[CHATTERING]
My name is Tom Marsh.
I'm never gonna be on this because I never am.
[ALL LAUGHING]
It's quite a hands-on job.
They'll definitely get a repaint.
[SHOUTING]
It's actually quite tasty.
MAN: "A" marker.
Hobbit, yeah!
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
- Good morning, Adam. - Morning.
- Shall we go? - Let's go.
What time is it?
- Four-fifteen in the morning. - Four-fifteen.
Wow.
I mean, whoever said that this was the best part of the day...
...lies. Heh. Really lies.
Okay, so we've told the studio that I'm now leaving my house.
- They have to know where I am. DARLING: First thing in the morning...
...we just prep everything.
Just all the cast, where they're going and what time...
...so we can follow this plan and make sure the cast get on set in time.
If only you could see out the window, it's beautiful.
But you can't, because it's the middle of the night. Heh.
There's a light on in Aidan's house...
...so he's got an early call as well.
So I think this is early...
...but there's people here who have been working far earlier than this.
MILL: We're de-dressing this side of Mirkwood...
...to enable a walking-tracking shot tomorrow morning.
[GRUNTING]
- Incredibly strong people. - Yeah.
You know, we'll just finish the usual time, 5:30 in the morning.
Fourteen months of night shift.
[SIGHS]
Yeah. It is what it is.
It's one hell of an operation.
HENNAH: We got our studios working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We put on a night art director, a night team...
...frantically trying to get all sets ready to go for the next day.
The studio never sleeps. It's like New York.
We have been starting at 4 or 5 in the morning and finishing up at 8 or 9 at night...
...over the past year, almost.
Some days are bigger than others.
We've got about 50 characters on set and 50 prosthetics to get through.
Welcome to Catering at 4:45 in the morning. Whoo.
- This is where all the magic starts. - Hey.
Scramble them up and make an omelet.
[m ENGLISH]
Yeah, we try our best. We try our best.
I make about 30 or 40 coffees. And deliver them.
Thank you, mate.
So every morning, we arrive...
...and we go into, like, the makeup trailer...
...where we are transformed.
MAN: Good morning. - Morning.
Good morning! Oh, my God, it's too early for this.
So this is made for precisely my head.
It's not just an off-the-shelf.
So on goes the meat.
- There it is. WOMAN: There it is.
He does look like ham-- Like that luncheon sausage, doesn't he?
WOMAN: Piece of bologna. - Bit of Mortadella...
...slapped on.
[SIGHS]
MAN: Whoa. WOMAN 1; on, my God!
[CATCALLS]
- That is a blue eye. WOMAN 2: That is a blue eye.
WOMAN 1: That's some serious blue. - That's turquoise. Ha, ha!
That's a Tiffany Blue, darling.
Get in there. There you go.
- Oh. - Go on, get it. Get it. Get it.
[WOMAN CHUCKLES]
WOMAN: That is a lot.
This nose really feels spectacular.
You have to feel it later on.
It's something else.
This is the beginning of the end of Jed and the beginning of Nori.
- Yeah. - Thanks, Adam. Ah.
McTAVISH: Dean's auditioning for The World of Suzie Wong.
Yeah, and this is actually contractual.
- Oh, hi. ALL: Ha, ha.
Sometimes it can put me to sleep, which I quite like.
The prodding and the poking of the face...
...tends to be a sort of-- Almost like a massage.
I am not really good at being massaged.
And the first few times I was ever massaged, I was terrified...
...I might break wind or something, that I was completely tense.
It's bound to have happened, you know?
There must have been people who've let rip while being massaged...
...and rather undone the work of the 300 scented candles. Ha-ha.
What happens between a prosthetic artist and his actor...
...stays between his prosthetic artist and the actor.
I love you, Don.
[HADLOW CHUCKLES]
BROPHY: When you're finished with prosthetics, we go into other makeup chair...
...which is where all the hair, beards and wigs were done.
Then you would be sent to Wardrobe.
- Shoehorn? WOMAN: Shoehorn.
- Is it up Mark's ass again? - Not gonna wanna put on your top, are you?
He said it was up my ass?
- Are you sure? - It wouldn't be the first time, darling.
No, very true.
- Hey. Good morning. MAN: Hello.
So, what you're looking at from this ledge...
...is like, there's a valley. And then the ruins of this fortress...
...are sticking out of the trees here.
SULLIVAN: We really start with the blocking.
