Union backs off Hobbit ban, but dispute lingers

New Zealand's actors union, which had called for performers to boycott The Hobbit amid a dispute over pay and working conditions, has lifted its ban against the anticipated film project. However, production of the two-film tale could still be leaving the country's shores.

New Zealand Actors Equity said Thursday that it has removed the "do not work" order placed on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, which it had earlier decried as a non-union production.

Equity also said there would be no "industrial action" taken during filming — which had been slated to begin in 2011.

"We can provide absolute certainty that industrial issues are no longer a barrier to The Hobbit's production in New Zealand," Equity president Jennifer Ward-Lealand said in a statement.

The U.S.-based Screen Actors Guild also called off its boycott.

However, Jackson has suggested that the reversal may have come too late.

"It's a question of confidence in our industrial relations, and the damage was done within a week of the blacklist going on," Jackson told Close Up, a program on New Zealand's TV One network.

In a statement, he blasted the actors union, saying its "unjustified industrial action against The Hobbit has undermined Warner Brothers' confidence in New Zealand as a stable employment environment, and they are now, quite rightly, very concerned about the security of their $500 million US investment."

Film workers protest

Hundreds of film technicians and other film industry workers gathered in Wellington this week for a demonstration against the actors union's stance.

They urged the decision-makers to keep production of the Hobbit films in New Zealand, where Jackson filmed his acclaimed blockbuster Lord of the Rings trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved books. The award-winning films also gave the country a massive boost in tourism.

The protesters chanted "Save Middle Earth" and brandished signs bearing slogans like "Don't kill Bilbo" and "Ireland is not Middle Earth," according to Reuters.

The reference to Ireland is linked to discussion about alternate filming locations and comments made by Jackson's wife and producing partner, Fran Walsh.

Though a host of potential new locations — including Canada — have been mentioned, Walsh told Radio New Zealand that the U.K. was a real possibility.

"They have had people in the U.K. taking location photographs," she said. "They’ve got a huge studio there that Harry Potter has vacated, the ex-Rolls-Royce factory, that they say would be perfect for us."

In addition to the labour strife, The Hobbit has suffered other problems —primarily, the restructuring of Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., which owns half the project, but also the departure of noted director Guillermo del Toro, who quit after enduring two years of production delays.

Shooting on the two-part, 3D version of The Hobbit is slated to begin in February 2011, with the first installment tentatively scheduled for theatrical release in December 2012 and the second a year later.

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