James Bond Legend Dies: ‘Die Another Day’ Director Lee Tamahori Was 75

Lee Tamahori, the award-winning director of Once Were Warriors and Die Another Day has died following a battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 75.

The New Zealand-born director died peacefully at his home surrounded by family, according to a statement from his family to New Zealand’s public broadcaster RNZ.

“His legacy endures with his whānau, his mokopuna, every filmmaker he inspired, every boundary he broke, and every story he told with his genius eye and honest heart,” the family’s statement read. “A charismatic leader and fierce creative spirit, Lee championed Māori talent both on and off screen.”

“He ultimately returned home to tell stories grounded in whakapapa and identity, with Mahana and his latest film The Convert, reaffirming his deep connection to Aotearoa,” they concluded. “We’ve lost an immense creative spirit.”

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1950, Warren Lee Tamahori first entered the film industry in the late 1970s. It wasn’t until his feature directorial debut, Once Were Warriors, premiered in 1994, however, that Tamahori broke through.

The tragedy film, based on New Zealand author Alan Duff’s bestselling 1990 novel, tells the story of the Heke family, an urban Māori whānau living in South Auckland, while exploring the detrimental effects of the colonisation of New Zealand suffered by Māori, and the survival of Māori culture against all odds.

The movie, which starred Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis, made Tamahori a mainstream name and won numerous awards, including the New Zealand Film Award for Best Director. To this day, Tamahori is seen as one of New Zealand’s greatest directors.

Tamahori would go on to direct Mulholland Falls (1996), The Edge (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001) before entering the world of James Bond with Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day in 2002. The film, which was Brosnan’s final as the iconic secret agent, was a major success at the box office.

Tamahori went on to direct XXX: State of the Union (2005), Next (2007), The Devil’s Double (2011), Mahana (2016) and The Convert (2023).

He is survived by his long-time love Justine, his children Sam, Max, Meka, and Tané, his daughter-in-laws Casey and Meri, his darling mokopuna Cora Lee, and whānau.