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MIDDLE EARTH WILL REMAIN IN NEW ZEALAND

post #1 of 37
10/27/10 at 4:50am
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post #2 of 37
10/27/10 at 5:15am
It's pretty exciting/ a big relief that we got to keep it. Now I gotta look into how I can become an extra, fingers crossed for orc #247.
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post #3 of 37
10/27/10 at 6:29am
Great news. NZ gave those movies such a distinct flavour, it's hard to imagine it not feeling 'off' if they tried to take it anywhere else. My only concern at this point is whether Jackson will be on form. But fingers crossed the angst of getting this off the ground, and the sense of him having something to prove post-Lovely Bones will make him step up his game.
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post #4 of 37
10/27/10 at 6:38am
BONES was a stinker, but KING KONG isn't the disaster it's made out to be and this is like his own personal sandbox. He'll be fine, I think.
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post #5 of 37
10/27/10 at 7:15am
I still reckon there's a great film inside King Kong, it's just buried in bloat.

What worried me about Jackson doing this is that he never sounded like he wanted to do it, and never seemed to even consider doing it until circumstances forced him. That's why I'm hoping the big fight to get the thing made has lit a fire in his belly or something.
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post #6 of 37
10/27/10 at 7:19am
I think he'd hand it off if he weren't passionate about getting it done.
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post #7 of 37
10/27/10 at 8:03am
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Originally Posted by Paul C View Post
I still reckon there's a great film inside King Kong, it's just buried in bloat.
I'd love to see a phantom edit of King Kong that takes out Jimmy, Mr. Hayes, and that dorky dinosaur chase (as well as a lot of the first act). I feel like everything from Kong's capture forward is just about perfect.

But I digress. This is really good news to start the day with. Switching to Europe from New Zealand would be like switching Tattooine from Morocco to Yuma...
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post #8 of 37
10/27/10 at 8:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
I think he'd hand it off if he weren't passionate about getting it done.
I don't think there is anyone else. After Del Toro left he said he would direct them "if it was the only way they could get made". Doesn't sound too enthusiastic to me.

But who knows, maybe the green light will reinvigorate him.
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post #9 of 37
10/27/10 at 8:23am
Sure there are other people who could do it. Maybe not do it right, but they could do it. That Jackson would rather step into the breach himself rather than allow a random name onboard should be heartening, surely.
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post #10 of 37
10/27/10 at 8:29am
At this late stage I’m not sure they could have got someone else they would trust to do a good job. So yeah, he obviously wants to make sure it’s done right. But he may just feel a duty to do it, not a genuine desire.
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post #11 of 37
10/27/10 at 9:34am
If not Del Toro I was always quite keen to see Raimi have a crack at it - supposedly he really wanted it. But maybe him directing a Jackson production of a Del Toro co-written script would be a too-many-cooks situation.
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post #12 of 37
10/27/10 at 9:51am
This is just fantastic news. What a 180 for what was once such a troubled production.

Brilliant.
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post #13 of 37
10/27/10 at 10:00am
When it rains it pours, it seems. Nice to see things finally falling in line.

In spite of Australia's attempts at sabotage.
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post #14 of 37
10/27/10 at 10:11am
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Originally Posted by Elisabeth Rappe
Smaug's voice?
Maybe Del Toro will recommend Jackson take on Ron Perlman.
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post #15 of 37
10/27/10 at 10:43am
If that's true then it's pathetic, jealous and spiteful. Were they really hoping to get the production? Auz doesn’t have the right scenery.
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post #16 of 37
10/27/10 at 10:48am
So Jackson said last week that Warner Bros. was iffy on New Zealand because of the recent union trouble and the possibility of more union trouble popping up down the road when they were in the middle of production.

Now the whole problem has been dealt with by the NZ government subsidizing the production costs. No mention of the union at all or the possibility of them causing trouble for the production down the road. What gives? Jackson made this out to be Warner's greatest concern, yet it seems to be a non-issue in light of the govt. agreeing to pay a chunk of the advertising costs (!!) of the film among other things.
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post #17 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:18am
Now all they need to do is hire Bill Nighy to voice Smaug and I'll be a completely happy camper.
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post #18 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
I think he'd hand it off if he weren't passionate about getting it done.
I'd really like to believe that Jackson is fighting this hard because he's passionate about his vision, but his need for a commercial/critical home run is undeniable.

