New Zealand’s popularity with Hollywood stars is nothing new – Peter Jackson bought and built first, and Adrien Brody would escape to his house during breaks in filming King Kong.
Now Avatar director James Cameron has bought two farms, with a view to bringing his family over and living there while he works on the next instalment of Avatar.
In value terms the Cameron purchase is about 10 percent of the Shanghai Penxing purchase of the Crafar farms, and the Cameron family will make it their home.
However, Winston Peters says the issues involved are the same – Kiwi farmland, foreign buyer – and Labour and the Greens aren’t without their misgivings.
So should James Cameron have been given permission to buy farmland in the Wairarapa?
Campbell Live went to ask the locals.
Watch the video for the full report