Taupō hosts psycho-thriller film

Actor Irene Wood and a group of extras from Taupō dance up a storm for a scene in The Rule of Jenny Pen. Photo / Stan Alley

By Dan Hutchinson

Producers raided Taupō’s senior community for extras and moved into a local resort, to shoot a movie that is about to hit cinemas.

The Rule of Jenny Pen is directed by James Ashcroft and stars John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush and Nathaniel Lees. It will screen in Taupō on March 15, ahead of its global release in cinemas.

The cast and crew stayed at Wairakei Resort where the psychological thriller was filmed, and dozens of local actors were pulled in to play the part of rest home residents.

One of the producers Catherine Fitzgerald said it was a lot of fun.

Most of the filming took place over a period of four weeks in late 2023, but the preparation work took about six months before that.

“Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow both said they loved being there because they could go back between scenes to their rooms.

“It was good at the end of the day to go down to the bar and chat with the rest of the cast so it bacame very much like a school camp so it was a lovely environment.”

Geoffrey Rush plays the part of a judge who suffers a stroke, forcing him into a nursing home.

John Lithgow plays the part of Dave Crealy, a long-time resident who terrorizes the other residents using his doll, Jenny Pen.

Catherine is quick to point out the rooms at Wairakei are much nicer than the ones in the film.

“The rooms you see in the film of course, aren’t in Wairakei. We built those as sets but everything else is Wairakei.”

She said they had more talent than they could cast, and the support of local film crew was “absolutely wonderful”.

“Local film crew were so supportive. Joel Corbett (Corbiefilms) really helped us in so many ways. He is on the board of Film Bay of Plenty but he was always there with practical support.”

Film Bay of Plenty film office executive Jade Kent said the movie was orignally going to be entirely filmed in Wellington but they were able to convince Mt Maunganui-based James Ashcroft to shoot it locally.

It was supported by Amplify and Destination Great Lake Taupō but it was estimated the film injected about $2.5 milin into the Taupō community.

“We have been harassing him politely for some time to film something in the bay and he was nice enough to entertain us.”

She said it was great to get local people involved too.

“They used a lot of people that thought they were never going to be on a movie set that came from local retirement villages.”

One of the extras was Adrienne Nairn who lives in her own home in Taupō with her husband.

She was down for 10 days of filming but then had a “little ding dong” - a seizure resulting from a brain tumour and could only be on set for four.

“Anyway, being in that was so exciting and people in Taupō did get really excited about it, so the next thing on my agenda is a film.”