On topic, I'm glad the production will stay in NZ. I just love the idea of an entire nation having so much of their cultural pride tied to something as geeky as Tolkien.
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post #19 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:40am
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Originally Posted by horrid View Post
It's pretty exciting/ a big relief that we got to keep it. Now I gotta look into how I can become an extra, fingers crossed for orc #247.
They are called Goblins in The Hobbit. Fact.
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post #20 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SgtZim View Post
So Jackson said last week that Warner Bros. was iffy on New Zealand because of the recent union trouble and the possibility of more union trouble popping up down the road when they were in the middle of production.

Now the whole problem has been dealt with by the NZ government subsidizing the production costs. No mention of the union at all or the possibility of them causing trouble for the production down the road. What gives? Jackson made this out to be Warner's greatest concern, yet it seems to be a non-issue in light of the govt. agreeing to pay a chunk of the advertising costs (!!) of the film among other things.
Have you read any of the news articles about it? The subsidy issue wasn't the only problem. A big problem was the legal status of some workers. Are they employees or contract workers? Warner needed to know this. The government will change the law on this issue, purely for the film industry. A 'Hobbit amendment'.
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post #21 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:45am
I know that people are worried about Jackson, but I don't really think the should be.

Kong isn't the unmitigated disaster so many paint it as. I happen to love it warts and all, but even the warts on it aren't too egregious.

And while Lovely Bones is without a doubt a huge misfire, there are individual sequences and pieces of that film that clearly show that Jackson still has it and is quite talented.

I'm not worried in the slightest. Plus, this property couldn't be more in his wheelhouse.
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post #22 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:51am
Has there been any news about the return of Howard Shore and Andrew Lesnie? Doubt it, since it's still very much early days, but now that the casting is out for the main characters of the story, I expect some crew announcements to be made in the near future.
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post #23 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:54am
Hooray!
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post #24 of 37
10/27/10 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluelouboyle View Post
Have you read any of the news articles about it? The subsidy issue wasn't the only problem. A big problem was the legal status of some workers. Are they employees or contract workers? Warner needed to know this. The government will change the law on this issue, purely for the film industry. A 'Hobbit amendment'.
I have, but the few NZ articles I'd read only give this the briefest mention with no further clarification as to how this will deal with the Union issue. I'm assuming then that as independent contractors, the actors will no longer be under Union control?
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post #25 of 37
10/27/10 at 1:00pm
I'm not sure. I think Warner needed legal guarantees that workers would not try to change - or the unions change it for them - their status after the fact. For example, change from contract worker to employee after starting out as a contract worker. Or vice versa.

A native Kiwi like NZnatural or Samurii mike could explain it better.
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post #26 of 37
10/27/10 at 1:02pm
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Originally Posted by Draco Senior View Post
Has there been any news about the return of Howard Shore...?
Was their "break up" during KONG creative differences only? I hope so.
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post #27 of 37
10/27/10 at 1:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
Was their "break up" during KONG creative differences only? I hope so.
Well, Jackaon has kept kept Lesnie as DP for his most recent work, which means that he will most likely return for Hobbit, but Shore hasn't been involved with his last two projects in any capacity. Did the creative issues from Kong that resulted in his departure extend to Lovely Bones? I have no idea of knowing for certain.
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post #28 of 37
10/27/10 at 4:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SgtZim View Post
I have, but the few NZ articles I'd read only give this the briefest mention with no further clarification as to how this will deal with the Union issue. I'm assuming then that as independent contractors, the actors will no longer be under Union control?
Hi SgtZim. It's confusing, but essentially it's the other way around - actors in NZ have until now been defined as independent contractors, yet many have also been part of the union. Basically the union members wanted Warners to negotiate to make any actors who work on The Hobbit employees of the studio (which I think is illegal, hence Warners baulked at it). The union took the heavy-handed approach of black-listing the production, which got Peter Jackson (understandably) very irate. The union lifted the blacklist soon after, but Warners were understandably worried about an unpredictable union and its members interfering in the production.

