By Travis Johnson
An emergency meeting of the Tweed Shire Coucil has granted approval for the Warner Bros blockbuster, Aquaman, to film at Hastings Point Headland, but according to a report by the ABC, the decision was made over the protests of local residents and Greens Mayor Katie Milne.
The sticking point is the possibility of environmental damage to the area, something which apparently occurred when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales filmed there in 2015.
Warner’s location manager, Duncan Jones (not that one) averred that extensive consultation had taken place with local residents, saying, “This is a really exciting project, we do make films everywhere, this is not the only location for this production. We embrace every community that we go to. We like to think we make movies, but we give back to everywhere we go. We give back in a positive way, not just in terms of jobs and money, but we give that Hollywood wow-factor. This is the magic of Hollywood coming to the Tweed Shire.”
Unfortunately, it is difficult to put a concrete value on “that Hollywood wow-factor”, and frankly even deploying that as an argument is pretty poor form – the “magic of Hollywood” not having any discernible positive effect on the native grasses that are potentially at risk.
Tweed Deputy Mayor Chris Cheery admitted that more extensive consultation was needed on projects of this scale and potential impact: “We need to do our consultation for this sort project that is going to have a high community impact, quite a bit earlier. We need to be clearer to the film producers what we expect.”
Filming kicks off next week.
Hi, I am part of the community at Hastings Point where they are currently filming Aquaman. The community has put together two youtube videos which show what the set is like behind the scenes.
Here are the links to them https://youtu.be/NExsu-9Df_c and https://youtu.be/7HKwgOfyyeU
Wow there was absolutely no consultation with locals. A sign just went up saying the headland would be blocked off – if turned out for nearly 3 months in the middle of whale watching season – with only about 2 or 3 weeks of actual work done in that time. The environmental damage includes clearing of crown reserve land after a mystery fire – the next morning the company, with Jones in charge, could miraculously fit all their machinery into the land where they couldn’t before. They were supposed to move filming back to Queensland – it was a QLD production apparently – but cancelled all that and just kept filming everything here. Locals were treated terribly – including elderly residents being harassed. Duncan Jones even texted our community leader saying, ‘I’ve got better things to do with my time,’ (than consulting with the community) and continued ‘Thank you for your continuing support’ knowing there wasn’t any. That man is ruthless, has absolutely zero care for the environment or anything apart from getting his own way at any cost. Be warned if he comes selling his lies at your home town. He is the master of propaganda and not to be trusted. Pirates of the Caribbean, was, by contrast, a great experience with negligible environmental damage. Plus they were only here for a week and were very respectful in their consultation and treatment of locals. Johnny Depp was amazing, working 14 hour days and then spending 3 hours, on the two filming days, meeting all the local kids. It’s everything that Warner Bros and Duncan Jones were not. The damage Warner Bros and Jones have done will never be repaired. I wouldn’t trust him with anything but that’s what these companies want – someone to steamroll there way through all for some pathetic, nauseous piece of Hollywood tripe – Aquaman which hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on. It’s everything that’s wrong with the film industry.
Pretty sure Duncan Jones is not involved in Aquaman in any way: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1512910/