Official The Hobbit thread

[Donut]

I hope part of that deal was to to get Helen Kelly fired

 

[marcvader]

Great, now Weta can get back to cutting holes into those darned Dwarvish axes.

 

[SolarTiger]

It's so weird to read that. Just a month ago I really thought this movie would never happen.

Same. Everytime the movie seemed to be gaining speed, something popped in the way and there would be another delay.

 

[Boom]

More details regarding the Hobbit deal:

* The Government will introduce to Parliament tomorrow legislation to clarify who is a contractor and who is an employee as it relates to the film industry, not any other industry.

* The Government will widen the qualifying criteria for the Large Budget Screen Production Fund to improve New Zealand's competitivenes for large movies such as The Hobbit. This includes an additional up to US$7.5m per picture subject to the success of the movies. If the movies do well they get up to $7.5m; if they don't, they won't. (No details were given on what 'doing well' means. Key also declined to specify what this additional money would cover, but I got the impression that marketing would be part of it.)

* The Government and Warners Brothers have agreed to work together in a long-term strategic partnership to market New Zealand as a place to make movies. In addition, the Government will work with Peter Jackson to develop appropriately themed material to promote New Zealand to tourists (with this appearing on DVDs and other material); and will work with Time Warner to promote New Zealand across its studio and media outlets. John Key says this will maximise the leverage for New Zealand to promote itself throughout the world as a tourist destination as well as its goods and services.

What do you guys think? Will this new law benefit NZ in the long run?

 

[WarBlade]

The law change is a good thing I think. The productions that I've worked on have caused an annoying side effect of switching my tax category for regular income, as well as the minor little freelance film jobs. Instead of having an ACC levy taken from the gross earnings (and not having to worry about it) I once had to spend more than an hour frustrated over a fiddly tax calculation.

An hour of my life getting pissed off, all for a single figure levy from one week of film work.

Another improvement I can see arising is employee protection. A potentially tighter control on over-hiring, and potentially better legislation covering redundancies.

I still need to sit down and pour over it all though. I was on the edge of my seat last night with the televised press conference playing. I had a hopeful grin at the words, "good news", and then half way tuned out after the confirmation (too busy celebrating to absorb much of what followed). It sounded like the financial incentives to film makers come with quite a few strings attached, although these sound like the kinds of spinoff interests that the Lord of the Rings trilogy provided anyway, so not much of a big deal for the studios.

Overall, New Zealand will benefit. The Kiwi dollar is quite strong at the moment, so the exchange rate plays well for NZ. The Lord of the Rings provided a powerful boost towards the tourism industry, and The Hobbit will undoubtedly rekindle that flame. The NZ film industry was going from strength to strength after The Lord of the Rings as well, so the opportunities that come with being rated as a major player look set to persist.

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

 

[Doctor Jones]

All I can say is THANK GOD. I really thought they were going to move. What surprising and great news.

 

[CGHulk]

I'm relieved, and now I can get excited!

 

[regwec]

Whilst I am disappointed to see the project remain in New Zealand, at least the malcontents have at last been appeased, and there is no impediment to the speedy progress of the production.

I suppose this means that Christopher Lee will play no active role in the White Council, which is a real shame.

 

[Octoberist]

Whilst I am disappointed to see the project remain in New Zealand, at least the malcontents have at last been appeased, and there is no impediment to the speedy progress of the production.

I suppose this means that Christopher Lee will play no active role in the White Council, which is a real shame.

Is it possible to film the White Council scenes in England?

Or if they are desperate enough,just a little film magic if need be. They can use a body double for Lee if they shoot the scene in NZ, and then shoot any close-ups separately in England. Or even they can do it Benjamind Button/Social Network style, and just CGI Lee's head onto the body double.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I always hated that method. It's lazy. I want the real actor filmed. Just go to Lee where he lives and film his scenes there. He wouldn't be in the film for long anyway.

Imagine Lee waking up with the sun shining in his bedroom. Gets up, puts on his Saruman **** and walks out his front door with the set in front yard.

 

[regwec]

It seems an imperfect solution, though. Maybe it would be better to build Dol Guldur and Orthanc on London sound stages, and try to make the best of New Zealand for the rest?

 

[Octoberist]

the whole point is to make it seamless. If they do it via camera tricks or CGI, I'm for it.

 

[redhawk23]

Whilst I am disappointed to see the project remain in New Zealand, at least the malcontents have at last been appeased, and there is no impediment to the speedy progress of the production.

I suppose this means that Christopher Lee will play no active role in the White Council, which is a real shame.

yeah thesaurus.com is pretty sweet.

 

[Boom]

So I'm watching the government debate regarding the proposed bill. This is some intense ****.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/SeeHear/PTV/

 

[regwec]

Let me define my "narrow opinion" for you.

If someone stands at ground zero in New York City and yells out that the crater is is an improvement over the eyesore that stood there...
If someone walks into a crowd of coloured people in America shouting the "n word"...
If someone asks a rabbi how much gold he made this week...
If someone makes a snarky remark that New Zealand doesn't deserve to host a movie that it has more claim to than any other place...

I have highlighted the odd-one-out there, just in case you manage to fail to understand how ludicrous your line of reasoning is.

To clarify, my initial point was that there was no perfect geographical location at which to film Middle Earth; and that if New Zealand's film industry were unwilling to offer a competitive service to the studio, the project should be moved elsewhere.

You equate this with the suppression of black people, Nazism and Islamic fundamentalism. That is highly offensive and highly ignorant, so much so that I have taken the rare step of reporting your post.

