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Overview
This costume was worn by Julian Dennison for his role as Ricky Baker in Taika Waititi’s hugely successful film Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). Hunt for the Wilderpeople was based on Barry Crump’s novel Wild Pork and Watercress (1986).
In the film, Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is a young delinquent who is placed into foster care with the loving Bella Faulkner (Rima Te Wiata) and her taciturn husband Hector (Hec) who live on a remote farm. When Bella dies, Ricky runs away and gets lost in the bush. He is found by Hec, and eventually after mishaps and finding they’re being pursued by the authorities, they agree to stick together and disappear into the wilds. The film tracks their transformations as individuals and how new family / whānau are formed along the way. With a light and empathetic touch, the film addresses serious themes: youth at risk (delinquency, the welfare system and state care, poverty, mental health and suicide), man-alone tropes and ideas of masculinity, rural versus urban ways of being, race and cultural perspectives, second chances and redemption.
Ricky’s character and transformation throughout the film are expressed and revealed through his clothing, from American urban hip hop youth clothing to iconic bush clothing. Costume designer Kristin Seth recalls that Ricky ‘was a character that was trying to emulate the USA hip hop culture but on a budget... Often going out in the world seeing what is around inspires. I went to the $2 shops and knock off shops and second hand stores. To see what NZ gangsters on a budget were wearing. The zip-up hood was from one of those stores; last minute we had to design and print our own fabric due to worries about copyright. The jacket design is from a Tupac song which Taika referenced again for Ricky’s dog [‘All eyes on me’]... The jacket is custom made and printed. His hat I found - we changed the label to ‘Skux’ as this was a word Taika saw as a word in Ricky’s vocabulary and summed up what Ricky thought of himself. The shoes were fake Nikes. His backpack with Rastafarian colours was sourced by the art department and what was actually available in the world in the kind of shops Ricky would shop at. His ‘classic kiwi surfer hippy style beanie’ was originally Bella’s that Ricky borrowed, and then owned’.
Ricky’s cap is of particular significance because of its reference to the term ‘skux’. Skux is a transliteration of the Samoan word ‘sikaki’ (to study), generated within school boy culture in Wellington, Aotearoa. Skux is now well-known Kiwi slang and features both in the film’s script and costuming.
When Hec and Ricky go on the run in the bush, Ricky begins to transition by covering up his urban clothes with a Swanndri, and adapting to the harsh outdoor conditions. He discards his Skux cap for the warmth and memories embedded in Bella’s woolly hat. He eventually dons accessories like the camouflage head band - showing ‘Ricky’s journey from wannabe try-hard gangster to man of the land like Hec’ (Kristen Seth, 2019).
The actor needed multiple copies of each item to get through the demands of the shoot and to evoke the hardships the character goes through when on the run from the authorities in the depths of winter.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople became New Zealand's highest grossing film, and achieved many critical accolades around the world. Empire magazine named it the best film of 2016 (https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-films-2016/).