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Note:
links in archived stories may have expired due to the removal of the stories
from, or changes to, the websites from which they were derived.
Where can Jackson go from here?
If anyone wants
Citizen Kane remade, here is the man
"Potter was made by a committee masquerading as a director. Rings
is made by a genius masquerading as a normal human being....it takes a scapegrace to
deliver true grace, as it has always taken artistic outlaws to rewrite the laws of art."-
Financial
Times
(13 December 2001)
Jackson
wizard director
Kiwi film guru Peter Jackson is in Empire Magazine's poll
of the top 50 directors.
(November 2001)
Whale
of a tale
A combination of German
and New Zealand investors will finance Whale Rider, the film adaptation
of Witi Ihimaera's much loved book. Whale Rider is a contemporary tale
about a girl whose relationship with a whale ends up saving her village.
Niki Caro (Memory and Desire) adapted the novel for the screen
and will helm the pic.
Archived
story
(20 September 2001)
A combination of German
and New Zealand investors will finance Whale Rider, the film adaptation
of Witi Ihimaera's much loved book. Whale Rider is a contemporary tale
about a girl whose relationship with a whale ends up saving her village.
Niki Caro (Memory and Desire) adapted the novel for the screen
and will helm the pic.
Archived
story
(20 September 2001)
Kiwi
Koala
New Zealand film company Daybreak Pacific imported actors and animatronic
Koala's to Auckland for the shooting of Ozzie, a New Zealand made
film featuring an Australian icon.
(18 August 2001)
Tamahori, Lee
Tamahori
New Zealand director picked as front-runner to direct next Bond movie, with
Pierce Brosnan still in the hot seat as 007.
(31 July 2001)
The
Kiwis are Coming
"Russell Crowe won't be the only brand-name export to the United
States if New Zealanders get their way. The island country is aggressively
pursuing foreign markets by liberalizing trade policies and encouraging
smaller firms to take the plunge into exporting."
(30 July 2001)
Fairytale victory
Kiwi co-directed Shrek is "a computer-generated miracle. Based
on William Steig’s 28-page book, the film puts forward the most marvellous
case for the craziness of repressing fairytales since Sondheim’s musical Into
the Woods."
But, in Salon,
not everyone buys the computer hype.
(28 June 2001)
Ancient forest
Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World filmed in New Zealand "where there
are still forests that resemble those of the Cretaceous Period when the great
dinosaurs walked the land".
(18 June 2001)
All that is golden...
The Lord of the Rings (the book) - boyish fantasy or "true
myth" that is a modern masterpiece?
(4 June 2001)
A piece of Martin
Ex-Shortland Streeter Martin Henderson toplines indie A Piece of My Heart and
plays opposite Nicolas Cage in Windtalkers,
currently in production.
Register and search under Archives
(25 May 2001)
Lording
it at Cannes
Which was hotter - the Rings preview or the bash after? Twenty minutes
of Rings footage had seasoned critics standing to applaud; the
party, complete with sets shipped from New Zealand, was the one ticket no-one
could bear to miss. Check out the official site for Cannes footage and photos.
(May 2001)
In over his depth
Sam Neill stars as the ingenious and courageous
Lt. Commander Charles
"Swede" Momsen in New England submarine drama Submerged.
(18 May 2001)
Phil's Crazy Club on Oprah
Kiwi Phil Keoghan chats with the first lady of US TV about how "passion became his purpose" after a near-death
experience as a 20-yr old. Talking Oprah through a group bungee, dinner atop a volcano, and
hand-feeding wild sharks, he confirmed NZ's place as the adventure capital of
the world. Phil's new show, "Amazing Race" is to screen
an CBS in the northern summer.
(26 April 2001)
Curtain falls for Nyree Dawn Porter
"Forsyte sex symbol who conquered the
world", Kiwi-born and raised star of the
60's TV show The Forsyte Saga (watched by 100 milllion people in 26
countries) remembered in The
Telegraph, The
Guardian and The
Times. As Irene, the wronged wife of a Victorian 'man of property', Dorothy
Porter's "classical good looks" became
known world-wide and her performances "gripped a generation of viewers".
