Film's backers want your Lotto winnings

Backers of a New Zealand film declined funding by the Film Commission are asking people to donate Lotto tickets to help finance the project.

The Insatiable Moon, a film adaptation of a New Zealand novel of the same name, will be shot in Auckland in November and December.

The film stars Whale Rider's Rawiri Paratene as a charismatic psychiatric patient who announces himself as the second son of God.

The cast includes international stars such as Timothy Spall, James Nesbitt and John Rhys Davies.

The film is set in Ponsonby and will be directed by Scotsman Gillies Mackinnon.

Producer Mike Riddell said the Film Commission had declined to offer the production any assistance.

To raise money they opted to adopt one of the plot points of the script. In this, Arthur, the hero, buys a Lotto ticket in an attempt to save his boarding house, which is threatened with closure.

"We're inviting ordinary New Zealanders to get a little crazy with us, and buy a Lotto ticket in support of the film," Mr Riddell said.

"Any winnings from the tickets will be used to finance the film. It's an idea just about mad enough to sit alongside the theme of the movie."

- NZPA