A cold day in Rivendell

The last few days, the weather has been brutally cold (for Wellington, at least), but today was a recordbreaker during my time as a tourguide.

On tour today, the weather started to close in as we drove north. It was hailing and sleeting at the River Anduin, but after Isengard it really began to look grim. We continued further north, and drove over the hills into the Pakuratahi Valley, where the Kaitoke Park is situated (and Rivendell within the forest).

As we drove over the hillrange, a totally new sight greeted us, and the "grim" turned to "fairy tale".

July 2011

In my seven and a half years as a fulltime LOTR tourguide, I haven't seen Rivendell like this. Once, in 2004, there was a slight sprinkling of snow on the ground but this was full on. Compare this picture from then (and note the old style sign was still there, as you'll see in Ian Brodie's LOTR Location Guidebook):

August, 2004

If you've been to Rivendell before, you may remember this tree as well:

Tree opposite Frodo's Bedroom

Today it looked like this:

The park was full of Wellington children who couldn't believe their luck; snow - closeby, AND during their school holidays. In fact, all along the road back there were cars stopped beside the road with snowball fights breaking out, and snowmen being built. Hopefully for them the snow stays for a few days, but now that I have my photos I'm happy for the sun to return! :)

One more photo:

The Rivendell information sign

I drove through the area late yesterday, and there was no snow there at all, so this all happened in the last 24 hours. Awesome!

  - Jack

Hobbit filmset spotted on the highway?

I thought I'd share this lovely series of photos that were taken by one of my passengers as I was driving towards Rivendell - they appear to be parts of... Rivendell?

We were driving on State Highway 2, heading towards Upper Hutt, and the Kaitoke Regional Park where the Rivendell set was based for LOTR, when in the distance, I couldn't help but notice an interesting cargo on the back of one of the trucks in front of us. I had my iPhone lying beside me on the seat, and handed it over to one of my passengers, who took these photos (all except the last one when we had stopped for a traffic light):

The pictures appear to show a piece of very nice "stone" masonry, with curved tiles on a fairly large wooden base. Also, underneath some camo plastic, there were what appeared to be pre-fabricated wooden fences of some sort. See for you self - all the pictures can be clicked on for a larger view.


We drove beside the truck for a little while, and my passenger took a few more pictures. Please excuse her reflection in the glass; it was a very sunny day here in Wellington today.

On the right you can clearly see the "stone" wall - on the left is the camo sheet with the fences underneath it. The odd shape at the bottom of the wall is actually my passenger's knees reflected.

In the photo you can see the wooden structure that is holding the wall up.

Another view of the wall from the back of our van.

And a better view of the wall, with more detail intricate patterns of the stone tiles. This stuff reminds me of the architecture of Rivendell.

And I took this picture myself, when we were positioned right behind the truck as we were waiting for a light to change. A different angle of the fences and the wall.


We followed the truck for a while, until it turned off just before Upper Hutt. So unfortunately it doesn't look like the Rivendell sets will be rebuilt at Kaitoke Regional Park - at least, not yet!

  - Jack M.

Scoop! Hugo Weaving spotted in Wellington!

Finally, then, the news that I'd been waiting on for so long. Now that Orlando Bloom is all but confirmed; John Rhys-Davies has approached the studio last week; Sir Ian Holm is due back; Elijah Wood has been signed up; Sir Christopher Lee has indicated that (health allowing) he'll reprise his role as Saruman; Sir Ian McKellen is back in cloak and pointy hat; and Andy Serkis has donned the lycra suit with all the dots on it one more time - there was really only one person missing from the reunion list. We were still waiting for one very important cast member, espcially since the current set being rebuilt in Stone Street Studio is Rivendell.


About an hour ago I received news from one of my more reputable spies, and he has reported seeing Hugo Weaving here in Wellington this afternoon, shopping at Common Sense Organics, the fruit and vege market in Wakefield Street. Of course he shops organics - he's the lord of the Elves, for goodness sake!

Lord Elrond Half-Elven, fading into view?

