''Bookworm'' is a 2024 New Zealand

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

directed by

Ant Timpson Ant Timpson (born 21 April 1966) is a New Zealand film producer and director, best known for producing '' The ABCs of Death'' series, '' Turbo Kid'', '' Deathgasm'' and '' The Greasy Strangler''. He founded and hosts the 48Hours film contest. ...

from a screenplay by Toby Harvard, based on a story by Timpson and Harvard. It stars

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

and Nell Fisher. The film follows a young girl embarking on an adventure with her estranged American father to seek out the mythical

Canterbury panther The Canterbury Panther or Canterbury Cat is a New Zealand urban legend about a black panther which is said to live in the Canterbury Region with sightings going back to before the 1970s. In Popular Culture The search for the Canterbury Panthe ...

. ''Bookworm'' had its premiere at the

28th Fantasia International Film Festival The 28th Fantasia International Film Festival was held from 18 July to 4 August 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Juries Compétition Cheval Noir * Matt Johnson (director), Matt Johnson, Canadian filmmaker – Jury President * Steve Dollar, ...

on 18 July 2024 and was released in New Zealand by Rialto Distribution on 8 August. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

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 Mildred 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.

Cast

Production

Development and writing

''Bookworm'' was directed by

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 Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

, 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

, a

phantom cat Phantom cats, also known as alien big cats (ABCs), are large felids which allegedly appear in regions outside their indigenous range. Sightings, tracks, and predation have been reported in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, China ...

said to inhabit the

Canterbury Plains The Canterbury Plains () are an area in New Zealand centred in the Mid Canterbury, to the south of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the Hurunui District, and ...

Casting

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 Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

'' 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. Other supporting cast members included

Michael Smiley Michael Smiley (born 1963) is a Northern Irish comedian and actor. He is well known for his roles in the films ''Kill List'' (2011) and '' The Lobster'' (2015). He has also made appearances in British television series such as ''Spaced'', '' Lut ...

as Arnold, Nikki Si'ulepa as Dotty,

Vanessa Stacey Vanessa Stacey (born 7 August 1978) is a New Zealand film actress, film, television actress, television and stage actress, musician, Theatre director, director, Theatrical producer, producer, playwright, singer, singer, songwriter and comedian. ...

as Angelina, Theo Shakes as Reginald and Millen Baird as Doctor. Timpson compared Stacey's character to an

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

villain while Stacey compared her character to a

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

creation.

Filming

''Bookworm'' was filmed in the

Canterbury Region Canterbury () is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current form was estab ...

MacKenzie Basin The Mackenzie Basin (), popularly and traditionally known as the Mackenzie Country, is an elliptical intermontane river basin, basin located in the Mackenzie District, Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts, near the centre of the South Island of Ne ...

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 Film Commission (NZFC; ) is a New Zealand government agency formed to assist with creating and promoting New Zealand films. It was established under the New Zealand Film Commission Act 1978 (as amended in 1981, 1985, 1988, 1994 a ...

, the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate, Talon Entertainment, Orogen Entertainment, Screen Canterbury, Images and Sound,

Mister Smith Entertainment Mister Smith Entertainment is a British film distribution company involved in the acquisition, financing, production, licensing and distribution sales of films for the global theatrical market. Founded by David Garrett and Constantin Film, Miste ...

and

KiwiBank Kiwibank Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise, state-owned bank and financial services provider. As of 2023, Kiwibank is the fifth-largest bank in New Zealand by assets, and the largest New Zealand-owned bank, with a market share of ...

Release

''Bookworm'' premiered internationally at the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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 and in Australia on 29 August 2024. The film was screened at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival on 17 August 2024, prior to its showing at the 25th FrightFest film festival on 23 August 2024. It also screened as the closing gala presentation at the

2024 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival The 2024 edition of the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, the 36th edition in the event's history, was held from September 14 to 22, 2024 in Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario. The first titles in the program were announced on August 1 ...

on 22 September 2024. ''Bookworm'' was distributed by

Vertical Entertainment Vertical (formerly Vertical Entertainment) is an American independent film distribution company founded by producers Rich Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. Vertical releases films across all mediums, including theatrical, video on demand, physica ...

and Photon Film, in the United States and Canada respectively, on 18 October 2024.

Box office

As of 8 February 2025, ''Bookworm'' grossed $553,053 in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Russia, and the United States.

Reception

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 Nell 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. Tomris Laffly of ''Variety'' gave ''Bookworm'' a positive review, describing it as "a delightfully quirky father-daughter adventure with the perfect blend of childlike wonder and grown-up bite." Laffly praised Toby Harvard's script for exploring the themes of family, fatherhood and adventure. She also praised cinematographer Daniel Katz for capturing the relationship between the two characters and the natural scenery. Laffly also praised the performances of Wood and Fisher.

Accolades

In August 2024, the film won the award for "Best International Feature" at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 23472210 2024 films 2020s New Zealand films 2020s English-language films Films shot in New Zealand Films set in New Zealand New Zealand adventure films New Zealand comedy-drama films Vertical (film company) films 2024 adventure films 2024 comedy-drama films English-language adventure comedy-drama films 2020s adventure comedy-drama films