Xenite.Org News

Actress / Producer Anna Wilding disputes LoTR film news stories

November 17, 2002 at 05:40:15

Following up on a story Xenite.Org picked up from New Zealand media in October 2000, actress/producer Anna Wilding has issued the following statement:

On October 10, 2000, Xenite.Org reported that actress Anna Wilding had spoken with New Zealand media concerning the treatment of extras and animals on the set of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" movies.

We posted two followup articles, one on October 10, 2000 concerning interviews with extras on the set of the films and one on October 12, 2000 in which Stuff (identified by Xenite.Org as The Press) reported further claims and counter-claims.

A representative of Anna Wilding has contacted Xenite.Org and issued the following statement on her behalf.

It is understood Anna Wilding may not have made those comments in October 2000 about extra being exploited,that sped around the globe. However, Anna definately did successfully contribute to resolving some of the issues on the film regarding animal welfare. For the tip of the story and further information go to http://www.annawilding.com/. The first film, based on official investigation, was judged to be "Questionable" in the welfare and treatment of animals on the film by the American agency.)

In summarizing the content of articles found on the Stuff Web site, Xenite.Org in no way intended to misrepresent the facts or issues concerned, and we regret any misunderstandings (if any) which may have resulted from our reporting. Our objective was to keep our readers informed of a developing controversy surrounding the production of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

The original articles have been removed from the Stuff Web site, but we have updated our links to point to archived copies at the Web Archive.

NOTE: Xenite.Org reported in its first article that a browser plug-in used on the Anna Wilding Web site crashed browsers. We have not experienced any further difficulty with the site.