It's probably a bit too hasty to assume that he's here to be in The Hobbit, but I can't think of any other reason why he would come here right now, just when they're discussing Rivendell scripts. It's certainly not for the weather (it's howling a cold southerly gale out there at the moment).

Certainly good news, no matter what!

  - Jack M.

Gandalf and Gollum arrive in Wellington

Warning: Heavy use of NamesDropping(tm) in this post! You have been warned!

In case you missed the news, Bilbo and the 13 Dwarves have arrived in Wellington last week, and are currently on some sort of Dwarven Boot Camp, whatever that may entail. Of course, a few other big names are expected to arrive in Wellington, so I've had my beady little eyes open and my not-at-all-pointy ears flat to the ground.

I've been doing alright - I was out with a LOTR tour group last Saturday and we ended up sitting at the table next to Andy Serkis! He graced us with a quick talk but it looked like his minder was rushing him along to the next meeting. I basically had a chance to welcome him back to Wellington and wish him well for what sounds like a long shoot for him - he usually ends up doing three times the amount of work just to get his physical and digital personas to match up on screen. He remembered me from the last time we met, which would have been close to five years ago, just after the King Kong release.


One of my sources told me later that he met up with Sir Ian McKellen at a local theatre on Saturday night, so Gandalf is back in town as well. I had assumed he was still on his Indian holiday but apparently that has finished now.

After Saturday lunch, and during our Weta Cave visit I ran into Sir Richard Taylor as well, who promptly told me off for calling him "Sir Richard", hehe ("just Richard, thank you!"). He mentioned a few other people who'd been at the workshop in the last week, including Seth Green. He didn't mention why Seth was here - I got the feeling it was just a friendly visit rather than anything official. Still, Seth is always very conscious of his (lack of) height - perhaps he's faced it and is applying for a Hobbit role? (email me, Seth, and I'll apologise for that one!)...  :)

It was quite a full-on day - Rivendell was still being used for that video game being filmed by Lee Tamahori (called "Cardinal", apparently although that may just be the working title), although that didn't interrupt our  LOTR tour. Apparently Shane Rangi was there as well although I didn't spot him. Having said that - there was a bunch of people in some great costumes, including one who looked like a humanoid lion/cat person - it might have been Shane in the suit! No photos sorry - their security looked stronger than me.

Isengard was full of people attending the Jousting Tournament, and on Sunday we briefly ran into LOTR's Sword Smith Peter Lyon who told us that this year he didn't take part in the Jousting but ended up relaxing from the sidelines for a change.

To top it all off, Mount Victoria and its famous "Get Off The Road!" scene was virtually inaccessible due to an all-day mountain bike race happening, which happens occasionally. I think we had enough famous people to make up for the missing location!

All in all, quite a day! I'm expecting more days like that in the next few weeks, so now is a good time to book on a tour!

Filming of Cardinal seems to have begun

Driving through Rivendell today, we passed a large ancient stone structure and an old tree that I'm sure weren't there yesterday. It looks like the filming of the video game has begun, as I blogged about a few days ago.

To the left, an ancient stone clearing. To the right, a tree being moved into the forest. All perfectly normal.

 Building up to an ancient ruin of some sort. Made from Styrofoam.

It also looks very much like the name of the game will be "Cardinal", and not "Monk" or "Abbott", as I'd previously reported. After work, just before I got home, I noticed a few new signs around my own suburb, marked "Cardinal", with the distinctive look of the film industry's directive signs.

The bottom sign is new

Cardinals turn left?

From the sounds of things, the filming at Rivendell will be from the 16th to about the 19th of February, however, these signs I photographed are closer to Wellington City and probably point towards Makara, where a lot of filming was done as well - notably parts of Black Sheep, and of course a few scenes of our very own Lord Of The Rings. Specifically the part where Sam, Frodo and Gollum walk past the old statue of a king with its head removed, when the evening sun reveals the blossom on the king's head.

I'll keep my eyes open in the next few days, there might be some LOTR people about - or perhaps even Hobbit people?

