Pride of the river

August 31, 2005
River Queen: during the New Zealand Wars of the mid-19th Century.


Despite a host of setbacks during filming, including his own sacking, New Zealand director Vincent Ward believes River Queen ranks among his best work.

"I'm very excited about it," he said.

"I think it's a good film. It's possibly my best. It's certainly up there."

Based on an original story by Ward, River Queen is set during the New Zealand Wars of the mid-19th Century and tells the tale of a a mother's search for her lost son.

It stars British actress Samantha Morton as Sarah, a young Irishwoman who finds herself caught up on both sides of the conflict between Maori and British forces.

Also in the cast are Kiefer Sutherland, from the hit television series 24, and New Zealanders Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison.

During filming last year in a particularly cold winter in the Wanganui hinterland, the project had looked in danger of not making it to the screen.

The setbacks included Morton being hospitalised after contracting influenza and Curtis being involved in a car crash. Both episodes held up shooting.

In October, Ward was suddenly axed from the movie, and rumours circulated that Morton was responsible for the move.

He was replaced by cinematographer Alun Bollinger, but was then reinstated in December for post-production and to shoot further material.

"Every film is in a way a meeting with reality," Ward said.

"This film was more of a meeting with reality than one would ideally like, but I was really lucky. I was able to get a lot more extra footage and forge the movie into the shape that I wanted."

The trials and tribulations did take their toll.

Ward recalled that he went for a trip to Sydney after his dismissal but the Australian immigration officer initially refused to let him into the country.

The reason? He didn't look like the person pictured in his passport photo - "I was so grey".

Ward said he hadn't seen Morton since, but the pair had been in contact.

"The main thing for me is that she is very excited by the film," he said.

"She communicated to me that she is very pleased and very proud of the work that I've done on it. You can't really ask for more than that."

Of their collaboration on River Queen, Ward said Morton, a double Oscar nominee, was an extraordinary actress who owned the role she played.

"The rawness that she brings to the part of Sarah is a rawness that's on camera and it's off camera," he said.

"That's the price of admission for working with an actress of that calibre."

But as to whether he would want to direct her again, he admitted he "would think very long and carefully about it".

Ward added that he would not have done anything differently on the set and denied he had pushed the cast too hard.

He said a number of the actors had offered to leave after he was sacked, but he told them to stay on.

"The movie is more important than any particular thing that happens to me."

Ward's previous credits include What Dreams May Come, which won an Academy Award for best visual effects, and the critically acclaimed The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey.

River Queen, budgeted at $NZ23 million ($A21.2 million), was five years in the making for Ward from original concept to completed work.

He co-wrote the screenplay with compatriot Toa Fraser.

It will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12 and have its premiere in Wanganui on January 24.

Producer Don Reynolds described River Queen as the most ambitious film made about a New Zealand story.

He rated it as the most difficult movie he had been involved with, but the one he had been most proud of.

He knew that many people thought the project would not recover from the disruption caused by Morton's illness, which delayed filming for six weeks.

"But we did recover," he said.

"The difficulties are in the past. The memory fades very quickly."