(12 April 2001)
Serve up Sam
Sam Neill, currently showing in The Dish, is major star material: "Like Harrison Ford, he's an Everyman
with gravitas. Like Tom Hanks, he engages our sympathy innately. He's masculine
without being macho, handsome without being pretty, decent without being a
scold, and he's a fine, versatile actor."
(6 April 2001)
Russell's leg up
Russell's main rival for the little naked gold man was "Tom Hanks, who
wears very little for much of Castaway. To the Academy this shameless
overexposure smacked of desperation, an all-shorts-off attempt to counter
Crowe's Gladitorial mini."
(31 March 2001)
Crowe 007
Will it be "Crowe, Russell Crowe" next time 007 hits the big
screen? "To play Bond, you need a man who has great screen presence and is
believable in the part. Looking at him, you could easily believe Russell capable
of savagely bumping off bad men with a wry comment. For my money, at the moment,
he's the only man for the job." - Octopussy director John Glen.
(20 March 2001)
Kidnappers couldn't take me
Russell Crowe laughs off kidnap threat: "Quite frankly, if they had to
spend that much time in a small room with me... one of them might end up saying,
'Look, pass the hat around, and for a couple of hundred dollars you can take him
off our hands!"
(15 March 2001)
Dishy
Sam Neill transmits tension in The Dish, the story of how Neill
Armstrong came to be broadcast from a giant dish in the middle of the Australian
desert.
(15 March 2001)
Russ of the jungle
Russell: Charismatic, attractive and talented, but also fearless, said
Sharon Stone years back. He proves her right on the screen and in the jungles of
Ecuador.
(3 March 2001)
Ciao, Gladiatore!
Crowe-band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts gig Milan for Children in Crisis
fund-raiser.
(27 February 2001)
Milk magic
Director Harry Sinclair explains the magic behind The Price of Milk:
"We put a window frame on a dolly and sat Danielle Coramck and
the camera on the dolly. And they were moving along Karl as he walks across the
field." Also, Milk makes a great shake and gets bottled by
soured critic.
(15 February 2001)
Star of the year
Russell Crowe named "Male Star of the Year" at
ShoWest
2001, the largest motion picture industry convention.
(14 February 2001)
Acting love
British actor Toby Stephens "sips cranberry and soda in restaurants with
his girlfriend, the New Zealand actress Anna-Louise Plowman (Flick, The
Adulterer)", and enjoys "choosing colour schemes for his new
north London flat."
(28 January 2001)
Political thrills
"I felt that this picture was made for me, because I love politics and I
love making thrillers," says Kiwi-spawned director Roger Donaldson of
missile-drama Thirteen Days, reviewed
as "a sleek, fast and clean race through the facts".
(29 January 2001)
Dinosaur amore
Sam Neill confesses to feeling something for his Jurassic co-stars: "There
was one little female velociraptor who had a cute haircut, but it was never
anything more than holding hands… holding claws."
(27 January 2001)
Change your life
Get prepared for Rings-mania: Brush up on your Tolkien makes number 16 on the
list of 99 ways to change your life.
(7 January 2001)
Vertical exhilaration
NZ-filmed and directed Vertical Limit goes public. The scenery scores
universal acclaim: Ottawa
Citizen,
Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, ctnow,
entertainmentnewsdaily, National
Post, Chicago
Tribune, the
Star, Washington
Post. Scott Glen battled Mt
Cook, the entire crew battled the weather. The Chicago Sun-Times
says VL is "the closest viewers will get" to the disastrous 1996
expedition that killed kiwi Rob Hall.
(2001)
In the pink of elf
"Cate Blanchett is looking particularly ethereal...perhaps it's just a
little leftover glow from the four months spent in New Zealand playing the Lady
Galadriel..."
(26 December 2000)
Manly, subtle Crowe
"We already knew from The Insider that Crowe was a fine, subtle, vanity-free
actor, happy to ruin his looks to play pudgy and useless. But Gladiator and
Proof of Life prove that he's also a great movie star. One is not the same as
the other, and the two rarely combine in one actor. Crowe is as manly as Connery
and as subtle as Robert Ryan."
