The big screen adaptation of The Goldfinch has just rolled into kiwi cinemas with Nicole Kidman and Ansel Elgort headlining the cast.
But this big budget outing also features an actor you'll recognise from Three.
- Westside stars David de Lautour and Antonia Prebble on The AM Show
- Ansel Elgort says he's 'moving to New Zealand'
Cheryl West is one of New Zealand television's most enduring characters.
When Outrageous Fortune spin-off Westside needed a young Cheryl, they found Ashleigh Cummings and it changed her life.
While the show was in production in Auckland, Cummings was offered an audition for the big budget Hollywood adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Goldfinch.
"I auditioned for The Goldfinch prior to going back for the second season of Westside - my second season of it," she told Newshub.
"They shifted their schedule from 12 weeks of shooting Cheryl to five weeks - they condensed all of my work into five weeks - just on the off-chance I might get this job. And thats just the most extrordinary thing anyone has ever done for me in my career."
Of course, the rest is history, she got the part and now The Goldfinch is here.
Cummings plays the pivotal role of Pippa in the film opposite rising Hollywood star Ansel Elgort (The Fault in our Stars / Baby Driver) in the lead role of Theodore Decker.
Young Theo is played by Oakes Fegley (Pete's Dragon) and inspiring them all is Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge / Lion).
"Every time I work with someone like Nicole, that kind of iconic movie star, I always realise they are so generous, genuine, hard-working, easy to work with, light up the set - everyone likes being around them," says Ansel.
"And that's why they've been working for so long and that's why they're so adored. So it's a good lesson for guys like us"
The Goldfinch has a big job to live up to the book and fans will be judging that for themselves.
Newshub.
