Highlights
- Serkis: "For the first couple of days [on set] I felt like I was doing a huge impersonation of a character I had done 12 years ago. It was a peculiar sensation. It took time to emotionally connect with [Gollum]."
- Riddles in the Dark was first scenes filmed on the trilogy: "Peter wanted to start Martin off with a one-on-one scene rather than him being surrounded by 13 dwarfs and a wizard. We shot the scene in its entirety, like doing a piece of theater really."
- Serkis: "There were only a couple of times where there were really, really black days where I went away thinking, `This is it. I can't do it.' But on the whole, Pete (Jackson) was so brilliant at allowing me to set stuff up and then critiquing my work ... but at least I would have my stab at it."
- Armitage on Thorin's Shakespeare like qualities: "...I found in all three of those characters [aspects of Thorin] … the whole idea of the rallying cry of a leader on the battlefield is very much Henry V; the self hating deformity of Richard III was sort of relevant; and also the Macbeth figure when it comes to the gold lust – this man who believes he is doing the right thing and gets corrupted by something which ultimately destroys him … I just felt that those three figures were all going to be pretty useful for me to have in my head."
- Armitage: "My first day on the set, I wasn’t actually filming. I had to stand up in front of the entire company, cast, and crew, and speak Maori to a line of Maori! – who were giving us a PÅwhiri, which is like a welcoming ceremony to bless the soundstage. So I was more terrified of that than actually the filming."
- Armitage: " Ian McKellen is just such a delightful man, whenever I had to be antagonistic or aggressive to him, there was always a pang of guilt inside me – that’s like ‘don’t be too rough on Gandalf!’ But that’s part of the thrill of acting – you have to push those buttons in him, in other characters. It’s fascinating how Ian works – because every take that he does is nuanced in a different way, that you can’t quite detect what he’s doing differently – there’s just something in his eyes."
- Armitage: "Peter is a very, very gentle director. He’s very succinct and you don’t really know how he’s directing you. You don’t really know that you’re being directed, because he doesn’t point and shout and tell you where to stand; he kind of guides you down a certain road, and he often uses other actors to do it … so he’ll have a quiet conversation with somebody who then walks into the scene and does something to you, but you don’t know you’re being worked upon – and it’s actually Peter that’s just using his characters to draw you down the line."
- Armitage: " Having Andy as Second Unit director was possibly one of Pete’s best decisions, because normally a second unit is about mopping up odd shots where people pick things up from tables; but Andy’s unit, it was as exciting to go and work on his unit as it was on Peter’s unit. It was as creative; and I think there are some incredible shots that remain in the film that are all Andy’s work. Also, his understanding of Middle-earth and being an actor only ever benefitted what we did – and he’s as relentless and ruthless as Peter is. He pushes actors – and actually he has no sympathy for when you’re tired – and that’s what you want, you want a director who’s like, ‘I don’t care how tired you are, we’ll do three more takes.’"
- Armitage: "Do you know, on the last day of shooting I was given Orcrist [pauses] … and the Oakenshield [pauses] … AND the key to the door [pauses, laughs] … AND the map. So yeah – I pretty much got the entire kit. I can go on that journey and … yeah. I got it all. I’m a lucky boy."
- Martin Freeman: "I must admit I found the green screen and all that easier than I thought I would. ... I found the technical aspect of it quite doable. Some of it's difficult, but it's quite enjoyable, actually. It taps into when I used to play `war' as a 6-year-old. And the Germans were all imaginary. Because I was playing a British person. So yeah, I was on the right side. ..."
- Hugo Weaving: "This one feels lighter, more buoyant, but it's got quite profoundly moving sequences in it, too ... I think it's very different in many ways, and yet it's absolutely the same filmmaker, and you are inhabiting the same world."
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