(15 December 2000)
Price of Milk
"So this film is my dream
about New Zealand, this make-believe country that seems almost empty of people"
- director Harry Sinclair on his dairy-tale romance, The
Price of Milk.
(December 2000)
Punitive Damage
New Zealander Helen Todd's documentary inditing the Indonesian military for
the Dili massacre screens at the Las Vegas CineVegas festival.
(27 November 2000)
O'Donnell's limit
"As star of the (Kiwi-directed) mountain-climbing epic Vertical Limit
Chris O'Donnell had been helicoptered to the edge of a jagged rock formation in New Zealand's
rugged Southern Alps and deposited to "hang out'' for the rest of the day."
(20 November 2000)
Xena kills jiggle TV
"Is it the end of the Baywatch phenomenon? In place of the silicon-
enhanced
charms of David Hasselhof's babes is the well-toned New Zealander who
yells yi-yi-yi-yi when vanquishing an opponent, leaps through the air, backflips
like a pro and generally strides about like Hercules."
(19 November 2000)
Whitewash
Maori cut from crowd scenes in Her Majesty, US-funded feature film
set in New Zealand c.1953-54. Producer Walter Coblenz (All the President's
Men), said historical accuracy motivated the cutting.
(16 November 2000)
Sam Neill is in LA filming Jurassic
3
The grounds of his temporary
residence are described as "park-like"...
(29 October 2000)
Devils' Playground
"If they were human they would be regarded as severely dysfunctional."
New Zealander Rod Morris on Tasmanian Devils, the stars of The Devil's
Playground, which has won him a Wildscreen Panda - wildlife film's most
coveted award.
(16 October 2000)
Truman to Simone
Oscar-nominated Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show) has
scripted and will helm Simone. Al Pacino stars
alongside an mysterious actress who may or may not be real.
(30 September 2000)
The purloined piano?
The Piano secured Jane Campion as a major director and
catapulted her from the art-house to the multiplex, but the Oxford
Companion to Australian Film recently cast doubt over the originality of the
screenplay for which she received an Oscar. The resulting investigation into the
links between the "strange and mesmerising film" and the novel The Story of a New Zealand River, by Jane
Mander, resulted in Oxford University Press Australia issuing a full apology to
Campion over the claims.
(September 2000)
Flaming Fox
"It's difficult
to pin down Kerry Fox. For every film-goer who knows her as the murderous
medical student in Shallow Grave, there's another who remembers her as
the dumpy author Janet Frame in An Angel at My Table, or the hardbitten
journalist in Welcome to Sarajavo." Kerry Fox is currently playing
in Charlotte Jones's new work In Flame at the New Ambassadors as Alex, a
thirtysomething, childless career woman with a married boyfriend and a mother in
a home.
(31 August 2000)
Russell Crowe: Hollywood Actor of the Year
Russell Crowe was named Hollywood Actor of the Year at the Hollywood Film
Festival Awards held at the Beverly Hilton on August 7th. Internet users voted
online at Entertainment Tonight site ETonline.com and Reel.com for the awards.
The actress award went to Angelina Jolie.
(7 August 2000)
Natural History New Zealand double Emmy nomination
Natural History New Zealand writers Ian McGee (who won NZ's first Emmy last
year) and Quinn Berentson were nominated for their for an
episode "The Rat" in the 13 part series Twisted Tales
co-produced by Animal Planet and the acclaimed Kiwi production company.
Cinematographer Mike Single was also nominated for television's most prestigious
prize for his innovative timelapse work in Antarctica.
(27 July 2000)
Bean says Boromir no gamble in Lord of the Rings
Sean Bean has trodden the tightrope between Hollywood Bond villain and small
budget independent movies enough times to know that the movie world has its ups
and downs, but he says "it's definitely worth the risk" to be involved
in the biggest, longest, most expensive piece of Hollywood risk taking in
history. Bean plays the role of Boromir for "the demanding and incredibly
talented Peter Jackson."
