Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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and there was going to have to be some scenes that went”, he made some suggestions
about what could be cut out of the script, in particular the scene of Connor attacking a
bus with nuns on board, and flying through the front window of the bus, on the basis
that it would be very expensive to light and was not necessary to the storyline. Initially
Ward was very resistant to this suggestion, but he realised eventually that it would be
preferable to put the money into something “more achievable ”. 772
Despite the budget constraints and difficult conditions, Simpson felt that working on the
film “was a fantastic learning experience”. For the whole crew, their efforts were
“above and beyond the call of duty” and they put in “one hundred and twenty per cent’s
worth of work”. They did so because they “knew that it was something special and it
was going to be a landmark for New Zealand”. The Australian crew members appear to
have been very supportive of the idea that this was basically a “New Zealand” project.
Simpson recalls there was a feeling among the crew that
even though it was a difficult shoot and Vincent was very demanding, […] there
was something quite extraordinary happening and we were making a film that
was unique and original and was going to make its mark on the world […].
Some people would have had arguments with Vincent […], we all had
arguments at various stages, but I think we all knew where Vincent was coming
from. He had a vision and was passionate about it and, even though a lot of
those things weren’t achieved - his vision wasn’t achieved - we tried as best we
could to support him, even though we were doing it through gritted teeth. 773
It is noticeable that almost all the key members of Ward’s team used the term “vision”
in describing the particular quality of the film and his approach as a director.
In Simpson’s view, the feeling that the film was special came from the originality of the
material – nothing he had seen in the cinema “had come close to it” – and from the
strength of the film’s visuals: “You could tell from the script that Vincent was
particularly interested in the visuals”. He recalls that Ward paid “fantastic attention to
detail” and “was very particular on the look of a lot of the objects in the medieval
period”. All the Art Department details and background information “were very very
well researched”, and during production many of the visual details unearthed by Ward
772 Lynette Read, interview with Geoffrey Simpson, 29 September 1999.
773 Lynette Read, interview with Geoffrey Simpson, 29 September 1999.