Sir Peter Jackson says filming the Hobbit in 3D ‘literally feels like you’ve stepped in the story’.

by James Beach

Sir Peter Jackson says filming the Hobbit in 3D ‘literally feels like you’ve stepped in the story’. Photo /Otago Daily Times

Sir Peter Jackson says the sunshine, mountains and fresh air of Arcadia Station, near Queenstown, have raised both his spirits and those of his 450 cast and crew.

Sir Peter spoke in between scenes where Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf the Grey, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and dwarves arrive at the house of Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt).

Tuesday was their third and final day of shooting on a giant set, which took eight weeks to build and was based on more than eight months of design – all for one scene of about three minutes of screen time.

“This is such a beautiful area, 360 degrees, everywhere you look, incredible scenery,” Sir Peter said.

“In fact, the scene where Boromir dies in The Fellowship of the Ring was about 100 yards [90m] into that forest there.”

Sir Peter said The Hobbit had been “a strange journey for me” as he originally thought he would produce and not direct the eagerly awaited movies.

“Even though it was frustrating at the times and a little bit stressful from time to time, we’re here and making the movies and it seems like it was meant to be.”

Sir Peter said shooting the two Hobbit films felt like a reunion and “feels like we’re doing it for the right reasons”.

The audience knew what to expect, but he still wanted to surprise them.

Filming in 3D for the first time provided greater depth and he loved the way Middle Earth was coming to life in a more vibrant way, he said.

“You’ll literally feel like you’ve stepped into the story,” he said.

The company shot in Hamilton, Ohakune, bluffs near Te Kuiti, Strath Taieri, near Middlemarch and near Paradise over the past three weeks. All cast and crew and gear were loaded on to 200 trucks and moved to Te Anau yesterday for more filming.

Asked if he felt the weight of expectation on his shoulders, Sir Peter said: “All I can do is make the best movie I can and hope people enjoy it. It’s going to have a different tone to The Lord of the Rings because the characters are quite a lot different.

“The book was very much written for a much younger reader than Lord of the Rings was, but I didn’t want to make a children’s movie, I still wanted to have some of the main themes we had in the Rings.”

News Round-up

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that Christopher Lee and Ian Holm are busy shooting on The Hobbit Films. Sir Christopher Lee had wanted to attend a LotR-Concert in Germany but he had to cancel and the reason given was because he had to shoot for The Hobbit. So well, there you have it.

Orlando Bloom is heading to New Zealand to shoot his scenes for the movies and I am sure that is going to make a lot of his fans ecstatic!

Time.com did a lineup of the most popular wizards of all time, due to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last Friday, and though Dumbledore takes first position, Gandalf comes in third. This is the description given:

“As if being a wizard wasn’t already cool enough, Gandalf is actually two wizards in one. At the start of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels — and the Peter Jackson movie trilogy they inspired — he’s the wise but aging Gandalf the Grey, a mentor to hobbits. But after battling a Balrog (yeah, look it up), he is transformed into the way more powerful, take-no-prisoners, all-around badass Gandalf the White. Bonus points: he’s played by Sir Ian McKellen in the movie.”

On an end note, I read that Mikael Persbrandt, who plays Beorn, is deemed both ‘amazing’ and ‘impressive’ by Peter J and Andy Serkis respectively. He has shot a few scenes and will continue shooting after the hiatus.

Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn/Skin-changer

Mikael Åke Persbrandt (born September 25, 1963 in Jakobsberg, Järfälla Municipality, Stockholm County) is a Swedish actor. In Swedish films he usually has lead roles and “tough guy” parts. He is perhaps most famous for his recurring role as the no-nonsense police officer Gunvald Larsson in the latest installment of the Martin Beck movies. He is frequently the subject of much press gossip in evening newspapers such as Aftonbladet and Expressen.

Filmography

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Mikael Persbrandt Speaks About Playing Beorn

Swedish website SVD held an interview with Mikael Persbrandt. He is the actor who plays Beorn in The Hobbit films.

Here is a rough translation thanks to TheOneRing…

(rough translation)

“I read all the books. I went to second-hand bookshops searching for the first Bilbo-books (The Hobbit) – I was a fantasy geek. Jackson’s Tolkien-movies are absolutely magnificent. He’s the man. The whole project will be so exciting. It is about 700 people in the crew, I am to stand in a corner and try to be pliable.

On Performance anxiety:

“I think I share that sense with many of the people in my profession, we never allow ourselves to be truly happy – instead, we begin thinking about the impacts. How am I as a bear? One start thinking about stuff like that instead of thinking that this could be damn fun”

“I will play (Beorn) in both movies and will be there (NZ) five times this year and at least one more time next year. I am contracted for 25-28 days of shooting but it would not surprise me if it turned out to be more. I have only read 5 pages of the script, it was top secret, they sent somebody to a hotel in Los Angeles and I got to sign them: ‘Now they are yours. Bye’, he said. I am currently waiting for my call, but it can not be delayed too much since the filming for “Hamilton” begins soon (March 21, in Sweden).”

[Interviewer]: What would you have said if you knew back then as a 12-year-old if you knew that you would one day play Beorn?

“Incredibly strange. I was never going to be an actor, I liked contructing buildings in balsa wood and wanted to become an astronaut, and it turned out like this.”

Source

Beorn

Art: Daniel Govar

Beorn was a skin-changer, a man who could assume the appearance of a bear.

He lived with his tame horses in a wooden house (Beorn’s Hall) between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood, to the east of the Great River of Wilderland. His origins lay in the distant past, and Gandalf suspected he and his people had originally come from the mountains.

Beorn named the Carrock and created the steps that led from its base to the flat top.

During the Quest of Erebor, Beorn received Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, and the thirteen Dwarves and gave the Dwarves and Bilbo help in their quest.

In the Battle of Five Armies, Beorn appeared transformed into a giant bear, and rescued Thorin Oakenshield from the Goblins and killed their leader Bolg.

After the Battle of Five Armies, Beorn became a “great chief” in the Vales of Anduin, and it is said that his descendants also were skin-changers, able to take the shape of a bear. His people became known as the Beornings, and they helped defend Thranduil’s kingdom of northern Mirkwood. Beorn died some time before the War of the Ring began, and was succeeded by his son Grimbeorn the Old.

 

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