Hobbit director might not shoot in New Zealand

Production for the movie has already been stalled for years

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It was the backdrop for fictional battles between orcs and elves in The Lord of the Rings movies, but now New Zealand echoes to the war cries of very real foes - film producers and actors' unions.

What began as a local skirmish over performers' conditions on the set of Peter Jackson's latest film The Hobbit threatens to "go nuclear" - in the director's words - forcing the production out of New Zealand.