New Zealand PM to help Jackson

2010-10-04 10:44

Wellington - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Monday unions should not hold filmmaker Peter Jackson's Hobbit movie to ransom and risk driving the production offshore.

Key also said his conservative government was prepared to help negotiate a truce between Jackson and the unions over the dispute, which threatens to derail plans to shoot the two-film Tolkien saga in New Zealand.

Greatly concerned

He said actors seeking industry-wide reforms should hold discussions with the country's screen producers' association instead of targeting Oscar-winning director Jackson's latest production.

"That's where the debate should be held, as opposed to specifically trying to hold to ransom one particular producer and one particular film," Key told TV One.

He said the government had tentative discussions with those involved in the dispute in a bid to break the impasse, which has led to an actors’ union calling for an international boycott of the film.

"I would be greatly concerned if the Hobbit movies were not made in New Zealand," Key said.

"This is a $3bn industry, it employs a lot of people, it's great for New Zealand, it's a great way of marketing New Zealand."

Feeding frenzy

Jackson has accused the union, which is linked to Australia's Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, of "bully-boy" tactics as part of a campaign to muscle in on the New Zealand film industry.

He has threatened to move The Hobbit out of New Zealand over the boycott, which NZ Actors Equity called after accusing producers of refusing to recognise its right to negotiate minimum standards for the union's members.

Co-producer Phillipa Boyens said the film's problems had sparked a feeding frenzy among rival locations keen to host the shoot, including Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia and Eastern Europe.

She said the dispute had already damaged New Zealand's reputation among Hollywood studios.

"It's thrown doubt on how stable our industry is in terms of industrial relations," she told Radio NZ. "It has also characterised Peter as an anti-union, anti-actor producer/director, and that's just appalling."

Other problems

Boyens said there were positive signs the film would soon receive a green light from Hollywood studios.

"It's looking hopeful, but it's not signed yet," she said.

"The rights are tied up in an extremely messy entangled way, and the studios involved in the making of the picture - MGM and Warner Brother's New Line - have been going through extensive talks to resolve that issue."

The project, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings has also been hit by other problems, including financial troubles at MGM and the departure of director Guillermo del Toro in May as a result of repeated delays.

- AFP