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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A leaked memo last week informed us that an MGM buyout wouldn’t go through. MGM is on target for a planned bankruptcy and association with Spyglass that will likely allow two ‘Hobbit’ movies to go forward. Today we have info directly from the once potential buyer reported by the Associated Press which says:
Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar says that its offer to buy out the creditors of struggling Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for more than $2 billion has been rejected.
Subrata Roy Sahara, the company’s chairman, had a conference call with creditors on Tuesday. The company said late Thursday that the offer was rejected within hours.
A spokesman for Houlihan Lokey, an investment bank that is advising MGM’s creditors, declined to comment. You can read the rest right 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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The pieces are moving, wheels are in motion and Wellington is looking for short and tall people for two anticipated movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”
Our friend Jack, from the Noldor blog, posted a piece of indisputable evidence on his site and shared it will us. In ran in the Wellington Dominion Post and looks to be pretty authentic. More text and a big reproduction of the ad after the break. Continue reading “Wanted: Tall or short people for ‘The Hobbit’”
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Thanks to Ringer Kookie for this heads up from the NY Times:
Sahara India Pariwar, an Indian conglomerate with real estate and media holdings, says it has made a $2 billion bid to buy the debt of the struggling Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was unclear how MGM’s committee of creditors viewed the offer. A spokeswoman for the studio declined to comment. The offer came a day after MGM said it had received another extension on an agreement to put off interest payments on about $4 billion in debt until Oct. 29.
[Full Story]
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