Elf-Alert - Orlando Bloom arrives in Wellington!

Earlier today, there was a report from his wife Miranda Kerr that he'd left for New Zealand last night, but I've just had it confirmed by one of my spies - Orlando Bloom has been sighted in Wellington.

Apparently the first place he visited was the Scorch-o-Rama cafe (formerly known as the Chocolate Fish Cafe) in Karaka Bay, on the Miramar Peninsula. Which just happens to be the same cafe Andy Serkis visited first when he returned as well.

If you've joined me on a fullday LOTR tour, that's where we generally have lunch. :)


So if you're reading this, Orlando - welcome back to Wellington! Couldn't have caught us on a nicer day!


To everyone else out there - keep the rumours coming! Photos would be great! :)

  - Jack M.

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

Welly-moot #3 was lots of fun - another success!

We got together today for the third Welly-moot, at the Embassy Theatre. It was a lot of fun, and some good discussions were held.

Around the table (clockwise from the left): Paul, Ryan, me, Moritz, Kristi, and Rachel. Aiko took the photo.

The group wasn't as big as I'd hoped, but there were some good reasons for it - the cold southerly probably deterred a few people from coming out (at least, it felt pretty cold to me but then I've just had a week in Darwin, Australia, so I'm possibly not the best judge at the moment). Also, it seems that the Wellington City Council had chosen today to make about 30 events (almost) free today - the zoo was free, the Wildlife Sanctuary was free, the council-sponsored city tourbus was free, etc. Hard to compete with that!


Various subjects came up, mostly Hobbit related, but also other movies - Avatar vs Fern Gully; Matrix vs Inception; Harry Potter vs Star Wars to name a few of the more heated discussions.

Kristi had details of a local Victoria University (hosted) course on Tolkien's elven language Quenya, and I may have more details about that in a few days. Also, of course, the Blu-Ray releases of the Extended Editions came up, and the sessions at both the Embassy as well as the Roxy theatres in town. Unfortunately due to my ill-timed vacation and the four day notice we got from the NZ suppliers I've missed both FOTR as well as TTT, but I should be able to make it to the ROTK, I hope.

One plan that was discussed was to have a local Marathon Session at one of our homes, with a projector and microwave popcorn. Maybe it's time to put a weekend aside soon, and invite as many as will fit into our lounge?


All in all, I think the Welly-moot was fun, and I look forward to our next one! The Embassy looks like a permanent venue for them. It's bigger, reasonably convenient to park close to, and of course very relevant - the LOTR parade photos still grace its walls!

Looking forward to seeing more people there next time though!

  - Jack

Date finally set for Welly-moot #3 - June 26th.

After much deliberation (and some procrastination), I've finally decided on a date for the third Hobbit meeting - and a new venue as well.

The Embassy Cinema in 2003. The Fellbeast has since been decapitated by Eowyn. (photo (c) Jack Machiela)

For those who didn't attend the last few times, the Welly-moots are just a casual meeting of Hobbit fans from around the Wellington region (and the occasional Aucklander!). We meet up with the intent to discuss Hobbit related subjects but end up just getting together for a coffee and cake at a local cafe instead. The meetings are 95% social, and about 5% announcements. They are 100% fun, 110% chaos and occasionally the noise level goes up to eleven.


The details for this month's meeting are as follows:

Date : June the 26th, 2011
Time : 2:00pm
Location : Upstairs in the Embassy Cinema (10 Kent Terrace)
Bring : Hobbitty Rumours, and Money for Coffee


NB - the venue is yet to be has now been confirmed - it can still change.

 There is no agenda for these meetings - so far there have been minimal speeches, and only a few "formal" announcements of any type. I've had some giveaways in the past, but I haven't decided this time yet. The meetings are more a way for getting Hobbit fans together. We're all excited by Sir Peter Jackson's new movies!

There's no cover charge, although the venue will know we're coming this time (and will expect us to buy their coffees etc).

I would appreciate if you could RSVP via my Facebook page - that way I'll know if the venue has become too small again.

See you there!

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.

Gimli to visit PJ's studios today

I heard from a friend who attended John Rhys-Davies' presentation at Wellington's fantasy convention Armageddon yesterday that John is planning a visit to Peter Jackson's studios today.

It was unclear if he would be there on official business or if it is merely a social visit.

Is there hope for Gimli's visit after all?


- Posted from the field by Jack M.

Interview, with ... me?

A few weeks ago I mentioned on my Facebook page and my Twitter acocunt that I'd been interviewed by another blog (Middle-earth News).

I've been reminded that not everybody has Twitter or Facebook yet, so if you missed my awesome interview on MiddleEarthNews.com, you can find it under the header "The Man Who Walks LOTR Everyday"...The interview touches on things like what it's like to be a LOTR tourguide, here in Middle-earth Central; Wellington New Zealand.

