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Posted on 05/19/2004 8:47:28 AM PDT by maquiladora
A replica pre-World War II plane being built for Peter Jackson's King Kong movie will be housed at a new $3 million aviation museum in Blenheim when filming finishes in March next year.
Long-time plans to build the Aviation Centre and Business Park at Omaka Aerodrome took flight yesterday, getting a $2 million grant from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
To mark the occasion, the centre's creators flew into Wellington in a restored 1938 Lockheed 12 aircraft to meet Jackson and Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton.
Jackson, who does not have a pilot's licence but has his own World War I aircraft at Omaka, became involved in the project before filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy started in 1999.
"I'd love to learn to fly but I've never had the chance to concentrate on it . . . and flying is something that if I was going to do it, I would want to concentrate on it," he said.
Instead, he settled for wheeling out his vintage aircraft every two years for air shows.
A World War I aviation buff, Jackson said he would bring in his special effects team and art department – including Oscar-winning Richard Taylor – to help design "in their spare time" an authentic hangar, complete with oil-drenched dirt floors, aviation artefacts, mess room and waxwork dummies in period uniforms.
"It's not just a museum . . . it's a living environment. You'll be able to open up the hangar doors and wheel the planes out and fly them," he said.
"I've been collecting World War I memorabilia since I was eight. I can now get them out of the box they're stored in."
The replica 1930s Curtiss Helldiver being built for King Kong would be used as part of a static display at the museum. "We need to build it and use it in the movie first, but then it will have a home at Omaka."
Built in 1921, Omaka aerodrome is rich in history. Aviators Charles Kingsford Smith, Ernle Clark, Jean Batten and Arthur Clouston either started or finished pioneering flights there.
Marlborough Aviation Heritage Centre Trust chairman David Dew said the centre would be built in time for Omaka's Classic Fighters Airshow in April 2005.
Yeah - the long wait now till the last hurrah for LoTR news.
I wish PJ was amkin' somethin' else! - I am loyal to the man, but did he have to use that loyalty for ~King Kong~?
ecurbh - ping?
er.... makin'..
Surely by now the man can afford flyin' lessons.
And someone to concentrate ~for~ him? ;~D
You volunteerin'?
Most certainly!
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The Hobbit Hole :: Troop Support Projects
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Cool.
Aircraft restoration.
Didn't click the article link yet, but are there any pics of it anywhere?
Just answered my own question.
ONE itty bitty pic on the article's origin website.
My nightmare continues.
Heh.... I am not familiar enough to be haunted by that.... Who's Jack Black?
Oh dear... he is familiar... can't remember in what, but it was a real dumb movie.
No - I just remembered what it was... it was the Council of Elrond skit from Saturday Night Live...
I've already posted some Jack Black mugging expressions to another King Kong thread. Might as well cast Paris Hilton in the Fay Wray role.
When he brings his interest and passion to a film, it seems to work out just fine. There were, I recall, a LOT of fans who were quite worried when he was announced as the director for LOTR, and look how that turned out. Just go back to the discussion threads at AintItCool news from back then and look at the venom directed at him. I'd say he has earned some confidence, here.
On another note, CHUD.com has a little blurb HERE about a possible startup of filming for "Kong".
In any case, further LOTR-related movies willl have to wait for the lawyers to sort out all the rights, which could take years. PJ can't be expected to just sit on his hands all that time, can he?
BTW, Hair, any more news about the ROTK Extended Edition DVD? I can't seem to find any anywhere.
I was upset that they didn't have more photos of the lane, and PJ with the plane.
Just that one itty bitty one.
:(
Neat plane though.
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