Mathew Gordon has lived in Martinborough for eleven years but spends a lot of his time travelling the country. He calls himself a Location Manager, which means he sources and sets up sites for filming movies and television series. But he does a lot more than that implies. He’s takes on all aspects of making sure that the filming goes smoothly. You might call him a Logistics Manager.
Mathew was brought up in Ohakune and shortly after he had left school, Peter Jackson was in the area directing the first of the Lord of the Rings films. A friend told Mathew that there was two day’s work available on the production. He got the job and this led to him working on six more Peter Jackson movies: The Hobbit trilogy, The Lovely Bones, Mortal Engines and King Kong. He has also been involved in making many other films and TV series like Amazon’s Lord of the Rings, Predator and the upcoming War Machine.
His role includes scouting for a site that matches the artwork and vision for the production, getting resource consent, arranging earthworks, roading and sewage and consulting with locals. The work is full on and involves long hours but Mathew loves the buzz of it all. One particular film that affected him strongly was The Light Between Oceans, part of which was shot at Cape Campbell. Mathew lived in the lighthouse keeper’s shack for a month and got very involved in the mood of the location. The two lead actors and the director also stayed on-site so that they would get strongly in character. The rest of the filming crew came and went each day. The area was very exposed and there were several wild storms while he was there.
Living there right by the lighthouse where all the action took place made Mathew feel very much part of the story that was being filmed.
When Covid arrived, productions didn’t stop as there was so much money tied up in them. But it made Mathew’s job much more difficult. He had to adapt and reinvent how things could be done. The close proximity of people working together created a problem. Larger marquees were needed to keep people distanced. The crew had to wear full face masks and you couldn’t go close to the actors. The Chief of War series was being shot when the January 2023 Auckland floods hit, but production carried on regardless. Mathew had to cope with flooded fields and find alternative access to the farm where the filming was taking place.
When he first worked as a location manager, Mathew focussed purely on the logistics of getting the job done. Now, after twenty-five years in the industry, Mathew can stand back a bit and consider more about what is being made, about the end product of what he’s working on. At the moment there’s a new film being considered which is based on a video game that is a favourite of his son Atticus. He’s excited about that one and would love to be involved in its making.
Atticus would love it too.
