A council paper said the CBD location helped filming 'take this trip back in time'. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A council paper said the CBD location helped filming 'take this trip back in time'. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Parts of Wellington's CBD are being transformed into 1920s New York this week, with hundreds of film cast and crew in town for a major Hollywood production.
A fleet of vintage cars also features, for filming of the Time Bandits series.
Taika Waititi is leading the project for Apple+TV and Paramount, with Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Concords an executive producer.
The cast includes former Friends star Lisa Kudrow, Kal-El Tuck from Unseeing Evil and Charlyne Yi from Knocked Up.
Time Bandits revolves around a boy who discovers a time portal in his bedroom, and was officially described as "a comedic journey through time and space with a ragtag group of thieves and their newest recruit: an 11-year-old history nerd."
Wellington City Council has closed parts or all of Stout, Maginnity and Ballance streets over the next three nights for filming.
A fleet of vintage cars are parked in Wellington's CBD for filming. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A council paper said the CBD closures were to create scenes of 1920s Harlem, with the interior and exterior of the boutique Wellesley Hotel a key location.
"It provides the production with an excellent backdrop to take this trip back in time."
WellingtonNZ CEO John Allen said the benefits of Waititi filming the TV series adaptation in Wellington could not be overstated.
It would leave both a cultural and economic legacy in this country, he said.
Over the four-plus months it is filmed here it will employ more than 500 people – in film and creative sectors, but also crane drivers, construction workers, and those employed in the hospitality sector.
"This is a welcome and much-needed boost to small businesses who have done it tough over the past couple of 'Covid-years;, with closed borders, lockdowns, and staff shortages.
"However, further to this we know what it can mean to a place when a significant project is made there – the regions where LOTR and Game of Thrones were filmed benefitted from a post-production tourism glow. We expect our tourism sector should be able to leverage off this epic production, and we're excited to continue the Wellywood story."
As a UNESCO city of film, Wellington had been home to some of the biggest productions, such as LOTR, Avatar, and Time Bandits, "and speaks to us as storytellers and our creative capability".
Other local agencies in Wellington were not prepared to comment further and the Herald has contacted Paramount and Showtime.
