Ire in the Shire (NZH, VAR, IND)

By Nancy Tartaglione

There's trouble in Middle Earth, again. The future of "The Hobbit" films was called into question on Sunday when Peter Jackson threatened to move the productions from New Zealand spurred on by a dispute with several actors' unions, media reports said.

"The Hobbit" films (which have yet to be greenlit), are co-financed by the ailing MGM and lost their director back in May when, citing the uncertainty of MGM's future, Guillermo del Toro stepped off the projects. But with Jackson likely directing, hope had been reinstalled in the Shire. That was until late last week when seven major actors' unions told members not to work on "The Hobbit" because producers refused to sign a deal with local performers.

The International Federation of Actors, representing the most powerful acting unions said that the non-union contracts being offered to extras "provide no minimum guarantees of wages or working conditions," no payments for future broadcasts of the film and no cancellation payments.

On Sunday, Jackson, who said he was not anti-union, asserted that the New Zealand branch of the Australian Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance isn't a union.

"I feel growing anger at the way this tiny minority is endangering a project that hundreds of people have worked on over the past two years, and the thousands about to be employed for the next four years, [and] the hundreds of millions of dollars that is about to be spent in our economy," Jackson said.

"There is a twisted logic to seeing NZ humiliated on the world stage, by losing 'The Hobbit' to Eastern Europe," he added.

"I can't see beyond the ugly spectre of an Australian bully-boy using what he perceives as his weak Kiwi cousins to gain a foothold in this country's film industry," he continued.

"It sure feels like we are being attacked simply because we are a big fat juicy target -- not for any wrongdoing. We haven't even been greenlit yet! It feels as if we have a large Aussie cousin kicking sand in our eyes...or to put it another way, opportunists exploiting our film for their own political gain," Jackson further wrote.

Should the boycott continue, The Independent notes that prominent Labourite, Sir Ian Mckellen, would be at odds with his personal principles if he were to cross a picket line.

However, according to The New Zealand Herald, the unions said that McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving supported a boycott.

Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday, Film New Zealand chief executive Gisella Carr said long-term damage could be caused to the country's filmmaking.

"'The Hobbit' films are worth millions of dollars to New Zealand's economy and they represent hundreds of jobs - not just acting roles, but also crew and all suppliers to the film industry," she said.

"And should New Zealand lose 'The Hobbit' because of this dispute, we could be not just losing these films, but also our ability to attract international film productions into the future."

Here's Jackson's full statement.

Related Links

Hobbit dispute threatens NZ's reputation - Film NZ (NZH)
'Hobbit' hobbled (VAR)
Curse of 'The Hobbit' strikes again as actors threaten to walk off set (IND)
Guilds' 'Hobbit' boycott stirs Peter Jackson (THR)