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the water giant
filming the Giant
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Mixed in with this magical plot, meanwhile, is the stuff of more everyday adventure: a rival oil company is trying to get in on Sean’s act, threatening to destroy the eco-system of the lake in the process. So, before long, Mac and his new friends - the small human one and the large one that lives in the lake - become involved in the other story, too. “I wanted to write a monster movie,” says Authors by way of explanation, “but I also wanted it to have adult, family appeal.”
In the process of location-scouting for the film, Authors and Henderson discovered what many overseas producers have been finding in recent years: that New Zealand has a remarkable variety of scenery to offer them.
director John Henderson with the two young actors
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“The Canadian lakes that we looked at were very beautiful, but they were also surrounded by million-dollar homes and yachts,” says Authors. “We couldn’t find a place that conveyed the remoteness that was required to have this sort of creature living in it.”
They found it in Lake Wakatipu, near the New Zealand South Island town of Queenstown, production base for much of the Lord of the Rings shoot. “I just fell in love with the place!” says Henderson. “Queenstown has the perfect harmony between water, mountains and sky. Two miles out of town, I had 360-degree panoramas and no interference - no cars, no power lines, no aeroplanes. And you have to find a new level of gorgeousness to describe the scenery. ‘Wow!’, or ‘Oh man!’ just don’t cut it. You have to start with a nine and only mention things above a nine.
“The area around Queenstown looks incredibly like British Columbia,” he adds. “What was great was that our Canadian cast and Barry, our Canadian producer, thought it looked just like home. The only problems we had were little specific things like driving on the right-hand side of the road. But considering most of the film takes place on the lake or in remote countryside, that became a minor consideration.”
“New Zealand is an unspoken character in the film,” agrees director of photography John Ignatius. “It’s spectacular even in bad weather. It will be a big contender against the creature, Daniel and Bruce as one of the stars of this film.”
In addition to the services of The Henson Company for the CGI and animatronics, The Water Giant also needed quite a few effects which couldn’t be tricked up, such as the opening helicopter crash and the giant whirlpool which sucks in the bad guys. These were achieved by physical effects supervisor Bob Hollow, whose credits include Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Labyrinth (also a collaboration with Henson).
“If there is a hero to be found on this film, it would certainly be Bob,” says Henderson. “He is just amazing. I’ve worked with a lot of people who have the ability to create effects, but I’ve never known anybody who does the research and development that Bob does - and then, when he’s got everything working, to spend so long making it safe. It’s a very dangerous industry we work in, with a huge amount of metal and wires moving all over the place. Bob can create the most unbelievable, spectacular events and you not only know it’s going to work: you know you can stand there and not get hurt. He’s worth taking with me wherever I go. He is just brilliant.”
“I think what John has achieved should put us right up into the bracket with the major American features,” concludes Authors. “This is a tremendous action/family movie and I think the biggest challenge has been to create that sense of scale. Seeing Bob’s whirlpool come to life was a piece of real magic. To see a man create something that was in my mind - a line in the script saying ‘and the whirlpool swallowed everyone’ - to see that being brought to life was quite amazing.”
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THE WATER GIANT
Ogopogo Productions, in association with MBP
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Prod: Barry Authors, Rainer Mockert; Exec prod: Gary Hannam, Brooks Riley, Philipp von Wiedebach, Gary Mehlman; Dir: John Henderson; Scr: Barry Authors; Ph: John Ignatius; Prod des: Chris Wheatley; Cost des: Pauline Bowkett; Vis f/x: The Henson Company; Physical f/x sup: Bob Hollow; Ed: David Yardley; Casting: Tracey Hampton.
With Bruce Greenwood (Sean Cambell), Daniel Magder (Mac Cambell), Rena Owen (Crazy Norma), Phyllida Law (Mrs Coogan), Luanne Gordon (Laura Simmons), Tom Jackson (Custer), Joe Pingue (Neilds), Shane Rimmer (Anderson), Charles Mesure (Miles Watkins), Joel Tobeck (Snead), Jacinta Wawatai (Pawnee Custer).
International distribution:
Overseas Filmgroup
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