19th May 2012
Boycotts Threaten The Hobbit Blockbuster
4th October 2010
Boycotts by international actors' unions could jeopardise
production of films based on The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien's famous
fantasy epic.
The planned adaptations are blockbuster prequels to the
Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, also based on Tolkien
books.
Lord of the Rings director, New Zealander Peter Jackson, also
happens to be executive producer for The Hobbit, which will
comprise two movies. They will be financed and distributed by
Hollywood studios MGM and New Line Cinema. And filming is scheduled
to start next year in New Zealand.
But the Brussels-based International Federation of Actors (IFA)
has sent out an alert requesting its members to have nothing to do
with the production.
It alleges that the producers are refusing to sign a union
contract, thereby depriving the films' small-part actors an
internationally agreed minimum wage.
That minimum wage is recognised by IFA organisation members in the
US (including Screen Actors Guild), the UK (Equity), Australia
(Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance), among others. They have
reportedly agreed not to cooperate with the filming.
An angry Peter Jackson has threatened to shift production to
Eastern Europe. He argues that the unions' refusal to work on the
film would deprive New Zealand actors of jobs and the country of
millions in Hollywood dollars.
The original start of production was 2009 but MGM's own financial
problems, already reported by LPA movingPictures, forced the
postponement to next year.
Photography Margrieta Jeltema