Die Another Day filmmaker Lee Tamahori has died at the age of 75. The New Zealand filmmaker passed away peacefully at home on Friday following a battle with Parkinson's disease, his family has announced. "His legacy endures with his whānau (extended family), his mokopuna (grandchild), every filmmaker he inspired, every boundary he broke, and every story he told with his genius eye and honest heart. A charismatic leader and fierce creative spirit, Lee championed Māori talent both on and off screen," their statement reads. "He ultimately returned home to tell stories grounded in whakapapa (Māori genealogy) and identity, with Mahana and his latest film The Convert, reaffirming his deep connection to Aotearoa (New Zealand). We've lost an immense creative spirit." Tamahori made a name for himself as a filmmaker with his 1994 feature directorial debut Once Were Warriors, which was a critical and commercial hit. It was his home country's highest-grossing film of all time back then, and it is still in the top five today. Following its success, Tamahori headed to Hollywood to work on international productions. His best-known film is perhaps the 2002 James Bond outing, Die Another Day, starring Pierce Brosnan as 007. Tamahori also directed 2001's Along Came a Spider, starring Morgan Freeman, Vin Diesel's 2002 action sequel XXX: State of the Union, Nicolas Cage's 2007 sci-fi action movie Next, and The Edge, starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. The filmmaker's other directing credits included Mulholland Falls, The Devil's Double and episodes of The Sopranos and Billions. In recent years, he returned to making films in his home country, directing 2016's Mahana and the 2023 historical drama The Convert, starring Guy Pearce. According to IMDb, Tamahori's latest project, Emperor, is in post-production ahead of a 2026 release. The action epic stars Adrien Brody, Sophie Cookson and Bill Skarsgård. Tamahori is survived by his long-time partner Justine and his children Sam, Max, Meka, and Tané.