Latest news with #EastofEden
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Notorious stretch of California highway dubbed ‘Blood Alley' where James Dean died is to close for safety work
A stretch of California highway where actor James Dean died will temporarily shut down. The road, known as 'Blood Alley,' spans 20 miles of Highway 41 and connects the state to the Central Valley, Paso Robles and Kettlemen City. The high volume of traffic and the narrow lanes have been blamed for a high number of accidents. Authorities will be carrying out construction on the highway for five days from June 9 to 13. The work will extend from the interchange of highways 41 and 46 near Cholame, about 20 miles east to Reef Station near the junction of state Route 33, according to SFGate. The Independent has emailed Caltrans, the state's transportation authority, for more information. Jim Shivers, a Caltrans spokesperson, told the San Francisco Chronicle the new works were the latest effort to make the stretch of road safer. He said: 'There will be some lengthy detours, which we have acknowledged. The flip side of that is we'll have a brand new interchange opening up soon. It's a major upgrade, it's a major safety enhancement.' In 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle reported 54 people had died on the stretch of highway, with James Dean being one of them. An additional 690 people were injured in the same spot. On September 30, 1955, the 24-year-old actor – who had recently achieved superstar status with his movies Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden and Giant – got into his Porsche 550 Spyder and started driving up the coast toward Salinas. Around 5.45p.m., he passed through the intersection in Cholame, about 227 miles from San Francisco. Ford Tudor, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, turned onto the road and struck Dean's car. The actor's vehicle crumpled on impact and Dean died from severe injuries, including a broken neck. He became the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award acting nomination, and later received a second. The site of the crash has become a tourist attraction, featuring a sculpture of the actor. Caltrans has spent two decades working to improve safety conditions on the road. The State Route 46 Corridor Improvement Project expanded the number of lanes and added a new interchange. Officials believe the established detour will be operable through the improvement efforts. Drivers heading west from the Central Valley are being advised to take Highway 41 to state Route 33 south to Highway 46 west before rejoining Highway 41. Officials say they are optimistic the work will be completed ahead of July 4.
Otago Daily Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Film body praises rebate funding
Film Otago Southland chairman Kyle Murdoch says a half-billion-dollar funding boost to New Zealand's film and television sector will ensure the country remains competitive on the world stage. Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis yesterday announced the $577 million funding boost to sustain the international screen production rebate. The Budget increase over the next four and a-half years would take the total funding for the rebate scheme to $1.09 billion, ''better reflecting expected demand for the scheme''. First introduced in 2014, under the scheme eligible productions could access a cash rebate of 20% for production costs, where those costs were more than $15m for feature films and $4m for TV productions. A further 5% rebate was available to productions spending more than $30m, which met additional criteria for industry and economic growth. Ms Willis said yesterday those settings remained unchanged. ''The rebate scheme is working and we want New Zealand's film industry to know the government is backing them to grow into the future. ''We are sending a clear message to the world: New Zealand is the best place in the world to make movies. ''Bring your productions here to take advantage of our talent and locations.'' Mr Murdoch said the announcement was '''massive''. ''It's really good news for us. ''I think it's fantastic recognition that, actually, the New Zealand screen production rebate works because without it we lose work to other parts of the world, in terms of good-quality international film and TV projects. ''That's what we really need, as an industry, to attract work from overseas to come here, because it really supplements our much smaller domestic market. ''It keeps people working, gives people this amazing work experience and keeps the industry ticking over.'' He said the rebate had a huge impact on the industry in the South and believed it was likely responsible for some recent major shoots, including East of Eden, a Netflix production starring Florence Pugh shot in Oamaru and blockbuster American movie Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt, shot in Queenstown. Without the incentive, ''it would be very likely they wouldn't be working here'', Mr Murdoch said. ''This is really helping make New Zealand more competitive on [the] world stage.'' Ms Willis said industry incentives were ''not generally our favoured approach''. However, she doubted New Zealand, which competed with more than 100 global territories providing ''more generous incentives than ours'', would get the offshore investment without the scheme. Over the past 10 years, inbound productions had invested almost $7.5b in New Zealand, supported by $1.5b in rebate payments, while the industry generated about $3.5b in revenue. ''We want New Zealand's film industry to know the government is backing them to grow into the future. ''The government will continue to work with the New Zealand Film Commission to ensure we continue to attract high-value productions from around the world,'' she said.
