Occhidiangela,Mar 14 2003, 12:26 PM Wrote:Had Jackson wanted to make LOTR in America, his interview on the web reflected that the expected it to have cost about three times as much.It's usually about twice as much, but considering the nature of this particular beast, three I suppose might be about right.
Quote:It also, ironically, culled the possible actors down to those who would commit, and "get away from it all" to do the filming. :)
Actually those are getting quite easy to find when it comes to short term projects like movies. Sample dialogue: "New Zealand? Cool! I always wanted to go there!" :lol: And too many of them realize that local laws allow them to retain properties here, so you get people like Dennis Conner and John Travolta who keep holiday homes.
Quote:Considering also that he needed raw scenic beauty in abundant supply, and a populace that would put up with sword armed nutcases (like Vitgo Mortensen, who reputedly went everywhere with his sword) without panicking, and that he is from NZ himself . . . it looks like the right choice was made for a number of good reasons.
Truth be known, one can't actually wander around anywhere with a sword. I've had to be a little cautious myself at times.
As for reasons, one of the main ones that American directors quickly get surprised by is the crew. In the States everyone has a particular job and they stick to their own field more, because of safety issues and how damage claims work when things go wrong and force of habit etc. etc. Here, everyone is a problem solver with a level of teamwork that must look to outsiders like some kind of hive mind. People help eachother out constantly. A big contributing factor to this is many local film projects are underfunded labours of love and people just get used to making do with what they have - Compare a labour of love against a better-funded industry and patterns begin to emerge.
I've worked in both film and music performance related areas and it's funny hearing some of the stories coming from societal differences when these projects roll into town. ;)
Heed the Song of Battle and Unsheath the Blades of War