Filmset in Rivendell, (not Hobbit)

I've heard from a few people that there will be some filming going on in the Kaitoke Regional Park, aka Rivendell. Although apparently swords will be used, it doesn't sound like it will be The Hobbit. I've pieced together some details, weeded out the stuff that sounded too fantastical or unlikely, and this is what I think is happening:

- Being filmed are the short movie interludes for a video game, to be shown between advancing levels of the game
- The game is called "The Monk", or "The Abbott", or something similar. I couldn't get anyone to tie that one down
- The park location will be used between the 16th and 19th of February
- The director will be Lee Tamahori, of James Bond and Once Were Warriors fame
- There will be swords, medieval tents, and horses
- Weta is involved, although I have no idea if that's Weta Digital or Weta Workshop, nor do I know at what level they'll be involved


And today, while on tour, we met up with Shane Rangi at Rivendell, who was doing some "reccing" (recconaissance) with some studio crew. He was very friendly, but appropriately tightlipped, of course :)  He did let slip that he'd be a part of the filming next week.

I have blogged about Shane in the past - check out this entry from March last year, where he was also scouting around the Rivendell area with a group of execs. Possibly it's about the same filmshoot?

If I see anything worthwhile next week, I'll be sure to post some pictures!

Tangiwai Rail Disaster movie being filmed at Rivendell

Although I've never seen any signs of a railroad at Rivendell, it seems that it's the perfect place to film a train disaster. A new movie is currently being filmed called "Tangiwai", for NZ tv, and today we arrived at Rivendell (Kaitoke Regional Park) just in time to watch the film crew throw bits of train off the bridge down on the river bed, in the hope of creating that lovely "smashed" look.

Take a look for yourselves - I taped it.

Tangiwai Traincrash at Kaitoke

It's not the best footage but it's fun to see, I hope.

  - Jack

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!

Second Hobbit location confirmed?

It looks like the second location (after Matamata's Hobbiton) has been leaked by the NZ Department of Conservation - Lake Wakatipu, according to the Otago Daily Times, who interviewed DOC's Wakatipu area manager Greg Lind.

However, Wingnut Films (Peter Jackson's company) is denying any such deal at this stage. Then again, they'd say that in either case, so asking them is like asking the CIA who killed JFK; the answer isn't necessarily going to sway anybody.

I've been trying to get hold of the folks looking after Rivendell (Kaitoke Regional Park, just north of Wellington) but so far they've not heard anything yet. Watch this space!

There is one thing that I've been more than a little curious about. So far, we know two things about the Hobbit movie. First, we know that the Hobbiton set is already being rebuilt in Matamata. Second, we know that the project hasn't had the greenlight from Hollywood yet. So, the question I have is this - who is paying for the refurbishment of Hobbiton - is PJ so assured of success that he's funding that himself? Questions like that leave me feeling very positive about the future!


For the full Otago Daily Times article, read here.

  - Jack M.

Alan Lee Autograph Session at Weta Cave

Another great day! The third autograph session here in Wellington at the Weta Cave in about a month! First, the designer of all the bad guys in LOTR (generally speaking), John Howe. Next, Guillermo del Toro, who will lead us all back to Middle-earth one more time, and finally, Alan Lee, the designer of all things good under the Middle-earth sun. One of his favourite places in Lord Of The Rings was Rivendell, a place I now have the pleasure of visiting on a daily basis. I don't think I'm speaking out of place when I say that Alan Lee's designs hold a very special place in most LOTR fan's hearts, whether they know his name or not.

I was a bit rushed off my feet getting the day organised, what with picking up my good friend Mark Fry from the railway station, dropping my son off at soccer practice before the game, getting to Alan Lee's session in time before the crowds showed up, and getting back in time to watch the second half of the soccer game. Still, it all worked out in the end, quite nicely in fact. As a good parent, I'm supposed to say that the best part of the day was the soccer game, of course. Rain and (almost) sub-zero temperatures or not.

