The Hobbit stoush has been a Hollywood production, sadly a million miles from the New Zealand that once seemed so perfectly suited as the real world home of hobbits. It doesn't feel like we can trust anyone in this picture
As a teenager, I used to debate with friends how the JRR Tolkein movies should be made and who should play the lead roles. I wrote extensively and happily about The Lord of the Rings trilogy for the New Zealand Herald when I worked there. Yet after days and days and days of debate, The Hobbit films now leave nothing but a bad taste – pun intended – in my mouth.
The debate has been disturbingly vicious and nothing in it has made me proud to be a New Zealander, something that Sir Peter Jackson’s Tolkein films have done so well in the past.
Business New Zealand Chief Executive Phil O’Reilly made the point well on
This isn’t just any old industrial dispute, this is about a trilogy of films that achieved something that New Zealanders crave – international relevance and attention. Sir Peter’s Tolkein movies have become this generation’s Everest summit or All Black ‘Originals’; a source of national pride and identity. We all feel like we helped make them.
Yet
This is the start of my post at tvnz.co.nz. To continue reading, click here. But feel free to add comments and debate below.