Ward puzzled, but pleased

Greytown filmmaker Vincent Ward is puzzled but pleased to be named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for his services to film in the 2007 New Year Honours list.
"I am appreciative and grateful, although I am baffled. It's not the sort of thing you expect, to tell the truth, after what has been a challenging couple of years."
Ward, who blamed his greying hair on the final weeks of post-production for his most recent feature film, River Queen, shot in Wanganui and England, had during filming in 2005 endured public defiance from his leading lady Samantha Morton and was later dismissed before returning for editing, and to shoot the last few frames of the film - alone and waist deep in the River Thames in London.
The film is set in 1860s colonial New Zealand and draws a tight focus on young Irish immigrant Sarah and her family, who find themselves caught in the crossfire during the British and Maori land wars.
Preview screenings of River Queen in Australia and New Zealand were positive and since the premiere in Wanganui early this year ? where much of the almost two-hour film was shot.
River Queen topped the New Zealand box office on its first weekend of release and won Welsh composer Karl Jenkins the golden goblet award for best music at the Shanghai International Film Festival this year.
Ward has entwined work as a producer, director, art director and actor through his industry career with his debut feature film released in 1984 ? Vigil ? the first New Zealand-produced work invited to compete at the Cannes Film Festival that also won Grand Prix awards at the Madrid and Prades film festivals in the same year.
Ward worked for the next four years on fantasy drama The Navigator, which won six Australian Film Institute awards including best director and which also screened at the Cannes festival.
The directorial and screenwriting filmography for Ward includes River Queen, What Dreams May Come in 1998 starring Robin Williams, Map of the Human Heart in 1993, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey in 1988, Vigil, and two short films from 1978 and 1981 respectively, State of Siege and In Spring One Plants Alone.
Ward has seen many national and international awards captured by works with which he has been involved to date, and has also directed high end commercials in the US and played roles as an actor, including a small part in Leaving Las Vegas.
He was hired during the mid-90s to script the third of the Alien films, portraying astronaut monks in a wooden spaceship that despatched Sigourney Weaver in the first reel, but creative differences with the studio led to a parting of company. He was also "early in the piece" developed initial drafts of the script and was the executive producer for The Last Samurai, an action epic from 2003 shot in Taranaki and starring Tom Cruise.