A West Auckland vineyard has proved to be a romantic backdrop for the cast and crew of twice Oscar-nominated director Niki Caro's latest film, leading to lots of behind-the-scenes sex and at least one pregnancy.
Starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, Gaspard Ulliel, Jeremie Renier and Vera Farmiga, Vintner's Luck is Caro's third film to be premiered in Toronto, and is already generating a substantial amount of Oscar buzz.
Vintner's Luck was partly filmed at the Sapich Bros vineyard in Henderson, which, as well as wine, also produces the "rough as guts" aperitif Purple Death.
"The (making of the) film was postponed a year because most of the women associated with it were pregnant, Niki was, Keisha was, some of the producers were as well," Farmiga, who won critical acclaim in 2006 for her role in Martin Scorsese's The Departed, revealed on Sunday.
"I was the only one who wasn't and I was just yearning to be, and it just wasn't happening," said Farmiga, 36.
But after only a few days of filming in New Zealand, with her husband Renn Hawkey by her side, Farmiga conceived.
"I was eight weeks pregnant by the time we finished (filming)," she said.
Caro, who in past years premiered Whale Rider and North Country at the Toronto film festival - both films went on to be nominated for Oscars - said "there was really an embarrassing number of hook-ups on the shoot".
"People were getting a lot of action," she said.
Caro and Castle-Hughes each had baby girls prior to filming Vintner's Luck. Farmiga gave birth to a boy seven months after shooting wrapped up, she said.
The visually luscious film about love and wine-making will be released in New Zealand on November 4, but is still searching for a North American distributor.
NZPA