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Cast & Crew
Peter Jackson

Rings Names HODs

The Lord of the Rings producer Tim Sander has named a stellar cast of department heads who will be on set when production starts shooting in Wellington next month.

A third producer joins Sanders and producer/director Peter Jackson. He's Barrie Osborne, who produced Matrix, Face Off, and Dick Tracy, and worked on Apocalypse Now and Dick Tracy on a production capacity. "We wanted another pair of hands to share the workload of three big back-to-back films, commented Sanders.

Costume designer is Ngila Dickson, who worked on Heavenly Creatures and was till recently costume designer on Hercules and Xena.

Post-production producer is Jamie Selkirk, who will supervise editing with Jackson.  Selkirk has cut all of Jackson's film - The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures, Braindead, Forgotten Silver, Bad Taste & Meet the Feebles.

The production department is headed by Nik Korda (Lost in Space, Cleopatra, The Quest), who'll be working with Bridget Bourke (The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures, Bread & Roses) and Elena Azuola (a US financial controller who worked on Stargate, Cutthroat Island, Lost in Space).

Associate producer is Rick Porras (Contact, Forest Gump).

Casting department: Liz Mullane is currently "in the thick of Kiwi casting", and Sanders says US, UK & Australian casting directors "are nearing completion of their work".

Special effects: working alongside Richard Taylor and Charlie McClellan at Weta is Mark Shetson (joins as FX supervisor).  He's worked on The Fifth Element, Bladerunner, and Ghostbusters.

Steven Ingram (Willow, Never Say Die, Frighteners, Braindead) is the physical effects supervisor, working with Grant Major and Dan Hennah in the art department.

Camera: DP is Andrew Lesnie, an Aussie who shot Babe and Babe: Pig in City, Two If By Sea, and Temptation of a Monk.

Specialised sword work  is to be handled by Bob Anderson (Mask if Zoro, First Knight, 3 Musketeers, Highlander, Princess Bride) working alongside stunt coordinator Bruce Brown.

Assistant directors: Carolynne Cunningham (Moby Dick, Shine, Escape from Absalom, Heavenly Creatures) has been working as main unit 1st AD for some time as well as working with 2nd unit 1st AD Dave  Norris (Via Satellite, Greenstone, Last Tattoo).