'Pussycat' Tem happy to be home

Kiwi actor Temuera Morrison is rapt he gets to play a Maori in his latest movie, Tracker, being shot near Queenstown.

He co-stars with British "tough guy" star Ray Winstone.

"I've been a Pakistani and someone from outer space so it's so good to get back to my gritty character," Morrison said yesterdayat Moke Lake, on the set of the $10 million manhunt thriller.

The pair had faced off several times on set but Winstone reckoned he was the toughest: "Tem's a bit of a pussy cat," he said, grinning.

Star of The Departed and Edge of Darkness, Winstone has several movies ready for release, including thriller 44 Inch Chest.

In Tracker, Winstone plays a survivor of the Boer War who lands in colonial New Zealand and is promised a bounty to capture a Maori seafarer – played by Morrison – accused of killing a British soldier.

British director Ian Sharp, still absorbing his first trip to New Zealand, couldn't stop raving yesterday about the scenery.

"The moment you step off that plane, you think, I'm in paradise here," he said.

Sharp has worked in TV and film on shows such as The Professionals, 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Goldeneye and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.