Radagast sends in this direct quote from WETA frontman Richard Taylor. Seems the team down in New Zealand are going for perfection in their third outing! Take a look!
RICHARD TAYLOR: Another week has just been added to filming the pick-ups and we now still have two weeks to go. We have to deliver the complete film in five weeks (Nov. 1st) and because we’re still filming, it’s a bit tight. Peter is still in London, editing the film while doing the orchestral music with Howard Shore, and every day he corresponds with Weta Digital and the other departments, by video conferencing, to keep the machine going forward. He’ll be coming back to Wellington in early October.
Meanwhile the second-unit directors are directing the acting on set, because there’s a necessity to get more and more detail. I think it’s admirable that both Peter and New Line are willing to push it to the limit. Considering they’ve had such a huge success with the first two films, there might be a natural tendency to rest up a little bit, but never, ever would Peter do that, and now he has pushed to make the third film the greatest film he could ever have created. That’s required him putting a huge effort into getting the film as heavy in textural detail as he possibly can get, in order to keep the integrity of the overall visuals going.