| Director: | Ant Timpson |
| Screenplay: | Toby Harvard |
| Cinematography: | Daniel Katz |
| Editing: | Daniel Kircher |
| Runtime: | 96 minutes |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Language: | English |
Bookworm is a 2024 New Zealand adventure comedy drama film directed by Ant Timpson, based on a screenplay by Toby Harvard.[1] The film is about a young girl named Mildred embarking on an adventure with her estranged American father Strawn Wise to seek out the mythical Canterbury panther. Bookworm stars Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher.[2] The film had its world premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival on 18 July 2024. It was released in New Zealand on 8 August 2024.[3]
Mildred is a bookish 11-year-old girl who lives with her mother in New Zealand and is interested in the Canterbury panther. One night, an exploding toaster puts her mother into a coma. Mildred's magician father Strawn arrives from the United States, but Mildred is upset with him for his absence from her life and is unimpressed by his magic tricks. Strawn agrees to take Mildred on a camping trip, during which Mildred hopes to capture footage of the panther. The reward for such footage is $50,000, enough to pay off Mildred's mother's debts.
Mildred and Strawn find the panther drinking from a stream, and Mildred films it on her video camera. Strawn and Mildred then meet a pair of hikers who give their names as Arnold and Angelina and begin travelling with them. Arnold robs Strawn, taking Strawn's phone and wallet and Mildred's camera, before Arnold and Angelina depart. The next day, Strawn and Mildred come across Arnold and Angelina arguing in their tent. Mildred steals Arnold's bag, and she and Strawn run away. Mildred finds her camera in Arnold's bag but discovers that Arnold and Angelina have filmed over her panther footage.
The panther approaches Strawn and Arnold at the edge of a chasm, and the duo begin crossing the chasm on a rope to escape. The panther claws through the rope, and Strawn and Mildred fall into the chasm. When Strawn regains consciousness, he finds that Mildred's legs are trapped under a log. He gives her a hallucinogenic mushroom to ease the pain and lifts the log off of her legs.
Strawn carries Mildred away and again comes across Arnold and Angelina, this time arguing beside a van. Strawn places Mildred in the back seat and steals the van. As he drives down the road, he turns around to film Mildred on his phone. Mildred urges him to watch the road, and when he turns around, he sees the panther in the road and swerves to avoid it, crashing the van. Mildred wakes up to find herself and Strawn in the hospital next to her mother. It is then revealed that Strawn caught a brief shot of the panther on his phone just before the crash, allowing Mildred to claim the reward.
Bookworm was directed by Ant Timpson and written by Toby Harvard. Timpson and Harvard envisioned Bookworm as a wilderness film that drew on their "insecurities as parents." During an interview with Radio New Zealand, collaborator and cast member Elijah Wood said that "the genesis of Bookworm was really not stepping up in a time of crisis as a parent, and basically pooing the bed in front of your kids."Wood also said the film plot was inspired by stories of the Canterbury panther, a phantom cat said to inhabit the Canterbury Plains.[4]
Miranda Rivers served as casting director. Wood was cast as the American illusionist and father Strawn Wise. Wood had previously collaborated with Timpson and Harvard in the 2019 black comedy thriller film Come to Daddy. Harvard had written the character of Strawn Wise with Wood in mind. Child actor Nell Fisher was cast as his estranged New Zealand daughter Mildred. Fisher was selected from among 300 children who had auditioned for the role.
Morgana O'Reilly was cast as Mildred's single mother Zo.[5] Other supporting cast members included Michael Smiley as Jethro, Nikki Si'ulepa as Dotty, Vanessa Stacey as Angelina, Theo Shakes as Reginald and Millen Baird as Doctor. Timpson compared Stacey's character to an Enid Blyton villain while Stacey compared her character to a Roald Dahl creation.[6]
Bookworm was filmed in the Canterbury Region's MacKenzie Basin over a period of two months in 2023. Daniel Katz, who had previously collaborated with Timpson in Come to Daddy, served as the film's cinematographer. The film's producers were Emma Slade, Roxi Bull, Victoria Dabbs, Mette-Marie Kongsved and Laura Turnstall.
The film was produced by Firefly Films. It also received funding from the New Zealand Film Commission, the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate, Talon Entertainment, Orogen Entertainment, Screen Canterbury, Images and Sound, Mister Smith Entertainment and KiwiBank.
Bookworm premiered internationally at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on 18 July 2024. The film was distributed in New Zealand and Australia by Rialto Distribution, receiving its general release in New Zealand on 8 August 2024. Bookworm will be distributed by Vertical Entertainment and Photon Film, in the United States and Canada respectively, in late 2024.
Alison Foreman of IndieWire gave Bookworm a positive review, giving the film an A minus grade. She wrote "fearlessly specific in its comedy and just as attentive with its character arcs, this algebraic study in adventure might have a metaphoric typo or two (insert obligatory comment about CGI), but it's mostly a triumph." Foreman also praised the parent-child relationship between Elijah Wood and Nellie Fisher's characters. She also praised the cinematographer Daniel Katz for immersing Wood and Fisher's characters in the "breathtaking" New Zealand environment. Foreman also praised the performance of Michael Smiley.