Peter Jackson on Filming The Hobbit in New Zealand: ‘The Damage Has Been Done’

Since actors’ unions have been calling for negotiations in the treatment and payment of Hobbit actors, Peter Jackson is still seriously considering just packing up and filming the movies elsewhere. Though he famously filmed Lord of the Rings in New Zealand, he's pretty pissed off right now: "This is where I’m out of my depth," he told a New Zealand TV station, after his angry press release this week. "I can talk my way around the movie. But to tell the studio why investing $500 million in our country is a good idea when they’ve just seen the disgusting, frivolous action that’s happened … I literally don’t know what to say to them.” He's particularly angry with Helen Kelly, the president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, who has been critical of his handling of the dispute. To her, he exclaims: “How dare you? You are choosing an Australian union over the workers of our country. Stuff her. I don’t care what the hell she says." Where to film, then, is the question. "Is the movie going to come or go? We don’t know,” he said, “The damage has been done.”
[PopWatch/EW]