Frodo’s Girl sends us part 5 of her jouney into Middle-earth, take a look at her report from the old Helms Deep set! And a short cut to mushrooms! [More]
Month: February 2002
There and back again – a journey to middle earth
I thought I would share with theonering.net my experience on the Red Carpet Movie Tour’s LOTR ultimate fantasy 12-day tour (http://www.redcarpet-tours.com). I’m on a small VIP tour of travel agents. I’ll send in updates as time and connectivity permit. This is the fifth installment.
Feb 22nd
Today we met up with a second guide, Kate, just outside of Wellington. Kate is fantastic, she saw many of the sites while filming was going on, and she has lots of stories. She started off by taking us to the quarry where Helms Deep was – not much to look at now, but very impressive when the set was up.
We then headed a little further down the road to the place where they filmed the outside scenes for Rivendell, most of which didn’t make the first movie. The area there is absolutely gorgeous. We even went for a short hike in the bush and learned about the native trees. From there we headed back into the city. We went past restaurants that the actors frequented, saw some their apartments and rental houses, and the Embassy (the theatre where the premier was held). At the bottom of Mt Victoria we stood where Frodo did when he said, “Get off the road!” Let me tell you that was awesome.
After dinner we headed back to the Embassy to catch the movie. The lobby has a great display up which includes a huge statue of Lurtz and some of the figurines. The cave Troll is still outside on the marquee as well. After looking at all the articles and such, we grabbed some ice cream and beers and settled into our seats. It was really fun to see the movie in the same theatre where the premier was held. And it was fantastic to see all the spots that we had been to up on the silver screen. What fun!
Tomorrow – a ferry to the south island and a trip to see some of the LOTR designers other work.
Mr Tadpole writes: There’s an article in this week’s Wellington-based Capital Times where they are interviewing NZ-Samoan actor Robbie Magasiva (Stickmen, The Strip). Partway through the article it mentions: “I was in the third Lord of the Rings movie. I play an Uruk Hai (fighting orc) called Mahaur.” [More]
From: Mr Tadpole
There’s an article in this week’s Wellington-based Capital Times where they are interviewing NZ-Samoan actor Robbie Magasiva (Stickmen, The Strip). Partway through the article it mentions:
“I was in the third Lord of the Rings movie. I play an Uruk Hai (fighting orc) called Mahaur.”
The Lord of the Rings role meant choreographed fight scenes using axes and swords, which Magasiva thoroughly enjoyed. A downside was waking up at 5.00am to travel to the location, then spending four hours in the make-up chair. “We’d fall asleep in the chair,” Magasiva says. “Then we’d wake up and be completely transformed – sometimes you’d get a hell of a fright.” Involving extensive make-up and armour, it was a gruelling role. “Movement was restricted, and it gets hot under those lights. Between takes people brought us water so we wouldn’t faint. And we had to suck our food through a straw – that hacked me off. Here’s this multi-million dollar project, with piles of beautifully catered food, and we has to use straws to protect the make-up. I couldn’t enjoy it – and I really love my food.”
Jennifer writes: Wireimage.com just posted this on its site about Elijah Wood and Mandy Moore at a party for their new flick ‘Try 17’. He told Variety that ‘Try 17’ films in March and after he is done with that its back to NZ to do some reshoots for TTT.
I was watching the Grammy’s tonight when what did I see after a horrible N’Sync commercial? Thats right, a new LOTR:FOTR ad. And well, this one is just plain amazing. Among the highlights: Bilbo’s ‘rage,’ The Balrog, Gwaihir, Cave Troll, etc.