Before the cast and crew of Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’ take a well-earned break, the kiwi director ensured they all share their thoughts on the first block of filming. The video blog (vlog) gives a revealing insight into the film’s progress, set design, and expected scenes.
The video begins in a rather bizarre manner, with some 007 name-dropping, as Jackson finds himself, not in Wellington, but rather West London’s iconic Pinewood Studios, home of the ‘James Bond’ Movie Empire.
The rest of the footage, however, is connected closely to the highly anticipated movie. Andy Serkis can be seen scaling the walls of Gollum’s cave as he attempts “to get back into the head of Gollum.” By the looks of the accompanying footage he does this freakishly well, as even without CGI, his embodiment of the critter is astonishingly realistic. I side with camera and electrical engineer, Ants Farrell when he claims watching Serkis in action felt just like watching a play.
With thirteen dwarves featuring in the J.R.R. Tolkien classic, it’s unsurprising to find the remaining footage features them heavily. Have you ever tried naming all thirteen dwarves? With names like Ori, Bofur, and Dwalin, it’s much harder than naming Snow white’s seven companions. Never the less, Ian McKellen masters it.
Peter Jackson doesn’t seem quite as enthusiastic, claiming “Thirteen dwarves was one of the reasons why I dreaded ‘The Hobbit’ and didn’t think I was going to make it for a long time.” Despite his alleged reservations the time and effort that has gone into ensuring the Dwarves embody Tolkien’s vivid characterizations is evident. The prosthetics look amazing.
We also see the cast perfecting their dwarf tongue, Khuzdul, some stunt fighting, horse riding, and the all-important dwarf movement class!
The most exciting element of the clip, however, has to be the revisiting of some iconic ‘Lord of the Rings’ locations. Rivendale and Bag End, in particular, get the cast and crew feeling nostalgic.
‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ arrives in cinemas December 14, 2012. ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ hits screen a year later.
Check out the video blog below:
