KEY POINTS:
There is no chance of Gladiator Russell Crowe or James Bond Daniel Craig playing New Zealand's double Victoria Cross-winning war hero Charles Upham in an upcoming movie unless a decent screenplay is written, says the director who has just pulled out of the production.
New Zealand film industry stalwart Nigel Hutchinson has stepped aside and told NZPA the problem is with the script.
Alun Bollinger, responsible for the cinematography in River Queen, has also pulled out as director of filming.
The movie is being made by Fat and Thin Productions, whose founder Craig Aitken had also written the screenplay, Hutchinson said.
But Hutchinson added the screenplay was really only at a first draft level, having been written using sections of the book about Upham - Mark of the Lion.
"It really at the moment is just not a filmatic screenplay."
It needed greater depth for several characters, including Upham's wife Molly, his batman, and commander, Major General Sir Howard Kippenberger, Hutchinson said.
"A war story is just a war story and although Upham was a fantastic hero I think [the script] needs to delve into his character - why he did some of these things and how he managed to survive.
"He should have been shot 20 times."
Hutchinson, who lives in the Marlborough Sounds, said that was also the reasoning behind Bollinger's withdrawal.
He said that with the script in its current state, agents for A-list actors like Crowe or Craig would say no.
"They're going to have a problem casting it with anybody decent because they'll say 'can I read the screenplay?' and unless it's good they're just going to say 'thanks very much, we'll call you'."
He accepted Hollywood agents would also have wanted a bigger-name director than himself if an A-lister was cast but denied any suggestion it was "sour grapes" that was making him speak out.
"I'd still like it to be made because I think it's a good New Zealand story."
Aitken was unable to be contacted yesterday but had said previously that filming was due to start in October.
He told the Press newspaper he had secured about $14 million in funding, was about 10 days away from announcing the leading man, and would name a new director in two or three weeks.
Fat and Thin chief executive Matt Walsh said in February that he wanted New Zealand-born Crowe to play Upham in the movie and filming was to be done in Taranaki.
- NZPA
