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).