Hollywood action in a West Auckland laundry

The New Zealand Herald
11:36 AM Thursday November 08, 2007



Superman Returns actress Kate Bosworth
is in town to film a new action movie.
Photo/Reuters

Next time you're washing your undies at the local launderette, watch out for two of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Kate Bosworth, who played Lois Lane in Superman Returns and a surfer babe in Blue Crush, and Geoffrey Rush, star of Shine, Shakespeare In Love, and Pirates of the Caribbean, are in town to start shooting fantasy action movie Laundry Warrior on Monday in West Auckland.

Okay, so the pair will more than likely stay at a fancy hotel and get their laundry done there but those Lord of the Rings actors got down with the locals when they were here, so you never know.

Bosworth arrived last Thursday but it was not known whether Rush had arrived yet.

Laundry Warrior, with a budget of $52 million, also stars Korean actor Jang Dong-gun as Yang, an Asian warrior hiding out in the badlands of America's mid-west.

The story revolves around Yang, who has made a new life for himself as a laundryman in America.

Word on the street is that the film will be a samurai movie meets western mix, with stylised special effects giving it an anime meets 300 feel.

Rush, who also plays Queen Elizabeth's "spymaster" Walsingham in Elizabeth: The Golden Age will be the town drunk in Laundry Warrior, and Bosworth plays a circus knife-thrower.

The 24-year-old Superman star replaced Chinese actress and Memoirs of a Geisha star Zhang Ziyi who was originally cast as female lead until filming dates were changed.

Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne, who divides his time between shooting films in New Zealand and overseas projects, will produce the movie, to be shot at Henderson Valley Studios.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz