Kiwi’s story proves a winner
AKiwi movie called Kiwi about a horse named Kiwi - go figure - is being filmed in and around Auckland. The Sunday Theatre drama, to be screened on TVNZ 1, will tell the story of thoroughbred New Zealand racehorse Kiwi, who won the 1983 Melbourne Cup in a dramatic come-from-behind run which saw him move from secondlast to first within the race’s final 500 metres.
Kiwi was originally bought for $1000 by Ann Lupton, wife of Waverley sheep farmer the late Snow Lupton, who trained the Cup-winning horse - and at one stage used him to round up sheep.
‘‘It’s just a very delightful story of humble beginnings,’’ says the film’s executive producer Charlotte Purdy.
Kiwi received $3,068,975 in funding from NZ On Air last July, the second biggest allocation yet granted to a Sunday Theatre drama, behind Jean Batten biopic Jean, which received $3,256,000 in 2015.
Purdy says the extra money granted to the production was all down to the horses.
‘‘ Kiwi is all about horses, and horses are very expensive to work with,’’ she says. ‘‘We’ve actually got three of them, because they’ve all got to do different things.
‘‘Every time one of the horses is on set they’ve got a number of handlers, etc, so that definitely adds to it. And also recreating racetracks, all of that stuff as well.’’
The production recently took to Facebook in a search for jockey extras to star in the film, asking for ‘‘smaller built’’ people who might have ‘‘hidden acting skills’’ to apply.
Kiwi is being produced for Rogue Productions by Carmen J Leonard.