New Zealanders Rally To Save "The Hobbit"

"We don't open the doors to a union, who destroy everything we have worked to build", said Sir Peter Jackson in New Zealand, following a local performers guild, ganging up with international actors unions, to blacklist Warners upcoming production of "The Hobbit", after millions of dollars were spent by the studio in pre-production costs.

Jackson said the intervention by Australian-based union Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) risked destroying "the great big heart that beats inside all our films".

Jackson's comments were heard at an organized protest rally timed to coincide with the arrival of Warners executives to New Zealand, to consider options of starting "The Hobbit" in another country.

Rally co-ordinator Mark Harrison said he wanted to give a positive message to Jackson and Warner Brothers.

"Sir Peter said that these were his darkest days...We want to show our support for him and we want Warners to know that their investment in New Zealand actors and actresses will be safe."

In Wellington, 2500 people gathered in the city's Civic Square, following the international actors union boycott and a last-minute union-drawn 'interim production agreement' to try and start production, February 2011 in New Zealand.

Now the head of the Council of Trade Unions (CTU), said Actors Equity and its related Australian-based union Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) have given an absolute assurance that there would be no disruption to the filming of "The Hobbit" in New Zealand.

Fearing further costly interruptions to their tent-pole feature, Warners is now considering shooting "The Hobbit" @ Leavesden Film Studios, near London, UK where all of the "Harry Potter" features and "The Dark Knight" were filmed...