Peter Jackson to battle DGA over King Kong credit

by Karina Longworth Nov 24th 2005 // 1:28PM

Filed under: Animation, Classics, RumorMonger, Tech Stuff, DIY/Filmmaking, Robert Rodriguez, Peter Jackson, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

In 2004, Peter Jackson made Hollywood history by becoming the only director to ever earn three consecutive Directors Guild of America nominations stemming from the same film shoot (he made a movie about hobbits. It got split into three parts. Try to keep up.) Now, there's a rumor going around that Jackson is fighting with the guild to secure director's credits for two key collaborators on his latest epic, King Kong. According to David Poland, Jackson feels that the film's two lead animators (to be honest, there are so many names on the film's IMDB profile that I'm not sure who exactly Poland is referring to) deserve a special "Animation Directed By" credit for their efforts in actualizing the film's star, the Big Fake Gorilla himself. The DGA is not exactly generous about handing out credits; as you'll no doubt remember, Robert Rodriguez asked them to recognize Frank Miller's contribution to Sin City, and the director ended up quitting the Guild over it. But just because the DGA has never, ever allowed such a thing in the past, that doesn't mean that Jackson and his animators are necessarily out of luck ... does it?

15 Comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-24-2005 @ 9:06PM

Random_Tangent said...

If you're going to make a snide comment about people not being aware of a huge cultural phenomenon, you should probably spell Hobbit correctly.

Sayin'.

11-24-2005 @ 9:21PM

AnalAvenger said...

Hahahahahah, what a fucking tool. Thats the best you can come up with?? An insult to the guy for misspelling hobbit? Dude, you need to get laid and losen up a bit. (not to mention find better nagging points)

11-24-2005 @ 9:43PM

WTL said...

This could have an interesting twist. If Peter Jackson does not get what he wants and then *he* quits the Directors Guild it would be a powerful message (not that Robert Rodriguez's leaving wasn't) that the Guild is past its useful stage.

11-24-2005 @ 9:51PM

AlPerez said...

Mr. Anal Avenger,

Grow 6 more inches, finish sixth grade English, and then you can go back to your random trolling (using flawless English and a better moniker, hopefully...).

11-25-2005 @ 12:10AM

Raul Velazquez said...

DGA is nice and all for benefit but in the end its just a title and if the director plus the studio are ok with giving credit. Then i dont see why they are such assholes about it. If someone can give me a valid explanation as to why they shouldn't allow peter to give credit to who he wants to. then well I will take my statement back.

11-25-2005 @ 7:55AM

Koen Baart said...

Sorry, This is not about Credit for making a Movie but Credit on the bank account of Peter Jackson. You see if your name is not on the credits you will not get payed

11-25-2005 @ 8:14AM

Monkeey said...

Koen Baart, I never knew that... so extras/support artistes don't get paid then... I think not my friend!

11-25-2005 @ 11:50AM

Matariel said...

George Lucas left the director's guild back in 1980 because the actor's guild wouldnt recognise Frank Oz for his work on Yoda, so he couldnt be nominated for any acting awards, which Lucas believed he was fully entitled to.

And also, a credit doesnt equal a paycheck. Many writers are uncredited on films (due to retarded screen writer's guild crediting rules) yet are sill fully paid for their work.

11-25-2005 @ 1:35PM

Paturai said...

Koen Baart, I fail to see how giving lead animators a directing credit will affect Jackson's bank account. Obviously you must be one of the many "Peter Jackson is a Sellout" Flamers that are lurking the movie boards these days. Your entitled to your opinion, but reading an article before commenting might help your case. Personally I would take LOTR and King Kong over Meet the Feebles any day of the week. Congrats and good luck Mr. Jackson.

11-25-2005 @ 1:50PM

Eric said...

He made the movie! If he wants to credit his snot for making a contribution he should be allowed to...man how ridiculous.

11-26-2005 @ 6:34PM

Shnorf Fehrman said...

The first sentence of Tolkien's The Hobbit: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." Not capitalized. Glad we got that settled.

11-29-2005 @ 1:24PM

joeri said...

Look, before we know it some director is making his cat co-director, or worse his pants, and then what? "Nominated for best director: Peter's pants in Hong Kong" at the Oscars(tm)? I think not.
Let's name the professions by its name and give 'credit' to that.

(sorry for my bad english, not a native speaker)

11-29-2005 @ 7:56AM

gavin H said...

Koen Baar: your comment is not true. "Sorry, This is not about Credit for making a Movie but Credit on the bank account of Peter Jackson. You see if your name is not on the credits you will not get payed"
And this is a shamefully thing, as a digital artist myself, i know the hard work it takes to realize a character such as kong. digital artists generaly get no credit... i think this is wrong and has to stop.
if jackson wants credit for the realization of kong... he should try modeling, create displacements, riggning and animating him, then well see who the true artists are.

11-29-2005 @ 10:09AM

gavin H said...

11-29-2005 @ 5:51PM

Romney T said...

I don't understand what any of you are flipping out about. Peter Jackson is trying to give credit where credit is due. By giving an Animation Directed by credit to lead animators, he's bringing them UP in profile not down. They'll probably get their own card in the credits, not just be squished down at the bottom of the credit roll in 6 point type with the army of animators. Other directors would just leave themselves as the sole director and in interviews say "Yep, I did it all." Know what you're flaming about before you light the kerosene.