New Weta Miniatures on the horizon?

I was talking to a guy in the last week who brought news from Hong Kong (my spies are everywhere!), where Greg Broadmore's exhibition of his Dr Grordbort range of guns and accessories are being displayed. This travelling exhibition was originally set up in mainland China, in Chengdu. All the proceeds for the exhibition there went to support the victims of the big earthquake in the Sichuan province in 2008.

I haven't spoken to anyone who saw the exhibition in Chengdu, but I was shown some very interesting pictures (although very briefly, and very small photos) of the displays in Hong Kong. Specifically, I saw a new LOTR miniature that I hadn't seen before, of Gollum creeping up a precipe of some sort. I would approximate from the scale that the statue was roughly the same size as the one that came with my The Two Towers (Extended Edition) DVD boxed set, way back in 2003, so about 15-20cms tall. He looked pretty awesome! Is this Weta's new miniature, after the soon-to-go-be-released Pillars of the Kings? Btw, if you want that one, be quick, since it's apparently very close to sold out already, through pre-orders.

Unfortunately I don't have copies of the photos, but I'm more than happy to publish any sent to me (hint!)...


So, I did a bit of a search online, and although I couldn't find any Gollum miniature photos, I did come up with this picture, of Dr Grordbort's range, specifically the previously announced (but never mentioned again) Goliathon 800 Moon Hater miniature:

So, apparently it does exist already! It wasn't clear to me whether these displays were in the Exhibition or in the attached Weta shop, but it would have been awesome to see them!

This piece I didn't recognise at all - it may have come from a graphic novel or something. It certainly looks stunning though![Update: according to the good folks at the Weta Collectible forums of The Shadow And Flame, they represent the Earth elite forces, from the Victory book.

I did see Gollum amongst the photos though - but this one is fullsize, and is either the faux-bronze or the actual bronze - I suspect the faux-bronze since it's had to be hauled to Hong Kong!

I also recognise this piece - this was done in full-size, outside Blizzard Entertainment headquarters in the US (thanks to The Shadow And Flame for the info).

It seems to be a much smaller version of the giant statue. Merchandise? Faux Bronze? Artist Conceptual Proof of the real one? Your guess as good as mine!


But the best is still to come - I searched further online, and found this - it looks to be a new range called "Guardians of the Garden".

Quote : "A Weta original. A range of small bronze sculptures of fantasy creatures riding on Eurocentric forest animals, getting up to mischief in your garden. They bring alive your garden with irreverent humor, childhood fantasy and beautiful art". Gorgeous!

NB - I love the "not approved" comment on the photos - I wonder how my source came by them then? Weta Ltd is usually VERY careful about what they let out of their sights!



It certainly looks like Weta is beavering away in the background, and is certainly not sitting still while they wait for The Hobbit to go ahead!

  - Jack

Merry and Pippin return to Loth-Lorien?

Warning : this is a human interest story, and may contain kittens. You were warned.

I'd love to give you some actual news, but the studios are a bit silent at the moment, and we're stuck with "fireman rescues kitten from tree" stories.


Last week I took a group around the region on a LOTR tour, and discovered that there are new tennants at Loth-Lorien. It appears that the owners of the gardens at Fernside (the property where Peter Jackson filmed the Loth-Lorien scenes as well as the Gladden Fields scenes where Smeagol strangles Deagol) have obtained two kittens. They were incredibly friendly (unless you're a butterfly), and followed us all around the property, right from the carpark through the gardens, around the lake, and back to the car again. All up, I would estimate at least a couple of hundred meters.

Note the bridge in the background - you'll see the same bridge in the Fellowship Of The Rings, for instance where Legolas tells Merry and Pippin, already in the boat, that "a small bite of Lembas will fill the stomach of a grown man", as the two are picking their teeth clean of a good second breakfast.


Anyway, enjoy the pic, in liue of actual news. If nothing else, it may reassure you that I'm still here. :)

  - Jack

Roundup of lesser things

Another two weeks have passed since the last entry, and not a lot of official stuff has happened. The green light on The Hobbit still hasn't been lit, and although there's some movement in some of the actors (notable Sir Ian McKellen), nothing official has been announced. Frankly, from a news perspective, there's nothing going on at the moment - but at least I'm honest and up-front about that.

