Charles Upham eating in his dugout during the North Africa campaign. Photo / Harold Paton
Charles Upham eating in his dugout during the North Africa campaign. Photo / Harold Paton
The extraordinary story of decorated World War II soldier Captain Charles Upham is to be told on the big screen - and possibly twice, with competing projects vying to tell the tale.
The story of Upham and his twice-awarded Victoria Cross has previously flirted with a cinematic take but nevermade it over the line.
It’s a story long thought to be made for the big screen, with Upham the only combat soldier to have been awarded the Victoria Cross on two occasions.
General Sir Claude Auchinleck conversing with Lieutenant Charles Upham of Christchurch after pinning a Victoria Cross ribbon on him following the Battle of Crete.
Now, Auckland-based FireFly Films has listed “Upham” on its website, with Oscar-winning Kiwi film editor John Gilbert listed as the director of the war-time epic, alongside a celebrated English scriptwriter. The project is described as being worked on with the United Kingdom division of Lionsgate International.
It says: “During WWII, rugged Kiwi bloke Charlie Upham is awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour in defeat and spends the rest of the war obsessed with earning a medal he doesn’t think he deserved.”
But it is possibly not the only telling of the tale, with author, cartoonist, satirist and scriptwriter Tom Scott saying he is in talks with a United States-based investor about doing his own movie.
It comes after Scott’s long-held fascination with Upham culminated with him writing the well-received biography, Searching for Charlie: In Pursuit of the real Charles Upham VC and Bar.
Tom Scott in Egypt researching for his book on Charles Upham.
The Firefly project lists Upham as one of a number of projects “in development”, saying it is a “feature film based on the true story of Captain Charles Upham”.
Gilbert, the listed director, was best known for his work as an editor, with this believed to be his first feature film at the helm. A New Zealander, he worked for years at TVNZ on news and documentaries.
His journey into film-making culminated in an Academy Award and Bafta Award for Best Editing for his work on the Mel Gibson war drama Hacksaw Ridge. Gilbert had been previously nominated for an Oscar for editing The Fellowship of the Ring.
Film editor John Gilbert, winner of the award for editing for Hacksaw Ridge, at the 89th Annual Academy Awards in 2017.
The script-writing credits on the Firefly website name writers Jeff Pope and Sophie Henderson.
Pope comes with international standing with writing credits for The Lost King, Stan & Ollie and Philomena. Henderson is a New Zealander actor and screenwriter who wrote the scripts for Fantail, Baby Done and The Justice of Bunny King.
Scott said he had been attached to the Firefly project but was no longer. “I was replaced by Jeff Pope,” said Scott. And while he spoke highly of the British writer, he added: “He’s not a New Zealander - and he doesn’t know Charlie as well as I do.”
Scott said Upham’s story needed a writer with an authentic New Zealand voice - and who knew where that voice came from. “I think it has to be a Kiwi story - Kiwi writer, Kiwi director.” Asked about three-time Oscar winner Sir Peter Jackson, Scott gave a nod to his fellow Wellingtonian’s obsession: “Peter only does World War I.”
Scott said he was eager to see the Upham story told in the action-epic style of Saving Private Ryan and Hacksaw Ridge.
“I’ve got an American investor who is very keen to make a Charlie Upham movie. I think it would be a fantastic movie.”
Scott had previously ghostwritten the biography of Sir Edmund Hillary, also making documentaries of the mountaineer. He said he also hoped to see a Hillary movie made.
“With a bit of luck, five years from now I’ll have cornered the market in New Zealand heroes.”
The Upham story was told in the book Mark of the Lion, published in 1962 and written by lawyer Kenneth Sandford, who died in 2005. Scott’s biography, Searching for Charlie, was published in 2020.
Tom Scott's book, Searching for Charlie, a biography of Kiwi war hero Charles Upham.
It is understood no one currently holds the rights for Mark of the Lion, and while Firefly did at one stage, its project aimed to rely on material about Upham in the public domain.
Roger Sandford, the son of Mark of the Lion author Kenneth Sandford, confirmed he controlled the rights for the book. He did not want to comment.
Emma Slade, who is listed as one of three producers for the Upham project at Firefly, was also not willing to comment.
Upham was awarded his first Victoria Cross for heroic bravery in action in Crete in May 1941 and his second - known as the Bar - for his actions in Egypt in July 1942 for his actions during the first battle of El Alamein.
By Scott’s count in Finding Charlie, New Zealand’s Major-General Howard Kippenberger estimated Upham had earned the VC on eight occasions.
Two others have received the VC on two occasions. Both were doctors commended for their courage in rescuing wounded combatants while under fire.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards, including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.
