Ringer publicist and film/video director, Asfaloth, sends us this article from the June 2002 Issue of ‘Film &…
Continue ReadingRinger publicist and film/video director, Asfaloth, sends us this article from the June 2002 Issue of ‘Film & Video Magazine’ (http://www.filmandvideomagazine.com).
While extremely technical at times, there are a few nuggets of info for the average fan. Specifically, check out the great new picture of Elves decked out in full battle gear at Helm’s Deep, and the revelation that Gollum will be a mixture of motion capture and traditional key framing.
Click on an image below for a larger version:
Hutt River Girl wrote in a report last night (June 25) about Viggo Mortensen and Peter Jackson filming in her area. She went back to the outskirts of the set to have another gander again, and you’ll never guess WHAT happened next!
You will never guess what happened after I emailed you this morning. I decided to seize the day and wrote the following letter which I took around to the film set:
To the cast and crew of Lord of the Rings
For the past four hours I have stood knee deep in cow dung across the river and have watched in awe as you have filmed. What an amazing experience!!
I just wanted to say how honored I am to be able to see you all at work, and that you have chosen our neck of the woods in which to film in.
In summer, this area is a popular swimming hole, and it is the reason why we live where we do. It is a little slice of heaven and I am so proud that it is going to immortalised in the second Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Congratulations, you are doing marvelous work, and I am very thankful I have had the opportunity to see you all in action. Making movies is a slow business, but then when you are making perfection, it will take some time.
It was worth the night awake listening to the roar of the generators to see Viggo in action and Peter directing.
Many thanks again, I wish you well and hope this film is a bigger success that the Fellowship of the Ring – which was just amazing
I dropped the letter off with the security guard who said he would pass it on to the producer however, it was a closed set because the horse that was working with Aragon was getting restless. So he told me to go home. Less than five minutes later, there was a message waiting for me when I got home from the producer Zane (what an awesome dude) who told me to come back to the film set but to leave my camera behind.
So I did just that.
AND> I met Aragon (Viggo Mortensen) – had a chat to him about how cold he must have been laying on shingle all day and how brave he was to be so close to a stallion horse. He asked me if there was any fish in the river – I said there was.
Then I was told to come and met “peter” who was lounging on his film plinth down on the river bed. What a delightful man – by this stage I was introduced to everyone as “cow pat Joanne” as my letter had been shown and read to everyone on set.
Peter Jackson was so nice – he told me what they were doing – that they were filming some extra scenes and were nearly finished.
I said how neat it was that he was filming in our backyards as such and he commented on what a wonderful river it was he also spoke about filming at Harcourt Park, at Kaitoke Park and at other places on the Hutt River.
I then was invited to hang around and watch the filming WHICH I DID from the director’s tent which was vacant – they had a monitor which was showing ARagon and the horse up close. GOD IT WAS FANTASTIC – the lighting made the river sparkle. It was just amazing.
I thought at that time – I can see this in the movie, but how often do you get a chance to see it up close so I asked if I could stand about 10 feet from the actor, and horse which I did and watched the scene be shot. By this stage the horse was getting restless (it was Viggo’s horse) and then after a few more takes a rap was called and everyone was invited to lunch.
I got a chance to look at the weaponary and Aragon’s sword. I was holding it as Viggo came to get it from me to take it with him – he likes to have it close the weapons man said.
So off I went to lunch – and was too dumb struck to eat. Then just as I was leaving (after noticing my vet who was also on set) Viggo walked in to eat.
I then decided to go and get my son from school (which I am glad I did) – I thought he will never get another chance to go onto a hollywood movie set – so….. when we returned I walked up to Viggo and introduced my son. Viggo had a chat to him then asked if he would like to see Aragon’s sword. He dove into his car and brought out his sword and unsheathed it. He spoke about it to my son, explaining what it was used for (killing orcs) and then spoke of the ring he was wearing (sorry I forgot what he said). He then showed my little boy his knife which was attached to the sheath and said that was for eating and whittling wood.
WHat a wonderful wonderful man, and what a faboulous team of people. They were really lovely. Peter Jackson is an amazing man – you think with all the worries he has on his shoulders, that he couldn’t be bothered with a memeber of the public (and now a fan) but he did. He was neat ( a new zealand term for awesome).
Viggo was amazing as well.
I am so buzzing about the whole experience. They said they were delighted to get my letter and that sometimes when they come to town it causes quite a bit of a noise etc – but Ithey really loved to get positive feedback.
