Lights, camera, action this summer

By LOUISA CLEAVE

The film and television industry is expecting its busiest summer in several years, with work on local and international projects including the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai.

Builders in Taranaki have been constructing a Japanese village for the shoot, which is scheduled to last 12 weeks from mid-January. Mt Taranaki will stand in for Mt Fuji.

Cruise will star as a battle-weary American Civil War cavalry officer who travels to Japan as a mercenary and helps train the emperor's troops.

The production crew for The Last Samurai is likely to be a similar size to that for another big-budget Hollywood film, Vertical Limit, which employed just over 100 overseas crew and an equal number of locals.

The producers considered bringing a cruise ship into Port Taranaki to accommodate crew, actors and extras.

Harbourmaster Ray Barlow confirmed that there had been talk of this - using cruise ships for accommodation is not uncommon in the film industry - but he believed the idea had been rejected.

David Madigan, an executive member of the New Zealand Film and Video Technicians Guild, said the local production industry had experienced one of its worst periods in the past five years, but the picture was about to change.

"This year hasn't been good and last year was not good. After Lord of the Rings happened, there was a massive vacuum of work and this year has probably been even worse.

"My prediction for January, February and March is that it's going to be extremely busy in New Zealand ... the busiest for three years."

Other films expected to be in production over summer include a movie by Hollywood studio DreamWorks called Harv The Barbarian, a comedy about a simple, introspective barbarian who sets out on a grand adventure.

New Zealand director Vincent Ward is to film a lower-budget movie about the mingling of Maori and Pakeha communities in the mid-1800s, starring Sam Neill, Cliff Curtis and Samantha Morton.

Power Rangers, a children's television series, will be filmed in West Auckland for ABC Cable Networks.

A spokeswoman for Film New Zealand confirmed that the industry had a busy summer ahead, but said it would be able to meet all production needs.

She said some smaller overseas films now in negotiation might also be confirmed in time to begin production this summer.

Industry sources said New Zealander Christine Jeffs was expected to film part of her next movie, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as tragic poet Sylvia Plath, in New Zealand around January.

Local television dramas such as Street Legal, Mercy Peak and The Strip were not able to confirm their production schedules for next year, but Mr Madigan said he expected some television production to take place during summer.

Waitakere City Council this week announced plans to open a large studio in the former Apple and Pear Board coolstores in Henderson.

The $3 million to $4 million investment by the council's property arm, Waitakere Properties, will have more than 11,000sq m of floor space and will cater for post-production needs.

"Xena and Hercules spent $400 million on production, and Waitakere City got it all," said Mayor Bob Harvey.

"But there was another $400 million waiting in post-production ... and so Waitakere City has now met the demand for film studios."

He said the studio already had five bookings for its first year.

Cruise takes dream trip - for $43m

Tom Cruise has spoken for the first time about coming to New Zealand to film The Last Samurai.

In Paris, during a short break from pre-production on the movie to be filmed in Taranaki, he said he had long planned to visit this country.

"You know what? I'm always busy. When you've got two kids and work, you're always busy.

"I'd always planned to go, but it just never happens. Something comes up."

Cruise said he was looking forward to working in New Zealand - and the physical demands of the role in the 19th-century epic set mostly in Japan.

"But it's not a historical picture. It's more dealing with the spirit of the samurai, honouring the spirit of the samurai.

"There's a tremendous amount of adventure. I've been working now for seven months on it, doing sword work."

Other cast members include Billy Connolly, Timothy Spall and Tony Goldwyn, but only Spall - Barry in television's Auf Wiedersehen, Pet - is likely to come to New Zealand for filming.

Cruise is already sporting the shoulder-length hair and beard of his character, an American Civil War veteran who travels to Japan to help to fight the last remaining Samurai, only to be injured and captured by the warlords.

It is thought Cruise is being paid US$20 million ($42.6 million) for the role.

Taranaki will not have all the Japanese sets. More have been built at the Warner Bros studio in Burbank, California.

- Helen Barlow