The new blockbuster biographical film about Richie McCaw, Space Ruck, will feature the full life story of the former All Black Captain, including never before seen footage from his childhood, but will focus primarily on the time he helped a series of New Zealand cartoon characters fend off a group of space aliens intent on kidnapping them by winning a game of rugby.
In 2007, shortly after the All Blacks crashed out of the Rugby World Cup, a group of villainous space aliens intent on kidnapping New Zealand cartoon icons to attract new visitors to their amusement park planet, sensed that the team was weak, and invaded.
New Zealand’s league of cartoon characters, which included Goodnight Kiwi and Jeff the Maori, challenged the aliens to a game of rugby, but what they didn’t anticipate was that the aliens had the power to drain and steal the talents of rugby greats like Dan Carter, who was left talentless, and forced to sell underwear instead.
The odds were now decisively in the aliens favour, but Richie McCaw stepped up to the plate, and single-handedly defeated them in a 87-85 thriller.
“Winning two back-to-back world cups as captain was quite an achievement,” said Executive Producer of Space Ruck, Timothy White. “I think when most people think of Richie McCaw, that’s probably what they think about.
“But we wanted to highlight what, arguably, may have been his greatest achievement, and one that’s talked about a lot less, and that’s the time he saved Jeff the Maori, saved Goodnight Kiwi, saved Thingee, Footrot Flats, Hairy McClary, those guys that sell the cheese even. And those are just the ones that appear in the film.”
Richie McCaw shared his own thoughts about the movie yesterday.
“Yeah, that never happened,” said McCaw. “I mean, not, I mean, look, I’m not a hugely complicated guy, not the greatest with my memory, you know, but uh, I don’t remember that. I don’t think that happened.”
When those comments were put to Timothy White, he said McCaw was just “being humble,” and that it was in his nature to try and turn the spotlight away from himself.
“That’s just Richie,” he laughed. “It’s part of what makes him one of the greats, really, it’s part of what endears him to whole generations of people, is his humility.”
Space Ruck premiers on September 1st, and every ticket will come with a free basketball.