According to Radio New Zealand:

The head of Immigration New Zealand, Nigel Bickle, has confirmed that approval has been given to Three Foot Seven Ltd to recruit 40 overseas actors for the movies.

Mr Bickle says the department followed its usual practice of asking both Actors’ Equity and Work and Income to comment on the request to allow the actors into the country.

He says the union opposed the request but Work and Income supported it.

The matter then went to the Associate Immigration Minister, Kate Wilkinson, who approved it.

While the department followed its usual practice, Radio New Zealand‘s political editor says, apparently the union did not get access to the information it normally gets.

It couldn’t be sure local actors were being given an equal opportunity to audition for all 75 speaking parts, and that apparently is why it opposed the request.

What this means is not entirely clear. Some British actors, including Martin Freeman as Bilbo, have already been cast. New Zealand actors have already been announced as some of the Dwarves. Presumably no auditions will be held for the roles of Gandalf and Gollum–unless something very unlikely happens to the expected casting of those! Numerous overseas actors were cast in LOTR. My guess is that this procedure is fairly routine.

Variety announced today that MGM has now exited bankruptcy. No new information was released. Given that the bankruptcy package was pre-planned and went through the court procedures smoothly, all the previously announced conditions have been met. The studio can now take its place as co-producer of The Hobbit, as well as handling the non-North American distribution.

Variety reports that today MGM laid off 45 people today in preparation for its emergence from the pre-planned bankruptcy.

Layoffs, which had been anticipated, began Friday at MGM headquarters in Los Angeles and were mostly in distribution and marketing.

MGM disclosed in recent bankruptcy filings that it had planned to cut the staff to about 320 from more than 400 but a spokeswoman indicated Friday that the number of cuts will be significantly smaller.

MGM, which has released only one film this year, received approval on Dec. 2 from a bankruptcy court judge of its “pre-packaged” plan of reorganization. Studio plans to emerge from Chapter 11 as early as next week with $500 million in cash available, once it secures a JP-Morgan Chase loan.

With Spyglass Entertainment toppers Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber in charge, MGM’s expected to seek a separate loan of $265 million-$275 million for its share of the back-to-back “Hobbit” movies.

Earlier reports had suggested that the Hobbit financing would come out of the $500 million court-approved loan. Now it appears that the MGM will go back to operating in a bigger way by taking out another loan specifically for it. The budget of the two-part film has been announced by the producing studios as around $500 million. The loan seems to confirm that MGM is paying 50% of the production costs.

Stuff.co.nz reveals that a major Indian production will probably be shooting in Wellington next month:

Wellington City Council is considering applications to close parts of the city centre for two weeks from mid-January for filming of an Indian remake of the Michael Caine classic The Italian Job.

A shooting schedule for the film, titled Players, has been obtained by The Dominion Post. It reveals many parts of Wellington would feature in the movie. […]

Wellington will be “playing itself” in the film, allowing the city to be showcased to a vast Indian audience. Two of Bollywood’s biggest actors, Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor, will star in the movie, which is expected to create massive interest in tourism to Wellington.

Wellington film manager Delia Shanly said local extras and crew might be used in the film, but the financial payoff for Wellington would come once Players was released in India.

“The silver screen is where people often see their dream locations. They [film producers] want Wellington to look great and gorgeous. We look forward to people seeing that and going, ‘Oh my God, I have to go there’.”

The plan seems likely to be carried out, since the story says that retailers in the areas where streets are to be shut down are being notified.

Although the highest-profile films shooting in Wellington and using the post-production facilities at Weta, Ltd. and Park Road Post have mainly been from Hollywood, the local film industry has worked hard to attract film projects from China, South Korea, and India.Work on Asian films could help create a stable industry, with steady work for employees of the production companies in Wellington and the rest of the country.

Tvnz.co.nz reports that:

Wellingtons film industry is getting a further boost of government funding, with special effects workshop Weta Digital one of six fast-growing, high-tech companies awarded $7.2 million each under the new Technology Development Grant Programme. […]

Weta is only one of six firms chosen to receive the full extent of support available under the TDG scheme, which will see $92 million invested over the next three years in what Mapp says is “the largest business investment the government has ever made in helping business innovate.”

The Lord of the Rings was responsible for New Zealand’s image changing from one of a country full of sheep farms to one on the cutting edge of design and technology. The continuing success of the Wellington-based film industry, notably in the creation of Avatar, has reinforced that image, and The Hobbit can only enhance it. Congratulations to Weta!