When we come in the morning, we block the scene and see where the actor's gonna stop...
...which way they're looking to each other...
...and then you see where they wanna do their angles.
And people talk about making sure people look at each other...
...when they're cut together speaking.
PACE: Peter shows up to Blocking with lots and lots of ideas.
Yeah, the Orcs are absolutely foul and disgusting.
Especially to Elves. It's like there's something in the Elvish DNA...
...that just is repulsed by these things.
[SCREECHING AND GROWLING]
It's like sort of having to conduct a scene...
...next to a rotting corpse or something with the smell.
It's just something that's just so...
You just wanna get this over and done with as quickly as possible.
So, you know, sort of have that, you know, kind of quality to it.
I can see that Tauriel and Leggy have got big knife envy going on, haven't they?
[ALL LAUGHING]
Whose knives are the best? Always.
Now you've gotta do a little push-in on the Orcs dialogue.
Not 13. Not anymore.
SMITH: Before the actors come and shoot the scene...
...we, uh, stand where they're gonna stand, walk where they're gonna walk...
...and sometimes even say what they're gonna say...
...so Lighting and Camera can get the moves and everything looking as pretty as it can.
- Injured? - The black-haired one...
...I hit him with a Morgul shaft.
Poison's in his blood now. He'll be choking on it soon.
TAURIEL: Answer the question, filth.
[SPEAKING IN BLACK SPEECH]
I would not antagonize her.
[ALL LAUGHING]
- Let's relax the guys. We're gonna build this. KEDDY: We'll have a block through...
...and then, with Andrew, we would discuss what we'd need...
...to achieve the first few shots and get all the equipment lined up.
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
GARSIDE: We've designed our sets and we've designed our lighting packages...
...such that they're quick to move around the place. We've been very lucky...
...in that we've got a really good crew of guys.
[CHATTERING]
The great part about being a dolly grip...
...is you're right there in the heart of it, making that movie.
All right.
LEE: There will be moments during the day...
...when the Art Department was just waiting for Peter to have a free moment...
...when they're changing the set around.
HOWE: Peter's time becomes more and more precious...
...as more and more people need to show him things and more is demanded of him.
So we just wanna make this seem a bit less like a step, don't we?
There should be stairs they can climb up over...
...hand over hand, but it should be disguised.
Now, in theory, are we saying that this is Thrain...
...or Thror or more ancient than that?
- Thror. - Thror.
- So... - So that's gonna be an actor?
Yeah, it's an actor, and we've actually designed his beard and hair...
...so you might just wanna check in with Peter King.
At the end of the day, it might as well be as accurate as it could be.
- Okay. - Good.
Show you this. This is the finished Black Arrow.
- All right. - And that's the fletch.
That sure is quite a big old arrow.
TAYLOR: Yeah.
- I mean, if there's flicks in the-- - We'll make that out of steel.
You wanna make that out of steel and that with something a bit stronger...
- ...and make it the hero one. - Yeah.
TAYLOR: Pursuing approvals becomes a critical part of the process.
Almost a sport...
...where you're, uh, trying to get that elusive approval from Peter.
All right.
- Have you got a minute longer? - A minute? Yes.
- I don't know. - Are we ready?
WOMAN: We're putting a riser on the dolly.
- All right, you got a minute. - Oh, good, good.
These are the new stealth Orcs that we're doing. Yep.
JACKSON: That one is quite interesting.
- Are you ready? - Yeah, we're ready.
Okay, thank you.
We're gonna try and get Joe here with these guys after lunch tomorrow.
- Just at sometime tomorrow. - Yeah, I'll ask him...
...to come to the workshop over in that lot.
Yeah, great.
Pull your lips. Yeah.
- Okay. - Really, I mean-- Yeah, yeah.
Obviously, the gag is that you're in exactly the same pose.
You're literally just relaxing away from that pose.
You're suddenly aware that there isn't quite as much weight on it anymore.
You'll have to lift that thing up a little bit into shot.
- Ha, ha. - It's like:
- And his body is sort of down here somewhere. - All right.
Why did you do that?
Do you want me to drop it from there?
- Because this is weird, right? See? - Yeah.
- "Why did you do that?" Then: - Why did you do that?
JACKSON: Incoming.
- Incoming. BLOOM: Incoming.
[ALL LAUGHING]
- It's hitting his face. PACE: I got it.
Oh, sweet Jesus.
