Jackson to shoot where dam raid took off

Peter Jackson's Dambusters movie will be filmed at the site where the original bombers launched their famous assault on Nazi Germany's industrial heartland.

The remake of the 1955 World War II classic, The Dam Busters, was announced last September.

Other than confirmation that British writer and comedian Stephen Fry would writer the film's script, little has been revealed about the multimillion-dollar venture in the past year.

Jackson said yesterday that shooting on the movie, directed by Christian Rivers, would begin in April or May, with filming to be divided between New Zealand and Britain.

The exact locations were still being finalised, but he confirmed the Lincolnshire town of Scampton, where the Dambusters were based, would be used for filming.

He said casting would be decided in December or January, but he would not discuss whether anyone had been approached to fill the lead roles.

A visit to Wellington by Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan sparked speculation that the English actor was in line for a role in the production, which has a budget of up to US$40 million.

However, Jackson said Monaghan's visit had not been work-related. "It was a social visit. He was just here on holiday."

Jackson, who is producing Dambusters, will fly to Pennsylvania this weekend to begin preparations for shooting The Lovely Bones next month.

The Dambusters were a legendary elite Royal Air Force squadron that smashed the formidable Moehne and Eder dams. Using specially designed bouncing bombs, 133 airmen, including two New Zealanders, successfully blasted massive holes in the dams, drowning the Ruhr Valley, the industrial centre of wartime Germany.

- © Fairfax NZ News