Hollywood Smackdown: Jackson Fires Back at Shaye -- Nicely
Filed under: New Line, Celebrities and Controversy, Box Office, Politics
Somebody must have spiked the eggnog out in Hollywood over the holidays -- less than two weeks into the New Year, and all that "peace on Earth, good will toward men" crap's been tossed out like so many shreds of gift wrap.Yesterday we told you about New Line's Robert Shaye getting his tail feathers in a bunch over Peter Jackson (hey, what's a lawsuit and a few million bucks between friends, right?), declaring that New Line will never (EVER) work with Jackson again as long as Shaye is manning the helm. Shaye wasn't pulling any punches, either, going straight for the personal-attack jugular in calling Jackson an array of unflattering descriptors.
Now Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood has the scoop on Peter Jackson's response to Shaye's throwdown and, perhaps not surprisingly, Jackson seems to be taking the high road here, saying, in part: "Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to its contractual obligations and promises. It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so."
Yeah! Take that, Bob! Peter Jackson respects you! And has affection for you, even! Jackson also notes that New Line has continually fought requests to audit the books for Two Towers and Return of the King (not an unreasonable request, one might presume, especially if there's nothing to hide, so why not just open the books?). Geez, what is it with Hollywood -- is it really that hard to play fair and be nice? On the plus side, every time Hollywood shows its ugly underbelly with things like the Jackson-Shaye squabble or the big shakeup at Paramount yesterday, I'm reminded of why I choose to live in Seattle. I may not be in the thick of the LA action up here, but neither do I feel the need to take a hot shower at the end of a workday just to cleanse myself of the muck.










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-11-2007 @ 6:26PM
Dirk Gently said...
Mr Shaye has very kindly provided a solution to the whole "how do we get Peter Jackson back to do The Hobbit". He has said that it won't happen while he's in charge. Would now be an appropriate time for the shareholders to call for the head of the only moron on the planet that doesn't want Jackson doing The Hobbit?
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1-11-2007 @ 8:33PM
Mary said...
If the skirmish between The Donald and Rosie/Babwa cools off, the exchange between Shaye and Jackson can fill in nicely.
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1-12-2007 @ 1:12AM
Mary J. said...
I agree with Dirk. New Line Cinema stockholders, WAKE UP!! Get Shaye out of there, give Jackson his audit (Why not, if New Line has nothing to hide?) and get that New Zealander busy making The Hobbit. He proved himself with The Lord of The Rings trilogy. He has the vision, the ability and the resources to do it and do it right! I'm 58 years old, I'd like to see The Hobbit (and see it done right) before I'm too damn old to walk into a theater and too deaf and too blind to hear and see it.
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1-12-2007 @ 1:11AM
Dylan and Taran said...
My wife and I are Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fans back to our Childhood, probably only surpassing us in the number of reads we have give the Hobbit and the Trilogy yearly!
Now we have TEN children that are being indoctrinated into the world of Middle Earth. I truly credit Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh for having the VISION to bring Lord of the Rings to the "Big Screen" and keep the integrity of the books as my wife and I know them. So many directors take "poetic license" and literally ruin the author's vision and interpretation; yet, Jackson and Walsh enhanced the beauty and intrigue of Middle Earth, the dark forboding quality of Sauron; everything that was done was a wonderful tribute to the Masterful writing behind Tolkein.
No other director, in our opinion, would ever have kept that close a trueness to the actual storyline. New Line Cinema truly had a "Cash Cow" with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and rather than alienate the creative team, New Line should put curb bits and heavy black reins and martingales and cruppers on Shaye. Hopefully, this is where either Jackson/Walsh do the Hobbit or it never gets done.
My wife and I have suffered through the cartoon versions of the Hobbit (horrid and hideous as they may be) and through the years, we have kept hoping someone with TALENT and VISION would come along and do a movie worthy of the material. And here they are: Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.
My wife grew up in Galway, Ireland; I was born in Cardiff, Wales but spent my entire life from the time I was about 3 months old until I was nearly 15 in old, beautiful Caernarfon, Wales. I have traveled throughout the UK and have had opportunity to travel through New Zealand to see where Lord of the Rings was filmed. Magnificent!!!!!! It looks so very much like the settings of the "Middle Earth/United Kingdom" one visualizes in the books.
