River Queen aground in troubled waters

By AINSLEY THOMSON and RUSSELL BAILIE


It was Vincent Ward's grand vision. The idea for River Queen occurred to him in the late 1970s while he was living in a remote Maori community. For 15 years he nurtured it, turning it over in his mind.

The epic movie, set in the 1860s against the backdrop of the New Zealand wars, was ambitious. Three years of negotiation with Whanganui River Maori were necessary to get consent from all hapu involved. Raising the $15 million needed to fund it was a struggle, as was attracting top actors to toil in the mud in the backblocks of Raetihi.

But Ward's script, co-written with playwright Toa Fraser, was considered so good it attracted the funds, and the stars - Kiefer Sutherland, Samantha Morton, Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison - followed.

Fraser, who Ward asked to work on the script in 2000, said Ward saw the film as his homecoming - his first feature film here since The Navigator , in 1988.

"He had his international journey as a film director and I think he was looking for an opportunity to come back here and make River Queen, which was something he was really passionate about."

Fraser responded to the story and enjoyed working on it. "The scale is ambitious and it's ambitious on a personal level for actors. It was a challenge to write the script and I imagine it is a challenge to make it."

On June 25, Ward's vision started to take physical shape when filming began in the rugged hill country north of Wanganui. The movie was meant to take 12 weeks to shoot, and to be finished by the end of September.

At first, the difficulties of filming in the shadow of Mt Ruapehu in the middle of winter seemed of little consequence. But the reality was soon felt. In the first week it rained almost continuously. River levels rose, temperatures dropped and mud became the dominant feature.

As the conditions worsened, sickness started to hit crew and cast - often required to get wet while dressed in traditional Maori clothing or mud-covered colonial clothes.

Two weeks into shooting, director of photography Alun Bollinger gave notice because of a back injury. At least five production office staff left the set within the first few weeks.

At the end of July came another bizarre twist. A notice was published in Taranaki's Daily News from a group calling itself the United Chiefs of Aotearoa, warning of impending disaster for the cast and crew of the film unless the "Paramount Chief of the river" was acknowledged.

No one, including the film's co-producer Tainui Stephens, in charge of iwi relations, knew who the group was, but it created a myth of a curse.

Meanwhile, cast and crew were still struggling with freezing conditions.

The film was shot in winter because of a delivery date committed to as part of financing, and because of Samantha Morton's schedule. As it turned out, it was Morton who was worst affected by the weather.

By the end of July, filming was intermittently halted because the British actress, twice nominated for Academy Awards, was too sick to come to the set. She developed severe influenza and bacterial complications and ended up in hospital.

Reports flew about her behaviour. Some said she was a demanding prima donna, although the film's management put it down to her being a method actress.

There was talk of a personality clash between Morton and Ward, and of Ward driving his actors hard in bad conditions.

It was not the first time such suggestions had been attached to Ward. On The Navigator, he developed a reputation as a hard-driving director who expected his cast and crew to perform in difficult conditions.

On August 2, filming of River Queen was officially halted. That was where many thought the tale would end, but at the beginning of this month filming began again.

Morton was medically cleared to return and it was announced Sutherland would return to New Zealand for a few days in November to complete scenes with her.

Bollinger was also back and optimism was high. When the Weekend Herald visited the set it found a cast and crew determined to see the project through.

Conditions were still bad - actors and crew had to trudge in gumboots through thick mud, and thermals, thick jackets and ski pants were a necessity - but people seemed almost oblivious to them. And it did not take long for the bad luck to return.

In the second week, a man had to be airlifted from the set with injuries to his back after a horse accident.

Then Cliff Curtis crashed his 4WD into an Otaki house while driving to the set.

Once again publicist Sue May had to swing into action to quash speculation that the movie was cursed.

But this week came the news that Ward had been removed as director - dumped from the film he conceived, wrote, organised and directed.

The insurer, Film Finances, is understood to have asked for Ward to be removed. An industry source said Ward was behind schedule and his removal was due to the "age-old clash between artistic temperament and budget".

Producer Don Reynolds said the film would be finished by the end of next month and extra funds would not be required.

But questions are being asked about whether the film will ever make it to cinemas. John Maynard, producer of Vigil and The Navigator, said it was a blow to the film's prospects. "It's like someone came down to the end of the plane and said, 'The pilot's just been discontinued'."

Maynard could not see how a saleable result could come out of Ward's removal. "He's the writer, the director, he has the whole picture in his mind. It's not an industrial process."

Other industry commentators say even if the completed film is everything its producers say it will be, it is likely to suffer from the bad buzz.

Festival programmers and international distributors will be wary of a picking up a film which has its "name" director unable to support the release. Any media coverage of the film will inevitably first refer to its troubled history rather than its merits.

The word of mouth on River Queen is already pessimistic even before it has reached the editing suite, let alone the box office.