Dan Carter is used to "weird".
The former All Blacks superstar is about to see his life played out on the big screen in a movie entitled A Perfect 10, which premieres in Auckland on Monday and opens nationwide later this week.
Carter, 37, hasn't quite retired from rugby, although his last appearance for New Zealand was almost four years ago, when he played a key role in the defence of their Rugby World Cup crown. Later that year, he was named World Rugby Player of the Year for the third time.
Over a career that saw him become the leading scorer in test rugby, he's experienced plenty of uncomfortable situations and watching himself at the cinema will definitely be one of those - but perhaps not as unnerving as the three-storey advertising billboard of him wearing just underwear.
"I was only 22-23 years old and had never done anything like that before," he told Newshub's Kate Rodger. "To see it for the first time, I was shocked.
"I avoided that street for a month, until they took the billboard down and I had confidence I could drive past the Copthorne hotel in Christchurch again."
Carter hasn't experienced the full cinema impact yet, although he helped with editing on a smaller screen. That sensation will come at the premiere.
"Who am I to have an hour and a half all
about me and my life?"
When first approached for consent, he admits rejecting the idea.
"I thought, 'who am I to have an hour and a half all about me and my life?'
"But then I thought it could be something quite cool that my children could watch in the future and learn a little bit about their old man - and even their children - so I said yes.
"One of the first pieces they filmed was at a fashion show in Paris and I was thinking, 'what's this got to do with my career and my life and my childhood'.
"I was a little bit nervous, watching it for the first time and how they put it together, but I thought they did an amazing job."
The fashion-show sequence serves as a contrast to Carter's humble beginnings in country Canterbury and perhaps an unexpected benefit from the film was a chance to reflect on how far his rugby career had taken him.
"It often takes time to step away from something you're so focused on and passionate about to realise, 'OK, I've had a pretty good run here'."
Watch the video for extended footage of Rodger's interview with Carter before the release of 'A Perfect 10' this week.
Newshub.
