Coffee meetup in Wellington

The new year is underway, the Hobbit movie is about to get exciting, and I think it's time to have a coffee!

I'm going to be at Floriditas Cafe in Cuba Street (Wellington) on Sunday the 16th of January at 2:00pm, for a coffee - if anyone is keen to meet up, please join me there! I don't have any amazing announcements to make - but maybe by then I will - who knows?

I do have a couple of cool projects on the burner at the moment, some of them Hobbit related, some of them not so much. Come and join me for some sunday afternoon conversation; if nothing else, Floriditas do great coffee!

 Cappuccino at Floriditas

  - Jack

New Feature - LOTR Location Reports

In the last few weeks I've received a number of reports from travellers about other LOTR locations that they've been visiting. Most of them have been text only, and occasionally also they've been accompanied by gorgeous photos. I've asked all the senders for permission to repost them in slightly edited versions, so here's the first one - a quick note about the currently most exciting one - Hobbiton!

The report comes from KB from somewhere in Western Europe (anonymity is required since she had to sign the Non Disclosure Agreement!).

[Re.: Hobbiton] I was there and it's terrific! The hobbit holes are mostly ready and look as if you could move in next day and there are lots of nice details you probably will never see in a movie!

The Green Dragon pub and the mill are still under construction and we couldn't get near.

Whether the set will last after the shooting seems still a secret, nobody knows or want to tell. (Or let's put it this way: The guide said he wouldn't know, but he looked very pleased ...) 

So, an interesting report - it sounds very much like Matamata's Hobbiton will be a permanent place, with complete sets remaining in place afterwards. Something else I heard today is that the bridge is apparently made out of steel, solid timber, and actual stone on the outside. I've been sent some photos by a different source, I might post a few  of them a bit later, after I check with them.


  - Jack

Just before the end of the year - a few unsubstantiated rumours

It's almost the end of the year and I haven't had a proper blog entry out for a while. I have heard a few juicy rumours in the last few days though - unfortunately none of the following rumours I can back up with solid facts, so let's see how many turn out to be correct.

Rumour 1) The reason Sir ian McKellen hasn't been signed up is because he is holding out for more money.

Likelihood of some truth to this rumour - probably about 30% or so. On the one hand I can't imagine Sir Ian being driven by cash, but then again nothing seems to be happening about a contract with him. However, add to that the fact that Andy Serkis hasn't been signed up yet either, and I don't believe it's true. The only reason I'm posting it now is because it came from a reasonably solid source.

Rumour 2) There are currently around 6000 people directly or indirectly involved on the making of The Hobbit.

Likelihood of accuracy - about 20%. This seems like a huge number, and is possibly just hyperbole mixed with a misheard number (600 perhaps?). On the other hand, Weta Digital can have huge numbers of people employed, plus Weta workshop, plus all the other creative companies like set production, costuming, and of course the admin companies, and possibly counting anyone else who is somehow involved, including catering staff to all those people (including a ton of small local companies), maybe that was the "extended" amount.

Rumour 3) A Hobbit Set is currently being constructed just north of Wellington, in Waikanae, consisting (among other things) of a "pointing tree", whatever that may be.

View Larger Map

I'd give this one a 50% chance of being real - apparently a film set is being constructed there, although I have no proof that it's from The Hobbit. I just heard that one this morning, and have no other information on it (yet).

Rumour 4) Matamata's Hobbiton will remain a permanent installation after The Hobbit movie is finished filming, and at least 8 of the 44 hobbit holes have been dug out of the hillside, with enough space for a small bedroom, ready for Hobbiton to be turned into a Bed'n'Breakfast for us "true" Hobbit fans.

After seeing some of the awesome photos from some of my guests who have been to the set, I'm inclined to believe some of these stories. The bridge appears extraordinarily solid, and it did look at one point that some of the hobbit holes were created from the inside out, with enough space to create a small room behind it. Will it be a Hobbit Hotel? That's possibly more wishful thinking than anything else.As a side note, I have in my hot little hands an awesome set of Hobbiton photos that I may post in the next few days, if I have time.


That will do for now - I thought I had another one but I can't remember that one right now. I'll post more as I hear them. As always - these are RUMOURS, and I really wouldn't put any money on any of them coming true. Always interesting though!

