Thanks to the folks at Scoop (www.scoop.co.nz) for the tip!
Filming Starts on Fourth LOR Set
Filming of wide panoramic scenes started on Wednesday December 8th, in the rolling North Island farmland between Matatmata and Karapiro.
Filming on the fourth LOR set commenced on Wednesday, while crews continued to work at the three other sets (two in the Queenstown/Te Anau area and the other in Wellington).
The countryside in this mid-North Island region is primarily rolling farmland, with a few more rugged hills and is famous for it’s horse raising. It’s bounded by an area of peat bog to the north and the long, narrow Lake Karapiro to the south.
Co-director John Mahaffie (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) said stand-in actors would be used for the stars as the shots were to be “wide, establishing the Hobbiton environment.”
Associate producer Rick Porrs said the brilliant weather was an exciting start to the shoot. “As the light drops, the way this tall grass shimmers – you just can’t beat this anywhere.”
Director Peter Jackson, currently overseeing the shoot through satellite link, is expected on-site next month.
More info coming soon!
Update
More info on Matamata and Karapiro
Matamata is 23km northeast of Cambridge and nestled beneath the Kaimai-Mamaku Ranges.
Karapiro, the furthest downstream of a chain of towns on the Waikato River.
More on the Kaimai-Mamaku Range: Most likely, given LOTR’s geography, filming will take place at Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park. According to this site the park is described as “The Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park covers a large parts of the Kaimai Ranges and northern Mamaku Plateau. It includes Katikati, Aongatete and Mangatotara forests and a part of Mamaku Forest. The Maurihoro and Gordon Reserves link Aongatete and Mangatotara forests.
The park is 70 km long, from the Karangahake Gorge in the north, south to State Highway (S.H.) 5 on the Mamaku Plateau. The park seldom exceeds 10 km in width.
The area of the park is about 39,682 hectares and offers bush walks, tramping, rock climbing, hunting, exploring old gold mining and kauri milling sites and picnicking.”
Looks beautiful, as usual!
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It seems work has begun on the Lord of The Rings Official Site from New Line. A shorter and sweeter press release from October is available here.
In related news Web Designers ‘Angry Monkey’ will not be designing the Official Site, though they did do the work that you’ll find on the site now, they will not play an active part in any LOTR related work in the future.
A spokesperson for Angry Monkey said “we simply chose not to any more websites for movie studios. there’s nothing about new line or lord of the rings in specific that led us to that decision — it was more of a top level business decision for us.”
-Update
It seems that New Line pulled the plug on the /beta section of the official site. That’s what you get for snooping…lol
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I would love to get my eyes on this book, geez, you think Xoanona would mind if I blew all my money on this book instead of saving for our apartment? Resort Radio sent this to me just now:
Further to our conversation of this morning (New Zealand time) here are the details of the volume of Lord of the Rings to be auctioned off at the Celebrity Auction in Queenstown NZ on Sunday 12th December at 12 noon in the Memorial Hall.
Book is a hardcover, illustrated by Alan Lee who is also working on the films as a conceptual artist.The book has been signed by various cast members and crew who are actually working in Queenstown.They are:
Peter Jackson Director/Writer/Producer
Tim Sanders Producer
Barrie M Osborne Producer
Fran Walsh Writer
Phillippa Boyens Writer
Elijah Wood “Frodo”
Sean Astin “Sam”
Dominic Monaghan “Merry”
Billy Boyd “Pippin”
Viggo Mortensen “Aragorn”
Orlando Bloom “Legolas”
Sean Bean “Boromir”
John Rhys-Davies “Gimli”
Most signatories have also included a message along with their signatures.
For more information contact Resort FM Queenstown 00 64 3 442 7222
Hope this is of interest to you and the followers of your website
Jo Blick
Program Director
Resort FM
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Greetings all, Quickbeam here…
Yes, I admit we’ve been away for about a month from our beloved Green Books, but fear not! We are back with a vengeance! 🙂
For all you curious souls out there who have submitted to our Q&A, now is your golden hour… we have no less than TWENTY new articles based upon your queries… Covering such esoteric subjects as:
– Could Sauron have controlled the mighty Balrog?
– Were there any sightings of the Entwives?
– Was there a system of prayer or worship in Middle-earth?
– What did Gandalf want to talk to Bombadil about?
and
– How did King Elessar re-establish the Kingdom of Arnor?
But wait, there’s more! Dozens of new poems and delightful fiction can be found in our updated Moon Letters section. Best of all is a terrific photo essay by one Shaun Spain, as he travels through scenic rural England where Tolkien himself once romped as a child. Great picturesand a great tour through the Professor’s youth await you “On the Tolkien Trail.”
See some cool new updates Turgon has on his erudite Bookshelf, and keep your eyes open for a new “Out on a Limb” column from me later this week. Again, we at Green Books take you with us as we continue to explore the Words and Worlds of Tolkien.
Much too hasty,
Quickbeam
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Resort Radio 99FM sent me along some additional info regarding the auction:
It will be held this Sunday at ‘Queenstown Memorial’ at noon (NZ local time)
It is in fact a limited edition hardcover, illustrated, and has been signed by most of the cast. Stay tuned for a full list of the cast and crew who have signed, Resort Radio will contact me with it soon.
Queenstown
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It seems that PJ et all are doing something rather cool to gather some money together to help flood victims in NZ.
From: Rosie
A friend working on LOTR said that the film production company had been passing around a hard copy of Lord of the Rings ( the large format version with Alan Lee’s artwork) to be signed by all the cast and Peter Jackson and other key people. It turns out that the production have given the signed book to be auctioned off in aid of the victims of the recent flood in Queenstown. A local radio station who are to host the auction have been advertising it. It is to be held at 11:00am this Sunday – the 12 December at the Memorial Hall in Queenstown itself. If anyone is interetsed I guess they could contact the radio station in Queenstown called Resort Radio 99FM.
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