Well there you go ,. There is my experience. I MET VIGGO AND PETER and have their autographs.. My goodness. who would have thought!
Later on she sent me this:
my brain is functioning again and snippets of conversations with the crew and Viggo are coming back.
Viggo explained the significance of his ring to my son and also spoke of his sword – saying it killed orcs. He said that the smaller knife was for eating, cutting fruit and for whittling (which is strange and I had to explain it to my son as Whittling isn’t a kiwi term). It wasn’t in a bewjewlled case like I first saw from across the river, but a leather one. Viggo took it with him in his car at the end of filming. He offered the sword to my son who nearly dropped it, then he dived into his car to take two pictures of my boy holding the sword. How cute is that! I was too scared to ask for a copy His costume was amazing – all leather, with and over cloak of blue grey wool and becuase he was laying on river stone all day I asked if he was cold – and he said no. The costume was amazing – I took notice of it as no doubt, I will be making one for my son. He was so stunned at meeting Aragon!
He asked my son if he had seen the movie, which I had said no too because it was too scary. I told Viggo that he was too scared to get out of the car this morning to have a look at the film set because there were horses there and he thought that the Ringwraiths were about. I said when the video comes out I will show it too him.
There were two horses on set – one was owned by Three Foot Six and one owned by Viggo himself which is shipped over here when he is around someone said. Both were stallions and he (Viggo) got hurt a slight bit when one of the horses accidently stood on him during filming.
All and all the sum total of the day’s filming would be 20 seconds on screen. Amazing. they spent all night setting up and started filming around 7am and finished around 1.30pm/2pm.
Someone said that Liv Tyler was singing today with Fran. That it was a really small crew today filming this as it was only a small peice of the film, and they were going back to do Helms Deep fight scenes at the studio next.
By the way – I was not asked to sign a confidentiality clause when I came on set so I suppose this is ok to talk about my wonderful day – it will probably spoil it for anyone else who wants to get on set. But hey – they didn’t say that I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody and it is too good not to share… What other day in my life will I get to go onto a Lord of The Rings movie set???
I have now gone out and brought all three books and have made a start on reading them so I know what I am talking about – but it was an amazing day all around, and perhaps if I had been a total dedicated fan I would have got too overwhelmed. As it was I was so wrapt to meet PJ – he is a hero here in New Zealand and my favoriate of all actors Viggo.
Coming home in the car from the set my son asked if he could go and now see Anakin Skywalker on a movie set next. Aaaah the innocence of a near six year old. Thinks that his mother can conjure up movie stars at the drop of a hat! I wish I could
Hutt river girl sends along this report from New Zealand. She’s a new spy, so I’m not too sure if everything here is accurate, but hopefully we’ll have some pictures to prove it soon!
I have just stood in a paddock of cow dung for the past four hours and watched the Master- Peter Jackson at work directing the heaven sent Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn).
Here is the scene:
Aragorn is lying injured on the river bank. His faithfull steed comes over to him nudging his face and upper body – rousing him obviously from his injuries. Aragorn comes to and grabs his mane in his fist he pulls himself up onto the horse and they walk away.
Aragorn is dirty and wet. He has a wound to his left shoulder – like a sword wound. His has blood on his hands and he is very wet.
Viggo was constantly asking for a spray bottle in which he sprayed across his face and hair. A standby person poured water from a bucket across his feet.
Aragorn’s magnificant sword hangs from his hip, his clothes are very dirty and are covered in river soil.
During filming Peter Jackson sat on a little stage (pedestal) and directed things then for a different angle he sat on the ground on a tarpauline. He looked like a buddah.
The location is the Upper Hutt river, which runs behind our properties. We have been kept up all night as the generators whirrled making light so the scene could be set up.
After four hours of watching, I got cold and called it quits and came home but had to share my spy report with you all.
What an amazing experience to have a bit of Hollywood on your own back yard and filmed in a place which you love – the hutt river.
I am in awe of Viggo – he layed on the ground and let the horse nudge him constantly, then in his break he went up and spoke to a group of fans that were standing by. And he even let a little boy touch his sword which he had withdrawn from its bejewled casing.
I am not a dedicated LOTR fan but I do love Viggo he was my fav character – and are so proud that it is filmed near we live. And I can’t believe I had the opportunity to see Peter Jackson in the flesh.
See you all. regards Hutt river girl.