The local newspapers, both Wellington's as well as Auckland's, have been busy sensationalising things even more than usual. I can't believe people buy papers anymore, when the truth is so easy to find these days, online.


The announced Wellywood sign

The first botched newsreport of course was the announcement by the Wellington Airport that they are in the final stages of putting up a big "Wellywood" sign in the Miramar hills. The required Resource Consent has already been granted by the Wellington City Council, so apart from a high court appeal (fairly unlikely), it looks like it's all going ahead, and around June we will have ourselves something to actually photograph with pride. The airport's lawyers seem quite certain that all the legal requirements have been met as well, so I can't see anything else in the way.

I think they're planning on "Wellywood" but this has appeal, no?

The Dominion Post however, decided to make it a huge public spectacle, with online surveys and by opening comments on their website (through stuff.co.nz). Of course, there was a lot of backlash from the Great Unwashed, but that's always going to be the case. The Beehive (NZ's government building) was treated in the same way when it was first announced (well, similar anyway; that was pre-blogging), and now nobody talks about it anymore, but tourists come daily to photograph it. The national Museum Te Papa caught a lot of flack at the time of construction, but that's quitened down. Hell, I'm sure the Eiffel Tower got a lot of complaints when it was first announced/built, and now look at it. Hard to imagine Paris without it.

My personal pie-in-the-face award goes to local yokel (and mayoral candidate, no less) Jack Yan, who decided the best way to run for Wellington mayor would be to alert the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce about it, so they can sue the current Council. Nice going, mate - that's one less vote for you. You're costing the city money and tourism before you're even elected.

There are a number of anti-wellywood pages on Facebook by the uninformed, but here's a "pro Wellywood" page instead.



The Hobbit in 3D

Probably not going to happen. At least, nothing has been decided but the local rag (DomPost) decided it was a slow news day and stirred things up again using old quotes from TheOneRing.net forums, where Guillermo del Toro earlier this month mentioned that a conversation has been started about whether 3D would be considered or not. He didn't give any answers to anyone, but that didn't stop the local newspaper (and virally, the rest of the world) from waiting for two weeks before coming up with their own "source", an insider! Possibly as high up as either the cleaning staff or the courier who dropped some parcels off that morning, I reckon! Their article adds nothing but more confusion to the already tumultuous grapevine. I expect truth from newspapers, and actual researched articles.

Matthew Dravitski (Peter Jackson's spokesperson) denied that any new information was known, and he's likely to know, I'd think. If he says there's no decision made on 3D, I'll believe that. Matt's track record on keeping us fans informed is pretty solid.



Props Collector
 
Next, there was the matter of the "fraudulent" Lord Of The Rings props. The Auckland Herald reported that a collector had probably been sold shoddy goods when he paid his us$50,000 for an original Sting sword, and promptly got the studios to quote on half of the information as well. A few days later, the whole sorry mess was debunked by the people who should know the facts better than anyone - OriginalProp.com - who did a throrough investigation into the actual story. Turns out, the collector in question (Troika Brodsky) had actually bought the genuine props off the legal owners who won them in a contest.

The contest was well described in Peter Jackson's biography - apparently NewLine was giving away swords and various other props without telling the NZ makers about it. PJ put a stop to this when he reminded them that the ROTK's extended cut hadn't actually been completed yet, and they might not want to get rid of the props just yet. If I recall correctly, he ended up accepting the remaining props as payment for the extended cuts.

So, another pie-in-the-face award to "reporter" Joseph Barratt from the NZ Herald.



Lies, damn lies, and newspaper articles

From a personal perspective, I was involved in the story about the sinking of the Venture (as I blogged about earlier). I was called by Radio NZ, who interviewed me for about 4 minutes. I asked beforehand if I could hear the story before it went out but apparently that's not the "done thing", so I requested that he use positive soundclips, however, by the time it was on the air, all he'd managed to retain was the most negative and out-of-contexts statements possible. That's the last time I'll trust the traditional press.



  - Jack M.

Shane Rangi in Rivendell - with a sword! (photos!)