(16 July 2000)
Bilbo buzz spawns rumour about a hoard of treasure
The Lord of the Rings folklore continues to spread. Fox chronicles the
Ring rage: the record breaking previews, websites, esoteric and precious fans,
mammoth investment and eager anticipation that the project has spawned. "To
outpace Star Wars by such a large margin is a great indication of the popularity
of this franchise."
(7 July 2000)
Rogue Anna Paquin is Premiere Cover mutant
Playing the character of 'Rogue' in Bryan Singer's (Usual Suspects)
blockbuster adaptation of comic legend X-Men, Anna Paquin makes the
special edition cover of July's Premiere. Like Paquin's Oscar
winning acting talent, Rogue is known for her ability to 'absorb'. Find
out how Paquin's 'endowment' became a point of controversy on the set.
(July 2000)
From one edge to another to take up the Haka challenge
From Vancouver on the edge of the Atlantic, director Jonathan Tammuz will
continue a global roll to the edge of the Pacific to direct "Haka" an
1850s-set $30million British production. The production will be filmed in New
Zealand later this year.
(30 June 2000)
Sam Neill: walking with the dinosaurs ... again
Kiwi Neill has become the first major actor to sign on for more encounters
with a blue screed/rampaging dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 3. He will reprise his
role as Dr. Alan Grant from the 1993 original.
(28 June 2000)
Maclean movie puts the art before the horse
Feed gets a shot in the arm from director Alison Maclean. "We
all know what to expect from '70s smack movies. So why is Jesus' Son so
unexpectedly good? Maclean's movie, like the much revered short story
collection on which it is based, happens to be a real work of art..."
(23 June 2000)
Gandalf: Lord of the Seas
Sir Ian McKellen takes a break on Auckland Harbour from playing the
wise wizard Gandalf in the 16 month long shoot of Peter Jackson's Lord
of the Rings. He is immersing himself in the NZ/Middle Earth
edge experience, "... this is the biggest film ever made, in terms of
logistics and technology ... and they're happening in New Zealand, away
from any sense that there's a world outside Middle Earth".
(6 June 2000)
Niccol turns into Hollywood gold
Kiwi Andrew Niccol is to write and direct 'the Hollywood project',
rumoured to star Al Pacino as a down and out movie producer. Niccol
was Oscar nominated for the screenplay to The Truman Show and
directed the acclaimed sci-fi thriller Gattaca, starring Uma
Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
(22 May 2000)
Rome with a view
Ridley Scott's exhilarating
and ferocious Gladiator brings the epic back to life. The movie is
dominated by Russell Crowe's towering Maximus, a man of intelligence, probity
and Roman virtue. He's the most virile presence in a film of this kind
since Richard Burton ... Crowe confirms his status as one of the best
star character actors around.
(14 May 2000)
Fresh Crowe conquers in revival of old-genre
"I just thought he was
fresh, a new generation, he's a man who's on his way up," says Ridley
Scott, of Russell Crowe, the Gladiator's 36-year-old New Zealand
star.
(6 May 2000)
One of these days I'm gonna get myself maximised
Here is man who would not take it anymore ...
Crowe makes the cover
of Empire (the magazine - not the Civilisation). "The man
exudes the physicality of a wild animal. Shifting testosterone like a
pre-bloated Brando, he holds the screen with such assuredness and force you
simply can't rip your eyes away from him."
(May 2000)
"To die or not to die - very good question"
Gladiator features breathtaking photography, sets and computer
generated images. But the real glory of the show is Russell Crowe who is simply
magnificent ... Like James Mason, he is one of those actors who can make the
lamest line (and like its sword-and-sandal predecessors, Gladiator has
some clunkers) sound like Shakespeare.
(May 2000)
Short Infection bugs Cannes Festival
New Zealand director James Cunningham's short film - a digital action
thriller about a mutant hero that invades a computer system to destroy student
loans - has been selected to compete in the prestigious 53rd Cannes Film
Festival.