Corrina reports from the booksigning at the Green Parrot yesterday: “It was MASSIVE! My flatmates and I got there about 3.30pm, ‘cos we thought it started at 4.00 (turns out it started at 4.30) and so we managed to get a fairly good place in line. we stood around for an hour, trying in vain to ignore the squealing girls, who at first were cute… but then got a little OTT… especially when we heard one group talking about seeing Viggo around town in his car, and passing out his number plate…hmmmm….
3 film crews turned up, one from each of the national news teams and another from the kids’ show What Now… who only really succeeded in making the squealing girls even louder – which was actually kinda funny.
So around 4.15 Viggo turned up with Jane Johnson from Harper Collins, and about half an hour later we finally got in. I got a copy of his book “Coincidence of Memory” mainly because it had some photos he’d taken of NZ in there, and I wanted to see how NZ looked to him. When I got up to get my book signed, he did the usual “what’s your name?” thing, and then won me over for life by being one of the few people to spell my name correctly without assistance! He is a really quiet guy, but he didn’f deny anyone anything, he posed for every photo he was asked for, and was just a generally nice guy.
What was the major shock tho’, was when we got outside and saw how huge the line was! We couldn’t tell how far back it stretched from where we were until we were actually out of the line completely… I’m certain even Viggo must have been surprised at the turn-out. I’m now actually really pleased he was the first Fellowship member I met… even tho’ I’m still hoping to spot one of the hobbits before they go at the end of the week.”
Democritus here: “Went to Viggo’s booksigning that he held at the Green Parrot cafe in Wellington this afternoon.
Viggo was signing copies of his art, poetry and photography books with all proceeds going to Bruce Reid who has cancer, and who is an Production assistant on LOTR.
I turned up at 4pm to wait half an hour before the signing with unfortunately what looked like most of Wellington. Consequently I had to wait two hours before I got to him. The crowd had a carnival, happy atmosphere about it, and every one was patient despite the cold. By the time I got to Viggo he was looking really tired, but was friendly enough, he was wearing a cowboy hat, and a Danish soccer shirt which was a surprisingly fetching outfit.
I bought a copy of one of his photography books which contain some great photos of the hobbits, and I had on me my copy of Return of the King. He used Maori greetings and farewells for both signings which impressed me.
I got a quick couple of questions in before moving on, there was still a huge line behind me and I reckon he will have been signing for at least four hours today, before its all over.
I got one question in – “Will you be testing that lovely blade out on our favourite dark-lord” (He had commented on the picture of Anduril in my ROTK book). He smiled and changed the subject)
Oh well, sensible chap really, confirmed that they now have one more day of filming, looked great in the beard that he regrew for the pick-ups according to all the woman behind me.”
Tiranel gave us the low-down on what happened last night at the “Art of Middle-earth” book-launch held by Dymocks in Wellington, NZ.
“For starters, it was like a who’s who of the technical side of things, make-up, design, effects – I was in heaven (cos this is what I eventually want to be doing… just have no clue where to start)
“I met Richard Taylor, who is very cool. He brought his little baby with him, and it was sooo cute, the baby had a specially made LOTR beanie… I personally think he was the star of the evening. [Ringers will remember that Richard’s son was born round about the time of the Oscars.]
“Next person I spotted was Karl Urban – nicest celeb I have met so far, spelt my name wrong when he signed my book so he apologised in writing as well, funny.
“Then the formalities started, a chick from Harper Collins NZ spoke first, then introduced Jane Johnson (I think that’s her last name….oops) from Harper Collins UK, and she talked for a while about putting PJ onto Alan Lee and John Howe. I love hearing about all this stuff, don’t ask me why.
“Then Richard Taylor got up on stage and spoke for a couple minutes about the passion they had for the film, he thanked us for making the film what is had become (I personally think it’s only himself and PJ he has to thank for that) and it was during that speech that I spotted Sir Ian Mckellen on the other side of the room.
“So when Richard was done, I made my way over there, and got within half a metre, when he left… [I was] gutted! Never mind.
“I was turning away from him, a little disappointed (but not too worried, cos I knew they’d been shooting all day and were most likely tired) when I literally bumped into Alan Lee!
“We heard from a news reporter that apparently Elijah and Viggo were “definites”, but when 8pm rolled around and all the important people were leaving, we knew that they weren’t coming, but by then I was too keen to go home myself to mind.
“So there you have it.
“I do have to say though – the book is beautiful, if you havent already got it, I totally recommend it!!!”
