New Zealand’s Channel 3 ran a brief story on events in Wellington, and it’s now available on YouTube. The opening mentions the spy photos on TheOneRing.net that I linked to yesterday, including, as the news-reader puts it, pictures of Martin Freeman as “Bilbo Braggins.” Security guards have taken notice, according to the story, and actors now have to go about with hoods and umbrellas to avoid the intrusive telephoto lens. (Of course, with Wellington’s year-round changeable weather, there could be other reasons for those hoods and umbrellas.) It’s difficult for the security to stop high-angle telephoto pics, since there’s a high ridge of public green space sitting right by the Stone Street Studios. That’s where I took my photos of the facility for my book (including one used here).

On the other side of the ridge is the airport, and the “plane-spotters,” who use cell phones to alert the filmmakers when planes take off and land, stand atop the ridge. As fans know, such spotters were used for LOTR, and now they’re obviously in place for The Hobbit.

The story goes on to cover the re-opening of the 1930s Roxy movie theatre, including footage of Peter Jackson in his Rocketeer outfit and of Ian McKellen getting off some quips before officially cutting the ribbon.

The website Middle-earth News interviewed Jack Machiela back on March 8, but I just caught up with it. Jack lives in Wellington, works as a guide for Wellington Rover Tours, and runs the informative Noldor Blog. (I wrote about Wellington Rover Tours for Chapter 10 of The Frodo Franchise, having interviewed its founder, Jason Bragg.)

Jack talks about celebrities he has met around Wellington, his favorite Rings locations, and where to get a good cup of coffee or a sandwich in the area.

Maybe there’s not much news leaking out about the Hobbit filming, but the news from Wellington is picking up. Stuff.co.nz reports on the re-opening of the renovated Roxy Theatre, a 1930s movie house in Wellington that was given its makeover thanks to a group including Jamie Selkirk and Tania Rodger.

Three Dwarves–Steven Hunter, Adam Brown, and Graham McTavish–and a Hobbit, Martin Freeman, flank PJ (Photo by Keven Stent)

Among the 300 invited guests were Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, the mayor of Wellington, and two cabinet ministers. Ian McKellen cut the ceremonial ribbon and pointed out that he was the only guest present actually born in the same decade when the theatre was originally built. (Ian is vintage 1939.) A mysterious guest costumed in a vintage Rocketeer outfit  turned out to be none other than Peter Jackson. (I would guess that the costume is from his own extensive collection.)

Stuff.co.nz offers a short article on the latest annual screen industry survey from Statistics New Zealand:

Wellington’s film industry is increasingly reliant on big-budget productions such as Avatar and The Hobbit as the New Zealand industry becomes more dependent on post-production work.

Basically although filming in New Zealand fluctuates over time, the special effects and other post-production services are growing. The article doesn’t name names, but surely Weta Digital and Park Road Post are leading the expansion. The trend will no doubt continue, especially if James Cameron decides definitely to make his two Avatar sequels in Wellington, as he is inclining to do. Those plus The Hobbit and the Tintin series should keep the facilities humming with business.

The article, originally from the Dominion Post (Wellington’s daily paper) concludes:

The industry recorded revenue of $2.8 billion last year, up 2 per cent from 2009.

New Zealand had established itself as a post-production hub. Big projects would always affect the figures, but it was pleasing to see the bottom line holding strong.

Ian McKellen’s “Hobbit Blog” has a new entry. He mainly talks about getting his “vacation beard” shaved at a local commercial establishment. He’s got the same dresser who worked with him on LOTR, though the costume is looking a bit too new and needs breaking in. Biggest news: his Gandalf false nose is somewhat smaller this time, and it’s made of silicon rather than the sticky gelatin stuff used last time. We may not be getting much information out of the production, but at least with Ian blogging, as he says, “It’s like old times.”

Wired has a back-page feature in its print edition called, “Predict What’s Next.” Readers upload ideas to a webpage, and the editors create a page actualizing them. The current issue’s (April 19) prognosticators are Azriel, Sean Ramsey, Ann Linquist, Lee Steffen, Nosrednakram, jgombarcik, and the ever-popular Anonymous. At least one Tolkien and/or Peter Jackson fan among them, obviously:

My suspicion is that we will see Avatar 3 a lot sooner than even Silmarillion I, let alone VII. Despite the desire of many fans to see The Silmarillion filmed, I can think of few books that would be so difficult to bring to the big screen. (Not a whole lot of dialogue, for a start, and huge, lengthy actions described in a sentence or two.) The Children of Hurin would be filmable, but I doubt it would appeal much to the general public. A grimmer, more depressing tale it would be hard to find. Great, but grim.

TheOneRing.net has posted some photos of cast and crew members from The Hobbit. As the intro admits, they’re “Nothing too groundbreaking,” but it shows that TORN’s spies are on the job with their telephoto lenses. Saying that these photos show the actors on the set is a bit of an exaggeration. They look to be hanging around outside their trailers on the whole, and they’re not in costume, apart from Andy Serkis. He’s seen in a motion-capture outfit. If he’s involved in what’s being shot at the moment, that certainly suggests that it might be the “Riddles in the Dark” section–unless other scenes showing Gollum have been added to the story.

The Dominion Post has published a lengthy, fascinating story on the changes in the communities on the Miramar Peninsula since Peter Jackson’s filmmaking empire was created. It’s available online at stuff.co.nz.

When I was doing my research on the LOTR back in 2003-2004, Miramar was a sleepy little area of modest houses, aging shops, and aging factories and warehouses that got turned into production facilities. (The Stone Street Studios were formerly a paint factory, and Weta Workshop set up its motion-capture studio in an old ice-cream factory.) On sunny days when I had a long gap between interviews, it was a pleasure to walk around on the central flat area or climb the steep path up over the ridge that separates Miramar from Seatoun, the eastern suburb facing out over Chaffers Passage (the body of water leading to Wellington Harbour) and the mountains beyond. (In the photo below, the ridge is in the distance at the left, and the mountains across the strait are visible beyond.) more »

Doug Adams, author of The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films, let slip this bit of news in a comment on his website:

Howard had his first extensive Hobbit conference with PJ last night. Incredibly exciting to see that ball beginning to roll …

Ian McKellen added a post, “Halflings and Hot Dogs,” to his Hobbit Blog. It’s a charming anecdote about a scene that was shot for the long-expected party scene of LOTR but not used. He also talks about Billy and Katie Jackson, who were among the children in that scene, and how they’ve grown up since.

The link to the new entry isn’t live on the blog’s index page. I assume that’ll soon get fixed, but in the meantime you can find it here. [Later the same day: the link on the index page is now working.]