So call me a bad parent - the game was a close second, but it was great meeting Alan Lee (again). These meetings are always too short but he'll be here for another year or so, so I fully expect (read: hope) to meet with him again before he leaves. Just in case though, I'd brought along my first edition Children Of Hurin, as my LOTR and Hobbit books already had his signature in them.




Also, I brought along another special item - the original hand painted sign of Rivendell that was up at Kaitoke Regional Park, before they were replaced by the new boring ones, the official Department Of Conservation routed timber signs. If you have a copy of Ian Brodie's LOTR Location Guidebook (not the extended one), my sign is on page 50. Keep in mind it's about 2 metes long.



The sign came to me via a kind forest ranger who mentioned it was getting replaced, and the old one was probably going to make it onto the bonfire after the DOC barbecue later that weekend, some three years ago. I rescued it, with kind permission of the ranger. I like to think of the coffee and muffins I brought him as my appreciation, rather than a distraction ruse while I ran off. Either way, it's mine now :)

I had it signed by Richard Taylor the same year, at a Wellington book signing event at Dymocks Bookshop. Richard laughed out loud when he saw it, and asked me somewhat redundantly where I'd got it from ("Rivendell, fairly obviously"...).

Alan had the same question today, but was also more than happy to sign it.



There's a few other signatures that belong on it - I'd love to add Hugo Weaving to it, and perhaps a few other designers. Daniel Falconer springs to mind (Daniel, if you're reading this, I'd love an invite! The staff at the Cave know how to get a hold of me). Ideally Peter Jackson, of course, but he's not well known for attending public events, especially Wellington public events (Peter, a private event would work for me - name a time and place, and I'll be there with coffee and muffins!) :)

Eventually, I'd like to own a house so I can call it Rivendell, and stick the signs outside (the signed one inside, obviously!)

As an aside, leave me a comment if you've ever named a house, or a pet (or a child!) after something from Professor Tolkien's worlds... I know Carlos from the Weta Cave has two cats name Merry and Pippin, for instance... anyone else?

- Jack M.


PS - if you're wondering why the arrow in my sign points right, and the one in the park points left - there were multiple signs. Yes, I have the others too. Feel free to make me an offer for the other two :)

Rivendell Location News

Eight of us Flat Earth LOTR tourguides had a training day today, which is something we like to do from time to time to refresh everybody's stories a bit, and perhaps to share some new ones we may have heard since the last meeting.

Personally I think there's no more demanding audience than fellow tourguides - everyone's always correcting everybody else, and it's often difficult to get a story out over the din of people joining in! Oh, and did I mention I was being filmed for our training DVD? Gooood fun!

(From left to right) Tony, Tim, Phil, Steve, Andrea, Todd, and me. Missing (taking the photo) is Bryn.

It was a fun morning at the Kaitoke Regional Park ("Rivendell") though - I took the group through the location in much the same way as I would on a normal day. There were some new stories to tell, and a few to correct as we've heard new information from more reputable sources, or someone's stumbled across a new photo that disputes earlier tellings of the same stories.

One location in the area was used for a famous Orlando Bloom's publicity photo, and if you came on a tour here in Wellington, chances are you have a very similar photo of yourself in that very spot.

We had actually stopped taking people up to the tree, as the tree was showing signs of damage from the thousands of people (however carefully) standing on its roots. Steve (the local forest ranger) had requested some months ago to give the tree a little rest, which we'd all been adhering to.

However, I was talking to Steve a few weeks ago, and he was planning on doing some renovating to the area, redefine the paths, and put up a small platform for people to stand on while they took the same photo. It looks like that's become more than planning since my last conversation with him, as the platform has just appeared!

This photo shows the platform in the centre, a short path leading up to it on the left, and the "Legolas Tree" on the right.

Standing on the platform allows for the best photo opportunity.

Compare the tree with this publicity shot of Orlando at the exact same location (photo by Pierre Vinet, (c) New Line Cinema).

Now that the platform has been put into place, the tree should be fine again, and all the Legolas fans can have their favourite photo taken again.

- Jack M.