  - Jack M.

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

100th Posting on NZ Noldor, and 500th comment as well...! Whoop!

Well, it's probably nothing much, compared to some of the major blogs out there, but I'm quite pleased with it - I've just discovered that this is the 100th blog entry on the NZ Noldor Blog, and earlier today I also left the 500th comment. I'm quite pleased with both of those! :)


Today also marked my official return to full-time LOTR guiding - I have spent the last few months in a temporary office job (*shudder!*), which helped me pay the rent while Wellington Rover Tours was setting up a new tour. The new Rover tour is pretty much ready to go, which means they needed more guides to cover the LOTR tours, so they called me. It's SO nice to be wanted, and even nicer to be out touring again!

We're gearing up for an extremely busy season - one of the points of order at this morning's team meeting was that we shouldn't bother applying for any holidays around January-March 2011, as it looks like all the guides will be needed to cover the amount of prebooked tours. Also there are a lot of cruise ships coming, some of them with prebooked tours, but often also last minute bookings.

The thing to take away from that - if you're planning on coming to Wellington for a LOTR tour, book us sooner rather than later this summer - we're very popular! And of course with the Hobbit now going ahead, it's only going to get more popular, so be quick!

Anyway, that was a quick plug for my (re)new(ed) employer - I hope it wasn't too obvious! :)

  - Jack M.

The Hobbit WILL be filmed in New Zealand, after all!

On my browser right now are about two dozen links to websites and facebook pages that are reporting that The Hobbit will go ahead in New Zealand. There are some HUGE celebrations around NZ tonight!

If you want to see our Prime Minister John Key's full press conference, take a look at this page on TV3. They have a 5 minute clip including questions time.

TVNZ also has a page for it here. Their video is about 10 minutes long.

And of course, our newspaper collective, stuff.co.nz had a few words to say on the matter as well.


I understand that the Matterhorn restaurant is the location of an inpromptu party right now. Can't make it myself, but that's mainly because I've been celebrating too much to legally drive there at this stage. :)


Personally, I've avoided talking about the actor's boycott that has taken over this country's news media in the last few weeks, mainly because it was too close to my heart. If the Hobbit hadn't had the go-ahead to be filmed here in New Zealand, I may as well pack up my bags and decide on a new career. Sure, LOTR tourism would still exist, but pretty soon it would stagnate. Pretty much everyone has always assumed (rightly, it turns out) that taking The Hobbit away from New Zealand would amount to lunacy. Frankly, I would have wound down the blog, and gone on with something else less work intensive.

Some of the specific reasons I didn't report on any of it on this blog - it was well reported elsewhere. I usually had no personal angle to add to it. When I did have my own story, I was bound by loyalty to keep things confidential (like the non-unionised actors meeting I attended). If we'd lost the Hobbit, I wanted it to end on a high note ("green light for Hobbit" and "pro-Hobbit rally" for instance), while if we didn't lose it (as it turns out), I don't want three weeks of hatred and spitefulness messing up my blog forever. And let's face it, some pretty awful things were said, and lots of untruths as well.


I'm sure everyone has been reading The One Ring, and perhaps Kristin Thompson's excellent blog The Frodo Franchise as well. Kristin's accurate analysis of everything LOTR/Hobbit related, especially the financial and political side, is always fascinating to read. If you haven't subscribed to her posts, I can highly recommend them.



From here on in, expect the casting rumours, the location rumours, and general film news to be foremost on my mind. The awful uncertainties have finally gone (I hope!), and I can relax a bit and get on with the job of reporting some FUN rumours for a change!

Hope you'll join me!

  - Jack M.

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

GREEN LIGHT ON THE HOBBIT!!!

