'Boy' Star James Rolleston Seriously Injured In Car Crash

The NZ Herald is reporting the young star of the New Zealand hit film Boy has been seriously injured in a car crash.

James Rolleston, 19, was in a car near Opotiki, where he is from, when it hit Otara bridge on the eastern side of the Bay of Plenty town at about 10.30pm last night.

The BayTrust Rescue Helicopter was sent to the scene where a Rolleston was flown to Tauranga Hospital.

A second person in the car had minor injuries.

Rolleston is awake and is surrounded by his family, agent Tim Gordon confirmed to the Herald.

"At the moment, he is in a holding pattern. He's alright," said Gordon.

"They are making him comfortable and he is responding to all the things he needs to respond to."

Wellington-based Gordon said he is hoping to travel to Tauranga soon.

He is getting updates from the family who told him it was a "reasonably serious car accident".

Gordon said he didn't know if Rolleston had been a passenger or whether he was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.

Rolleston made his screen debut in Taika Waititi's 2010 film Boy, playing the main role of the child who idolises his father.

In 2014 he was in two further films - The Dark Horse, in which he co-starred opposite Cliff Curtis as a teenager who is set to be initiated into a gang, and The Dead Lands, in which he plays a young Maori warrior seeking vengeance for the massacre of his family.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board released a short statement, which said: "Actor James Rolleston, 19 years old from Opotiki, was this morning airlifted to Tauranga Hospital following a car accident. No further details will be released and the family will not make any comment."

NZ Herald