Wellington City Council was kind enough to send this in:
World Premiere countdown…what Wgtn should know
It is now just under a week until Wellington hosts the much anticipated World Premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on Monday 1 December and there is a lot that Wellingtonians and Wellington businesses should know.
Dressing the City
Wellington is dressed – street banners are up around the central city, the Cave Troll is in Civic Square, Gollum is on the airport (and other characters are inside), Legolas’s arrow has pierced Molly Malones and the Fell Beasts are on top of the Embassy Theatre and Reading Cinemas. Retailers are also playing a part in dressing the city with The Lord of the Rings windows displays.
World Premiere Parade
On 1 December Wellington will make New Zealand movie making history with a tickertape parade featuring the cast, filmmakers and various civilisations from the trilogy. The parade leaves Parliament at 3.30pm and weaves its way through the central city arriving at the red carpet on Courtenay Place at approximately 4.30pm. Free tickertape is available Monday 1 December from Dymocks, Whitcoulls, Farmers, Kirkcaldie and Stains and New Zealand Post Shop, all on Lambton Quay.
Red Carpet
An extra long red carpet measuring 470 metres will be rolled out along Courtenay Place from Reading Cinemas to the Embassy Theatre.
Theatres
Over 2000 guests have been invited to view the first screening of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. To accommodate such large numbers, guests will be seated both in Reading Cinemas and the Embassy Theatre.
Large Outdoor Screens
Three large screens will feature live footage of the parade and red carpet activity. Two screens will be situated alongside the red carpet – one at the Embassy Theatre and the other at Reading Cinemas – and the third screen will be at Taranaki Wharf for those wanting to view proceedings in a more relaxed environment.
Grandstands
Four large grandstands on the edge of the red carpet will give members of the public an uninhibited view of the stars and VIPs. Grandstand seats are available for purchase through Ticketek for $100+GST plus booking charges.
Taranaki Wharf
Taranaki Wharf will play a central role in the city’s celebrations for the World Premiere. Celebrations at Taranaki Wharf begin on Sunday 30 November with a Drum Up Summer concert. They continue on Monday 1 December with a big screen, live broadcast of the World Premiere parade and red carpet activity. An After Parade Party – featuring a Ring of Fire event at 7.30pm and New Zealand’s first public, outdoor screening of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at 9.30pm – continues the festivities at Taranaki Wharf once the red carpet activity is over.
Activities for Young People
As part of the build up to the World Premiere, Wellington City Council has run a Young Filmmakers Competition to find the next Peter Jackson.
Wellington City Libraries have run a Fantasy Film Awards competition. Judging of the hundreds of entries is currently underway and an award ceremony will be held on Friday 28 November at the Central Library. Wellington City Libraries are also running various The Lord of the Rings activities and workshops for young people. Information is available at www.wcl.govt.nz/kids/whatson.html
Road Closures and Parking Restrictions
Various road closures and parking restrictions will be put in place for the World Premiere. From 8pm Sunday 30 November until 6am Tuesday 2 December, all or parts of Cambridge Terrace, Courtenay Place, Kent Terrace, Allen Street and Blair Street will be affected by road closures. From midday until 6pm Monday 1 December, all or parts of Cuba Street, Lambton Quay, Manners Street, Mercer Street, Victoria Street, Wakefield Street, Willis Street will be affected by road closures.
On Monday 1 December there will also be parking restrictions on Courtenay Place, Cuba Street, Lambton Quay, Manners Street, Mercer Street, Wakefield Street and Willis Street.
Motorists are advised to check road signs for road closures and parking restrictions, Council advertisements in the Dominion Post or www.wcc.govt.nz/lotr.
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David writes: I was priviledged to be invited to the South African premier of the RoK. It is on the 10th of December. Tickets are not for sale it is only by invitation.
The invite was in a large elaborate box. When opened flower like petals fold away to expose the invitation. It does not look like a flower rather like a pyrimad. On each of the slats is a picture of a LotR character. The invitation is a heavy triangular pyrimad. It looks ancient and delicate, it contains the infomation of the premier.
