caro was chosen to direct her first Hollywood film, North Country (2005), starring Charlize Theron. [article] This is another story of a female being told things she caouldn't manage due to gender stereotype. Pointing to the sexual harrasment issues existing in the workplace, Caro was inspired by a landmark American court case in which the a woman in a remote mining town dares to stand up against major forces. The role played by Charlize Theron, Josey Aimes, is based on Lois Jenson, who endured thirteen years of harassment before filing her first lawsuit, which was known as Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. Based on this true story and the previous book "Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law", Caro challenged herself to make this piece of work with intentions in presenting women's journey of feminist equality. Caro argued that despite being warned about the challenges of working with a Hollywood studio as a female fimmaker calling for women's rights, funders Warner Brothers "couldn't have been more respectful of my creative choices". Later, Charlize Theron and fellow cast member Frances McDormand were both nominated for Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards for their work.

Niki Caro and Jessica Chastain for The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper’s Wife is the film released in 2017 based on the non-fiction book of the same name which recounts the true story of the couple, Jan and Antonina Żabiński, who secretly sheltered Jews during the German invasion of Poland from 1939 to 1945 on their premises of the Warsaw Zoo. The original composition of this writing piece was imbued with female's energetic contributions, mainly created by the female author, Diane Ackerman, and other female artists. Furthermore, with a script by “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” scribe Angela Workman, Caro tended to bring out female's significant position and fill the gender gap even further. "Along with Caro, Workman and Ackerman, “The Zookeeper’s Wife” features a slew of female producers (Diane Levin, Kim Zubick and Katie McNeill), a female camera operator (Rachael Levine), a female stunt coordinator (Antje “Angie” Rau), a female production designer (Suzie Davies), a female set decorator (Charlotte Watts) and that’s just the start." Caro claimed that she didn't meant to create a "big conspiracy of women", but only hired all best people assigning to different roles in the production of The Zookeeper's Wife, while they intuitively are best fits for the various positions. Her innovative move in hiring a production team consisted of women proved a great success in the film industry and therefore strengthened the talents and abilities owned by female film artists.

Subsequent projects

After doing North Country, Caro went back to New Zealand to write and direct the feature film The Vintner's Luck (2009), which is about a peasant winemaker who sets out to make the perfect vintage wine. The film reunited her with her Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes.

In 2013, Caro planned to direct the film adaptation of The Zookeeper's Wife, based on Diane Ackerman's non-fiction book. It was released in 2017 and received generally mixed to positive reviews. In an interview with FF2 Media, Caro states that "female sexuality from a female's point of view is rather under-explored in cinema" and so felt it necessary to include such a perspective in her film.

Caro directed McFarland, USA starring Kevin Costner. It was released in February 2015 and has received a critical success.

Caro will also be writing and directing the biographical film Callas, about the famous opera singer Maria Callas and her relationship with billionaire Aristotle Onassis.

In 2016, Marvel has decided to hire women filmmaker to direct the Super Hero movie Captain Marvel, while Caro was one of the contenders with Jennifer Kent. Later, she has rather been designated as directing a live action adaptation of 1998 animated hit Mulan. In February 2017, Caro was hired to direct Disney's live-action adaptation of Mulan, which was released in 2020, to mixed reviews. Mulan was nominated by the 46th Saturn Award for Best Director. She is the second woman at the studio to direct a film budgeted at over $100 million, after Ava DuVernay (2018's A Wrinkle in Time), and the second New Zealander, after Taika Waititi (2017's Thor: Ragnarok). Caro's success in directing the film with a big budget fold, which was unusual among women filmmakers, has paved a way for future women filmmakers to extend their roles in film industry.

On 18 November 2019, Caro will direct multiple episodes of Amazon TV series Daisy Jones and the Six which is based on novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid and produced by Reese Witherspoon.