Some day, someone is going to make a movie about the attempt to make a movie based on J.R.R. Read the full post.
Oct 20
2010
09:04 PM ET
'The Hobbit' will shoot in New Zealand after all. Well, maybe. Hopefully. We'll see.
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As an American who is lucky enough to spend half the year in NZ — with a “backyard” that overlooks one of the scenic spots where the original LOTR trilogy was filmed — I’m troubled. I’ve seen the Hobbiton movie set in all its re-built glory, and I can’t imagine vistas anywhere in the world that can compare with Matamata, Wanaka, and Arrowtown as backdrops for The Hobbit. Of course, I’ll go and see it no matter where they film it, but it just won’t seem like Middle Earth if it’s not filmed in New Zealand.
I’m still crossing my fingers and hoping… The trilogy was my impetus for visiting NZ the first time (on my honeymoon), and we’ve been there three times now including living and working there for 5 months. It’s every bit as good as it looks in the films (I’d move there permanently in a second if I could), and I dearly hope they don’t move it anywhere else. Aside from the film revenue that NZ has gotten as a result of subsequent productions, the tourism revenue is absolutely staggering. Every town you go to that had any kind of relationship to the original films (and there’s a LOT of them) has at least one company that will take you on a tour of the scenery and filming locations. That’s a draw that didn’t exist before LOTR, but will begin to taper off now that it’s not as recent of a set of films. They REALLY need a new hit from the Hobbit to keep that going. The actors need to realize that it’s not only about them, but about their entire country. NZ is a small place (only 4 million people), and a film of this magnitude and the resulting publicity really does make a difference to the population as a whole.
While it would be nice for continuity for the Hobbiton and Rivendell scenes to be filmed in NZ, the rest of the film could very easily be filmed in Britian, Ireland or Europe. It was the original setting of the books. I just want them filmed.
Like so many others these days, the actor’s unions need a refresher course in THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS. Spoiler alert: The goose dies, and that ain’t good!
Sounds a lot like Cablevision and News Corp.!
By describing Jackson’s and Walsh’s statement (that they will fight to keep the production in NZ) as “tepid”, writer Adam Vary sounds suspiciously like some of those local, conspiracy-theorist union members: Jackson & Walsh didn’t REALLY mean it cuz they’re in greedy cahoots with those evil evil Warner Brothers, right? Sheesh, never let it be said that ANY infotainment press member might really think ill of ANY labor organization.
My biggest reason for hoping filming of “The Hobbit” gets done as easily, beautifully, and financially successful as possible is because I REALLY hope that PJ takes up the huge challenge of putting “The Silmarillion” into movie form. Yes, I’ve heard all the pros and cons about translating this beautiful book into a movie format, but ya know what? the storyline and ME history and mythology in that book would make for an epic film. I honestly believe that PJ could do right by the book making films based on “The Silmarillion”. Too long? bahhhh — look at the Star Trek, Batman, X-Men, etc movies. As long as the money potential is there from making a movie/series of movies they’ll do it. I don’t think people realize how much of a fan-base there is out here for the Tolkien-based stories.
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