New Zealand’s Prime Minister has stepped into the ring to try and secure the New Zealand as the place of filming for Warner Brother’s two-part prequel to ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘The Hobbit.’
The $500 million film was being considered for moving offshore after the New Zealand Actor’s Equity union had called a boycott to the film over arguments regarding payment and conditions negotiations.
Prime Minister John Key is set to talk to the heads of Warner Brothers as they fly into Wellington, to reassure them that New Zealand is a stable environment for the filming of the much-anticipated movies.
While Mr. Key tries to dissuade the Hollywood big-wigs from shipping the production overseas, they are still actively looking for alternate locations. Warner Brothers, who is producing the film with New Line Cinema released a statement saying:
"The actions of these unions have caused us substantial damage and disruption and forced us to consider other filming locations for the first time. Alternative locations are still being considered."
The union has lifted the boycott of the film, which has lead to some of the major characters in the film being cast. Martin Freeman, who starred in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’ has been cast as the lead playing Bilbo Baggins.
New Zealand has been the setting for all three ‘Lord of the Rings’ films, as well as other big-budget films such as ‘The Last Samurai’ and ‘Prince Caspian’ from the ‘Narnia’ series.
