Bret McKenzie is best known for being one part of “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-rock act”, Flight Of The Conchords. Keen-eyed Lord Of The Rings fans might also know him for his potrayal of the elf Figwit, complete with long sleek black hair – and most worryingly, no beard.
Speaking to Bret about his role as music-wrangler for The Muppets recently, we also talked to him about his return to Middle Earth for The Hobbit and putting on his pointy ears once more.
“It was in Wellington so I could pretty much walk to work. It’s still a small part — I did a couple of days earlier this year — but it was great to get my pointy ears back on. It’s in 3D, so the ears will be extra pointy. You’ll be able to touch the ears.” More..
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The Hobbit film crew – due in Marlborough next month – is flying under the radar during filming in the Tasman region. The crew has been filming on 80 hectares of privately-owned land at Canaan Downs, where the Luminate Festival is held, and on surrounding Department of Conservation land. David Hall, who lives on the Takaka Hill, said he had not seen or heard much other than helicopters and more vehicles on the road than usual. “It’s all sort of tucked away out of sight,” he said.
The crew has been filming, via helicopter, around the Pelorus River and Mt Owen. It was understood they were also filming near the coast in Golden Bay. Rex Bowden, a chef at The Wholemeal Cafe, said he recently served a table of four “hobbits”. He said they came in for lunch, but he did not know if they were cast or film crew members. “I didn’t recognise any of them, but one looked a bit `hobbity’,” he said. More..
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From odt.co.nz: One of the stars of Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit was spotted in Queenstown yesterday. The Otago Daily Times understands Orlando Bloom lunched at Amisfield, near Arrowtown, before being spotted at Reading Cinemas in Queenstown. Bloom is reprising his role as Legolas, an elf, in the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings. Filming will be done in several places in Otago, including the Wakatipu.
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Miss Awen writes: I arrived in Glenorchy today and could not find any accommodation, because it’s all fully booked for the crew of the Hobbit. I also found out, that they are filming now at the other side of the lake, half an hour from Glenorchy. The stars stay in Queenstown and they are flown on set by helicopter.
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Stephen Colbert is an unabashed popular-culture geek and frequently drops his Middle-earth knowledge and displays various swords, rings and LOTR stuff on his show The Colbert Report. So when he had Elijah Wood on to chat about Happy Feet 2 he “unexpectedly” dropped into a conversation about the currently filming Hobbit movies and made it clear that he has visited the set and been privy to secrets and then “duels” with Wood. Is he steeped enough in Tolkien pop-culture to someday drop a TORn reference? We wish he would but in the meantime, enjoy the clip! Thanks to spy Esme, the first of many to drop that little gem to us at Spymaster@theonering.net.
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Luke Evans, who’s been cast in THE HOBBIT in the key role of Bard the Bowman and currently stars as Zeus in the mythical actioner IMMORTALS, recently spoke with Fresno Bee on being part of possibly the biggest film of his career.
“It’s keeping life real, that’s what’s important, and not losing yourself in the fact that you’re in ‘The Hobbit’.
I had a little bit of a heart flutter the first day I got there [New Zealand] because they have this thing where they show the new actors around all the sets and I saw Bilbo’s house, and I was like, “I actually walked into Bilbo’s house!” It was the most amazing thing.”
Read the full story over at Fresno Bee.
Thanks to message board member gaer_carreg for the heads-up.
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