For years speculation has raged that director Peter Jackson was making a World War I movie.
Then secretly, in April this year, he did.
The film, Crossing the Line, features biplane dogfights, bayonet charges and 30 cast and crew. It was filmed in Jackson's second home-town of Masterton - home to his palatial mansion and estate - and has had rave reviews at audience screenings.
It's length? Fifteen minutes. Time taken to shoot? Just a few days.
But for those who've seen Crossing the Line - including Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg - it's yet another Jackson masterpiece.
"Did Peter really shoot this in two days?" Spielberg reportedly asked after viewing the film at a US National Association of Broadcasters' conference in April, just weeks after it was shot.
While clips from the film are now available online, Crossing the Line was created to show off a prototype film camera which is set to revolutionise film-making.
The Red One cameras - the brainchild of United States inventor Jim Jannard - are now in production and expected to go on sale next month. They boast an advanced sensor chip, for around $25,000 each, called Mysterium which is said to produce quality that is "better than film".
Jackson had offered to field-test the cameras after seeing early tests in Los Angeles. Jannard, needing a project to showcase the chips, took him up on the offer.
What followed was a film-making session which has astonished industry greats. Jannard flew to Wellington at the same time Jackson began thinking about what to shoot. By the time the inventor touched down, Jackson and partner Fran Walsh had put together a storyline - and a World War I battlefield, troops, weapons and biplanes.
Jackson told OnFilm magazine: "I was bringing my partner Fran Walsh up to speed with the plans, telling her about how cool this battle scene would be, with 30 extras, three aircraft, two field guns and a tank. She looked me in the eye and said, 'Haven't you forgotten the most important thing?' I kind of blinked with confusion, and she said, 'A script'."
Jackson cobbled a storyline together and when Jannard arrived, he told OnFilm: "In the time it takes to fly from Orange County to Wellington, Peter built a story in his head and pulled together his small army and was ready to shoot a mini-movie."
A spokesman for Jackson told the Herald on Sunday that professional actors and a crew from Wellington spent a few days in Masterton working on Crossing the Line, with studio work in Wellington the week.
"Peter is a World War I enthusiast. It was an opportunity to put that into play."
Crossing The Line has created a huge industry buzz around the Red One cameras, which will sell for less than the standard cameras used for Hollywood-quality movies.
The appeal of the project to Jackson harks back to his independent film-making roots. He told OnFilm: "If the cost of these films can be reduced in any way it will, hopefully, allow the studios to relax a little and let some more creative risk-taking sneak back into the genre."
