WELLINGTON – Friday, 1 October 2010 An Australian trade union, the MEAA, has generated a world wide actor boycott on The Hobbit, to bolster their demand that producers on the film enter into collective bargaining with the NZ Equity/MEAA. The MEAA has now admitted that their collective bargaining proposal is in fact, illegal, under New Zealand law. In Sir Peter Jackson’s opinion “The Hobbit is being punished with a boycott which is endangering thousands of NZ jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign income, for no good reason.”
The attack on The Hobbit by NZ Actors Equity and the MEAA has resulted in a very public dispute, between NZ Equity and the producers of The Hobbit. The actors are claiming they are underpaid and do not enjoy the same working conditons as their overseas counterparts. This accusation that has been levelled specifically at The Hobbit, but Sir Peter Jackson says it has no basis in fact. Continue reading “Media Release – Peter Jackson Speaks on Actor Boycott of “The Hobbit””
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Variety reported today that the seven major actor’s unions have told members not to work on “The Hobbit” due to the refusal of producers of the feature film to sign a deal with local New Zealand performers. A SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) Member Alert published on SAG’s website yesterday states:
“Members of Canadian Actors Equity, US Actors Equity, the Screen Actors Guild, UK Actors Equity, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Australia) and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists are advised not to accept work on this non-union production. If you are contacted to be engaged on The Hobbit please notify your union immediately.”
The alert comes after repeated attempts by Australian actor’s union, the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Alliance), to negotiate minimum wages and other working conditions for New Zealand actors who are currently not unionized. The International Federation of Actors (FIA) finally stepped in to urge their affiliates worldwide to flat out refuse to work on “The Hobbit” in a show of solidarity for their New Zealand counterparts. With offers to actors rumored to be “imminent,” the initiative is undoubtedly timed to put maximum pressure on the film-makers to negotiate. It remains to be seen whether playing what they think is their strongest hand now will have the results the FIA desires.
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In the past few days, several stories have surfaced around the internet claiming that, in addition to his co-writing duties, Guillermo Del Toro is also now one of the producers of “The Hobbit.” Today we happen to have it on very good authority that this is not the case. Our good friend GDT stopped by our message boards to clear the air and state that he is: “not a producer of any kind.”
When the news first broke here on TheOneRing.net of Guillermo leaving “The Hobbit” as director, Peter Jackson confirmed that GDT was staying on as co-writer:“Guillermo is co-writing the Hobbit screenplays with Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh and myself, and happily our writing partnership will continue for several more months, until the scripts are fine tuned and polished.” According to Del Toro, currently on tour to promote his new book “The Fall,” producing is definitely not an additional part of those responsibilities. Read Guillermo’s comments and join in the discussion here.
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After posting the newspaper advertisement from Wellington’s Dominion Post, we heard from official sources that indeed, it is real and authentic and official. Turns out, everything printed was exactly what was meant. The source said:
A preliminary casting call means: We don’t have a green light, but we do need to be prepared in the event that we get one!
Also as stated, it isn’t a call for extras, it is simply gathering folks around Wellington who might serve as scale doubles, much as they were used it the LOTR production. There is no word from Los Angeles studios on greenlights, directors or casting.
And, to clarify the source also said:
The NZ Dance and Drama Centre is simply being used as a venue for this casting call, and is not the home of our casting department.
So, the news is still good news for those wanting “Hobbit” movies and this wasn’t happening several months ago but we are still in a state of “hurry up and wait.”
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A New Zealand film website has declared, from its own independent sources, that Neill Blomkamp (District 9) will be directing a pair of movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” It was also kind enough to point out that we broke the story as a possibility in June.
The Kiwi site isn’t known for rumor mongering so this is a definitely an interesting possibility that might be pointing to increased Hobbit activity and a semblance of leadership at MGM and a future for these potential gigantic hits (and fan favorites) to get made. Thanks to message board user Magpie for posting this in our forum and to Ataahua for alerting us to the post. You can read the original June forum response here. And, of course, stay tuned for the latest on all things Hobbit, Tolkien and Middle-earth.
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We recently got our hands on what we think is some authentic Bilbo casting and production information which seemed to contradict something we knew with absolute certainty: The Hobbit production wanted Martin Freeman for Bilbo and has since as long ago as last year. Seemingly at odds with that fact was apparently concrete casting details about Bilbo and actors still giving audition tapes. Was the role sewn up or not?
A spy has provided an exclusive clue or two about what the role of Bilbo will be like and even a plot detail and a production outline but we were reluctant to report it because of apparent contradictions, but with all the recent Freeman news, it now fits in context. And yes, you have to read on. This is news you must work for, at least a little bit. Continue reading “Exclusive: Bilbo the Brave? Hobbit casting details”
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