Whale Rider duo working together again

IN GEAR: Vinter's Luck director Niki Caro, left, with Belgian actor Jeremie Renier and Keisha Castle-Hughes, who made Whale Rider with Caro.

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Filming  has begun on the movie adaptation of Wellington author Elizabeth Knox's novel The Vintner's Luck.

Whale Rider director Niki Caro is helming the film, which stars Kiwi actress Keisha Castle-Hughes.

Caro has teamed up with American scriptwriting guru Joan Scheckel to write the screenplay for The Vintner's Luck, a New Zealand-France co-production.

Filming began at an Auckland vineyard yesterday. Cast and crew will move to Burgundy in France in March, and then to Belgium.

Knox's 1998 novel tells the story of Sobran, a peasant winemaker in 19th-century France and his life-long relationship with an angel.

Caro said it was exciting to get the project under way.

"It's a scary kind of honour to bring Elizabeth's book to the screen."

She said she was enjoying working again with Castle-Hughes, who in 2004 earned an Oscar nomination for her role as 12-year-old Pai in Whale Rider.

Belgian actor Jeremie Renier (Atonement) takes the lead role of winemaker Sobran and Castle-Hughes plays his wife Celeste.

"It is my first adult role and I was initially quite nervous," the 18-year-old said. "But now I'm really looking forward to it. It is going to be a challenge, but I love challenges."

Knox said she was "over the moon" about the cast and crew.

"I can't wait to see the finished product, it will be like giving my book a new life."

- © Fairfax NZ News