Sir Peter at ‘end of tether’
Sir Peter Jackson’s ill-fated Wellington movie museum was on shaky ground from the outset.
A joint movie museum and convention centre plan was launched by Wellington City Council with much fanfare in December 2015.
But it wasn’t long before Jackson raised ‘‘concerns’’ about plan changes, the designers and the convention centre taking precedence, all of which had driven his team ‘‘to the end of their tether’’.
The $180 million project was pulled in August 2018 when his company, The Movie Museum Ltd (TMML), and the council jointly announced a ‘‘mutually agreed parting of the ways’’ for the venture.
Last week, Stuff reported that newly released documents portrayed how desperate the council was to get an ultimately doomed movie museum project with Jackson’s backing off the ground.
But the latest tranche of paperwork, released to Stuff this week, reveal that Jackson raised concerns early in the project.
He wrote to council chief executive Kevin Lavery in December 2016 and questioned if the joint project would work.
‘‘Please understand we completely respect the council’s wish to have a convention centre and a museum in the same building and, in theory, this should be achievable.
‘‘But this recent round of revisions confirms our long-held fear that museums and convention centres are awkward bedfellows, at best.
‘‘In fact, it has left us wondering if a plan to shoehorn the two together can ever be truly workable?’’
Jackson said it was difficult for him to commit to a museum design that appeared to take second place to the needs of the council’s convention centre.
In the letter, Jackson expressed his unhappiness at Pacific Architecture’s design, suggesting the council review other design submissions that could better
accommodate the museum’s needs before awarding it the contract.
‘‘When we first entered into this discussion with the council, the plan presented to us was relatively simple . . . We have worked in good faith to this brief.
‘‘Since then, there has been a constant erosion of the museum space, to provide for the everexpanding needs of the convention centre and other parties, including retail stores unrelated to us.’’
Jackson said he appreciated the enormous contribution of Wellington ratepayers.
‘‘Frankly, the whole exercise is pointless if the end result is a profound disappointment,’’ he said.
Jackson also pointed out how TMML ‘‘put a massive amount of time and energy’’ into making the partnership work, including attempting to incorporate all the council mandated changes ‘‘in the spirit of achieving consensus’’.
‘‘But Pacific Architecture’s ongoing determination to chip away away at much-needed floor space compromising the look and flow of major displays, has driven us to the end of our tether.’’
He had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultancy and management fees, and made a commitment to spend a further $45m on the internal fitout of the building.
The documents also revealed Jackson had provided a vast number of props and sets – valued at more than $100m.
Yesterday, a spokesman for TMML said the joint statement it issued in August still stood. Despite the best efforts of all parties, the economics of the Cable St site proved to be challenging for the movie museum.