Peter Jackson is to receive the same accolade as that given to other great film directors such as Sir David Lean and Sir Alfred Hitchcock, with a knighthood. (Another report here.) Regular readers of this blog will know that amongst his future projects are a remake of The Dam Busters, the 1955 classic war film, which may start filming in late 2010 with a possible release in 2011. I’ve covered this story at length, and look forward to bringing you further news in the year to come.
In the meantime, a Happy New Year to all blog readers!

Here’s a great seasonal present for all Dambuster film fans. Speaking on Campbell Live, a New Zealand TV show, on Monday 14 December Peter Jackson confirmed that the remake is going ahead, and that shooting is likely to start sometime next year. He is a busy man, and the bulk of the TV interview was about his newest release, The Lovely Bones, which has just concluded a series of premieres around the globe. Also on his studio’s horizon is The Hobbit, with Ian MacKellen lined up to play a role. But towards the end of the interview he said “if all goes well we’ll be shooting Dambusters in 2010″, and confirmed that ten full size Lancaster models are currently in a warehouse in Wellington.
As the moderator of NZ’s foremost aviation forum, Dave Homewood, has pointed out this interview should dispel any doubts that the project has been put on permanent hold: “Maybe you guys aren’t getting the full gen up-over” are his exact words. Thanks, Dave!

This could be bad news, folks. In a throwaway remark in an interview with the well-respected Hollywood Reporter, Peter Jackson and his Wingnut Films colleagues apparently let it be known that the Dambusters remake is now on the back burner, ‘fearing it might be “too English.” The (British) Independent’s LA correspondent, Guy Adams, has picked up on this serious news today and elicited a further comment from a Jackson spokesman:

Peter Jackson’s spokesman just returned my call. The film remains “in development,” but does not have a date to begin shooting. Mr Jackson denies saying that the Dambusters story was “too English” in his Hollywood Reporter interview. Instead he claims to have described it as “very English.”

Too English? Very English? Nearly a third of the aircrew who took part in the Dams raid were not British citizens, and Jackson himself is supposed to be consulting the last of the pilots left alive, his fellow Kiwi Les Munro.

This could be serious – or it could just be a way of pushing things back in the schedule a year or two.

(Hat tip George!)

More news from the Great One on the remake of the Dambusters film. At a recent briefing for the press, Peter Jackson told the assembled hacks that the movie was likely to be shot in 3D, and also showed some clips. However, he’s still working on the script, so shooting may still be a way off…

He also showed us short bits from the remake of The Dam Busters he’s working on. The original film came out in 1955, and takes place in a WWII setting. It’s based on the true story of the RAF’s 617th Squadron that would bomb Germany’s dams in an effort to hinder the Reich’s war machine. Jackson is just waiting to finish another draft of the script before that moves forward. He’s thinking about shooting it in 3-D, which is why he’s been playing with the technology.

The phrase “617th Squadron” is a bit of a giveaway that this appeared on a US-based website!

At last, Peter Jackson has spoken publicly about the delay in starting work on the long awaited Dambusters remake, and revealed that he himself is the cause of the delay. In an interview he told journalists about his various on-going projects:

He said Dambusters, announced in 2006, would be made but was “waiting for me”.
“I need to polish a draft of the script, and I’ve been too busy. Fortunately, there’s no ticking clock, but that has meant that it’s been held up. I’ll get my draft done soon, and will get it, ahem, off the ground.”

He is a busy man – in the same interview he mentions that he’s still finishing The Lovely Bones, beefing up some chase sequences in Tintin no. 1, setting up Tintin no. 2 and co-writing The Hobbit. As a commenter on the NZ Dominion Post article says, he deserves to be knighted for his contribution to New Zealand film industry. Arise Sir Peter!

Here’s your chance to put on your best Kenneth Williams/Hattie Jacques voice. Altogether now “Oooh, Matron! It’s …”
Other pictures on various broadcast media sites haven’t given us a true idea of the sheer size of the replica bombers which Weta Workshops have built for Peter Jackson’s Dambusters remake. Here is a cutting from an unnamed New Zealand newspaper. (Click on picture to see larger version.)
Hat tip The One Ring.

It would seem that the arrival of a replica Lancaster in New Zealand earlier this week is all part of Peter Jackson’s clever publicity strategy – keep everyone guessing, and then let information dribble out bit by bit. The superstar producer himself turned up at Hood aerodrome in Masterton, New Zealand, to see testing of some of the technology that his company is going to use in the remake of the Dambusters. There have been two separate reports in Wellington’s Dominion Post newspaper, here and here.
Jackson’s spokesperson confirmed that the casting and actual production is still some way off :

Matthew Dravitzki, a spokesman for Jackson, confirmed the movie was still in development stages, with work focusing on building the Lancasters and writing scripts.
Just when shooting will start is still under wraps and the movie is yet to be cast.
‘Right now we are having fun working on a number of different projects and have the luxury to make things at our own speed. We are yet to choose the location for the film’s shooting, and that is going to come down to wherever is most suitable for our needs.’
Yesterday’s mockup was also a chance to test new camera technology. ‘We are not shooting any scenes that are project-specific; this is about just keeping up with technology and trying new things.’

This relaxed atttitude would indicate that my prediction last year, that the film won’t hit our screens till 2011, is almost certain to come true.

Hard news from Down Under, with what looks like a pretty good replica Lancaster hidden away on a small airfield in New Zealand. Just in time for the 66th anniversary of the raid next week! (Thanks bro!)