19 April 2003
By ROCHELLE WEST
Hollywood will be in Taranaki for a few more weeks yet.
Latest indications show filming of The Last Samurai is due to finish about May 7. Originally, filming in the region was to wind up about this weekend, but things are going so well here, the film-makers apparently want to stay a little longer to make the best film possible. Rumour has it that director Ed Zwick and lead actor and producer Tom Cruise think the natural lighting in Taranaki is so fantastic, they are putting in more scenes, so the film looks even better. The $US100 million movie is still on budget, however. The longer stay will no doubt keep the local hospitality industry and all the businesses who have been involved with the movie very happy.
* Cast and crew sat and watched several mock Japanese buildings – including the main meeting house – burn to the ground at the Uruti film set this week. The buildings were believed to be replicas of those in the main mock-Japanese village, but had been built further down the valley to be razed for the film. It apparently took about 20 minutes for the huts to burn to the ground, with the intense heat making it difficult at times for the principal actors to keep control of their horses as the fire crackled. And there was no room for extra takes or mistakes – with only one chance to get it right.
* A handful of The Last Samurai special effects crew were in Queenstown this week filming some scenic plate shots for the film. It is understood they flew by helicopter on a location hunt earlier this week in preparation for two days’ filming in the Mt Aspiring area. Queenstown director John Mahaffie is the director of photography for the shoot. Mahaffie, who directed the second unit of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, has been in Taranaki for more than a month filming battle scenes for The Last Samurai at Upper Pitone Rd.
* Tom Cruise seems to be getting in a bit of horse riding practice in his spare time while in Taranaki. Between filming takes, The Last Samurai star has headed to back-country adventure camp Gumboot Gully, which is near the Uruti Samurai set, for some riding action. It is understood Cruise’s son, Connor (8), has also been having some horse riding practice near his Oakura home base.
* It wasn’t just Taranaki farmers who suffered during the recent dry spell. Looking out on golden brown pastures day after day apparently forced The Last Samurai film crew to take urgent action. Green was what they wanted, not brown. It is understood the background hillsides were instantly transformed – sprayed with green paint, for the duration of the filming of battle scenes at Upper Pitone Rd.
From: Stuff.
Thanks to Bettyblue!