(May 2000)
Crowe does the hard yards to re-visit grandeur of Rome
"I broke a bone in my foot, I fractured a hip-bone, I
had both bicep tendons pop out of their shoulder sockets - fortunately for me at
different times so I could still use one arm ... It
was a challenge, I'll say that".
(27 April 2000)
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Russell Crowe gets inside his character's head
Jeffrey Wigland, real-life whistleblower says Crowe, 22 years junior and a
native of New Zealand "did a remarkable job .. he did things that made it
feel very surreal for me, emotionally retching and uncomfortable."
(15 April 2000)
Spider pic hatched - New Zealander to direct
Hollywood: the duo behind Independence Day and Godzilla are
producing "Arch Attack", an f/x driven comedic thriller about a toxic
waste spill that causes giant spiders to go on a rampage. Will shoot in
Australia and be directed by New Zealander Ellroy Elkayem, who co-wrote the
script.
(30 March 2000)
Justine Wright nominated for Oscar
New Zealander Justine Wright has been nominated for this
year's Oscar Awards for her editing of a dramatic documentary One Day in September, an
account of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
(10 March 2000)
Postscript: Wright won the Oscar for her contribution to the film.
Sam Neill
brings Thomas Jefferson to Life
Growing up in New Zealand, Sam Neill was aware of Thomas Jefferson
merely as "writer of the Declaration of Independence, architect,
politician, two-time U.S. president and big cheese on Mount Rushmore."
(5 February 2000)
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Fellowship of the Rings?
Our neighbours across the Tasman have always thought of themselves as Big
Brother, now they want to share toys: "anything which is good for Australia
is good for New Zealand, and vice versa. Anyone who's been in those parts of New
Zealand knows how magnificent it is, and we shouldn't resent that, we should
wish them luck and do cross-promoting with them...Now is the opportunity to get
in and just remind the world that Australasia is a great place for a
holiday", declares Christopher Brown, of Tourism Task Force Australia.
(17 December 2001)
The Land of the Rings
"The first thing I thought when Peter showed me
the pictures of the locations in New Zealand was: this is Middle-earth,"
says Elijah Woods. "I mean, it has every sort of geographical, geological
formation and landscape; its got everything. So, it's absolutely perfect." USA
Today agrees, as does The
Independent, while Metromix
gives a location by location account of how NZ was transformed into
Middle-earth.
(12 December 2001)
More
to Crowe about
Russell Crowe excels on the screen, and now with his band 30-odd Foot
of Grunts he is tackling the music scene as well. The bands first album,
Bastard Life of Clarity, was released this month.
(24 September 2001)
Amazing Race amazing
TV
"More than a thrill a minute" is packed into The Amazing Race,
a "dazzling and fascinating show that brings new energy and respectability
to the reality genre." Contestants are sent around the world - literally
- to compete for a million-dollar prize. It's all held together by Kiwi
presenter Phil Keoghan, who is now based in the US and loving the challenge.
(5 September 2001)
The X-factor
From sword and sorcery to the paranormal, Lucy Lawless moves from Xena to The X-Files, where "we're
thrilled to work with Lucy, whose work we've admired for a long time," says X-Files
producer
Frank Spotnitz.
(30 July 2001)
Chill of Fame
Russell Crowe would be the crowd-pulling choice to play Earnest Shackleton
in the bio-pic Endurance, about the ill-fated South Pole expedition of
1914-15. Did you know: captain of Shackleton's epic Artic voyage was NZ
adventure hero Frank Worsley? (below)
(19 July 2001)
Russell cooking
Russell Crowe's Thirty Odd Foot of
Grunts hots up Texas barbeque with proceeds going to the city's Settlement Home
for troubled youth. As well as being a New Zealander and an Australian, Crowe
has also been declared "an honorary Texan" by the mayor of Austin.
(23 June 2001)
Docu prize
New Zealand co-production Wild Asia: Creatures of the Thaw wins
Canada's Banff Television Festival President's Prize, worth C$25 000.
