In an interview about the genesis of the script for The Piano, Jane Campion
claims to have been inspired by early photographs of Maoris who had adapted
European clothes. She consulted with a Maori writer Wassie Shortland on the
creation of a Maori backstory for the film. This interview appeared in an
Australian publication, Cinema Papers, No. 93 (May 1993). For an
intelligent discussion of the theme of women and silence in The Piano, see
an essay by New Zealand critic Valerie Hazel in another Australian
publication, Photofile, No. 40 (November 1993).