My oldest children--my eldest son was 21 on Samhain, my eldest Daughter 16 on August 6, the next two (twins) old enough to have seen the movies would have been ten when it hit the screen. They LOVED them!!!
Estimating, I bet this family has seen all three extended versions 150 times, and that is a conservative estimate.
The movies made such an impact that we started naming our Show Horses for places/things in the movie. My wife has a lovely 3 year old Hanoverian Jumper named Rohirrim's Anduril; I have an Oldenburg jumper named Rivendell; I have another lovely Oldenburg named Aniron. The grey Andalusian is named Lothlorien. I have a black Friesien named Athelas. So many of our prize show horses were inspired by our imbedding ourself in Jackson's presentation of the movie.
New Line Cinema is committing a great travesty by allowing this Shaye to divorce the studio from one of the gratest creative talents to work with New Line in quite some time. However, I am certain it will be fine for Peter Jackson---in fact, my wife and I hope it will be even more lucrative for Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh away from New Line.
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1-15-2007 @ 9:56AM
Regina Delgado said...
I love LOTRS, I've seen the movies at least 30 times each! I'm an avid fan, owning the theater and extended versions of the movies and the Tolkien books
and other collectibles. I truely don't feel that I would have become such a fan if someone else would have directed it due to the passion, talent and imagination Peter Jackson provided (as well the great contribution of all the others involved). I'm not so sure if I would even want to see "The Hobbit" if Mr.Jackson was not involved?
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1-15-2007 @ 10:55AM
Tom said...
As a child i relished the books and do still have leather bound copies of all middle earth books in my library.I have been a fan for 40 years and have read the books many times,as a child who loved cartoons I loved the animated versions as i grew older and saw new developments in film with star wars and star trek and cgi s i prayed someone would do a live version that would do justice to these great works and someone did PETER JACKSON... when the final chapter of the trilogy came out and it was deemed complete i said wait a minute there s more to the story it s not finished yet and what about THE HOBBIT ... and then news came PETER JACKSON S back in action with THE HOBBIT and now this latest news. NEW LINE do not make THE HOBBIT without PETER JACKSON you will be finished as a studio the fans will see to it. i think it s time to send SHAYE to the unemployment line
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1-15-2007 @ 12:27PM
Bob Dailey said...
Tolkien has been my favorite writer for as long as I can remember. His attempt to create a mythology for the English-speaking world, his intense and deep imagination, and the minute integrity of his Trilogy will be timeless. I have read the Trilogy tens of times, and have seen the movie trilogy at least 10 times. I went to the movie a skeptic, because I did not believe that it could capture me. Despite some minor faults, it did caputre me, to my delight and joy.
Jackson has done an admirable job and has created a cinematic masterpiece.
There are two issues here.
One is the lawsuit. That can (and should be) settled in court, not in the media.
The second is whether Jackson should direct The Hobbit.
To put it in perspective, let's say Michaelangelo was commissioned to paint the Sistine Cahpel ceiling (which, he was). He completed the ceiling, but not the apses. He is paid for his work, but he thinks there may be some discrepancies. He asks a church tribunal to sort it out.
The cardinal in charge of the Sistine Chapel says, "We already paid him a thousand lira. Why should we pay him more?"
So they get someone else to finish the Sistine Chapel. I suspect many people would ask "What's wrong with this picture?"
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2-09-2007 @ 2:58AM
Liz said...
Plain & simple...If Peter Jackson doesn't do it, I will not be there or buy all versions of the movie, or anything else remotely related to it, then New Line won't have to worry about opening their books. Shame on you Bob.....
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2-26-2007 @ 5:44AM
GregH said...
From reading the listed bloggs, I can proudly say that I am 1000% behind, my fellow countryman-Peter Jackson on his no-nonsense'kiwi' attitude and approach by sticking to his principles,in the face of a corporate bully- such as Mr Shaye(i.e. if he is entiled to what he is due, please pay!). Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are but of a few talents visionaries from New Zealand that obviously have so much to offer the world. I would go so far as to ask ALL fair minded actors, directors, producers-all whom are involved with the film and television industry,around the world to 'BOYCOTT' any attempt by NEW LINE CINEMA to produce the HOBBIT, without PETER JACKSON directing.
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