(12 June 2001)
Shrek at Cannes
Kiwi Andrew Adamson is co-director of Dreamworks' hit Shrek, the
first animated movie to make competition at Cannes since Dumbo 50 years ago. Guardian
picks it as a Cannes top ten. Shrek "deliciously yucky" and
"most unanimously
loved film among the critics". Plot synopsis and cast
and crew round-up.
(May-June 2001)
Wellywood
Dead oliphants at Plimmerton, hobbit cities and epic battles: just the
beginning for "Wellywood".
(21 May 2001)
Rings pics
A gallery of stills from the preview.
(18 May 2001)
Campion cuts Kidman
New Zealand director Jane Campion nabs red-hot Nicole Kidman for upcoming In
the Cut.
(15 May 2001)
Crowe's Anzac
Stan Wemyss, Russell Crowe's Grandfather, was a soldier and cinematographer
- a key influence on the star.
(22 April 2001)
Actress remembered
International
tributes continue for "cucumber-cool" New Zealand-born Forsyte
star Nyree Dawn Porter.
(12 April 2001)
Along came Lee
Along Came a Spider, edge-director Lee Tamahori's
Kiss the Girls
follow-up "skillfully builds the action" and "gives sequels a
good name".
(6 April 2001)
Kiwi batter?
Will Russell Crowe step up to the crease for Somerset this season, or is
it just that funny time of year?
(1 April 2001)
Edge in the heart of Tinseltown
Russell Crowe and Crouching Tiger herald a takeover of Hollywood by
the rest of the world.
PDF Copy
(31 March 2001)
Everyone's Crowing
An examination post-golden Gladiator coverage on both sides of the Tasman.
(30 March 2001)
Milk in Hawaii
Price of Milk
plays at the Hawaii International Film Festival.
(19 March 2001)
Victory: the aftermath
More stories from across the globe: "this moment is directly connected
to those childhood imaginings" quotes The
Advertiser; Crowe "shocked and emotional" in the LA
Times; "I was thinking this is one of those bad taste gags the
world plays on you," in Virtual
New York; Empire
Oscar special; he's still an ordinary bloke says SMH
and the LA
Times agrees; "I had to find a way to keep Maximus constant
throughout,"; "Oscar won't change me" Russ tells The
Age.
(March 2001)
Here with Lee Majors
NYNZer Brendan Donovan scores Best
Cinematography award for his short film Here at the Angelciti Film Festival LA
and his star Lee Majors wins Best Actor at the Santa Monica International Film
Festival. Majors plays an aging hit man stranded in Niagara searching for a
reason to change. Donovan is credited with reclaiming the actor’s career. He
also features in Oyster’s
spread of Kiwis and Aussies making it big in NY (survey also includes uber-make-up
artist Aaron de May
ex-Tauranga).
(March 2001)
Intimacy and success
New Zealander Kerry Fox wins Silver Bear (best actress) at the Berlin Film
Festival for her "searing
and explicit" performance in Intimacy, winner of the Golden Bear
for best film. Fox was unable to collect her prize personally - she was in a hot
bath preparing to give birth.
(20 February 2001)
Go Russell, go!
"What we do in life/echoes in eternity." Russell "Maximus" Crowe gets a second
Best Actor nomination (last year was for The Insider), continuing a fine run of Wellington actors and filmmakers who
have been nominated or won Oscars
(Jane Campion, Anna Pacquin, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Andrew Niccol)
(13 February 2001)
Web savvy
Lord of the Rings producers have played it cool with net
marketing - giving
away photos and info titbits to keep the fans keen. The redesigned Rings site
has already clocked over 41 million hits, while teaser
trailers pull in cinema crowds.
(23 January 2001)
Ringing up the gold
Lord of the Rings has brought the gold into Wellington, the city of
"tearooms and sea views". View the New Zealand setting
in the round at the official site.
(20 January 2001)
Maclean, you've done it again
Alison Maclean's Jesus' Son: "scruffy, loopy and terrifc" on
video.
