{"id":472790,"date":"2026-06-11T23:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/472790\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:12:12","slug":"brad-pitt-thriller-heart-of-the-beast-showcases-south-island-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/472790\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Pitt thriller \u2018Heart of the Beast\u2019 showcases South Island wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pitt spent weeks filming in Central Otago and Fiordland in early 2025, generating excitement among locals after he was spotted shooting scenes around Lake Wakatipu, near Kinloch and Glenorchy.<\/p>\n

A separate Auckland moment also went viral while Pitt was in the area, with a young fan encountering the star at a McDonald\u2019s drive-through in Kume\u016b and briefly chatting with him.<\/p>\n

\"AA young fan in Auckland asked Brad Pitt for a favour. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

At the time, production crews established a large base near Glenorchy while helicopters, boats and a seaplane were used to film scenes across the region.<\/p>\n

\"BradBrad Pitt on set near Queenstown last year. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

The movie reunites Pitt with director David Ayer, who previously worked with the Hollywood star on the 2014 war film Fury. <\/p>\n

It also stars JK Simmons and Anna Lambe.<\/p>\n

Speaking to GQ magazine, Ayer said filming in New Zealand\u2019s wilderness was physically demanding and visually spectacular.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re sitting there in the rain, there\u2019s mud everywhere, you\u2019re slipping off the side of the mountain and the dog is running around.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe aircraft featured in the film’s trailer on location last year. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd every now and then, something came across my monitor that took my breath away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, this is the movie. This is why we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all intents and purposes, it\u2019s Alaska \u2013 you can\u2019t tell the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayer said some locations were so remote they could only be accessed by helicopter.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe South Island largely acts as a backdrop for Alaska in the film. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was one very remote location which could only be accessed by helicopter, and they were limited to three loads of equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took Brad and the dog in a helicopter and dropped them off on a ridge and just had them walking along and photographed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there was barely enough room for the crew to stand while filming some scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just in this rugged wilderness, with the intensity of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s canine co-star, Odin, was played by a New Zealand rescue-trained German shepherd named Uber, while three of the dog\u2019s sons also appeared as stand-ins during production.<\/p>\n

Ayer described the film as more than a survival thriller, calling it a story about healing, grief and the bond between a man and his dog.<\/p>\n

Heart of the Beast is scheduled to open in New Zealand cinemas on September 24.<\/p>\n

Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pitt spent weeks filming in Central Otago and Fiordland in early 2025, generating excitement among locals after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[230921,128118,77669,1558,2941,39053,2837,156,99278,1888,13800,16655,2862,2514,46861,700,435,409,111,139,69,1118,56630,2942,13181,11745,57723,1240,1361,223,8731,2983,84792],"class_list":["post-472790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-alaskan","tag-audiences","tag-beast","tag-been","tag-brad","tag-doubled","tag-during","tag-entertainment","tag-filming","tag-first","tag-giving","tag-glimpse","tag-heart","tag-island","tag-landscapes","tag-latest","tag-movie","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pitt","tag-pitts","tag-released","tag-rugged","tag-showcases","tag-south","tag-that","tag-the","tag-thriller","tag-trailer","tag-wilderness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}