Earlier this week, I was at the Kaitoke Regional Park - better known here as Rivendell - and as we were walking across the bridge, I couldn't help noticing a group of people standing about 30 meters away. One had a good sized video camera (larger, for instance, than most tourists cameras), one had an official looking clipboard in his hand. The one that stood out the most though, was the big muscular looking gent with no hair and carrying a sword, who I immediately identified as LOTR's very own Shane Rangi!

Shane has appeared many times in our favourite trilogy, often as a stunt double, although most famously in The Fellowship Of The Ring as the Witch-King of Angmar. Apparently he has a T-Shirt he wears to conventions that boldly proclaims "I Stabbed Frodo!", something only he (and Shelob, I guess) could get away with. Shane also played the Harad Leader on top of the Mumak who was dispatched by Eomer's spear. In fact, the first time I met him, I was waiting for someone at Weta Digital to come to lunch with me, and I approached Shane (he also doubled as Weta Digital's receptionist at times), saying "I'm sure I recognise you from somewhere", to which he replied "picture me with a spear sticking out of my stomach"... Nice. :)

Soon, Shane crossed the River, with the others looking on from the near side. We left them to it.

Anyway, as I took my guests for a stroll through Rivendell, Shane's group was walking back to the carpark again. I know better than to ask a group of film-industry people what they're working on - their affairs are subtle, and they are quick to anger, and all that. Closed questions are even worse - they will say both "no" and "yes". (ed: enough with the Tolkien misquoting already!)

I was told that they were scouting for a new production, and one of the group knew the question on my mind - it must have been pretty obvious - and offered "sorry, we're definitely not working on a JRR Tolkien project", something Shane has since confirmed as well. So, it's apparently not The Hobbit then - so what else could it be? What sword carrying production is soon to be filmed in the Rivendell area? Are we getting another Narnia movie here? Shane has just returned from the new Narnia production in Australia, Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. Is the next one to be filmed here? Or will it be a locally made TV series, like Legend Of The Seeker perhaps?



Here's another photo of the rest of the group - if anyone can identify any of them, maybe that could give more clues to the purpose of the scouting trip!

 

Who are all these guys?? (click on the picture for a bigger version)

Let me know what you think!

  - Jack M.

PS - a BIG thanks to Andrew B. for the great photos!

Drought or flood - or, "many meetings"...

In the previous entry I was complaining about how nothing seems to be happening, then suddenly I am flooded with news, or potential news. Unfortunately, I'm so busy with tours that I haven't had a chance to do any digging but I thought I'd just report what I've heard from my spies and from what I've seen myself.

First, the biggest news item - Elijah Wood was spotted in the capital. Though heavily disguised with hats, sunglasses, and jackets, one of my most reliable spies spotted him. My spy unfortunately didn't get a chance to say "hi" to him, so I can't tell you why he was here. Could be he was on holiday, could be it wasn't him (I have no photographic proof) - but Elijah being in Wellington suggests to me that there are exciting things afoot - especially when I add his sighting to the others this week. There's no reason to assume he'd be in The Hobbit, but maybe there's another good reason why he'd be here, so close to the green light of the production?


For some reason or another I have been running in to some very cool people this week. Some of them weren't too surprising, others might have been coincidental as well. There's murmerings of lots of secret meetings taking place in the last two weeks, with big black cars parked outside, all over Miramar.

Apart from the unsubstantiated rumours from other sources, I can personally confirm that Shane Rangi is back in town, back from Australia where he's just finished filming a project. Unusually, he assured me he actually (gasp!) LIVED through an entire movie! Not like him at all, he usually dies at least once, and often more than once per movie.

I also ran into Gino Acevido. He's always pleasant and polite, and is a master at making people feel comfortable. He always appears to be very chatty, but afterwards I always realise he's not given anything away that he shouldn't have. Now, seeing him outside Weta Cave isn't that unexpected since he works in the same building a lot of the time, but I haven't met up with him for a while now. Could be just a coincidence.

I could at this point names-drop and mention that I've recently been speaking/emailing/facebooking/twittering with Richard Taylor, John Howe, Costa Botes, Ian Brodie (and sighted Jamie Selkirk), but it was all on unrelated matters, and unfortunately none of them mentioned anything related to The Hobbit.

John Howe did suggest that he may be releasing another artbook soon, and when that comes out he'll probably be autographing it down at the Weta Cave again (something the good folk at the Cave have also let slip) but I've heard nothing specific yet. John Howe has produced a number of very good books featuring his artwork in the past, and this one should be another excellent read.

