$70m vampire movie to be filmed in Auckland

Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.

Auckland is set to double for Alaska in yet another big-budget Hollywood film to be shot in New Zealand.

Filming for the vampire movie, 30 Days of Night, produced by Spiderman director Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert (the husband of New Zealand actor Lucy Lawless), is expected to begin in July, The Dominion Post reported today.

Auditions were held in Wellington yesterday.

The movie, set in a small Alaskan town, where it is completely dark for one month a year, is reputed to have a budget of up to $70 million.

It is scheduled for release in October 2007.

Film New Zealand chairman David Madigan told the paper that the organisation had yet to receive "definitive information" but filming was expected to begin in Auckland this year.

Other films being made in New Zealand this year include Hard Drive and 10,000 BC (both to be filmed in Queenstown this month) and The Waterhorse, parts of which will be shot in Wellington.

- NZPA