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Porirua girl becomes 'magic' movie star
The Dominion : 04 April 2002 : By ALAN SAMSON
A Porirua girl has been plucked from obscurity to star in a $45 million movie being filmed in Queenstown this month.
Jacinta Wawatai-Woodhouse, 9, was confirmed yesterday to play Pawnee, a Canadian-Indian girl, in the international production of The Water Dog.
Producer Barry Authors called her "magic". But being compared to a young Drew Barrymore in ET didn't mean a thing to aspiring Jacinta till it was pointed out that Barrymore was also the star in the much more recent Cinderella.
"Ooh," she said.
Included in the international cast led by Canadian Bruce Greenwood (President Kennedy in 13 Days), is Kiwi actor Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors).
Talking shyly in Porirua yesterday, Jacinta didn't know much about The Water Dog. Except that her part befriended an American boy and that the story was about a monster in a lake.
And that on Friday she was heading off with her mum, Sharon Woodhouse, to a place called Queenstown.
In July things were set to get even better. With her mum again as chaperone, the filming would take her to England, to fit in with the special effects side of things being worked on in Jim Henson's workshops.
Schooling would not be neglected. Ms Woodhouse would be making sure she was brought back to Wellington, at least from Queenstown, at every available opportunity.
The chaperoning would be shared with Jacinta's Levin-based grandfather, Koro Rangi, who had been a major caregiver in her life. "He's not pretty special, he's very special," Jacinta said.
How did a Porirua 9-year-old get on the cast of an international film?
"For the last five years she's been with an agent for commercials," Ms Woodhouse said. "She's been on quite a few; the `100 per cent pure New Zealand one"'.
For the past few months she has also been on the core cast of the latest Tribe series, yet to be shown in New Zealand. She already had the American accent necessary for The Water Dog off pat.
In The Tribe, she plays a character called "Mouse".
"Her agent Double Happy put her forward. She seems to fly through auditions," Ms Woodhouse said.
The film is about the legendary "Ogopogo" monster of Lake Okanagan in British Columbia.
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