Group who filmed in cathedral capture ruins of a different kind
An abandoned film set has been uncovered by a group of radical urban explorers.
The set, which is likely to be one of the South Island locations for a mothballed movie about the life of Jesus, was photographed by the Urbex Central group.
Sets for the movie Kingdom Come were built in several locations but the $180 million project hit financial trouble and collapsed in 2009. A Wellington set was demolished but sets in the South Island were left to the elements.
Urbex Central posted on the group’s website:
‘‘Exploring this abandoned movie set in the middle of rural New Zealand countryside was quite the experience, as we wandered through the film set, which was designed to look more like Jerusalem than New Zealand it felt like we were entering some kind of cartoon world. Everywhere we ventured was artificial and built by film-set designers, from the walls and floors to the odd props and building materials that were left lying around and never used.’’
The movie set appears to be at the Falstone Camping Ground at Lake Benmore, near Twizel, built in 2008.
Sets were dismantled elsewhere but the Lake Benmore site was retained and the company, after the initial collapse, signalled its intention to finish the film.
Lake Benmore was meant to stand in for the Sea of Galilee. The big-budget blockbuster was hit by the fallout from the global financial crisis.
A casting call went out in 2008 seeking swarthy men and women.
After the movie was mothballed, it was reported that campers were using the set to store boats.
Falstone Creek camp manager Ben Aubrey, in 2011, said campers had mixed views about the set. Some liked it for the shelter it provided but others detested it because it divided the camp and restricted access to the lake, he said.
‘‘Some of them think it is great . . . but others just cannot wait to get rid of it,’’ he said.
The Waitaki District Council, in 2013, said the consents were still live.
Urbex Central unveiled photographs in 2015 of an abandoned film set overlooking Queenstown.
The North Korean prison set atop Deer Park Heights, which no longer offers public access, was built for the 1988 movie The Rescue, about a group of teenagers who infiltrate a prison to rescue their fathers.
Urban exploration gained public exposure here when the group sneaked into the earthquake-damaged Christchurch Cathedral and red-zoned areas of Christchurch.