Anita writes: I have been to the Elf Fantasy Fair in the Netherlands today and this is just a small report on how it was.
My friend and I were there a few minutes before 10:00, opening time, and since we life just a 20-minute drive away, it wasn’t all that early! Luckily, we already had our tickets because I ordered them, so with just a few minutes wait, we could walk straight in.
We had already discussed what we really wanted to see and the first point was Andy Serkis. The tent was really close by the entrance, so we went in and took a seat. A good thing we got there early, because by the time it was 10:30 (it was going to start), the whole tent was packed with people! And after a little introduction there he was; Andy Serkis!
Flashes from cameras all across the audience to which Andy said “Good morning, my precious” in his Gollum-voice. After that he said that we could ask him questions…so we did. Most of the questions were the usual ones ‘How did you prepare for the role?’, ‘Were did you came up with the idea for Gollum’s voice?’ things like that. He also referred to the birth as his son and said that the new born looked just like Gollum…to which he also added “Don’t tell my wife I said that!”
He ended the session after 45 minutes with a scene from the Two Towers, in which Smeagol is arguing with Gollum and the camera shoots Smeagol from one angle and Gollum from another angle. That was amazing to watch!
During the session, it started raing, so we were glad to be inside! Only then Iris and I went to the tournament field to watch the ‘Katharenshow’ (I don’t know what they are called in english…Cathar’s?). Anyway, on the way there we already passed some stands with interesting things, but it kept on raining. When we reached the field it was more or less dry, luckily!
The show was simple, with about 10 actor’s and a lovely Friesian horse. The Fool also had a horse…a strap on pony which wasn’t straped on properly so he had to stand with his legs apart to keep the pony up! That really brought on the laughs
After this, we went back to the Main field again (it was sunny once more) to listen to the live music and have some lunch.
Then we went strolling along the different stands and merchants. Now I did get to feel how heavy those chainmails are…I picked up…no correction! I tried to pick up a well sized shirt, but it seems the weight increases exponentialy when being lifted higher of the ground…I gave up and bought a book instead
Suddenly we found ourselves near the ‘lecture’ tent again and I was like “Craig Parker is going to speak in about ten minutes!” (it was already 14:05 by that time) This time, we got a seating place on the wooden floor, but I could see it all. Again quite busy *g*
This was really a fun session, I have laughed so much! It was asking questions again:
Q: How does it feel like to die?
A: Well, come here and let’s find out shall we!
Especially when a girl asked if she could see ‘a picture of his Elvish sword’…now, you can all imagine what the audience was thinking of with such a question…Craig thought the same thing too actually, since he just started laughing and snickered all the way through his answer *bg* then he said “Now people, there are children here!”…with a big grin on his face
More questions and funny moments. Craig’s example of how they all looked when Cate Blanchett would walk by: Then imaging the drool with it *g*
And Craig’s limit to the elven language was lots of strange and gutteral noises “Now that was a old and special dialect of Sindarin used during Helm’s Deep and I said: ‘Ouch, you have put an axe in my back!”
The last question “Are you single?” was recieved with catcalls from the audience and the answer “Well, after the coming night with my newly learned elvish sentence, who knows?”
He left with a big applause immediatly after him, Jorn & Carl Benzon came on stage. They have various roles in LotR (“they probably have more screentime than the other actor’s” said Craig), mostly as extra’s in the different armies and as Haldir’s brothers. They also answered a couple of questions, which they answered fairly well, but they weren’t as entertaining as either Andy or Craig.
It was already around 15:00 by that time, so we just took one last stroll across the market place (got to hear some music from Sassenachs, a dutch band which play Scottish war-pipes and drums) and then headed home.
