Hollywood beckons for Kiwi pair

CRAIG SIMCOX/Dominion Post

BIG BREAK: After auditioning throughout the world, Peter Jackson gave young Kiwi actresses Carolyn Dando and Rose McIver roles in upcoming flick The Lovely Bones.

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Last month 18-year-old Kiwi actress Rose McIver was in Berlin and about to embark on a historical walking tour of the city when a friend got a text message from McIver's mother.
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The text said she had landed an important role in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones.

"I didn't have a cellphone and it cost my friends to receive calls, so my mum just sent a text message saying, 'You've got it'. That's about all I knew for the next few days. I couldn't concentrate on anything. I was pretty ecstatic."

It was the same for another 18-year-old Aucklander, Carolyn Dando.

It was just another day at her restaurant job till her mother and younger sister dropped in.

"They were just like, 'You've got it'. I was really overwhelmed after that. I went around in a daze for the rest of the night."

In Wellington yesterday at Jackson's studios, the two were still coming to terms with the big changes ahead.

In October they fly to Pennsylvania for several weeks' shooting on the US$65 million (NZ$90 million) film, which will be their first chance to meet its Hollywood stars.

McIver will play Lindsey, the younger sister of 14-year-old murder victim Susie Salmon, who continues to observe her family on Earth after her death.

Dando will be Susie's classmate Ruth Connors, an outsider who becomes mysteriously connected to Susie after her death.

The grandmother of Rose's character will be played by Susan Sarandon, her mother by Rachel Weisz and father by rising star Ryan Gosling.

Thirteen-year-old Irish actress Saoirse Ronan will play Susie and the cast also includes Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos and Stanley Tucci as Susie's murderer, Mr Harvey.

"We auditioned all over the world for the characters of Lindsey and Ruth, but in the end we found that the best actor for each role happened to be a young Kiwi," Jackson said.

"We're thrilled to be able to work with Rose and Carolyn and think their casting proves the great depth of acting talent that we have here in New Zealand."

McIver has appeared in television shows, including Maddigan's Quest and Rude Awakenings, and films for Disney Channel.

But Dando, who has postponed plans to study classical singing next year after landing the part, had been in only one television movie, Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America, and some theatre.

The film is based on American writer Alice Sebold's book and both have been re-reading it.

- © Fairfax NZ News