Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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makers, but the vigorous physical action in films of the period such as Sleeping Dogs
(Roger Donaldson, 1977) and Wild Man (Geoff Murphy, 1977) was more characteristic
of New Zealand film-making (a very male-dominated tradition in the 1970s). In an
interview with Gordon Campbell, Ward explains that they decided to adapt Janet
Frame’s novel for the film “more or less by chance – after reading a synopsis of the
book in a Christchurch library”. 330 Campbell also noted that they had been looking for
a New Zealand literary work that would present a challenge to film, but “the attraction
to the novel ran deeper than that. Leaving aside his early student effort, Ward’s last
three films have been about the inner worlds of elderly women” (Ma Olsen, A State of
Siege, and the film Ward was currently working on when he was interviewed for the NZ
Listener, In Spring One Plants Alone). When asked why he was involved in this “zone
of experience”, Ward replied:
None of these women has been affected by […] the things that tend to even
people out. They’re not part of the television age. None of them has had a
husband or any focus that takes them out of themselves into that world. So
because of that they are what they are very strongly […]. I make films only
about things that I’m interested in, and the private realities […], no that’s too
glib […], the singular kind of visions that these women are living is something
that I’m attracted to”. 331
New Zealand literature and film was well aware of the “Man Alone” tradition, but here
was the female equivalent.
Once the book had been selected, Ward and White needed to secure the film rights.
They approached the publishers of the novel, Pegasus Press, since Janet Frame lived
under a different name, and preferred any business propositions to be handled by those
responsible for publishing the work. Initially, Ward and White requested only limited
film rights, that is, those confined to New Zealand, and received a favorable response
from the publishing company, who asked Janet Frame to give the final approval and
recommended that she defer her fee, which she agreed to do. 332 According to White,
however, the intention was to apply later for an extension of rights beyond New
330
Gordon Campbell, "Vincent Ward: Living on Celluloid," New Zealand Listener 29 September 1979:
22.
331
Campbell, “Vincent Ward: Living on Celluloid”, 22.
332
White, "Production of a Film Drama," 4.