Hobbit director Del Toro step in to help little guys

10 Nov 2009

Mexico-born del Toro has given up his valuable time to help independent New Zealander Sam Kelly raise money to make a musical feature film.

One For The Road, directed by Kelly, is due to begin filming in January, with just $60,000 of its $1.5 million budget raised so far.

In a bid to close the gap, the film's makers are hoping to sell out Wellington's Paramount Theatre tomorrow night.

If they do, they will raise another $20,000 with An Evening with Guillermo del Toro, a question and answer event from 8pm.

The discussion will be facilitated by Jonathan King, director of the New Zealand movie Under the Mountain.

Having del Toro, who directed Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy series, onboard was a massive coup, Kelly said.

"It's incredible. This guy is gonna be in Wellington for the next couple of years at least," he said.

"It's great that he's taking that first step in the relationship with Wellington because, you know, Peter Jackson had a really strong relationship with Wellington and Guillermo has been great."

Del Toro will do his best to answer questions about The Hobbit and his past films, along with his intriguing personal history -- including the 1997 kidnap of his father in Mexico.

One For The Road producer Bonnie Slater worked with Richard Taylor at Weta Workshop, where she met del Toro and asked for his help.

"She told him about the project, said we were making this film, and `we need more money to make this happen, would you be interested in supporting us?', and he said he'd love to," Kelly said.

The film as billed as the story of a Palmerston North band made up of close friends and high hopes.

The band is devastated when its manager sleeps with the drummer's girlfriend, then lured by a national band competition which will "divide them forever, or leave them with a memory to savour".

One For The Road is adapted from the 2005 musical It's a Whanau Thing.

The band end up accomplishing their goal of making it onto the Good Morning television show "which is funny because it seems so achievable in New Zealand", Kelly said.

With playwright Kelly Kilgour and songwriter Jamie McCaskill, Kelly developed the characters to create an underdog story.

"I want to treat it truthfully and I want it to be emotionally engaging like a dramatic film and I want it to be real."

The film's $1.5 million budget -- about one percent of The Hobbit's budget -- is largely comprised of deferred payments for cast, crew and some equipment, to be paid once the movie makes a financial return.

Kelly said the generosity of the New Zealand film industry was amazing.

"They just want to support the project and hopefully next time we have a film which does pay, then we can get them back on board."

Cash is still needed for travelling, accommodation and catering while shooting in Palmerston North.

One For The Road's creators have approached the New Zealand Film Commission for another $234,000 of funding.

Having executive producers Angela Littlejohn (Trainspotting, Separation City) and Kerry Robins (Goodbye Pork Pie) involved, will lend legitimacy to their application, Kelly said.

His fingers are crossed for another month, when the commission will announce whether One For The Road's application was successful.

If so, and with a little help from del Toro, "we'll be able to make the film we want to make, at the scale we want to make it".

NZPA

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