NZ vampire movie heads for a perfect reception

Director Glenn Standring (left) and producer Tim Sanders are delighted with the film's sales after its screening in Cannes.

A vampire movie filmed in Dunedin and Oamaru could eclipse The Lord of the Rings to become New Zealand's greatest commercial film success.

Perfect Creature, directed by Glenn Standring and screening at the Cannes Film Festival in France, has been snapped up by film distribution companies worldwide, including 20th Century Fox in the United States.

The Hollywood Reporter said the American deal is "the largest ever made of a New Zealand film".

Screening rights for the film, set in a world where vampires and humans coexist, have already been bought by distribution companies in Britain, Japan, Australia and Scandinavia.

The New Zealand Film Commission, which helped to fund the film, said the deals meant Perfect Creature, had effectively sold to nearly every country in the world.

Standring, who is in Cannes, said he was delighted with the success.

"The way the film has sold around the world fills me with pride for all my creative team."

Producer Tim Sanders, who also produced Whale Rider and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, said it was "a wonderful validation of the technical and creative skills in our Kiwi industry".

The team who created the film's special effects included artists who worked on the Rings.

Standring, whose previous film The Irrefutable Truth About Demons was bought by the Blockbuster video chain in the United States, describes his latest work as a cross between Blade Runner and Seven.

He said he wanted to twist convention by creating a world where "vampires are no longer mankind's nemesis but its spiritual saviour".

"We all decided early on that we wanted to make a vampire film like no one had seen before."

Filmed last year on a $20 million budget, Perfect Creature stars British actors Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible 2, Enigma, Ripley's Game), Saffron Burrows (Troy, Enigma, Frida) and Stuart Wilson (The Mask of Zorro), and New Zealand actor Scott Wills (Stickmen).

Another New Zealand film has also been attracting considerable attention from distribution companies.

The Hollywood Reporter said "substantial offers from key territories" had been made for Kiwi director Roger Donaldson's The World's Fastest Indian.

The film stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as New Zealand motorcycle legend Burt Munro.