Otago Daily Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Trump's film tariffs would be ‘devastating' for local industry
Rob Sarkies. Photo: supplied A Dunedin-born film-maker says it would be "absolutely devastating" to the country's film industry if Donald Trump gets his way. The United States President announced in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday he was authorising the Department of Commerce and the country's trade representative to "immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands". "We want movies made in America, again!" Shares in some US streaming and production companies, including Netflix, fell following the announcement, but the White House later said "no final decisions" on foreign film tariffs had been made. Dunedin-born film-maker Rob Sarkies - director of Scarfies, Out of the Blue and the upcoming drama based on the 2010 tragedy Pike River - said yesterday he was "very concerned" by Mr Trump's comments. "If it came in as it's been proposed, not that the detail is particularly clear, but as I understand it, it would be absolutely devastating for New Zealand and specifically the New Zealand film industry. "We're talking millions and millions of dollars simply wouldn't come here and a large number of people would be out of work. "I think companies like Weta, for example, would probably be forced to relocate to survive." It would "simply be unaffordable" for such companies doing high-end work for big Hollywood productions to get hired unless they relocated aspects of their business to the United States - which he believed was exactly what Mr Trump wanted. The announcement should be taken seriously and he expected the New Zealand film industry and the government in the interim to lobby against such a policy, but believed Hollywood was likely to push back and the announcement could be back-tracked. Areas of Otago recently played host to Hollywood actors and crews filming the seven-episode Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden. While the source material is mainly set in the Salinas Valley, California, it appeared to have been "clearly more cost effective" to use the Otago landscape as a stand-in, Mr Sarkies said. Because film production in Otago was "more sporadic" than in Auckland and Wellington, such a tariff would have relatively less of an effect among regional industries. "The circus won't come to town as often and that will have an effect, but it won't be as devastating as it will be in the major centres."
Otago Daily Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Foreign film tariffs ‘absolutely devastating' for industry
Rob Sarkies. Photo: supplied A Dunedin-born film-maker says it would be ''absolutely devastating'' to the country's film industry if Donald Trump gets his way. The United States President announced in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday he was authorising the Department of Commerce and the country's trade representative to ''immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands''. ''We want movies made in America, again!'' Shares in some US streaming and production companies, including Netflix, fell following the announcement, but the White House later said ''no final decisions'' on foreign film tariffs had been made. Dunedin-born film-maker Rob Sarkies - director of Scarfies, Out of the Blue and the upcoming drama based on the 2010 tragedy Pike River - said yesterday he was ''very concerned'' by Mr Trump's comments. ''If it came in as it's been proposed, not that the detail is particularly clear, but as I understand it, it would be absolutely devastating for New Zealand and specifically the New Zealand film industry. ''We're talking millions and millions of dollars simply wouldn't come here and a large number of people would be out of work. ''I think companies like Weta, for example, would probably be forced to relocate to survive.'' It would ''simply be unaffordable'' for such companies doing high-end work for big Hollywood productions to get hired unless they relocated aspects of their business to the United States - which he believed was exactly what Mr Trump wanted. The announcement should be taken seriously and he expected the New Zealand film industry and the government in the interim to lobby against such a policy, but believed Hollywood was likely to push back and the announcement could be back-tracked. Areas of Otago recently played host to Hollywood actors and crews filming the seven-episode Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden. While the source material is mainly set in the Salinas Valley, California, it appeared to have been ''clearly more cost effective'' to use the Otago landscape as a stand-in, Mr Sarkies said. Because film production in Otago was ''more sporadic'' than in Auckland and Wellington, such a tariff would have relatively less of an effect among regional industries. ''The circus won't come to town as often and that will have an effect, but it won't be as devastating as it will be in the major centres.''
Otago Daily Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Civic trust's audit costs ‘very, very sobering'
Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust co-chairman Graeme Clark hoists the American flag for the East of Eden production shot in Oamaru in January. Photo: Brendon McMahon A key driver for the Oamaru heritage tourism sector says "disproportionate" audit costs are a significance issue. However, the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust has had "a good year", its chairman Richard Vinbroux says. The trust has been instrumental in putting the town of Oamaru and its built heritage on the international tourist map in the past 30 years. Mr Vinbroux said with the trust's annual meeting coming up on Tuesday it had much to celebrate. In particular, its key starring role centred on the precinct in January for the Netflix television adaptation of the Californian-set novel East of Eden. That production brought an unspecified financial boon and the trust was now in a "very positive" position, Mr Vinbroux said. The trust was forecasting a $500,000 turnover for the year was expected to turn about a $100,000 profit, which would go back into securing the precinct's assets. Mr Vinbroux said Netflix brought "a big contribution" to the trust and it was very timely. "It would have been over half of our profit. "It helped because we've got ever-rising compliance costs. "The big buzz kill is we're now having an audit." That cost alone for a community organisation was "very, very sobering", Mr Vinbroux said. "It's disproportionate ... we have our annual audit which costs $9500 — plus accounting costs. "We live in a world that tries to put corporate strategies on to every other aspect of life and it doesn't fit. "It doesn't fit for charities and I don't think it fits for councils." This was "on top of everything else". Mr Vinbroux said there was still a gap between its aims and what the trust was there to achieve: to maintain and enhance its assets on behalf of the community. The trust last November celebrated 35 years and owned 16 mercantile buildings dating from the 1860s to 1880s in the Harbour and Tyne street precinct. That area is now regarded as the single most significant collection of buildings of its type in Australasia. The area is now part of a bid via Heritage NZ to have the broader Oamaru historic town centre and its Victorian port recognised as a National Historic Landmark. At present the only site with that status is the Waitangi Treaty grounds.
