Posts by Andre Alessi
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Why is it risky for Warners to be in a country that values worker rights? They operate in US, Canada, Oz, UK - they are all unionised and have vibrant film industries. What is your alternative for NZ performers (or workers generally for that matter).
Why is it risky? You're asking that after the production was moved offshore?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the union did not manage to negotiate a "pay New Zealanders whether or not they get to work on the film" clause.
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Any claims that Wingnut have overblown the actors actions to leverage govt policy are insane as the need to do so did not exist until the boycott. They were building sets already, I think we can assume Warners weren't considering Ireland, Czechoslovakia or Tasmania until the governments of those countries got a sniff of trouble.
That might be a slightly optimistic reading of events. The drawn out kabuki dance of when the film would get the green light certainly wasn't resolved until very late in the game indeed. Guillermo del Toro's entire abortive tenure as director occurred without Warner once giving the production the official go-ahead.
I certainly agree that Warner pounced on the perception that AE was going to make life difficult for the production and used it as fuel for their own decisions, but I don't know that it was just that one issue that pushed them away.
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Maybe. Key does have a history of announcing that he has solutions to topical problems (whaling in the southern oceans, for example) that he does not, in fact, have a solution for.
Yeah, but it's not like he's ever going to be held to account for not keeping his word, is he?
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Until today Equity has chosen to pursue its request without fighting the battle in the media and the court of public opinion.
Not to state the obvious or anything, but that's the job of a union. Unions exist to advocate for their members in every relevant context. How anyone involved in this process could think that media management and public perception weren't relevant is beyond me.
The idea that they "chose not to" is either hopelessly naive or simply dishonest.
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It would probably work best as a TV series - there's just far too much content for even a string of movies.
And therein lies the rub: the Tolkein estate has so far absolutely refused to allow any of that material to be depicted or developed in other media. SZC is obviously much keener to exploit the material it owns the right to.
Interestingly, the formerly independent game developer Turbine, was acquired by Warner last year. Their flagship product is the MMO Lord of the Rings Online.
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This is a project that's already lost a director, it's not beyond business decorum to rebid. Hobbit 2 and 3 should be easier to make, ya wont have to pay off the Tolkeins.
The rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings aren't owned by the Tolkien family FYI, they're held by the Saul Zaentz Company. The Tolkeins don't get paid a thing for movies, games, etc based on those two works. However they still hold the rights to characters and works from J.R.R. Tolkein's other works, particularly The Silmarillion.
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It probably says something about me that it bothers me that Peter Jackson seems unable to spell "Warner Bros".
Paul Henry would agree with me when I say that "Bro's" is entirely the correct spelling, bro.
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Don't worry Andre, I've already started filming the "new" New Zealand version secretly in my backyard. It'll be out in a week.
Can I be the dragon?
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I've noticed Hamish Keith has taken to Twitter blaming everyone but the union for the shambles. Even if he's right, and the union was fully committed to working with everyone to make The Hobbit happen, they've been piss-poor at getting their message out in a way that other people can understand.
Which is rather the point of a union in the first place, I would imagine.
Personally, I'm pissed off and disappointed. Not only did I want to see The Hobbit, a book I love, made here in the country I love, but I also secretly wanted to sign up for a shot at being Figwit Mk II.
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In the sense that they shit around without loading, yes. My browser hates em for some reason.
It's usually the Javascript associated with some themes. If you have NoScript, try temporarily allowing scripts from the URL to see if that makes a difference.