October 2005
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Filmmaker Peter Jackson's "anti-union" stance is to blame for the dangerous conditions on the set of King Kong, says the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.
CTU president Ross Wilson said the unsafe practices on the set, highlighted in a damning Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) report into a near-fatal accident on the set last year, were "unacceptable".
"New Zealanders need to stop viewing Peter Jackson through rose-tinted spectacles, and see the reality that this is a business where safety comes last for cost reasons," Mr Wilson said.
"This is an American-owned production company organising the work in New Zealand, and the company and Jackson need to take proactive steps to ensure the safety of the workers on their set."
OSH investigated the King Kong set in the Wellington suburb of Miramar after 21kg of scaffolding fell on two workers on October 14, 2004.
Steve McNicol and Byron Sparrow were taken to hospital with lacerations, and one also suffered concussion and a broken shoulder blade in the accident.
Labour Department health and safety chief adviser Mike Cosman said they were lucky not to be killed.
The production company, Big Primate, which is owned by Universal City Studios in California, escaped prosecution because of uncertainty regarding the way in which the scaffolding was rigged.
The more seriously injured worker said he wanted changes to set practices, rather than holding someone accountable.
Crew told investigators they had worked up to 25 hours in the lead-up to the accident.
One international crew member said conditions were the "worst" he had seen.
"I personally had the objective of coming out of the employment period in one piece."
Big Primate would not comment other than to say it had co-operated fully with the investigation.
OSH's report also raised concerns about the lack of a solvent spray booth on set - a requirement under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
Mr Cosman said that while there was still room for improvement, the department was satisfied with safety levels overall, and he did not believe the industry was "in crisis".
A spokeswoman for Jackson said he would not be commenting on the OSH report.
Mr Wilson said he was not looking for a confrontation with Jackson, but a more cooperative approach.
"We are just asking that Jackson move away from his anti-union approach and respect employees' rights to organise around safety in their workplace," he said.
Union-led health and safety workplace representative systems had contributed to a 60 per cent reduction in workplace fatalities in the last two years, he said.
"Workers in the film industry need to recognise the value of organising collectively as real unions to improve their conditions at work - and film set management should listen seriously to them."
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UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Pictures confirmed today that James Newton Howard will compose the original score for the dramatic adventure "King Kong," which is directed by triple Academy Award(R) winner Peter Jackson. Mr. Howard replaces Howard Shore, who is leaving the project.
Peter Jackson made the following statement: "I have greatly enjoyed my collaborations with Howard Shore, whose musical themes made immeasurable contributions to 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. During the last few weeks, Howard and I came to realize that we had differing creative aspirations for the score of 'King Kong.' Rather than waste time arguing with a friend and trying to unify our points of view, we decided amicably to let another composer score the film. I'm looking forward to working with James Newton Howard, a composer whose work I've long admired, and I thank Howard Shore, whose talent is surpassed only by his graciousness."
"King Kong" will be released December 14, 2005.
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According to the German PJ-Fansite Kaihoro.de it seems that the design of Kong was changed. Two days ago the US-magazine "Sci-Fi channel" released some kind of a teaser poster with a new Kong on it. Compared with the pics of Kong from the official trailer there are some differencies. The new Kong looks a lil bit older, thinner and rougher...just like our board user Badger when he wakes up...
Here´s a pic which compares the trailer Kong with the poster Kong...
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WETAs next project "Black Seep" is financed by a Korean film company we´ve never heard before of! Great news, because the whole story reminds a lil bit of the early works of WETA like "Meet the Feebles" and "Braindead"...
"Black Sheep" is a horror comedy about genetically engineered sheep running amok. The shooting will start in early 2006 in Wellington. Here´s a artwork Ive stolen from the offical WETA Workshop site...
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Thanks to the anonymous source for sending these screenshots in. They are indeed very pretty. Still hopefully we'll get this DVD bundled into the Kong definitive 25 disk edition at the end of 2006! ;) Just click the image to ENLARGE.
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Here it is! This is what the LE Kong Production Diaries DVD set will look like. I can already hear the kerching of cash registers echoing through the lands!
But come on, we all know what it will be like! Overwhelming excitement as you open it up the first day it arrives! Oh great, heres a piece of paper with a limited edition number. Wahey! heres a piece of paper with a still of a ship. And heres a piece of paper detailing PJs diet during the kong shoot!. After a day of looking at this shit it will all be stuffed back into the box and stuck away from your normal DVD shelf due to the box being too big.
Why not save yourself the money and just get the normal edition. If you want miscellaneous crap to have with your kong dvd then why not go out and buy a copy of Empire Magazine.
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Looking at the BBFC the final reel for The Frighteners documentary has been passed and approved. So what does this mean? Well this reel has been passed with an approved running time of : THE FRIGHTENERS - MASTER REEL 4 54m 54s
This means that the total running time of The Frighteners documentary will be 269mins 30secs. This translates to just under 4.5 hours.
We can now safely say the documentary WILL be full and uncut from the laserdisc. Well done Universal for having the balls to release it in full. I may just forgive you for the Production Diaries DVD yet ;)
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The bastards over at "http://www.ainitcool.com" report (yeah...I am too lazy to write an own article now...):
"Bungie announced today that Peter Jackson is indeed NOT directing the HALO movie...
But he is PRODUCING IT with his partner in crime, Fran Walsh!!!
Hear that? That's the sound of a million geeks around the world breathing a sigh of relief.
Not bad so far... from the writer of 28 DAYS LATER, from the producer of BRAINDEAD and LORD OF THE RINGS.So, maybe he'll decide to direct... It totally plays into his style and I could think of nothing cooler than a Peter Jackson HALO movie... We know he can handle epic battles and he's quite good with zombies. C'mon! Let's start the peer pressure now! "You know, Peter... the cool kids direct HALO movies..."
If not Jackson, who do you think he's going to get to direct or is his involvement in name only? So many questions! The announcement also states that WETA will handle the effects, both digital and practical. God, my anticipation level just jumped off the charts. This is fantastic news for us HALO nuts!!!!"
I was never a big fan of modern computer games (bring us back the good ole Lucasarts adventures..viva Guybrush Threepwood!!!) but I have to say that this sounds REALLY cool! Can´t wait to get more infos!
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Our board user Windfola Sibelius made a fantastic new website about PJ and his work for the Polish fans. There´s nothing more to say because the website speaks for itself.
So, take a look at:
Keep up the great work, Windfola! ;)
