LAING, JOHN (1948– ). John Laing began work with the New Zealand Film Unit, with which he has made many films, and his career with them has been solid, without being extraordinary. His first film, Beyond Reasonable Doubt (1980), was based on the true story of a miscarriage of justice involving two young people who went missing and whose bodies were found three months later in the Waikato River. Local farmer Arthur Thomas was tried and later pardoned for the crime, his conviction resting on a contrived case constructed by dissembling police. The film won the 1982 Grand Prix award at the Cognac Festival de Film Policier. In 1983, he won the International Critics’ Jury prize for The Lost Tribe (1983) at the Catalonian International Film Festival. Laing also wrote and produced this thriller, which has been widely criticized for its lack of character motivation and poor narration, traits that are often forgiven in European filmmaking—it won two other prizes at film festivals in France—but not in those in the *Hollywood classical style. However, the cinematography is excellent. Dangerous Orphans (1985) followed, a Boy’s Own-style film about the drugs, thieves, and gangsters, and the private detective. Laing’s next film, Absent without Leave (1992), is also based on the true story of Ed, a young soldier in 1942 who goes AWOL when he finds out his 16-year-old girlfriend, Daisy, is pregnant. He eventually finds himself sentenced to 60 days in prison. The subtext is the development of love and trust; the path from naiveté to wisdom. This film was nominated for the Golden St. George Award at the 1993 Moscow International Film Festival. Laing then worked on television productions until 2001, when he directed No One Can Hear You (2001), a slasher film made in the United States about the lives of an apparently sedate suburban family, when the crazed house guest arrives.
LAWRENCE, BRUNO (1941–1995). A man of many talents as actor, writer, composer, crew member, producer, British-born Bruno Lawrence’s first acting appearance was in a United Kingdom television series. In New Zealand in 1980, he starred as Pat in John Laing’s Beyond Reasonable Doubt, a drama and thriller based on a true story about a miscarriage of justice involving murder, trials, sentencing, and a subsequent pardon. Bruno Lawrence was a very complex actor who was capable of strange, tense, and intriguing performances. He is credited as actor in 24 feature films, including the important Roger Donaldson film Smash Palace (1981), Mark Joffe’s thriller Grievous Bodily Harm (1988), and Spotswood (1992). In addition, he played a part in writing four feature films, including Smash Palace and the significant science fiction film, The Quiet Earth (1985), sharing writing credits here with Bill Baer and Sam Pillsbury. He was very popular with audiences in both Australia and New Zealand, yet he did not venture outside that market.
Lawrence won the 1987 New Zealand Film and Television Award for best male lead performance for his role in The Quiet Earth, as well as best screenplay. He also won the 1995 Rudall Hayward Award for a special contribution to the New Zealand film industry. At the Italian Fantafestival he won the 1986 best actor award for The Quiet Earth, and the 1988 best actor award for As Time Goes By. Also in 1988, Lawrence was nominated for the *Australian Film Institute award for best supporting actor for Grievous Bodily Harm.
Lawrence died in 1995 within months of being diagnosed with lung cancer.
LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY (2001–2003). Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy comprises the three films Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). In the history of cinema, this trilogy will be known as one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted, as well as through the success it achieved and the acclaim it received. The trilogy exemplifies the high standard New Zealand filmmaking can achieve, in cooperation with other expertise. J.R.R. Tolkien’s narrative of the rings of Middle Earth had long been waiting for retelling on the silver screen, but many problems prevented this. The story-line is complex and has many parallel interwoven plots, making it difficult for any scriptwriter to ensure that an audience will be able to follow the multiple plot lines, yet still bring some kind of coherence to a project that would overwhelm a normal film timeline through its complexity. Few of the settings are in similar environments, meaning that a filmmaker has to find a vast range of landscapes to cover the various environments in the epic story. Specialized animation techniques to film everything from individual beings from hell to vast armies, with other special effects to bring to life the multitude of environments, were necessary. In order to provide continuity, the whole project had to be shot before the first film was edited, meaning that funds had to be provided for the shooting of three films before any returns could be expected, if such returns were possible in any case. Jackson’s triumph is that he successfully went where no man had previously considered venturing, to bring to the screen a story that deviated only slightly from Tolkien’s original, unlike earlier attempts (an animated version of 132 minutes, covering the first two books, was made in 1978). In so doing, he expressed initiative, innovation, courage, and belief in his ability and that of the team of artists and craftsmen who worked with him. New Line studio deserves mention since the studio had faith in Jackson for funding three films without any prospect of a return during filming.
Of course, weaknesses in the films are apparent, and are evident simply because the films are so close to the novels that any deviation from Tolkien’s narrative is prominent. For example, the character of Gimli is turned into something of a comic figure, when he was, in fact (or fiction), a noble and courageous warrior and leader of a nation.
All three films have been enormously successful at the box office. For example, the last in the trilogy, The Return of the King, had a budget of US$94 million. In the first six weeks of its release, it made US$337,817,998 in the United States and UK£54,366,487 in the United Kingdom.
The trilogy’s significance for the New Zealand industry is that the films were made by a New Zealand director, in New Zealand, using New Zealand production facilities (such as special effects factories), and with a cast and other crew that included New Zealanders. Yet the film was an international film by any criteria. It is clear that the wheel has turned. Initially, New Zealand filmmakers made films about New Zealand for New Zealand audiences, some of which were screened overseas to good responses. Then some of those filmmakers and cast went to international sites, most notably *Hollywood, to make films generally regarded as international, that were successful on the international market, but whose narratives and production were not related to New Zealand. Peter Jackson has shown that the site for international filmmaking has changed, and now successful, international films can be made in New Zealand with a cast and crew that are international in composition. For the New Zealand film industry, Lord of the Rings clearly marks not only its coming-of-age, but its superiority in some respects to more established filmmaking sites, such as Hollywood. To some extent, proof of this claim is found in the 11 Academy Awards won by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004, and the four prizes voted by the British Academy for Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). The Oscars included best motion picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best make-up, best sound mixing, best art direction, best costume design, best visual effects, best original score, best film editing, and best original song.