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US film-maker Martin Scorcese plans to shoot his next film, Silence, in New Zealand, according to reports.
Scorsese's production designer on The Aviator and Casino, Dante Ferretti, told The Australian that the adaptation of the novel by Shusako Endo and William Johnston about Portuguese Christian missionaries who arrived in Japan in the 17th-century had not yet been officially announced.
But he said that at least some of the film would be shot on this side of the Tasman.
Another major film, The Last Samurai, featuring Tom Cruise and set in 19th century Japan, was filmed in 2003 with much of the "Japanese" sets and scenery actually in Taranaki.
Meanwhile, Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro is moving to New Zealand to work on The Hobbit, and Wellington director Peter Jackson's adaptation of the best-selling novel The Lovely Bones is set to open on December 26 in the United States, the newspaper reported.
Steven Spielberg has announced the cast for the first instalment of the 3Dmotion-capture trilogy with Jackson, The Adventures of Tintin.
Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell will be Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn and Daniel Craig will co-star as the villain Red Rackham. Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and The Office's Mackenzie Crook also feature.
Spielberg is set to film the first instalment in Los Angeles and send it to effects house Weta Digital in Wellington to manipulate, while Jackson will direct the sequel in New Zealand.
- NZPA