MAN: It starts at 7. Now, please, we gotta get ready to start shooting.
JACKSON: Here we go. And a good solid fall, Ben.
And a big twitch, here we go.
Three, two, one, action.
Why did you do that?
- You promised to set him free. - And I did.
I freed his wretched head from his miserable shoulders.
There was more the Orc could tell us.
There was no more he could tell me.
[TALKING INDISTINCTLY]
JACKSON: Could we just maybe--?
Could we risk trying one slightly faster?
The cam would have to be a little bit faster too.
Maybe if we just upped it all about 10 percent.
Is that a good idea or is that a disastrous idea?
We'll find out soon.
With a film that's shooting in a cutting-edge format...
...and shooting digitally...
...the postproduction work really begins on set.
We have an editing machine set up...
...in, uh, Peter's director's tent on set.
And I'm able to sit there and work with him, right beside him...
...and get his input during the day...
...when he gets moments in between shooting.
JACKSON: You should explore some better camera angles on this...
...because the idea of it is fine.
I'm loving my fat belly.
My fat suit.
MAN: Did they bulk you? - Yeah. Oh, come on. Come on.
MAN: No, I'm saying-- - Don't give me that shit.
[MAN LAUGHING]
Insults are flying today.
So today I'm playing Girion...
...my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
And, uh, he is on this battlement behind.
He uses this amazing contraption from Dale...
...a four-pronged ballista...
...which, um, he attempts to kill a dragon.
To get the right move, I've gotta give a "three, two, one, action."
That's when you swing back up. Getting yourself back into this mode...
...you can take your time and the other camera's gonna catch you...
- ...and film all of it. - Okay. All right, cool. That makes sense.
EVANS: I've worked with Andy before. He's a wonderful man...
...and the 2nd unit team were fantastic.
They had a big job on their hands.
They were responsible for a huge amount of coverage of work that we were doing.
The only thing we all have to watch out for:
That thing that looks like a whaling gun over there.
That is what fires the Black Arrow towards Smaug.
That is spring-loaded.
It's a firing mechanism. If you're gonna be in front of it...
...just be out of the way of those bendy bits.
SERKIS: Okay, here we go.
Three, two, one, action!
[ALL SHOUTING]
And fire!
Three, two, one, action!
Fire!
And fire!
And cut!
That was terrific. That's great, guys.
WOMAN: And that is us breaking for lunch. Thank you, folks.
[BAND PLAYING JAZZ MUSIC]
BROWN: In the catering tent...
...sometimes they have a band playing songs. And it would just lift your spirits.
We've had everything...
...from a folk band to a rapper. You know, all of those things.
MALCHIK: It's interesting to try...
...to get the right amount of food out for everybody.
FARNES: Sometimes we do like 350 people in about 25 minutes.
MALCHIK: It's a challenge, but it's been fun.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to feed an Orc.
[MALCHIK CHUCKLES]
Chicken.
You'll find that the groups tend to stick amongst their race.
Like Elves sit with Elves, if you know what I mean.
This is 9-Square, this is one of the ways the crew relax during their lunch break.
Okay, so basically, you wanna get the ball, head it to the next player...
...get it out of your square as quickly as possible.
You've gotta take it on the first bounce into another player's square...
...if it goes on the outside, you're out.
And then there's no slams allowed.
And you make your way around and into the king's square.
You have to be from New Zealand to understand 9-Square.
I've been playing the whole year and I really still don't understand.
Without 9-Square, this movie probably wouldn't get made.
[ALL CHEERING]
Oh, guys, thank you so much. That is absolutely fantastic.
Peter, this morning, came in and said that it's someone's very special birthday today.
Um, a 110 years ago, Adolf Hitler was born.
[ALL LAUGHING]
I do share my birthday with Adolf Hitler...
...and if my fascist tendencies start to come out...
...I'm just apologizing in advance.
But thank you very, very much. It's fantastic to be here again.
Love you all. Thank you.
[ALL CHEERING]
RIVERS: We've all worked together for a long time.
There's always a great sense of family on The Hobbit.
KIRCHER: There's music and parties and laughter...
...and when we're all together, it's a very special feeling.
And it's like this gigantic extended family.
[ALL CHEERING]
MAN: Hip! Hip! ALL: Hooray!
Two years older...
...than, uh, Bob Dylan, but a lot younger than Christopher Lee.
- Yeah. ALL: Ha, ha.
Thank you very much.