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Peter Jackson et all kindly asked us to remove these spoilers! Sory folks!
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At the recent Ring*Con 2003 I got the chance to catch up with Rohan-extraordinaire John Leigh (Hama). It was an early Saturday morning, yours truly was still recovering from the night before, spent talking about the fast and dangerous life of a Rohirrim!
Disclaimer: the sound on my tape has turned out to be quite useless so this is a best-of interpretation of what was said, bear with me…
John Leigh as Hama in The Two Towers
John can you tell us how you got your part in the movies?
Well we auditioned.. a long time ago now. We all did in New Zealand, all the actors. About a year and a half before I actually got the part. I originally auditioned for Sam Gamgee. Obviously I didn’t get that part… So a year and a half later into filming they came to shoot the part of Hama, and they hadn’t casted it yet! So I auditioned again and got the part.
If you could have picked any other part to play, would Sam Gamgee be the one?
Yeah I think so. I would have loved to play him..
Why?
It’s a good role because in a way he is the heart of the picture, you know. He’s the every man that has to make the sacrifices.. he’s the hard worker. He’s not the Ringbearer but without him it would never have happened.
What was your most memorable experience on filming The Two Towers?
Meeting Christopher Lee. And Ian McKellen. Those are two actors I have admired for a very long time, and getting to work with them was just… (the next word sounds a lot like woah but I dread using it for obvious reasons. Let’s just leave it at the fact that John loved working with them!)
This is your first fan convention, right?
Yeah, yeah it is.
Are you having a good time?
I’m having a great time, thank you.
You are obviously very popular here, even though your part in The Two Towers was not that big, how do you feel about that?
Well it is very nice if people appreciate what you do, so that’s a good thing. It doesn’t happen in my country, heheh…
Did you expect peoples reactions to be like this?
Not for me, certainly. I’m good friends with Craig Parker and Mark Ferguson and they’ve done it before so they were telling me about it. But when I came out, man.. hahaha… And it’s just.. we can give the fans a little bit more then just being there. I mean we can entertain people…
You are quite an entertaining man, I mean we’ve seen you on stage and you make people laugh..
Sometimes, heheh..
Well you made me laugh…
That’s good!
The panel you did with Bruce Hopkins; that was just improvising or did you plan anything?
We didn’t know what we were going to do. But he’s done so many so I thought; “I’ll just follow Bruce!” And he so enthusiastic so I just kinda grabbed on and we rode the horse!
John Leigh during his panel
Tell us what it was like being on set, filming your part. How did your day look?
It was pretty long actually. We had hair and makeup too of course, though not as much as the Elves and Orcs and Uruk-hai with the ears and all the prosthetics… We had long wigs and beards, I didn’t have my own beard this is a much better beard… And I think the wig I had was human hair, worth about 8.000 dollars. And the beard was expensive as well so.. you had to be careful when smoking, heheh..
And after makeup you’d go to the set?
Yeah.. first thing we did of course was to put our costume on, which wasn’t much for us because mostly it’s armour. Then we did the makeup, the wig and the beard and also we got dirt on us.. because we ride around on horses a lot. I don’t think the Rohan wash a lot heheh.. Well of course there’s more important things to do. Like killing things.
And then we’d go through and get our armour put on and finally the cape. And the helmet! We got that too if we were to be wearing them, but I never got to wear mine which is a shame because it was a beautiful helmet. Not as beautiful as Eomer’s or Theoden’s but after that it was the nicest! I kept carrying it around so people could see how beautiful it was.
Did you film a lot of scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut?
Not many no. There was one scene in which I am informing Theoden about what we think we should do. And because in The Two Towers Aragorn is the one that says: “We should go to war.” And me and Bruce (Hopkins – Gamling) were going like “Yeah we should probably go to war.” But they probably didn’t need it. As well as the funeral-scene of Theodred that’s on the Extended DVD, I might be in that briefly as well…
Were you sorry that your character, well, died?
Yeah, very sorry. I would have liked to have made it to Helms Deep. That would have been nice to have fought alongside the King.. yeah.. But you know, it’s a fast and dangerous life, being a Rohan. And Bruce did a good job of looking after the King anyway.