(11 January 2001)
Trailer Lords
"There's an advert currently going out on Virgin radio encouraging
listeners to go to the cinema this Friday. It does urge you go to a film but
only because this is the first opportunity to see the trailer for The
Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the Lord of the Rings
trilogy being shot back-to-back in New Zealand." Also entertainment
news daily, Empire,
(9 January 2001)
488 160 minutes to go
Rings hype has generated over 400 websites, countless
articles and minute-by-minute countdowns.
Pdf Copy
(20 December 2000)
Vertical #2
"Vertical Limit has its flaws - but they're not enough to dim
rousing, old-fashioned escapism which uses modern techno-skills to really put
you in the picture and on the mountain peak."
(24 December 2000)
Finding Forrester
"I knew that if Gus Van Sant was wanting to make the movie, then it definitely
meant there was something special about it," says Anna Paquin. She plays opposite co-Oscarites Sean Connery and
F. Murray Abraham in Finding Forrester.
(13 December 2000)
Shifty Crowe
New DVD's reveal Crowe's dark, pre-Gladiator side: "With his
shifty eyes, stocky frame and ready fist, he was born to be the heavy. His roles
have included portrayals of a neo-Nazi skinhead (Romper Stomper), a
computer-generated serial killer (Virtuosity), a brutal cop (L.A.
Confidential)
and a self-important whistle blower (The Insider). He's the guy the real hero is
supposed to save people from."
(1 December 2000)
Fantastically weird
"The Price of Milk is a fantastically weird and funny little film. Boasting
the sort of edgy, quirky slant usually only maintained in short film, it never
compromises its oddness which is a joy."
(December 2000)
Sincere flattery
Gladiator's next move is into surround-screen IMAX theatres. In real
life, Russell Crowe's "punchy" about the buzz he's generating. Crowe
spent Halloween marvelling at imitators: "So many gladiators," he said
of the Greenwich Village parade, including "a guy with an ice cream bucket
and a piece of plastic sticking out the top for a helmet".
PDF File
(24 November 2000)
Location #2
"As globalisation impacts mainstream Indian cinema, one of the early
fall-outs is a flight of locations, with Indian film-makers snapping up every
excuse in the book to shoot everywhere - from Alaska to New Zealand."
(19 November 2000)
Vertical limit
The stunning slopes of Aoraki (Mt Cook) backdrop Kiwi Martin Campbell's ice
action thriller, Vertical Limit. Starring Chris O'Donnel and Nicholas
Lea, Vertical Limit is scheduled for 15 December release.
(November 2000)
Counting Crowe
Amazon keeps count of DVD pre-orders. Gladiator gores Perfect
Storm 80 000 to 30 000. Also due out on DVD is Crowe's
"breakthrough performance" in Romper
Stomper.
(Ongoing)
Top Class
Chopper, New Zealand-born director Andrew Dominik's acclaimed bio-pic of
the maniacal murderer, has received Australian
Film Institute noms for Best Film and Best Direction, plus eight other
nominations including Best Screenplay (penned by Dominik).
(18 October 2000)
Tamahori:
Edge iconoclast
The Boston Globe profiles the
Boston Film/Video Foundation, mentioning Kiwi Lee Tamahori, along with Rose
Troche (Go Fish) and Whit Stillman (Barcelona) as an "international
iconoclast" from their "Meet
the Director" series.
(24 September 2000)
Praise for the "Dark
Vision" of Jackson’s Middle Earth
The Sydney Morning
Herald discusses the huge Lord of the Rings phenomenon, and lauds director Peter
Jackson’s ability to create fantasy on film. "His calling card is Heavenly
Creatures, a remarkable 1994, Jackson suggested the kind of alchemical powers and visionary technique
that will be necessary to make compelling cinema out of Tolkien's long-winded
storytelling."
(26 August 2000)
Sssshhh! Silence is regulated Golden
A multiplex in Birmingham banning kissing in its cinemas prompted the BBC to
investigate cinema etiquette leading them to uncover the news that an independent cinema
in Wellington, New Zealand, banned crisps from its snack bar in an attempt to
spare film fanatics from the incessant rustlings of hard-to-open foil packets.