While at the Weta Cave, I did notice that some of the illustrated LOTR and Hobbit books as well as a few Children of Hurin copies all had Alan Lee's autographs in them, so (a) he must be in town right now, and (b) if you want a rare Alan Lee autograph in a Tolkien book, now is the time to head to the Weta Cave.

Also, while on autographed books - the Cave still has Ian Brodie's LOTR Location Guidebook, and Paul Tobin seems to have been in recently, as the copies of his Crafting Of Narnia all had his signature on the front page. Furthermore, Scott Spencer's books on digital ZBrush techniques all had Scott's autographs in them as well! There can't be a lot of books there without autographs, surely!  ((ed: Sorry Scott, I don't have an IMDB link for you - mail me?))

I've been assured that there are a ton of new items coming from the good folks at Weta, including a number of LOTR related ones. One we're all waiting on of course is the new Hobbiton miniature collectible. I've got in on good authority that they are starting to look "very nice" (I was allowed to quote that much, and no more). But they haven't been revealed yet. I'm sure they'll be on the Weta site before they're on mine!


The final bit of news from Weta - the guns of District 9 were released, and almost sold out already. I did manage to get myself photographed with the last few samples though... enjoy!

The guns are quite heavy, and the detail on them is terrific! Little bits of alien gloop and elbow grease everywhere, scratches and dents everywhere. Very realistic. Let's hope they get the "Best picture" Oscar!

  - Jack M.

It's gone quiet - almost too quiet!

It's been almost two weeks since my last post, and although I've had to rush off for a week while my father was in hospital (he's doing good, by the way - and thanks to everyone for their well wishes, also via Facebook and Twitter), nothing much has been happening here in Wellington.

I've been pretty busy with tours in any case, so I've not had a lot of spare time, which is a great problem to have of course.

However, I have been working on and off on setting up some sort of mechanism to offer some souvenirs online - something I've been meaning to do ever since I started touring about six years ago. There's a link at the top of this page called "Precious Things" - I'd be very keen to hear back from people what you think of it. Do you like or dislike the shirt? Am I being too commercial? I promise not to start sending spam your way any day soon!

I'm using an online shop system called Zazzle, which seems to do a fine job of it, and they'll happily take your credit card details etc. The products seem good quality as well, which was my first concern.


Anyway, drop me a line and let me know what you think!

  - Jack

Venture finally sunk

The King Kong vessel The Venture was finally sunk on Tuesday Feb 9th, around 12:30pm. Originally planned for Monday, the scuttling operation couldn't go ahead due to weather conditons (the last thing anybody wanted was the ship going down on the way there!) but Tuesdays conditions were as perfect as I've ever seen them in Wellington - mirror smooth seas and windstill conditions. Later on in the day I watched a pod of about 15-20 dolphins jumping around the Petone pier.


I couldn't make it out to the sinking, and missed it leaving the dock for the last time as well, but a colleague of mine managed to take a few pics before it left.

(Pictures by Bryn Lloyd)

One of the people who's shown lots of interest in the ship (and who has been involved with other local scuttling operations, is the appropriately named Marco Zeeman, who managed to get close enough to the sinking to document the event - there's a video of the final moments on the local NZ news site Stuff.co.nz.


I saw the lonely red tugboat return into the Wellington harbour around 4:30pm - red, like the executioner's axe.

  - Jack M.

Venture will be sunk Tuesday 8th

Today was going to be the final day on the surface for the King Kong vessel The Venture, but due tothe weather conditions, it looks like it's had a stay of execution by one extra day. According to the Harbour Master, on Tuesday morning at 7:00am, the tug will arrive at the dock, and will tow The Venture out to sea for its final voyage.

I'm working on a tour tomorrow but I'll do my best to get there before work starts, hopefully I'll be able to take a few last pictures of it as it leaves.


Here is a great shot of the venture a little while ago, taken by one of my readers, Tim Prebble. Tim, great shot by the way! It was obviously taken before last week, when it still had both masts! I love the fog behind it! (For those unfamiliar with the area - behind it should be the hills of Miramar, and behind that, the hills of the Hutt Valley)...

