Action film to be shot

Fifteen Queenstown film-makers have been hired to work on an action thriller starring Temuera Morrison and Ray Winstone in Queenstown next month.

A New Zealand and British co-production begins shooting Tracker next week in Auckland and will then move to mountain locations in Wakatipu until completion of principal photography, early in December.

About 50 crew members will travel to the resort to work on location.

Publicist Sue May told the Otago Daily Times Digit Films would shoot in scenic locations around Queenstown, including Moke Lake.

"The scenery is why they are coming to Queenstown."

Morrison told the Rotorua Daily Post he was in training for the physically demanding role.

The film is set in 1903 New Zealand and stars Winstone as a guerrilla survivor of the Boer War, who is promised a bounty to capture Kereama (Morrison), a Maori seafarer accused of killing a British soldier.

Tracker, the budget for which has not been disclosed, is being produced principally by British company Eden Films and New Zealand's T. H. E. Film.

It is tentatively set for release late next year.