Variety reports today that Cate Blanchett and several other actors are now definitely cast in The Hobbit:

Cate Blanchett, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy and Mikael Persbrandt have joined the cast of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” films.

New Line and MGM also announced Tuesday that Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy and William Kircher have also been cast. The co-financers said that Jackson remains on track to begin shooting the back-to-back pics in February.

Blanchett will reprise her role from “Lord of The Rings” trilogy as Galadriel. “Cate is one of my favorite actors to work with and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her reprise the role she so beautifully brought to life in the earlier films,” Jackson said.

Stott will portray the Dwarf Lord Balin; McCoy is slotted to portray the wizard Radagast the Brown; and Swedish actor Persbrandt play the shape-shifter Beorn.

British actor Gage will play Drogo Baggins. New Zealand actors Jed Brophy (who was also in the “Lord of The Rings” trilogy) will portray the dwarf Nori and William Kircher (“Out of the Blue”) is signed to portray the dwarf Bifur.

After the frenzy of activity during the threatened actors’ boycott of The Hobbit, we’re in a slow period for news. Yesterday the MGM bankruptcy plan was approved, so even that saga has ceased to generate headlines. I posted 110 times between September 25, when the announcement of the boycott came to the last days of October, when some of the terms of the New Zealand government’s deal with Warner Bros. became public. (I am not going to link every one of them here! For a summary, see this entry.) I think I can safely say that I had the most thorough coverage of that tense series of events of any single site on the internet.

Now we’re in the stage where casting and pre-production are going on. I will not have the most thorough coverage of the casting. I try to avoid casting rumors, though I will post when actors are definitely signed to the major roles. But a lot of people like to speculate and follow every rumor about casting. It’s fun. For them I recommend TheOneRing.net’s new page, “The Hobbit,” which keeps up on all the latest regarding casting and other topics. They’re got the insider sources and “spies” to keep track of the whole casting process. Check it out.

Variety reports that today Judge Stuart M. Bernstein approved MGM’s bankruptcy plan. The studio should emerge from bankruptcy by mid-December:

“Today’s ruling is an important milestone for MGM,” said Co-Chief Executive Officer Stephen Cooper. “Thanks to the support of our lenders and the hard work of our employees, we have moved through the restructuring process quickly. By dramatically reducing MGM’s debt load and providing MGM with access to new capital, the reorganization plan the Court confirmed today will enable MGM to emerge from this process with a solid financial foundation and will position MGM to be a successful studio going forward.”

MGM noted Thursday that its secured lenders will exchange approximately $5 billion, including accrued interest and fees, for most of the equity in MGM and that Spyglass Entertainment toppers Gary Barber and Roger will serve as Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officers of MGM Inc.

Bernstein had given MGM approval on Nov. 12 to retain JPMorgan Chase to arrange $500 million in exit financing to fund operations, including production of a new slate of films and TV series. It said Thursday that it expects to have that financing funded by mid-December.

That financing includes MGM’s half of its co-production commitment on The Hobbit, which is already well into pre-production and on schedule to start principal photography in February.

Last week I reported that there were two final requirements that had to be fulfilled before the judge could decide on MGM’s bankruptcy filing. One was a period, ending this past Friday, for objections to the bankruptcy plan to be filed. None were. The second and last was a meeting yesterday where creditors could ask any remaining questions they had for MGM reps. No creditors showed up. According to Variety, “MGM’s hearing has been set for Thursday in Manhattan before Judge Stuart Bernstein and will cover the adequacy of its disclosure statement and solicitation procedures and confirmation of the plan.” There seems to be little chance that he will not accept that plan.

As regular readers already know, that means that Spyglass Entertainment will take over the running of the studio. The $4 billion+ in debt will be turned into equity, and current creditors will assume ownership of MGM.

On the assumption that the plan will be approved, there are already moves to constitute a new board of directors for MGM. Variety reports:

A source familiar with the situation said Tuesday that Ann Mather, former chief financial officer of Pixar Animation Studios, is likely to join the new MGM board of directors. MGM disclosed a week ago in a court filing that its board would include three members who were part of the creditors committee — Patrick H. Daugherty of Highland Capital Management, Christopher Pucillo of Solus Alternative Asset Management and Kevin Ulrich of Anchorage Capital Group.

MGM has also tapped MySpace co-president Jason O. Hirschhorn and former CBS chief financial officer Frederic G. Reynolds as directors along with Barber and Birnbaum.

The judge already approved MGM’s plan to take out $500 million in loans to resume operating as normal. That includes its share of the co-production costs of The Hobbit.