Director Niki Caro (+tickets)
Director Niki Caro’s latest film The Vintner’s Luck is based on the award-winning novel by New Zealand writer Elizabeth Knox.
Caro also co-wrote the screenplay and was a producer for the film, which features her Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes.
- Read the Q&A with Niki Caro to get a small insight into the filmmaker, and read her answers to The Big Idea community questions about The Vintner’s Luck, in the comment box below.
The fantasy romance tells the tale of Sobran, a peasant winemaker in 19th century France, and the three loves of his life – his wife Celeste (Castle-Hughes), baroness Aurora de Valday and Xas, an angel who strikes up an unlikely but enduring friendship.
'Under his guidance Sobran is forced to fathom the nature of love and belief and in the process grapples with the sensual, the sacred and the profane – in pursuit of the perfect vintage.'
The film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in September and is in New Zealand cinemas from November 12.
During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired?
It’s completely random. Whenever it shows up I’m grateful.
What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill?
Working with highly skilled actors and crew.
How does your environment affect your work?
In every way.
Do you like to look at the big picture or focus on the details?
Both. That’s pretty much the definition of filmmaking.
What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?
Strive to work with people who are brilliant - that you’d also be happy to have a beer with.
Which of your projects to date has given you the most satisfaction?
All of them. For wildly different reasons.
Who or what has inspired you recently?
The people of Samoa.
If you could go back and choose a completely different career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?
I’d work in a bookshop.
What place is always with you, wherever you go?
New Zealand.
What's the best way to listen to music, and why?
Loud. With my children. Teaching them the lyrics to classic rock songs.
You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric. What do you make?
A little teepee.
What's great about today?
I have a healthy, happy family.
What’s your big idea for 2010?
No big ideas, just lots of little ones. Generosity, curiosity, a sense of wonder and a sense of humour.
- Further Information: www.thevintnersluck.com/
Comments
28 October 2009 - 13:34 PM
Thank you for your questions for Niki Caro about the making of The Vintner’s Luck. Her answers are below.
The winners of the double pass to see The Vintner's Luck are Helen Breeze and Benedict Reid.
Do you yourself, go out of your way to help aspiring Directors or Cinematographers break into the industry?. We have seen you help Keisha grow as an actress, does that same mentality apply behind the camera?
What were your first impressions of the book, The Vintner's Luck?
What's your response to the negative reviews from Variety & Hollywood Reporter?
I hear the film has a beautiful, subtle score - who was the composer & what was their initial brief?
How was the scripting process of the adaptation of "The Vintner's Luck" different from the adaptation of "Whale Rider"? Did find yourself breaking down the book in a similar way, or was it necessary to find new ways of working with the very different source novel?
Hi Allan. I have done so over the years, particularly when I have responded strongly to a new director’s work. Cinematographers I tend to admire from a distance as cinematography is not my area of expertise.
Hi Helen. I was completely transported by Elizabeth’s book. By her sensual cinematic writing, the realism and complexity of her characters and the way she makes period material so effortlessly modern. All these things were very inspiring to me and I have endeavoured to bring the same qualities to the film version.
Hi Gina. Out of context those reviews are not pleasant, but at the same time I also watched the film in a screening of around a thousand people who clearly did not share those same opinions. ‘The Vintner’s Luck’ is a bold film made from particularly audacious source material and, as such, can be pretty challenging for some, particularly the conservative American trade press. But for others, the sensuality in the film, the realness of the relationships and the portrayal of an angel onscreen as more natural than supernatural is very compelling.
Hi Tim. The composer is Antonio Pinto from Brazil. I had admired his work for Walter Salles (‘Behind the Sun’)and Fernando Meirelles (City of God). The initial brief was to create a score that was very human. To do this we concentrated on instruments that were plucked or blown, that subtly expressed the human body at work. Our budget was very small, so the score is created by very few musicians, rather than an orchestra. It’s not a big Hollywood orchestral score, which would have been inappropriate as it’s not a big Hollywood movie. Neither is it a period drama in the BBC style. Antonio’s approach was very passionate, very sensual and very inventive. The first musical notes you hear in the film, for instance, are very haunting and it’s hard to determine what instrument it is. This is because the notes were created by Antonio running a finger around a wine glass. These notes were sampled and the motif is used in key moments throughout the score.
Hi Benedict. The process was similar in that when I adapt novels I tend to follow the same procedure, but both were quite difficult adaptations for different reasons. With ‘Whale Rider’ I was extremely aware of the cultural differences between me, a Pakeha film maker and a story set in the Maori world. My greatest challenge in that adaptation was to get inside the Maori world in order to portray it authentically. ‘The Vintner’s Luck’ was entirely different as the book is quite complex, with many challenging elements, not the least of them being the depiction of an angel.
Maybe this is a beautiful movie, a sensual experience or whatever adjectives you may wish to grace it with for the sake of courting the film connoisseurs to whom you want to appeal.
The fact remains that undermining and removing Sobran and Xas's relationship in The Vintner's Luck makes your film adaptation smack of heterosexism.
Casting Keisha Castle-Hughes was obviously no more than a selfish bid for greater media exposure in the hopes of pulling in her fans.
I hear Elizabeth Knox cried to see the destruction of her eminent work. Congratulations.