Waitomo piggies to star in movie

Move over Babe, some Waitomo piggies are set to move to the city to star in a big-budget motion picture.

Agricultural showman Billy Black, of Woodlyn Park, has 20 Captain Cooker pigs in training for Kingdom Come, a movie about the life of Jesus Christ that is to be filmed in Wellington and the South Island next year.

A month ago the pigs had never ventured out of the bush in the backblocks of Whangamomona - now they are destined for the bright lights of the capital city. Mr Black took his pigs recently in a trailer to "animal boot camp" in Wellington.

They will stay there until Christmas before travelling to the South Island for filming next year. "I have to get them quiet so I can get them grazing out in the countryside. We're looking at getting them to swim ... apparently they have to stampede at the end, so that should be interesting." The pigs were washed in preparation for their photo shoot with the Waikato Times, "but they dug a big hole and wallowed in it overnight". They had been taught to swim, but a cold and blustery day meant apart from one unfortunate fellow, who slipped on the plank crossing the creek and fell in the drink, the pigs were reluctant to demonstrate their new talent.

"Pigs are very intelligent, they know it's cold in the water today. Usually they dive right in and swim across." Mr Black will be chief pig handler on the film shoot and as an extra, in keeping with the Bible, he will be required to grow a beard - something very foreign for a man who has always been clean shaven. The pigs are his responsibility and he will be with them most of the time, although he will fly back to Woodlyn Park at weekends. The film will be directed by Dean Wright, a visual effects supervisor on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. It will also be shot in rural Falstone in central Otago, Oamaru and Motueka. Lake Benmore, near Falstone, will represent the Sea of Galilee. Some scenes may also be shot in Hawke's Bay.

The film is being made by South Vineyard, whose Japan-based directors Paul and Joshua Broman and Naoyuki Baba are also executive producers for the movie.