{"id":95931,"date":"2014-12-20T11:44:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T16:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=95931"},"modified":"2014-12-20T11:44:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T16:44:00","slug":"peter-jacksons-unexpected-cameo-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2014\/12\/20\/95931-peter-jacksons-unexpected-cameo-double\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Jackson’s unexpected cameo double"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Peter
Peter Jackson stands on the set of Lake-town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>New Zealand actor and film writer Jeff Slaven was invited in 2011 to work on Peter Jackson\u2019s film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s The Hobbit. Cast as a Lake-town extra, on one particular day at Stone Street Studios he found himself unexpectedly thrown into the role of doubling for Peter Jackson himself. Here he writes about his once-in-a-lifetime experience.<\/p>\n

An unexpected cameo double<\/h4>\n

By Jeff Slaven<\/b><\/p>\n

It started out as just a normal day on the set of The Hobbit. I was a Lake-town extra. Just one of many on that particular day. It was early evening and I was in between shots as Peter was doing his cameo on the Lake-town stage.<\/p>\n

I was just sitting out back having a cigarette when one of the A.D\u2019s came out. “Jeff, they need you inside” he said. “You might end up being Peter Jackson’s double. They need the shot from another angle, but we have to hurry. Follow me.” And so we walked at a very accelerated pace and entered K Stage where I was quickly handed off to another A.D. This A.D. liked to walk fast as well, and I soon was taken to a group of people who looked me over and studied the back of my head in particular. “He’ll do,” said one of them.<\/p>\n

Seconds later I was on the move again following yet another A.D. She took me to a monitor beside the stage and told me to watch. She pushed some buttons and then I was looking at a large wicker basket on the monitor. Peter Jackson pops his head out of it. The basket’s lid is tied to his head with a bit of twine going around his chin. He is smoking a pipe of Hobbit Weed with his eyes darting around in a maniacal way. A few seconds later he ducks back down into the basket. “Can you do that?” she asked. Still slightly dazed at what I just saw, I assured her that I could.<\/p>\n

\"bard_tower_lake-town\"We were on the move again. I was handed to a wardrobe lady. She told me to get changed into Peter’s wardrobe which was on hangers just to one side of us. Time was short. And so while dozens of people bustled about in close proximity, I concluded that modesty was a commodity that I could ill afford. I stripped down and changed.<\/p>\n

I met Dave the A.D. at this point. He took me on set and we went up some stairs to a spot on a large balcony where the basket stood. The first thing that I realized was that up here, we were much closer to the ceiling lights and it felt like it was about forty degrees C. It was certainly very hot. Below us stood the rest of the Lake-town set in all of its grandeur and splendor. All the other extras and cast were entering at this point and getting into their positions.<\/p>\n

I turned my attention to the basket which I discovered had a false bottom. Inside the basket was a three-sided metal frame which would allow me to rise up on my arms in order to pop my head out of the top.<\/p>\n

Dave the A.D. helped me in to the basket. It was a tight fit and I had to fold my legs in a rather uncomfortable position. I popped my head out of the top so Dave could tie the lid to it. He then handed me Peter\u2019s pipe of Hobbit Weed and a lighter.<\/p>\n

Coming from somewhere down below Peter Jackson’s voice came over the loud speaker. “OK folks, let\u2019s get ready for a rehearsal,” he said. Dave spoke to him on his R.T. and then spoke to me. “OK Jeff, when Pete calls action, you need to do the bird noise, and do it as loud as you can, because that is the action for everybody else to begin.” <\/p>\n

“Bird noise?” I ask. “What bird noise? They only showed me video. I never heard any audio.” Dave gets back on his R.T. A few seconds later he says, “You just need to do a bird noise. You\u2019ll be fine.”<\/p>\n