You are being laughably defensive about your country; you seem to squirm and squeal at any faint or implied criticism of it. Let me reassure you, then, that I enjoy New Zealand wine, and I note that New Zealand produces many superb Maori Rugby players. Other than that, and in common with the vast majority of the rest of the world, I have absolutely no opinion whatsoever on the little string of islands.

 

[regwec]

yeah thesaurus.com is pretty sweet.

Thanks, but I am fortunate enough to have a medium-to-good vocabulary, so I don't need it. This astounds many Hypesters, and leads to allegations of witchcraft.

 

[LOBO3315a]

A witch? May we burn her?

 

[regwec]

It's frowned upon nowadays, alas...

 

[Boom]

The new Entertainment Weekly (featuring Captain America on the cover) is on stands, and it has an article on PJ discussing The Hobbit.

Someone grab the magazine and post a transcript please .

 

[Spider-Who?]

I did read carefully. And I still fail to see who he was offending. Saying NZ doesn't deserve these films is not insulting anyone in particular (I certainly don't understand why you're taking his comments so personally).

If it bothers you that much, PM a mod and have them take a look. That should clear things up quickly.

read his posts - he works in the film industry in NEW ZEALAND. If I were told that my country(men) didn't deserve to have an opportunity to do something meaningful and earn their bread and butter, I would find that insulting, too.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Nesbitt, Tennant, Fassbender For "Hobbit"?

James Nesbitt has been offered a role while David Tennant and Michael Fassbender are being pursued for two other roles in the upcoming "The Hobbit" reports Deadline.

The $500 million dual films finally got the green light by New Line, Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM last week with production slated to begin in February next year. Ian McKellen is set to return as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as Gollum, and though not officially yet it seems set that Martin Freeman will play Bilbo Baggins.

Irish actor Nesbitt is a staple on British television, rising to fame on such shows as "Cold Feet," "Ballykissangel," "Murphy's Law" and "Jekyll" along with films like "Match Point," "Millions," "Bloody Sunday" and "Five Minutes of Heaven".

Fassbender has found his name quickly rising in Hollywood thanks to key roles in blockbusters like "300," "Inglourious Basterds," "Centurion" and "X-Men: First Class" along with art house features like "Hunger" and "Fish Tank".

Tennant is best known for starring as the tenth incarnation of The Doctor, from 2006 to 2009, in the long-running hit British sci-fi series "Doctor Who". He's also appeared in such films as "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "Bright Young Things," "How to Train Your Dragon" and the upcoming "Fright Night" remake.

 

[Boom]

Moving on to relevant news.

Parliament passes Hobbit bill

Parliament has passed the government's new law to clarify the position of contractors within the film industry.

MPs have voted 66 to 50 in favour of the law, which is part of the deal keeping production of The Hobbit in New Zealand.

Labour fought the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill to the last clause, arguing it isn't necessary and the government is "sticking it to the unions".

Labour's David Parker yesterday accused the government of playing a "politcal game".

"I don't even think Warner Brothers demanded this. There wasn't a problem to be fixed, there have been no problems in the film industry for the last five years," he said.

The bill changes the Employment Relations Act to make sure a film industry worker engaged on an independent contract won't be able to go to court and claim employee rights and conditions.

Ministers say movie producer Warner Bros would have pulled out of New Zealand without the commitment to change the law, but Labour and the Greens are accusing the government of capitulating to a foreign company, abusing parliamentary process and making a mockery of democracy.

SOURCE: http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/parliament-passes-hobbit-bill-3865048

 

[Boom]

Controversial Hobbit law passes

The Government's controversial "Hobbit law" has finally passed in to law - but Labour says it is so badly written that it will do the opposite of what Warner Bros and the Government want.

The Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill was moved under urgency yesterday afternoon and has passed its third and final reading this afternoon.

National, ACT, the Maori Party and UnitedFuture supported the bill. Labour and the Green Party voted against it.

It is designed to stop film contractors switching over to an employee, claiming extra rights.

However, Labour MP Charles Chauvel said the bill would create more litigation, not less.

Whether a worker was a contractor or an employee was about more than just the label that was put on the relationship, he told Parliament.

The bill meant to make contractor the default position for a film worker.

But if there was a dispute, workers would argue for the greater protection of an employee.

They would have to prove they were in an employment agreement.

"In many cases, thanks to industry practice, those workers will win their argument that they are employees," Mr Chauvel said.

"It is simply a recipe for further uncertainty and more litigation - the exact opposite of what John Key appears to have promised Warner Bros and Peter Jackson and everybody else.

"We've got a bad law, achieving the reverse of what's intended being passed under a defective process."

Mr Chauvel was involved as a lawyer in the 2005 employment case that ruled in favour of James Bryson that he was an employee, rather than a contractor on the Lord of the Rings production.

Mr Chauvel said the Government had not understood the law and was creating more uncertainty.

"The lack of basic understanding of the law that we've heard exhibited by the Government speakers, including the Minister, just makes it worse."

SOURCE: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4286715/Controversial-Hobbit-law-passes

 

[Marx]

Let's get back to the topic of the thread please.

 

[redhawk23]

Thanks, but I am fortunate enough to have a medium-to-good vocabulary, so I don't need it. This astounds many Hypesters, and leads to allegations of witchcraft.

It apears you misconstrued my jocular if minutely snarky witicism as an impertinent mockery of your tendency towards scribacious yet eloquent distpatches within this forum of genre oriented textual communication.