Jackson shuts film VIPs out of Rings premiere

By LOUISA CLEAVE and NZPA

Peter Jackson last night sparked a bitter row with the Film Commission after he effectively banned its two top executives from the premiere of his second Lord of the Rings movie.

Jackson said the commission was not welcome at tonight's premiere in Wellington of The Two Towers because of the way it handled the liquidation of production company Kahukura and, in particular, the film Kombi Nation.

"It is a night which celebrates the achievement of New Zealand talent behind and in front of the camera.

"In a year when film crews and suppliers of the independent film industry have been abused and vilified by these self-serving bureaucrats, it would be totally inappropriate for the Film Commission to be participating in this event," the director said.

Commission chief executive Ruth Harley confirmed that she and chairman Barrie Everard had been sent tickets to the premiere, but the film's distributors had "uninvited" them two days ago at Jackson's request.

"We have given away our tickets," Dr Harley said.

Mr Everard called Jackson's move "somewhat petty" and accused the director of trying "to use his considerable prestige and mana to force the commission into a gross misuse of public funds".

He claimed that Jackson had tried to bludgeon the commission into paying Kahukura's debts.

"It is tragic that at a time of celebration for the New Zealand film industry we should be reduced to this level of vitriol by Peter Jackson," Mr Everard said.

Jackson said Mr Everard had tried to wash his hands of Kombi Nation and called on the Government to investigate the liquidation process fully and fairly.

"To date, they have fallen in behind their bureaucrats, but it's now time for the Government to consider the interests and opinions of the independent New Zealand film industry, which their Film Commission is supposed to be serving."

Kombi Nation was one of three unfinished films when Kahukura Productions collapsed in June owing about $500,000 to creditors, including $270,000 to Jackson's Film Unit.

His company took legal action to recover the debt. Jackson said the Film Unit alerted the commission on March 5 that Kahukura was not paying its bills.

He was then amazed to learn that the commission signed a deal with Kahukura on March 12 which committed $2 million to another film.

Jackson said the commission had invested $745,000 of taxpayers' money in Kombi Nation.

"They have a responsibility to complete the film and sell it. Is that not their job?

"They should be giving immediate support to [director] Grant [Lahood] to get his film finished, including clearing outstanding debts," he said.



Last week the commission said it had negotiated an agreement with the Kahukura liquidator to free up three films, including Kombi Nation.

The proposal involved selling the rights to the film-makers and an arrangement for them to negotiate directly with the Film Unit.

Jackson claimed the deal to release the film was negotiated by Lahood and accused Mr Everard of taking credit for the deal.

Jackson last night said the Film Commission was refusing to accept any responsibility, behaving like "panicking bureaucrats, fearful of what will happen when their Government masters finally realise the extent of the incompetent decisions".

But Mr Everard said the collapse of Kahukura could have been avoided if Jackson's company had alerted the commission earlier that it was not being paid.

"'I consider it appalling that now he has become an internationally successful film-maker Peter Jackson would so soon forget his roots as a small film-maker and make demands on funds that rightfully belong to struggling film-makers of New Zealand."

Herald feature: Lord of the Rings