The short answer is "it's great!" but if you want a bit more detail than that, read the whole interview. :)

Why Costa Botes won't do "Making Of The Hobbit" documentaries (even if he was asked)

Earlier this month, the long awaited Blu-Ray versions of the Extended Edition of LOTR were announced, and although no previously unseen extra material was mentioned, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the rarely-seen and hard-to-get “Behind The Scenes of LOTR” documentaries will be included on the box-set.

These documentaries were directed by Wellington director and long time friend of Sir Peter Jackson, Costa Botes. Costa was a Peter Jackson fan since the very early days –he had a (very brief) role in PJ’s first movie, Bad Taste, where he gets ripped in half by a lethal automobile “accident”.

More actively, Costa co-wrote and co-directed the mockumentary Forgotten Silver together with Peter Jackson, and has since created a very interesting body of work on a diverse range of subjects such as the creator of the Jelly-Belly sweets; the annual Nepal Blues Festival; and the plight of the rare Canadian Eskimo Dogs.


I recently caught up with Costa Botes online, and asked him what he thought of the unexpected inclusion of his work on the new LOTR Blu-Ray box.

------------------

JM - The first question I have for you is about your name - how do I pronounce it? Is it like "boats", or (like I keep hearing) "boh-tehs"?

CB - My name is pronounced Boh-Tess, accent on the first syllable. Thanks for asking!

JM - Good to clear that up! And it  looks like your LOTR documentaries have been re-released on the LOTR extended edition on Blu-Ray, finally, although apparently it's a “limited edition” release.

CB - Right, first I've heard of it [was when the announcement came through on March 7th].

JM - Wow, they don't even tell the director when they release them? I did wonder about that, yeah.

CB - New Line never consulted or even told me when they first released them- they originally got the aspect ratio wrong, missed a prime opportunity for commentaries, made some annoying edits ... the biggest thing is they should have made an effort to put them out as a standalone set, rather than squeezing the fans yet again to buy the original films. I did not like taking the blame for that when it was no choice of mine! Left a very bad taste (no pun intended). But in whatever form, I'd rather they were out than not, if for no other reason than my docs - I believe - properly acknowledge all the rank and file techs and artists who sweated blood to make the movies happen.

JM - I'd have loved to see some of that missing footage though... Orcs, singing Stand By Me... :)

CB – Yes. Unfortunately, the Studio obviously felt it wasn’t worth the cost or hassle of licensing the rights. But you do get to hear them sing our national anthem. I just tried to capture the truth, “warts and all”, just like PJ asked. That was his only direction to me. The Extended Editions are a terrific source of oral history, but somewhat miss the fun, and sense of humour people showed in adversity. I think that spirit was key to the whole LOTR enterprise.

JM - Yeah, you nailed it there. The New Line docos say "we're all beautiful people, and everything went great, 100% of the time", where your ones say, "the weather was against us, everything broke, people got angry - but we persevered and did it anyway". I think it tells a truer story.

CB - On balance I had a very privileged 'rings side' seat at an unrepeatable spectacle, and would not have missed it. Happy to sit out the next one though.

JM - Actually, I hope you'll get the same "rings side" seat again (nice pun, btw!) - I'd love to see the same style docos for The Hobbit! Maybe we should start a "Costa Botes needs to get involved in The Hobbit" Facebook petition...

CB - No, I really don't need to get involved in the Hobbit. That holds absolutely no interest for me whatsoever. I wish Peter and his team well, but my focus is on my own work these days. best of luck to the Hobbit, but I have no interest myself in undertaking any such project again. Been there, done that.

JM - No worries, I wasn't really about to set up a facebook page :)

CB - I'd be happier if they had let me complete my docos as intended - with music and film-maker commentaries. But grateful for small mercies. Imagine if all we had was the National Geographic special [Ed: originally included with the boxed set of FOTR].

JM - Actually, you know, I never actually saw the National Geographic one...

CB – It was malarkey. It killed me to have to supply them with footage. The people involved were pleasant enough, but their take was absolutely one-eyed. Into the cultural blender where everything comes out the same flavour – bland vanilla.  I'll have to write down the whole story one day. There's a limited account on my web site that gives the gist, though you'll have to read between the lines a bit.

JM - It would have been nice to see your take on the Making Of The Hobbit - I always enjoyed your docos more than the Hollywood stuff. It seemed more kiwi, in so many ways.

CB – Thank you. But it could be argued the studio have provided well for fans. Too much choice? Is that bad? At least my stuff wasn't buried. My take was clearly out of synch with the Hollywood way. They do things differently there! But the three docs have eventually escaped, and only a little different than I intended.