It's finally official - The Hobbit is going ahead! I've just this minute received a press release from Peter Jackson's office, confirming the details. Rather than summarise like other blogs have done, I'll just post the whole press release here so you can read the whole lot at once...:

For immediate release

OSCAR WINNER PETER JACKSON TO DIRECT “THE HOBBIT” IN TWO INSTALLMENTS

Peter Jackson Set to Direct J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” In a Two-Part 3D Production of Extraordinary Scope

 (Los Angeles, October 15, 2010) The two films based on “The Hobbit” are now greenlit and will begin principal photography in February 2011, under the direction of Peter Jackson, it was jointly announced today by Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema, Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. and Steve Cooper, co-Chief Executive Officer of  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

“Exploring Tolkien’s Middle-earth goes way beyond a normal film-making experience” Jackson says, "It’s an all-immersive journey into a very special place of imagination, beauty and drama. We’re looking forward to re-entering this wondrous world with Gandalf and Bilbo - and our friends at New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers and MGM”.

“Peter is a filmmaker of incomparable ability; having him return to Middle-earth to produce and direct is a dream come true. A true original, Peter is a gifted story-teller, visionary director and pioneer in film technology,” said Emmerich. “Reuniting with Peter, Fran and Philippa truly makes it feel like we are going ‘there and back again.’”

“There is no human being on the planet as qualified as Peter Jackson to direct these films,” said Horn. “Peter is incredibly talented and has the creative vision and experience to bring this beloved property to life in a way that no other filmmaker could.  And the team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens has proven through their work on the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy that no one is more skilled at transforming Tolkien's written words into a vibrant, living language that makes the audience believe they are not merely visiting Middle-earth, but actually living in it. We couldn’t be more thrilled and look forward to seeing ‘The Hobbit’ take shape under Peter’s stewardship and the team he is putting together.”

"MGM is excited to move forward and add to the successful 'Lord of the Rings' franchise," said Cooper.  "Under Peter's direction, the films will undoubtedly appeal to fans of the original 'LOTR' trilogy and also bring the stories to a new generation of fans."

Jackson, who directed all three “Lord of the Rings” films, will helm the two films back-to-back, telling the story of “The Hobbit” in two parts. Jackson will utilize groundbreaking visual effects and his incomparable story-telling to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel to the big screen. Both Hobbit movies will be filmed in Digital 3-D, using the latest camera and stereo technology to create a high quality, comfortable viewing experience. Jackson also co-wrote the screenplays with Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro.

“The Hobbit” is being co-produced by New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production, Warner Bros Pictures handling domestic distribution and MGM distributing internationally. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham are producing the films, with Phillipa Boyens as co-producer and Ken Kamins as executive producer.

The Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed LOTR trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box office. In 2003, “Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the 11 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

-wbp-

That is the best news possible! The original dream-team is reassembling from the top down - apart  from Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens as script-writers and (co/exec) producers, Carolynne Cunningham and Ken Kamins are also back at the top.

At this stage I'm not going to quibble about the 3D thing - I'm just so happy it's actually going ahead!
I'm sure there will be a 2D version for those of us who prefer storytelling over gimmicks.

Now all we need is the actors unions to strike a deal, and we can begin! Let's hope it'll still be in NZ...

Tree down in Isengard - Sound familiar?

It looks like the hard winds have claimed a victim in Isengard this morning.





At least there were no orcs involved this time, eh?


- Posted from the field by Jack M.

Update on preliminary casting call - it's official!

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Further Update 24/9/2010, 7:00am: The prelim casting call has also now been listed on TradeMe's job section.
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Update 23/9/2010, 12:21pm : Also check today's article in the DomPost, also posted on stuff.co.nz.
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Moments ago I received this email from Matthew Dravitzki, who is Peter Jackson's spokesperson:

The advertisement is official and came from our production.  A preliminary casting call means:  We don't have a green light, but we do need to be prepared in the event that we get one!  That means having a little look around Wellington for scale doubles as advertised.  This is NOT an extras casting call and anyone who doesn't meet the advertised height requirements will be turned away.


When cast, actors playing Hobbits and Dwarves will be normal adult size.  The characters in the books are sized differently, as you know.  Scale doubles appear in some wide/reverse shots in place of our actors, and with other adult actors when we need people to look smaller - or taller.  A visit to the behind the scenes content on the LOTR movies might jog your memory.


I don't have any news for you on greenlight, director or cast.  There's no update from LA at this time.  


The NZ Dance and Drama Centre is simply being used as a venue for this casting call, and is not the home of our casting department.


I hope this answers your questions.

It certainly answered mine!