Christchurch is taken back in time to 1979 for shooting of new movie
Thursday, 17 November 2022
Christchurch is being taken back in time to the late 1970s for a new film being shot in the city.
A shop on New Regent St became Middle Earth Records on Thursday, complete with posters for 1970s bands Toy Love and Public Image in the window, for the shooting of the feature film Head South.
The film by Christchurch director Jonathan Ogilvie is set in 1979 and inspired by his youth playing in post-punk bands. It stars musician Benee, Australian movie star Ed Oxenbould, Lord of the Rings actor Marton Csokas, and Shortland Street regular Roxie Mohebbi.
Ogilvie said the film was in the second week of a five-week shoot on location in Christchurch. They have filmed at the Bridge of Remembrance, St Andrew’s College, the Bill Sutton House, and plan to shoot outside the Town Hall next week.
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An old brick building on Fitzgerald Ave was transformed this week into an infamous Christchurch punk venue that occupied a former market building on Mollett St from 1979 to 1980.
Ogilvie said they have searched for locations in Christchurch that evoke the late 1970s.
“It has been easier than everyone told me it would be,’’ he said.
“We are going for the iconic aspects of Christchurch. It is all still there to some extent. From certain angles we can get it.”
He was keen to showcase examples of Christchurch’s distinctive style of modernist architecture, exemplified by the Town Hall.
“I would really like to celebrate not just the music, but the architecture of Christchurch.”
The vintage record shop created on New Regent St was a tribute to a record store run by Tony Peake at the University of Canterbury campus in the 1970s and 80s.
“His record shop was the centre for hip music. It was the beating heart of anything exciting.”
Ogilvie made his name in the 1980s by making striking videos for Flying Nun bands like The Bats and Headless Chickens. His most famous video was She Speeds for the Straitjacket Fits, which was filmed in the Lyttelton tunnel.
He said the film was based on his time playing in bands in 1970s and 80s Christchurch.
“It’s very autobiographical.
“The story follows a young kid called Angus who is left alone with his world-weary dad when his mum takes off with another man.
'He discovers the world of underground music in Christchurch, which was just starting and was happening in warehouses and any run down place where you could set up an amp.
“It’s almost an origin story for Flying Nun because it sets up the musical and cultural climate of the time that inspired Roger Shephard to set up Flying Nun.”
Actor Ed Oxenbould plays Angus, the young man who discovers Christchurch’s underground post-punk music scene. Oxenbould has acted alongside Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal and starred in a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
He has learned to play the bass for his role in Head South.
“I first talked to Jonathan about the film a year-and-a-half ago. I bought a second hand bass to get into the character.
“But the film got delayed and before I knew it, I was a bass player.
“One of the perks of the job has been learning how to play the bass.”