Debt Trail Follows Film Firm Downunder

Hard Drive Sinks For Troubled River Queen Firm

The film company behind the troubled movie River Queen has left a trail of debts in Queenstown after the collapse of its latest venture after only six weeks. Silverscreen Films (HD) halted pre-production work on Hard Drive, a car-chase stunt movie, two months ago leaving about 30 individuals out of pocket, New Zealand film insiders say.

While no-one knows exactly how much the company owes contractors, one estimate has put it as high as $1 million. Producer Don Reynolds is listed as the sole director of the company, which is owned by Silverscreen Films. The directors of that company are Reynolds and Geoff Dixon.

Neither could be contacted for comment yesterday and contractors say their calls to Reynolds have not been returned. In late May, Reynolds blamed actor availability for a planned one-month delay in filming, but the project never resumed. In particular, Olivier Martinez, boyfriend of pop star Kylie Minogue, was not available, Reynolds said.

But one technician said Silverscreen representatives told him the project stalled after promised funds from Swiss and United States film companies did not eventuate.

The technician is one of two contractors who said they did not want to be identified as they were planning to take legal action against the company to recoup some of the money they were owed. The technician said he turned down another job to work on the film after the company told him the finance was secure.

Full report pubklished in Stuff NZ