JM - True enough, and although it may not be entirely your ideal version, at least your name is forever favourably attached to it in the public's minds, at least. And to your film making skills. That can't be a bad thing!

CB - I'd like to think so. Though I’m obviously keen to move on. I'm interested in stories about compelling, passionate characters. Not so much in making movies about other people making movies.

JM - I can see that was the case in Forgotten Silver, but how did you ever agree to doing the LOTR docos in the first place then? It's not really about the person but about the process - at least the versions they ended up releasing?

CB - The aspect of documenting LOTR that interested me was showing how a whole lot of compelling, passionate people united to do the impossible, from PJ on down to the guys who hand knitted 5 million plastic rings to make chain mail. It was a hell of a story, and who could resist that? But it was made up of a lot of stories, and by and large I am more interested in singular tales where I can exercise some degree of authorship. Make sense?

JM - Yeah, a lot of sense. As a LOTR tourguide, I tell exactly those stories all day, five days a week. I think I know where you're coming from there - if they were boring stories I wouldn't still be doing it seven years later. It explains Candyman as well, which I enjoyed tremendously.

CB - No, nothing boring about LOTR. The process of making those movies was an amazing adventure, which I did my best to capture and honour in the retelling. It's national folklore now.

JM - Indeed it is. So, what are you working on at the moment then? Or is it all the usual totally secretive stuff? :)

CB – No, nothing secret. Candyman has just been released in the US, and is establishing itself as a modest cult favourite. I’ve just finished editing a feature documentary called Daytime Tiger, which is about a writer with bi-polar (manic-depression) who is forced to choose between his creativity and his wife. It’s pretty startling. And I’ve started editing a film I shot in northern Canada called The Last Dogs of Winter, about an obsessed loner who has spent the last 40 years maintaining a colony of Eskimo Dogs – the rarest breed of dog in the world. The kicker there is he keeps the dogs in an area shared with wild polar bears. Most of my work since LOTR has been done completely independently, retaining ownership and creative control. Also using digital tools I first adopted documenting LOTR. So I guess even if I was a little unhappy with some aspects of that big studio experience, it changed my life and career for the better.

JM - It sounds like you're certainly keeping busy. Your touch will be missed on the Hobbit but the other projects you've been working on sound fascinating too. Thank you so much for your time!


For those interested in following Costa Botes' other works, he has provided links on his blog to purchase them on DVD, and YouTube links for further interviews.

 - Jack M.

Wellywood Map by Daniel Reeve, now available for purchase!

The LOTR touring company I work for, Wellington Rover Tours, has always given away a map to our guests at the end of the tours. This map was originally printed by the Wellington newspaper, the Dominion Post, back in 2001 when the first movie was released.

The old map, no longer available.

Although the map was a fine reminder of your visit to Wellington as it showed the whole Wellington area complete with quite a number of LOTR locations, I was never quite satisfied with it. Some of the locations were inaccessible, or too far away for our tour. Some of the text accompanying the map was incomplete, or downright wrong. Of course, back in 2001 the LOTR shoot hadn't completed yet so the newspaper did the best they could, given the limited information available.

When my boss informed me in December last year that we'd almost run out of the printed maps again, I took the opportunity to develop an idea I've had for a while - to create a custom-made map of "our" Wellington region, done in a more suitable style, and by the best Cartographer around - Daniel Reeve. Daniel Reeve of course created the maps for Peter Jackson's movies, for Lord Of The Rings as well as for King Kong and Narnia, and almost all of the written material for LOTR - he is a supurb Calligrapher and all-round artist, and often hosts artists sessions for Red Carpet Tours as well.

I was aware that Daniel would probably be working on The Hobbit movie soon, so my window of opportunity was limited. I got in contact with Daniel late last year and incredibly, he agreed to do the work. The result is fantastic - see what you think!

The maps were published a few weeks ago, and we've been quietly handing them out to our guests. Also, if you remember from my entry on the second Welly-moot last week, Wellington Rover Tours donated a map to all attendees (at a cost of over $250 - thanks to my boss Scott!)

The response has been 100% positive, and in fact we've had so many enquiries about them that we've decided to make them available online. So if you've been on a Rover Rings tour and would like an extra copy for a friend, or if you haven't been able to make it down to New Zealand yet but would like a map in the meantime, here is your chance!

We've decided to keep the costs down to give everyone a chance to get one, but we're only making 100 available in this first instance, to see how that goes. The maps are NZ$24.95 plus NZ$7.50 shipping and handling wordwide, and there's a link on the page to see how much that will be in your own currency.


As long as they are available, the map will have a permanent link from the top of my blog here, look for the "Wellywood Map" link at the top of this page.


I'm very keen on feedback - please drop me a line with your thoughts!

  - Jack M.