AICN's The Hobbit Set Report Part 2

AICN's Quint has posted his second behind the scenes article from the New Zealand sets of The Hobbit. He is currently scheduled to be "embedded" with the cast and crew up to the start of the holiday break with periodic posts about his experience. Part 1 covered his first day on the set of Hobbiton. Part 2 is his experience as an extra, in full Hobbit makeup, for the filming at the location. His description of preparing and learning to be a Hobbit should be helpful for future cos play. Highlights below. I will leave the explanation of the pig Leroy uberballs for the full article here.

Highlights:
- Hobbit feet "technology" has changed since LOTR. It is now a silicone skin that goes up to the knee. Imagine a tight fitting boot of sorts.
- Quint's scene was at the bridge and mill marketplace in front of The Green Dragon (Hobbit watering hole). He was trained to "walk" a rooster for that his character would purchase from one of the stalls.
- Also trained by Terry Notary (Rocket in Rise of the Planet of the Apes) on how Hobbits walk ("lead with their knees and always happy, looking around"). To prevent the silicone foot from jiggling the walking step was heel-edge-toe.
- His rooster scene was changed to selling fish to young Bilbo so unless it gets cut in editing, there is a strong possibility he might be on screen for a few seconds.
- The scene takes place after Bilbo refuses Gandalf's invitation to go with the Dwarves to recover their treasure.
- Peter Jackson, when asked by Martin Freeman what Quint's character name would be, consulted The Hobbit Name Generator website which named him Fredegar Chubb. Freeman then incorporated the name in various takes.
- Since Hobbits are jolly folks, Peter Jackson encourages actors and extras to tell each other jokes and gossip to help them have the proper mood for when a take started.

My jealousy to hate for Quint continues...