(photo by Tim Prebble)

As a side issue, I was interviewed by Radio NZ's Tim Graham last week about it, and although I tried to keep things as positive as possible, they managed to turn my 5 minute interview into three pretty negative sounding soundbites, which is, I suppose, the power of the old media at work. At least he pronounced my name correctly. On the whole though, the piece is well balanced, although it sounded like Peter Jackson was somehow to blame for not covering the cost of the operation...? It hasn't been his ship for what, 4 years or so?

For those who'd like a listen to the podcast, it's available on the Radio NZ website. The link searches on all things "King Kong" so there may be other choice items there (currently there's still an interview from Philippa Boyens there as well). You can also subscribe to the Radio NZ podcasts through iTunes.

  - Jack

King Kong's Venture mast removed

I got a call from the Wellington Harbour Master yesterday giving me a quick heads-up to "something I might not want to miss" - one lucky person has managed to secure quite a major souvenir off the now doomed King Kong vessel, the Venture. This morning the crew was due to remove the main mast off the front of the boat (as you can tell I'm not of the sailor ilk, or I'm sure I would have called it the bow or something. Or the aft? Can't remember which is the front bit).

Underway I picked up a few mates who might be interested in witnessing the historical event, and we arrived at the Miramar Wharf just after 8:30am, just in time to watch the proceedings.

As we arrived, the mast was still up, although the rope ladders to both side were already hanging slack. The crane arrived shortly after, and started extending towards the top of the mast. The mast was secured into place with the crane as well as a few other ropes from the side, so that it won't fall to the ground (or worse, on the wet side of the boat) after the cutting is done.

One of the workers started seriously cutting through the mast. The whole process took about a minute or so.



He left a few very small tabs connected, so that the crane was besically keeping it in place.

Here's the cutting process in action (let me know if it doesn't work; it's my first YouTube video) :)

The blue ribbon cable in the photo was one of the last support left, apart from the steel cable above it (not in this picture). Once that was removed, the mast was loose. Here's the final moments of the mast, for posterity;

And off it came. It was a bit of a sad sight, a mastless ship. Especially after seeing it every day, and pointing it out to literally hundreds of people over the last four years.

On closer inspection, the mast did have a few treasures still on it - two lovely glass lamps.

I'm hoping the new owners will put the whole thing upright again somewhere, possibly even in a publicly accessible place. They certainly looked pretty chuffed with themselves afterwards!

 

After speaking to the Harbour Master again, it looks like the final paperwork on the sinking of the vessel will be completed next Monday the 8th of Feb. After that, they will wait for the right conditions - less than a one meter swell, less than 15 knot winds, and two tugboats have to be available for the whole day (in other words, not on a cruiseship day, of which there are four next week). I couldn't help thinking that if we have to wait for a 15 knot wind (or less!) here in windy Wellington, it may not go down for a few more years! But I suspect I'm being overly optimistic (or pessimistic, about our weather).

In any case, its days are numbered. More updates as they come to hand!

  - Jack

Real Giant Wetas released in wildlife sanctuary

Just came across this article in the local paper, about the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC) releasing 40 Giant Weta into the Karori Wildlife Anctuary (recently renamed as "Zealandia"). The article itself has absolutely nothing to do with the movie industry, but I thought it might be interesting for people to see what the Weta Workshop has been named after.

The Giant Weta is the largest of the different sub-species, there's also the common Tree Weta and the jumping Cave Weta (not my favourite). Unfortunately, the Giant Weta is pretty rare these days, and a breeding program has been instigated by DOC, notably on the little island in the centre of Wellington's harbour. From there, 40 specimen were transported this week to the wildlife sanctuary here in town, and released. One ended up in the newspaper, on the back of the hand of a brave insect wrangler, six-year-old Rion Anderson of Ngaio.

 

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

The Weta is a fascinating creature, I often find them outside my house (and occasionally inside). The ones I see on the property aren't as quite big as this one though. Oh, and as with pretty much every other NZ species, they're pretty harmless. What looks like a giant stinger at the rear is actually the ovipositor, with which the female lays her eggs.

Anyway, that's what Richard Taylor named his company after. Apparently when he named it he didn't expect to become a worldwide name - here in NZ everyone knows what a Weta is.

  - Jack M.