Down below, Peter is ready for a rehearsal. And so I lower myself into the basket. My arms now free, I light the pipe and bring it to a good smolder. I hear Peter over the loud speaker. “OK rehearsing, and… action!” I rise up on my arms and pop my head out of the basket. I dart my eyes around as per what I saw on the monitor and puff away on the pipe. At the top my my lungs, I squawk like some sort of demented chicken. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A few seconds go by. I assume Peter is checking the shot. He gets on the loud speaker. “Um could you tell the gentleman in the basket to raise his head out a bit higher?” I’m a bit nervous now as my arms are fully extended. I look around the set in quiet desperation looking for something that will help. I don’t want to lose this opportunity because my arms were shorter than Sir Peter Jackson’s. Nearby is a pile of firewood stacked up as a prop. “Dave!” I whisper. Get me two bits of wood over there that are about the same thickness. I can use those.” Dave quickly goes over and picks out two bits of wood and shoves them under the basket. I take them and place them on top of the steel frame. Peter calls for another rehearsal. <\/p>\n

\"smaug-strafe\"<\/p>\n

On action, I pop up balanced on the firewood which is on top of the frame and do my thing. This time he is happy. Now back down in the basket, I wait as they prep the cameras for filming. It takes several minutes. I am nervous and uncomfortable. My legs are beginning to cramp up. It’s so hot in here. I feel like I’m going to melt. Dave quietly calls in and asks me if I’m OK. Lying, I announce to him that I’m fine.<\/p>\n

Down below, we hear Peter. “OK we\u2019re shooting this one. Let\u2019s go.” Then a few seconds later, another voice hollers. “Rolling!” And yet another voice. “Sound speed!” Then Peter. “And… action!”<\/p>\n

I pop up out of the basket smoking and squawking with eyes furiously darting. I pop down again. “Well that wasn\u2019t too bad.” I thought to myself. But Dave has just been on the R.T. He tells me that we are doing a rolling reset. This means that there is no cut in between takes. All the actors simply go back to their first positions and we do it again. The down side for me, is that my new number one position is with head outside of the basket, which means that I am balanced on the metal frame on two bits of very roughly cut firewood. I cannot relax my arms and sit on the floor in between actions.<\/p>\n

Thirty seconds go by. My arms are really starting to feel it. And my legs? Forget it. I can’t feel them anymore. Finally they are ready. Peter calls action. I smoke and squawk and dart. Peter calls for another reset. And then another. And then another. Everything down below me has to look just right and we have to reset for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n

\"Alfrid
Alfrid and the Master of Lake-town in a Lake-town inferno.<\/figcaption><\/figure> The sweat is pouring off me. The firewood that I am balancing on is digging into my hands. My legs are beyond the realm of being called usable body parts. With my smoldering pipe still clenched between my teeth (making it hard to talk), I quietly beg to Dave. “Shtool… Get me a shtool… I need to shit down…” But I am denied by a shake of Dave’s head. “You’re really doing great,” he whispers. “It’ll be over soon. I promise.”<\/p>\n

After several more resets which my mind equates as a thousand years, there is a twenty second silence. Then Peter on the loud speaker announces “Thank you very much everyone, that’s a wrap.” The cast and crew numbering about one-hundred applaud and cheer loudly. As for me, I more or less collapse in my basket\/torture machine. I have to lie on the floor for a couple of minutes before I can stand. Dave has to help me down the stairs to Lake-town ground zero.<\/p>\n

Once at the bottom he turns to me smiling and excited. He realizes the rarity of what just took place over the last hour. “You and I,” he said, “will be stuck with this memory for the rest of our lives!” Well he’s right about that. It was all up perhaps one of the most bizarre things that I am ever likely to film in my entire career. But in retrospect, I do believe that to date I am the only person on the planet that can have bragging rights to being Sir Peter Jackson’s cameo double. And do you know what? I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Thank you P.J. <\/p>\n

Epilogue: Jeff Slaven’s arms and legs were just fine after a few minutes of rest, and he was in no way harmed during the making of this film. You can follow Jeff at @jeff_slaven on Twitter.<\/b><\/p>\n

Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party<\/h4>\n

\"one We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit. <\/p>\n

Visit our Indiegogo campaign page to grab your tickets and help make it happen — so we can all celebrate Peter Jackson\u2019s Middle-earth movies together!<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand actor and film writer Jeff Slaven was invited in 2011 to work on Peter Jackson\u2019s film…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":77494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[497,4,74,148,2490,2497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-production-directors","category-hobbit-movie","category-jackson","category-hobbit","category-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-five-armies","category-the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Peter-Jackson-Doctor-Who.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-oXh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95931"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95936,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95931\/revisions\/95936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}