Pro-Hobbit rally in Wellington

I just got back from the pro-Hobbit rally here in Wellington at Civic Square, which was attended by thousands of people. There was a nice positive feeling from the crowd, which was a great change from all the negativity from the last few weeks surrounding the Actors Equity boycott of the Hobbit movie.

There were many famous faces in the crowd - some took a turn at the microphone while others were there simply to support Sir Peter Jackson.

A good turnout from the crowd, too. I estimated around 3000-4000 people or so but I was in the middle of them so didn't get an accurate picture. Let's see what the newspapers and TV reports say about it tonight.

Here's a few photos I took (if you follow me on Twitter you may have already seen some of these - if you don't yet, you probably should consider it).

12:26pm - The first Hobbits have arrived

12:33pm - The crowd is building up. In the foreground are my friend Grant McKenna and my wife Aiko.

12:51pm - Festivities have started - the Maori song Pokarekare Ana is sung, and the first speech is from the newly elected mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade-Brown.

12:54pm - Sir Richard Taylor, head wizard at Weta Workshop, gives a rousing speech, and reads a prepared letter from Sir Peter Jackson.

12:56pm - a partial shot of the crowd

1:02pm - Liz Mullane speaks next. She's the casting director from LOTR, and also for The Hobbit.

1:06pm - A good friend of mine and fellow LOTR tourguide, Ted Guise from Wellington Movie Tours, talked about tourism, and The Hobbit's impact on it.


Unfortunately I missed photographing some of the speakers at this point - one of them was Chris Guide, Ted's brother. Also a number of others - crew members, designers, a producer, technicians, etc. (my apologies to those I missed!).I was a bit too busy spotting faces in the crowd. Although Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh weren't there, I did spot Katie Jackson with some friends. I didn't photograph her - I gather she doesn't like the limelight as much as she used to when she played "cute hobbit child" in Fellowship of the Ring. :)

1:20pm - Next up, a speech from Gino Acevedo, SFX wizard extraordinaire (and incidentally Liz Mullane's partner - they met on the set of LOTR, apparently)

1:22pm - Wait, is that Barry Osborne in the crowd (producer of LOTR, and Matrix as well)?

After Gino's speech, Sir Richard Taylor got up once more to address the crowd. Sir Richard is always a welcome sight - people here adore him. He's one of the most gentle people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, with the most contagious sense of enthusiasm. The crowd loved him today.

1:29pm - A few balloons of hope are released - maybe Hollywood will see them...

1:43pm - Peter Lyon (sword smith) and Alan Lee (artist/designer) continue to mingle while the crowd disperses.

After the speeches, the microphone was switched off, and people started to drift away, although slowly. There were a lot of groups of people who hadn't caught up with each other for a while, seemingly. Lots of anticipation from different groups eager to get started. TV crews will no doubt have lengthy reports tonight, but it was the individual stories they won't catch. Everywhere I looked I saw hopeful people wanting to get started on this film.

This gathering was truly a show of unity aimed at the Hollywood executives, who are expected in the next few days. Let's hope it was enough.

- Jack

Three booksignings at the Weta Cave (possibly four)!

The Weta Cave is going book crazy in the next two months - three new books are being released, two of which will definitely have a proper release day (probably he third as well), and on top of that, a famous NZ author is coming to visit.

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First up is the awesome Ian Brodie, photographer and author of the immensely  popular Lord Of The Rings Location Guidebooks as well as a host of others (including Cameras in Narnia).

Ian once served time in the Rohirrim militia, before selling bread at the Minas Tirith marketplace. He has recently left his home in Wanaka and is currently residing in the Shire, possibly in a hole in the ground.

He is coming for a short visit to the Weta Cave on Friday October 2nd, and will sign books for all comers from 4:30pm onwards. Bring your own copy or purchase one at the Cave - or just come and meet the man!

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The very next day (October 3rd), Alan Lee will be introducing the world to his new book, Shapeshifters: Tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses to which he has added the illustration.

The book itself was written by Adrian Mitchell. Alan Lee was responsible for the design of all things green, curvy and curly in the LOTR movies, and is currently back in the country doing predesign work on The Hobbit movies. He will be signing the new book between 1pm and 3pm. A number of his other books will also be for sale at the Cave.

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One month later (Nov 1st), Richard Taylor himself will be introducing the new pre-schoolers book Champ The Chopper, part three in the series so far.

The series was written by Rebekah Palmer, and this installment illustrated by Weta Workshop artist Chris Guise. Chris worked on LOTR in the miniatures department before designing weapons and armour, went on to the sculpting department, and is now in the design shop. Multi-talented indeed!

I'm hoping either Rebekah, Chris or even Daniel Falconer (who worked on the first two books) will be present for the release day as well. In any case, the session will begin at 2:00pm.

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Finally, halfway through November (no firm date yet), Greg Broadmore will be releasing his new book Victory!, which is a followup to the earlier work, the somewhat lengthier titled Doctor Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory. Greg may or may not be there on the day, we haven't heard anything yet. I do know he'll be in Las Vegas at the end of October for a short stint at the Trinity Of Terrors Film festival, organised by Fangoria Magazine. He may be back in time - fingers crossed!

Greg Broadmore's recent work can be seen oozing off the screen in the impressive District 9 movie - he was the head designer. I mean, he was the boss of the designers (although I suspect he also designed the alien heads).

Keep an eye on the Weta page for more details as they come to hand on this one - his previous book was great, and this one should be very funny as well.

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In short :

Fri, Oct 2nd @ 4.30pm  - Ian Brodie signs books


Sat, Oct 3rd @1pm-3pm - Alan Lee introduces Shapesifters

Sun, Nov 1st @ 2:00pm - Richard Taylor introduces Champ The Chopper

Mid Nov (not confirmed) - Greg Broadmore's Victory!

 - Jack M.