The hype pot is bubbling away nicely over the last while for The Hobbit, and now everyone’s favourite wizard has piped in via his official website. Ian McKellen talks life on the road, 3D cameras not registering rain and how he carries his own feather filled pillow amongst other musings, direct from the Wizards keyboard. A few excerpts wait for you below, and to read the full ramblings of Gandalf, head over to McKellen.com
--
FIve hundred of us travel with the efficiency of an army or a circus on the move, each supplied by the production with transport, shelter and a bed. As tourists in New Zealand know, this is the land of homestay, with beds and breakfasts. Hotels are rare except in the cities and, of course, most of our locations are in the wilds. We travel with my own feather-filled pillow and I have no complaints. As long as the weather holds, it’s a bit like being on holiday. Steve Thomson is my assistant (look for him on the films’ credits.) He makes sure I’m on time and comfy. We met 11 years ago on Lord of the Ringswhen he was masseur for actors’ aching limbs.
--
Our first filming destination was Matamata, where eleven years ago Gandalf the Grey made his entrance into The Fellowship of the Ring, greeting Ian Holm’s Bilbo on the doorstep of Bag End. The site has since been sign-posted as “Hobbiton”, where tourists in search of Middle-earth could ponder the paltry remnants of our filming, a couple of round green doors propped against the hillside. That meant that the village had to be re-built and the gardens re-plotted for The Hobbit.
--
All our trucks, trailers, generators, dining tent and loos were hidden behind and below the surrounding hillocks but it was nostalgic to clamber up the path that leads to Bag End where this time Martin Freeman’s Bilbo will be surprised by Gandalf. We filmed there for less than a week, this time leaving everything behind, so future visitors do not have to guess at but actually see Hobbiton in its glory. They will even be able to get a snack at the Green Dragon. Peter Jackson, who likes a laugh, suggested I take up residence as a tour guide in my blue pointy hat. I’m thinking about it.
--
FIve hundred of us travel with the efficiency of an army or a circus on the move, each supplied by the production with transport, shelter and a bed. As tourists in New Zealand know, this is the land of homestay, with beds and breakfasts. Hotels are rare except in the cities and, of course, most of our locations are in the wilds. We travel with my own feather-filled pillow and I have no complaints. As long as the weather holds, it’s a bit like being on holiday. Steve Thomson is my assistant (look for him on the films’ credits.) He makes sure I’m on time and comfy. We met 11 years ago on Lord of the Ringswhen he was masseur for actors’ aching limbs.
--
Our first filming destination was Matamata, where eleven years ago Gandalf the Grey made his entrance into The Fellowship of the Ring, greeting Ian Holm’s Bilbo on the doorstep of Bag End. The site has since been sign-posted as “Hobbiton”, where tourists in search of Middle-earth could ponder the paltry remnants of our filming, a couple of round green doors propped against the hillside. That meant that the village had to be re-built and the gardens re-plotted for The Hobbit.
--
All our trucks, trailers, generators, dining tent and loos were hidden behind and below the surrounding hillocks but it was nostalgic to clamber up the path that leads to Bag End where this time Martin Freeman’s Bilbo will be surprised by Gandalf. We filmed there for less than a week, this time leaving everything behind, so future visitors do not have to guess at but actually see Hobbiton in its glory. They will even be able to get a snack at the Green Dragon. Peter Jackson, who likes a laugh, suggested I take up residence as a tour guide in my blue pointy hat. I’m thinking about it.