(15 August 2000)
Gaping Gandalf
In the The Grey Book, acclaimed actor Sir Ian McKellen's
diary of the Lord of the Rings film shoot, McKellen raves about
the scenery: "New Zealand would amaze and enrapture anyone who responds to
the wild landscapes of Middle-earth." And gets a little tookish
yearning for the South Island: "I spy the interisland (fast) ferry chugging
past my Wellington window for the sail across the Cook Strait which separates
the islands. I envy the passengers."
(8 August 2000)
Cate Blanchett talks about me, my elf and I
Blanchett, Academy Award nominated for her performance in Elizabeth is in
the final stages of filming another Queen, the role of elf Galadriel in Lord
of the Rings. Blanchett explains why an attraction to Jackson's filmic edge
vision caused her to lobby hard for the role: "I heard on the grapevine
that Peter [Jackson] and Fran Walsh, his writing partner, were going to do it.
I'd long been a fan of their films."
(26 July 2000)
Island export
Treasure Island, Survivor - love them or loathe them "reality" means
ratings. With a patent on the format Treasure Island is a New Zealand
export success for Touchstone Productions.
(15 July 2001)
Rogue Paquin: mutant rebel with a cause
Paquin stars in Bryan Singer's blockbuster adaptation of the comic X-Men.
In the high tech parable of good and evil, Paquin offers "a surprisingly
poignant performance." Expressing well the hazards of being an adolescent
mutant, Rogue, when embracing a boyfriend, nearly kills him by draining his
energies so that he lapses into a coma.
(14 July 2000)
Cate's Elvish Ways: standing up for the sisters in Lord of the Rings
Cate Blanchett, playing the role of the enigmatic and beautiful elf queen
Gandriel in Lord of the Rings, found a unique way of keeping up with the
lads on set - she wore platform gold boots. She talks to E! Online about the
spiritual power of the 'White Lady', the difficulty of mastering the Elvish
dialect as well as her admiration for the talent of Peter Jackson.
(5 July 2000)
Romance and roadkill in Jesus'
Son
Director Alison Maclean's edge aesthetic gets sharper: described by
the New Yorker as having a "big messy emotional talent", she is
thrilled that audiences are connecting with the romance rather than the
wierdness. But don't expect the acclaim to have crushed her visual sensibility:
"When Alison Maclean is behind the camera, the middle of the road is
a dangerous place to be ..."
(July 2000)
The ubiquitous Crowe tabloid dispatch
"Hollywood's golden girl Meg in marriage split ... Crowe has
become Hollywood's latest heart-throb since starring as Maximus, in the summer's
most successful blockbuster. Ryan is reported to have spent considerable time
with Crowe during the filming of their forthcoming movie Proof of Life at
Pinewood Studios."
Enough Said, and he's wearing
Canterbury. (we had to put it in somewhere!)
(30 June 2000)
Tolkien epic is lord of the net
The $200m epic, in production in New Zealand and not due for release for a
year and a half, is already burgling box-office treasure and causing a storm on the internet, with a promotional
trailer breaking download records. It has also spawned a plethora of fan sites
picking over everything from Liv as a love interest, to leaked set info, and the
provision of armour for 15000 extras by the Wellington Knitting Club.
(19 June 2000)
Bonding bungee brings together father and son film-makers
Award-winning doco "Pop & Me" charts father/son relationships
around the world as the father/son makers work out their own. The film's
defining moment comes when Chris persuades his Dad join him in a tandem bungee jump
in New Zealand, when the two were
barely speaking at the time
(14 June 2000)
Russell Crowe maximises his earnings
"What we do in life echoes in eternity," Russell Crowe as General
Maximus says while admonishing his battle-ready troops in Gladiator. And
what we do at the box office echoes in our paychecks".
(19 May 2000)
Roman in gloamin' ?
Russell Crowe is being hailed here as the best-looking guy in a skirt since
Mel Gibson. The showbiz press have gone crazy over the New Zealander’s
performance in Gladiator, just like Mel’s in Braveheart.
" An understanding of
macho that only real men like jocks or antipodeans can carry off".
(17 May 2000)
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