Join Kili and Mike the Guide for a tour of several Lord of the Rings filming locations, including…
Continue ReadingJoin Kili and Mike the Guide for a tour of several Lord of the Rings filming locations, including Isengard, Anduin, and Rivendell!
Book your own Middle-earth adventure with Mike the Guide, recommended by not only Kili but Ian Brodie, author of the official locations guidebook, himself! Click here to learn more.
Enjoy the photos below and remember to check out our Happy Hobbit YouTube channel for many more videos from New Zealand and the California shire! A great place to start is this playlist:
It’s
undoubtedly the dream of many a Tolkien fan to set foot in Hobbiton – or, really, any of the countless other locales you will find in The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.
Many have, in fact, traveled to the beautiful country of New Zealand to do just that. However, not all of us have had the opportunity (or means) to travel and see Middle-earth for ourselves. To illustrate just what awaits us across the globe, NewZealand.com has just the solution. Continue reading “‘Take a Flight’ through the filming locations of Middle-earth”
Just like last year, Air New Zealand has a new Hobbit-crossover video clip that spruces its wares: “just another day in Middle-earth”.
I do especially like the cameo voiceover by Sylvester McCoy at the very end. Thanks to Ringer Hobbitfan101 for letting us know about this! Continue reading “Air New Zealand Hobbit clip: just another day in Middle-earth”
Sir Peter Jackson has a new award to add to his trophy cabinet! The film director has just been honoured with New Zealand’s highest accolade, having been made an Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, for services to the country. Sir Peter is the first member of the film industry to be made part of the Order; he joins a list which includes politicians, judges, sportsmen and even the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip!
Read the full story here. Everyone at TheOneRing.net sends many congratulations to Sir Peter on this significant honour!
(Photo, by Kevin Stent, shows Sir Peter with NZ Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, at the investiture ceremony.)
Thanks to Ringer Nienna for the heads-up on this little BBC feature about the starring role that New Zealand’s landscapes play in many of its films.
If a country could be eligible for a best actor award, New Zealand could be in the running for every gong going, with its contrasting moods showcased most recently in The Hobbit and Top Of The Lake. Is the scenery more than just a dramatic backdrop?
“Sinister… the heart of a demon” – the Guardian
“Majestic menace” – Slate
“Bleak, forbidding or just plain murderous” – Daily Mail
“Unspoiled and unruly” – Variety
These are not reviews of an actor’s performance in the BBC Two mystery Top of the Lake – well, not any of the human actors – but the part played by the landscape. “The geography is really another brooding character,” says the Australian in its review, praising its “angularities, shadows and dark moods”.
It’s not the first time New Zealand’s scenery has muscled its way into reviews and water-cooler conversations. The same happened with Peter Jackson’s Tolkien trilogies – first Lord of the Rings and now The Hobbit – in which the country’s dramatic terrain itself “plays the mythical world of Middle-earth” according to the New Zealand Tourism website.
Red Carpet is steadily adding new locations into its tours in the light of the new Hobbit movie, says director Vic James.
“We’re pretty excited because since the Unexpected Journey came out, we’ve been able to add new sites and new people,” James says. “We visit landowners and check out new locations on a regular basis, as information and invitations come to hand.
“The Premiere Tour last November was the first to visit some of the new places and when the time is right for further landowners to allow visits, we will add them in.”
The north island leg of the tour includes, as before, Hobbiton and the central volcanic plateau that served as Mt Doom. A new feature are some rapids where the dwarves’ more hair-raising barrel-riding scenes were filmed.
The ‘top’ of the South Island is a beautiful addition to the tour, James says. Nelson, with its sunny bay ringed by mountains, is reached by a ferry cruise through the beautiful fjords of Marlborough Sounds. There’s a stop along the way at Pelorus Bridge, scene of Bilbo and the dwarves’ barrel-riding adventures.
Red Carpet’s LOTR tours always include visits to extras, artisans, actors and crew members for the films. Halfdan Hansen, son of the real-life Ringmaker for LOTR, has his studio in Nelson and has created a new version of the Ring, invisibly weighted with some denser metal so that it lies strangely heavy on the palm of the hand.
In Nelson there is also the option to take a two-and-a-half hour helicopter flight to Dimrill Dale and South of Rivendell. The flights have been a huge success with tour guests.
To accommodate the extra locations, tours are now 14 days duration. People can also choose to join the North Island 6 day or the South Island 10 day options. “It’s a long way to come to not see it all,” James says.
