The Green Dragon, where the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield awaits Bilbo Baggins ahead of their quest, will include a real thatched roof and the nearby Bywater bridge, made from polystyrene blocks resembling stone for The Lord of the Rings, is being rebuilt in permanent stone.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Is this set to be part of the rumored theme park we have heard about?
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.... John Rogers
I really like the idea of being able to visit Hobbiton someday. Commercial, yes, but it really looks like a lovely place.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Glad you started this thread, Voronwë! Might be cool to have the 'copter fly-over video linked here too!
This is great news, and wonderful for the people of NZ to have a permanent memorial of the movies after the filming is over... (apart from the incomprable NZ landscape, of course!)
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Latest description of the state of the Hobbiton set from a poster on TORn:
I was just at Matamata today. All hobbit-hole construction is completed, now the “greenery” is just being finalised. The bridge/Green Dragon is ostensibly finished with just a few external touches to be completed. I took heaps of pictures, but I had to sign a confidentiality agreement saying I wouldn’t post them on the internet. I wish you could see Bag End. It looks almost 100% perfect. The head gardener was on the premises for the entirety of our visit and was watching us to make sure we didn’t touch anything. The most dramatic part for me was the Bridge/Green Dragon. When I was there in March, it was just a grass-covered hillside. To see it almost as it was in the film was breath-taking. Oh, there are five BRAND NEW hobbit-holes that look very flash. One in particular which has to be a main character’s abode (as it is much more detailed and intricate than many of the others). Sam’s hole is back to how you see it at the end of RotK and the greenery around Bag End apparently was just finished within the last week or so.
Interesting about the one hobbit-hole (apart from Bag End) which has extra detail...
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
Most interesting were the poster's comments about other locations:
I also took a LOTR tour in Wellington, no activity on the Rivendell Set in Kaitoke Regional Park, but will be interesting to see if they return to same location. Made it to Queenstown in the South Island and took a LOTR Tour. We were informed that agents were in the area scouting Hobbit locations. Could the Remarkables, AKA the extendables, be the backdrop for Bilbo’s travels?
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
The Remarkables, if memory serves, are angled especially well for catching afternoon sun, which of course makes mountains look spectacular. They're also relatively accessible, being very close to Queenstown, which is about as far into the mountains as trucks with a lot of equipment can get on decent roads. I don't have my book on location shots of LOTR in NZ handy, but a number of scenes were shot in the Qtown area (the ford scene comes to mind).
TORn is reporting that PJ has been spotted scouting for locations around the Taupo Lake, North Island.
Speculation is that this may well be the setting for Esgaroth, with nearby Mount Tongariro in the background as a model for Erebor. (see associated discussion on TORn for more photos)
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
I'm glad they're building this Hobbiton to last. It should be a permanent part of New Zealand (and help contribute to its economy for decades to come).
And, I wanna see it someday.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Sir Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films Productions Limited and Rings Scenic Tours Limited are pleased to announce that they have entered into a joint venture arrangement to allow movie fans to visit the newly reconstructed film set which is located near Matamata. The new venture will be known as Shire Tours.
...
The set, originally designed by the Art Department of THE LORD OF THE RINGS films, has recently been rebuilt at the original location on the Alexander Farm on Buckland Road, Matamata. It will be used again for the filming of the two films based on THE HOBBIT late in 2011, during which time the location will be closed to the public.
Bolding mine - this is new info -which indicates they will not be filming the Hobbiton scenes till later than originally suggested...
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
Interesting. With all the various scheduling issues, this is going to be tricky proposition to pull off.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Maybe it's just because that's the season they want. "Late in 2011" would be late spring and summer, when the Shire would be at its greenest and in full flower.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Primula Baggins wrote:Maybe it's just because that's the season they want. "Late in 2011" would be late spring and summer, when the Shire would be at its greenest and in full flower.
yes, that makes sense. And this doesn't mean delayed shooting... just scheduling.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
Naturally it makes sense for filming at Matamata to take place in the NZ late Spring/early summer, to match the book...
But it was the Hobbiton farm that indicated they would be closing the same day as shooting was originally slated to start, then again they adjusted the closure dates to match the new date....perhaps it was a case of the owners wrongly anticipating that the Hobbiton scenes would be shot first?
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
It's probably natural to think they'd shoot the scenes in order, if you haven't shot a film yourself before.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Might be cool to have the 'copter fly-over video linked here too!