Here is a news article defining what the meeting between Warners and the NZ govt brought about. I'm sorry if it's a bit vague but I am expecting one or two good blogs in NZ to post more details about it soon and I will link to them.

Edit: there isn't much detail yet about how the union issue has been resolved, the NZ media doesn't really go into specifics, they're dumb like that.
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post #29 of 37
10/27/10 at 4:24pm
The Kiwis dodged a major bullet here, but I wonder how much damage this mess has done to the NZ film industry. There might be some films that might not come there due to all of the bad press.
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post #30 of 37
10/27/10 at 5:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarleyQuinn22 View Post
The Kiwis dodged a major bullet here, but I wonder how much damage this mess has done to the NZ film industry. There might be some films that might not come there due to all of the bad press.
Eh, I don't think so. We're a niche provider, LOTR and The Hobbit are iconic productions due to the NZ scenery, but we're mostly known for our technicians and Jackson's production facilities, which have come out of this pretty sweetly. We won't ever again get a film like The Hobbit, but I don't think we were really expecting to.

NZ's film industry will always be in demand because of the experience they got on LOTR. This dispute won't change that, but perhaps our actors won't get paid as much (due to the overzealous actions of their union).
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post #31 of 37
10/27/10 at 5:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Draco Senior View Post
Well, Jackaon has kept kept Lesnie as DP for his most recent work, which means that he will most likely return for Hobbit, but Shore hasn't been involved with his last two projects in any capacity. Did the creative issues from Kong that resulted in his departure extend to Lovely Bones? I have no idea of knowing for certain.
I forget where, but I remember an interview with Shore where he treated his scoring The Hobbit as a foregone conclusion, even after King Kong. I still hope his Kong work gets released or is leaked (as happened with Gabriel Yared's great Troy score).
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post #32 of 37
10/27/10 at 5:37pm
It would have to have been a pretty serious falling out for Shore not to get the job. Still interested in the full story of exactly what went down with the Kong soundtrack.

Not strictly on topic but in lieu of an official Hobbit pre-release thread I can't think of a better place to ask this. Assuming all goes to plan, Jackson will have directed five films in a franchise once these are out. Is there a director out there who can beat that? The only person I can think of to match it is John Glen, who did five Bond movies.
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post #33 of 37
10/27/10 at 11:03pm
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Originally Posted by Paul C View Post
Not strictly on topic but in lieu of an official Hobbit pre-release thread I can't think of a better place to ask this. Assuming all goes to plan, Jackson will have directed five films in a franchise once these are out. Is there a director out there who can beat that? The only person I can think of to match it is John Glen, who did five Bond movies.
Spielberg will tie him in about two years unless something happens to Harrison Ford.

How about George Romero's Dead movies? Six so far. Not exactly sequels (not exactly movies, depending on who you ask) but at least as sequential as Bond movies are.

Also, don't forget Michael Apted's "Up" series, of which there are 7 so far with an 8th planned.

Jesus, I'm a nerd.
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post #34 of 37
10/28/10 at 12:37am
There's no way that The Hobbit films could be made anywhere but NZ.
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post #35 of 37
10/28/10 at 12:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai Mike View Post
NZ's film industry will always be in demand because of the experience they got on LOTR. This dispute won't change that, but perhaps our actors won't get paid as much (due to the overzealous actions of their union).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/movies/new...ectid=10683203
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post #36 of 37
10/28/10 at 2:25am
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Originally Posted by DJ Dylan View Post
There's no way that The Hobbit films could be made anywhere but NZ.
Not for us (movie nerds). I guarantee you that my mom, and 95% of the people who bought tickets for the LOTR films, would be none the wiser if the Hobbit films were shot in Oregon, or Eastern Europe.
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post #37 of 37
10/28/10 at 5:25am
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Originally Posted by Subotai View Post
Oh God that's embarrassing. I'm no fan of that columnist or his newspaper but he's right - we come across as hicks with stars in our eyes. I'm just glad I'm not in NZ at the moment. Warners must be lapping this up.

We're not *usually* like that, I swear.
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