Where do we stand?

The filming started on 21. September 2003 on location in Auckland, where the entire movie was shot. Currently the film is in post-production, the release date is set for 3 February 2005. Spooked also has been successfully shown at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2004 and at the Hamburg Film Festival, 23-30 September 2004.

About 'Spooked'

Spooked is the first independent New Zealand-film since What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, the sequel to Once Were Warriors. It also is one of the first productions of Silverscreen Films, a new company, set up in 2002 by Geoff Dixon, founder of Sydney-based and award-winning Silverscreen Productions and his old friend Don Reynolds of Tasman Films in NZ and film.com in Australia. According to TV One News it was shot in half the time and for half the money of a normal full length feature
Geoff Murphy has written and directed the feature, it's his first movie in New Zealand since he moved to Los Angeles about 15 years ago. Geoff has made films like The Quiet Earth in 1985 (already together with Don Reynolds), Dante's Peak, Young Guns 2, and Goodbye Pork Pie,. According to Jo Tyndall, Chief Executive of NZ on Air (who funds Spooked with a sum of 300,000 NZ$), Geoff "has made sure there's a good twist to this tale".
Don Reynolds joined New Zealand National film Unit in 1969 as a sound trainee and has so far produced 12 movies that won numerous awards in NZ and abroad. During his work at South Pacific Pictures, a TVNZ drama subsidiary, he was responsible for creating and setting up the soap opera Shortland Street. Don has worked for TVNZ, ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corporation) and had his own company, Film.Com Pty Ltd. He said, he was delighted to work with Geoff again. "Spooked is a natural fit for both Geoff and me," he says, and in another interview added "Geoff has been working on this script for several years and when he approached us to get involved, we felt it was a great way to kick off Silverscreen Films."
The special effects were made by Silverscreen's subsidiary company Oktobor.

Geoff Murphy & Cliff Curtis

Crew

Cast
(in alphabetical order)

Cliff Curtis

is well-know for his appearances in movies such as Once Were Warriors, Rapa Nui, The Piano or the international success Whale Rider. So far he won three awards: 1994 Film award, Best performance in a supporting role, in Desperate Remedies; 2000, film award, Best Actor, in Jubilee and 2003 Film Award, Best Supporting Actor, in Whale Rider. Cliff has worked with many international stars, such as Johnny Depp, Denzel Washngton, George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffmann and John Cusack.
Originally he had been offered the role of Paul White, but he thought it would be more interesting to play the journalist Mort Whitman. About Spooked he said: "You get a bit worried. Runaway Jury (one of his recent projects) was a tough shoot, but you kind of had the feeling it would be a good movie. This one is a fun shoot and you get worried that you're having too much fun. No one could make this movie the way Geoff is making it. It's not just about doing a NZ story, we can make movies in a way that can't be made anywhere else. It's like, 'Let's do the whole bloody thing differently'."

The Novel

As mentioned above, the script was inspired by Ian Wishart's bestseller 'The Paradise Conspiracy' (Part I and II). It's an absorbing book, though frightening - unlike a Grisham this story is no fantasy, it has really happened.
Here you can read an excerpt of the first chapter (link courtesy of Ian Wishart).

Links

Spooked
New Zealand Film Commission - Spooked homepage
Silverscreen Films

IMDB
Spooked
Geoff Murphy
Cliff Curtis

Articles
New Zealand Herald "Veteran Director Returns", 18/09/2003
New Zealand Herald "Banking on Hollywood", 10/01/2004
New Zealand Herald "Curtis' split personality", 27/10/2003
Varsity New Zealand "Spooked", 12/11/2004
New Zealand Herald interview with Geoff Murphy, 22/01/2005
New Zealand Herald "Audiences spooked as film flops", 26/02/2005

Additional credits