According to the New Zealand newspaper The Press, extras working on Peter Jackson's upcoming film trilogy The Lord of the Rings are being paid substandard wages. The cast of extras is comprised mostly of Kiwi people, and Hollywood-based film consultant Anna Wilding told the newspaper that they are being treated as "slave labor."

The extras hired to ride horses in the movie were receiving daily rates of $200 and meals in New Zealand. But if the film were to be made in the U.S., they would be paid at least $500 plus allowances, the newspaper reported. Also, when under U.S. conditions, the horse-riding extras would be classed instead as stunt people and paid up to $1,500 a day.

But the extras don't seem to really care. Hell, according to the film company publicist Claire Raskind, the riders were only too happy to be on the set. They were provided with three meals a day, showers, toilets and movies at night. And for a Kiwi, that's pretty friggin cool. Raskind also said the production's horse coordinator, Steve Old, believed people would pay to have the same experience and conditions. So is it really exploitation? I'll leave that question open for thought.

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