How hard was it to film the scene where the Warg attacks you? Most of it must’ve been computer generated?
Yeah most of it is. I pretty much.. I fell of the horse and I looked back up. That’s was pretty much all I got to do. The rest was all CGI. And it was only when I first saw the film when I thought: “Ohw.. so that’s what happened. I probably should have looked more scared.”
You said you read the books when you were young, were you a big fan?
Oh yeah I loved them! I read them for the first time probably when I was about eleven, and then again in my early twenties. I wondered if the magic was still there because you know as a child your imagination is so much freer. It was still there.. Getting the part was actually like a dream come true.
But I, like a lot of people, thought it would be too hard to make. The film. But you know, you come to a point where the technology has also allowed us together with some of the vision and some really great actors.. to bring it to life. And you have this amazing landscape that offers all the scenery you need to create that world. And suddenly it could be done!
Is there something you would like to share with us? This is my hung-over way of interview people by the way…
Yeah! If you haven’t already been here: come to this convention. Come to Ring*Con! It’s fantastic. And I’m working, and I’m still having fun, so there you go, hehehe…
Okay that’s great, thanks John!
You are welcome. And look, you go through it, you made it. I thought you were very good!
I was, yeah. Hahahah…
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AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK ON THE SET AND BEHIND THE SCENES OF “THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING”
PRIMETIME THURSDAY” AIRS DECEMBER 4 AT 10PM E.T.
It’s perhaps the most-anticipated film of the year, and its producers hope it will be among the most honored on Academy Awards night. “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” is the final installment in the epic trilogy that has defied Hollywood naysayers by enthralling fans and critics alike — and setting box office records in the process. In a “Primetime Thursday” exclusive, correspondent Jay Schadler goes on the set and behind the scenes for an unprecedented look at how director Peter Jackson has made his incredible vision a reality. Jackson and the stars of the film discuss how the arduous process of making this big-budget movie is the culmination of a true labor of love. “PRIMETIME THURSDAY” airs THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4 (10:00-11:00pm ET) on the ABC Television Network.
Most saw it as a huge gamble — trusting a little-known director with an enormous budget and a series of favorite books that have a very loyal following. And he was asked to film all three movies at the same time to keep costs down. It could have been the most spectacular failure in film history. Instead, the “Lord of the Rings” films have been among the highest-grossing of all time.
“Primetime Thursday” and Schadler were given unprecedented, exclusive access to the New Zealand film sets where Jackson was shooting some of the final scenes of “The Return of the King,” as well as the workshops where master artisans created costumes, intricate models and the mysterious creatures that give the film its richness. Schadler sees first-hand the obsessive attention to detail that begins with Jackson and pervades the entire production.
“Primetime” also captures many candid moments with the film’s stars, from practical jokes to shared beers at a local pub. The personal bonds between the actors have become so intense, several have even gotten identical secret tattoos. Sir Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood and others discuss how this experience has changed their careers and their lives. They also explain why they believe this epic tale of good versus evil continues to resonate with so many people.
ABCNEWS.com will provide companion programming and carry reports from “Primetime Thursday” on ABC News Live, the 24/7 streaming video news network available on the Internet to subscribers. Go to ABCNEWS.com for more information.
Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson are the co-anchors of “Primetime Thursday.” David Doss is the executive producer.
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Leggylass writes: To possibly add to Irascian’s great article about the opening of the Embassy – we just returned from the Seat Donor’s Opening.
It was a pretty miserable old Wellington night outside but once we stepped inside the Embassy that was all forgotten.
We were treated to PJ’s ‘The Frighteners’ and the sound was incredible!! I jumped many times even though I’ve seen the film before.
I agree that the seats are extremely comfortable (even though they sadly misspelled my surname on my name plaque) and the theatre is just beautiful. Certainly a fitting venue for the World Premiere in 5 days!
I’ve included another version of a name plate – this one is my particular favourite – and I took a sneaky opportunity to sit in this seat. It certainly looked funny to see everyone walking around the theatre like chickens pecking up corn as they read all the names on the seats.
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