When Ian Mune and Ilona Rodgers signed up for roles in the new local film' I’m Not Harry Jenson', shot in Auckland’s scenic Waitakere Ranges, the acting legends envisaged a relaxing break in beautiful native bush. “I thought we’d be sitting around on our arses in the sunlight, chatting and doing our Sudoku puzzles,” explains Ilona. “The most strenuous thing was going to be swatting away the mosquitoes. Well, we had one day of that...”

Then, as the screen veterans were filming their fi rst scene together, the heavens opened up. Ilona (67) chuckles, “From then on, for continuity’s sake, they had to spray us with rain before every shot. We suffered for our art!”

For Ian (68), though, the toughest part of filming the murder-mystery, which centres on a group of hikers following an isolated forest trail, was the physical aspect. He explains, “I wasn’t very fi t and we were tramping the whole time. We’d hike up a steep stretch of bush, then they’d say cut and we’d do it all again. Five takes of that was a real workout!”

The intense 18-day filming schedule also involved lots of night shoots, which saw them battling exhaustion and extreme cold. But the most trying time of all was when a flash flood left the cast and crew stranded.

Ian recalls, “The only way to get to this lovely location was to skip across these rocks over a little stream. We’d all got across, but then it started bucketing down with rain. The river rose by at least a metre and suddenly we couldn’t see the stepping stones. We were stuck!” Ilona continues, “Eventually we had to just struggle across, with everyone up to their thighs in this fast-fl owing water. We were holding on to each other for dear life, searching for each step to make sure we didn’t get swept away.”

But the two experienced thespians aren’t complaining. Laughing and joking during our exclusive interview, Ian and Ilona – whose fi rst joint project was back in 1974, playing lovers in the classic play Three Sisters – both agree that working together is worth any hardship. And, as actors, they’re used to danger.

Ian describes a time he almost drowned while filming the 1970s series 'Winners and Losers'. “I was swimming in the middle of the harbour wearing a big woollen jacket when they called cut,” he recalls. “But I didn’t hear it and kept on swimming. Then I started going under, but everyone had already packed up and left. I thought I was going to die! Luckily, one guy spotted me and came out in a boat.”

Ilona chimes in with a story about being thrown off a horse while shooting the mini-series Silent Reach in the Australian outback. She remembers, “It knocked me out. I had huge bruises down my back and a big black eye. I looked like Quasimodo’s mother, but I had to carry on filming and pretend to be this perfectly healthy person – that needed some real acting!” As it is, acting is a perilous enough profession. Despite being celebrated and accomplished performers, they both tell tales of the diffi culty of trying to make ends meet in the entertainment industry.

Ian – who co-wrote and starred in pioneer local film 'Sleeping Dogs' before directing Kiwi classics 'Came a Hot Friday' and 'The End of the Golden Weather' – says the tough times are ongoing, but his worst experience was when he and his wife Josie were in Wales with two young children and no place to live. He grimaces, “We trudged through the snow to the dole offi ce and got there just one minute before closing time. The man gave us £11 to feed our family and put us in a hotel. We were seriously poor.”

English-born Ilona had parts in 'The Avengers' and' Doctor Who' before moving to Aotearoa in the 1970s, which she calls “a real wake-up call” after the booming showbiz scene in the UK. Despite roles in iconic soap operas 'Close to Home', 'Gloss' and 'Shortland Street', the actress says, “My husband and I were also gardeners and orchardists – you end up doing weird things to earn a bob or two.

“But it was the enthusiasm and the passion in New Zealand that really struck me. There weren’t all these rules. That was so exciting for me – and it’s still exciting. “Harry Jenson was made on the whiff of an oily rag but the thing about doing a film where no-one’s going to make any money is that the egos are gone and everybody is doing it for the love of the fi lm. That’s what was such a joy about walking up and down all those hills!”