The historic area of Oamaru has been transformed into Victorian London, albeit coloured by the imagination of a 14-year-old Bougainville girl.
About 100 actors, extras and film crew were in the historic area yesterday for filming of Mister Pip, an adaptation of the best-selling book by Lloyd Jones, screenwritten and produced by New Zealand's Andrew Adamson.
Harbour St was closed for the filming, and Tyne St at the Itchen St intersection was reduced to one lane.
Sand was spread on both streets to hide present-day surfaces and road markings, and modern signs and trappings were covered or moved.
Large groups of onlookers gathered.
The Scottish Hall in Tyne St was turned into a wardrobe and changing area for actors and extras.
Mister Pip tells the story of the last white man left on the strife-torn island of Bougainville during the 1990 blockade by Papua New Guinea.
He reopens a school and uses the Dickens novel Great Expectations to inspire pupils, particularly a gifted 14-year-old named Matilda.
Co-producer Geoff Linville said yesterday the sets created in the historic area were to represent Victorian London, with overtones of Bougainville, as imagined by Matilda.
Lead actor Hugh Laurie, who plays Mister Pip, was not in Oamaru, but other main actors were, along with a mixture of extras, including locals.
Filming in Oamaru started on Monday. Some interior and exterior scenes were shot at Campbell Park.
The crew would leave Oamaru early next week to do "a little filming" in Dunedin, Mr Linville said.
About nine days' filming would be done in the South Island. Scenes had already been shot at Timaru Airport and around Auckland.
Oamaru had been chosen because of its Victorian buildings of "beautiful white stone", he said.
Filming would continue in Oamaru today.
The film company, Mr Pip Ltd, has approval to close Humber St until today for filming.
