Periscope
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
MOVIES
The New Australia
Hollywood's as trendy about film locations as it is about velour tracksuits. And the latest hot spot turning heads? New Zealand. Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow are filming their respective movies there, "The Last Samurai" and "Ted and Sylvia," and it's Disney's and CBS's pick for some upcoming American TV movies. Studio execs were wowed by the variety of stunning landscapes they saw in "Lord of the Rings"--beaches, mountains, glaciers, farmland--all of which are close to cosmo-politan cities. And what really appeals to U.S. studios is the low cost of filming there, with the dollar going nearly twice as far. So now the buzz is that when it comes to a location that's both cheap and chic, New Zealand is the new Australia (which, coincidentally, used to be the new Canada). But Kiwis beware: in Hollywood, last year's trend is often this year's fad.
--Elise Christenson
Discuss