Remembering Mike Hopkins

I first met Mike Hopkins in a cutting room in the now demolished Todd Building on Courtenay Place, the then cutting rooms of Mr Chopper. Mike had come over from Picton looking for work and was staying with his cousin, John Keir, who was editing a documentary on Erebus, Flight 901, with Simon Reece. Mike hung around the room long enough for Simon to put him to work and so began the illustrious career in post-production, that ended with his tragic death in the Waiohine River.

Mike started at the bottom of the ladder, doing all the mind-numbing tasks that no longer exist in this digital age like, filing trims and rubber numbering. I’m pretty sure he swept the floor as well. From here Mike graduated to more rewarding assistant tasks and joined me in Auckland on Death Warmed Up, a first feature film credit for both of us. We had a punishing schedule of 15 hours a day, seven days a week for six weeks. Oh to be so young and full of such energy.

Mike soon graduated to the main chair and ably went solo on his first feature as a sound editor on Gaylene Preston’s first feature Mr Wrong. This was the nascence of the New Zealand film industry with a sink or swim training principle – luckily we didn’t drown.

Mike was also the premiere foley artist during this period and did a brilliant job on Footrot Flats. I was rather nervous when in the ‘making of’ film they asked Mike to speak, as he was afflicted with quite a bad stutter in his early years, but he carried this off with aplomb and style. I learned later he also had a great singing voice. His career flourished with Illustrious Energy, a film he was particularly proud of. Braindead was a gorefest of splatter sound effects that became a hallmark of Mike’s. He always relished a bit of slice and dice.

In the 1990s, Mike’s career really took off with films like Heavenly Creatures and his first big film experience The Frighteners. By the end of the decade his career defining Lord of the Rings would begin a five-year commitment for Mike. We also worked together on What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. For this film, we recorded a definitive collection of hits and punches that I still use to this day. Typically Mike gave everything to this, breaking a bat and exhausting himself in the process. We revived ourselves with Irish whiskey every night to help sustain our enthusiasm.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I believe, is the jewel in his crown, a magnificent achievement. He brought together a band of Americans, a couple of Aussies, a Scouser and a bunch of Kiwis and moulded us into a team that made us feel as if we could conqueror the world – and we did. Mike rightfully won an Academy Award for his leadership and vision. We could bask in reflected glory when he and Ethan van der Ryn strode on stage to collect their Oscars.

More big films followed, King Kong and another Oscar, Transformers, and The Ring. He worked in Los Angeles on and off but longed to be home at his beloved farm in the Wairarapa, where his heart really was. A couple of years back he made the decision to live in Greytown and work in New Zealand.

Last year I was lucky to work with Mike on three projects, Fresh Meat, Shopping and the restoration of Utu. He attacked the gore of Fresh Meat with his usual zeal, he loved being able to judiciously enhance Utu and he used all his delicate micro surgery dialogue editing skills in Shopping. Mike was the complete sound editor. He worked hard to become the master he was.

The outpouring of grief at Mike’s funeral was testament to how greatly loved he was. He will be sorely missed by the small sound editing community in New Zealand. He was at the very heart and soul of our community, our benchmark. He gave so many a start in the business and worked shoulder to shoulder with all of us. He was a true inspiration.

Mike’s strong morals, leadership, fierce loyalty, hard work ethic, humour and friendship were admired and cherished by all who worked with and for him. He was truly a one in a million guy and he will never be forgotten.