Okay, you ready for this?
- Ahh! MAN: Action!
That's cool.
Back into it again. It's either a joy or a bad dream. I'm not actually sure which.
Action.
The landing gear for this plane is coming down again. We have a lot of work to do...
...to deliver the movie by mid-November.
SAINDON: Peter is sort of an arachnophobe...
...so showing him spider sequences always freaks him out.
It's always scary.
WILLING-HAM: It's not as crazy as it has been.
- This is actually a really fun time to be in previs. - Stop ******* talking, get back to work.
[WILLINGHAM LAUGHS]
Welcome to the new blog.
Sorry it's taken a little bit of time since we finished the shoot...
...but we had to throw ourselves into post-production.
That's where we are now, right in the heart of darkness.
But I thought it would be good to look back at the pickups...
...that we did in May, June, July this year.
Action.
Ten weeks of very, very intense shooting for both the second and third Hobbit movies.
That's awesome! Ha-ha-ha.
Now, as you know, Andy Serkis was our second unit director.
But during the pickups this year...
...Andy was busy in the new Planet of the Apes movie.
So we got Christian Rivers to direct splinter unit.
Now, it wasn't really a second unit. We call it splinter unit.
It was like a scaled-down version of the second unit...
...but nonetheless very important.
RIVERS: Great! Reset!
We're a small but highly efficient specialized unit. So we sit as close as possible...
...to Pete as we can, and we get all the stuff that he's too busy to get.
MAN: Tell us the story about how you came to be in the film industry.
One of my first jobs was grabbing you by the balls, wasn't it?
That's right.
[WHIMPERS]
That must have been a short experience.
- And that didn't put you off for life? - It didn't, did it?
Since then, he has literally been on every movie that I've made.
So I've worked with Peter for over 22 years now.
I started when I was 18 as a storyboard artist...
...and wearing various hats over the years.
So I'm what you might call "institutionalized."
JACKSON: So, he was a natural choice to me because he's been doing previs...
...as in actually designing sequences for The Hobbit.
So he has a very intimate knowledge of my filmmaking style.
Pete may want us just to get highs, get lows.
JACKSON: He's great at working with the actors too.
RIVERS: On the first day of splinter unit, Pete definitely threw me into the deep end.
I didn't think I'd be shooting any drama...
...but we shot Gandalf and Radagast yesterday, which was a real treat.
Nerve-racking, but a real treat.
- Hello, Peter. - Hey, Christian.
- Hello? - If Peter's happy, we'll start shooting.
MAN: Action! - We've little time!
Now he has built an army, and then-- Oh, ****, no. ****. ****.
"Gathered an army. Brought an army. Gathered an army."
Lego. We can do it with Lego.
"Gathered--" No, don't. "Gathered. Gathered. Gathered."
Director's happy, camera's happy, actor's happy.
I'm happy, you happy, we go for another one.
I suggest you leave now.
- Go after him? - Well, there's little time.
So, so, so fast and so slow.
- Gandalf, what are you talking about? - I don't know.
We're ready.
Let's get serious and shoot it like we're making a real big boys' movie.
- Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah!
We're shooting some more of the spider fight with the Dwarves.
Action.
Musical chairs, but with swords and spiders.
Spider fighting first thing? Can't beat it.
So, uh, yeah, I'm going to kick some arse with this.
Beware, spider.
And cut!
Can't mess with that.
- Hold on, brother! - Where's Bilbo?
A rather nice, short day. Just the 15 hours.
Don't look at me directly in the eyes.
MAN: I'm filming! - Fine. I did just reset this piece, though.
We're now shooting on the backlot, as opposed to the studio...
...and outside there are slightly more inherent problems.
And shooting next to the airport.
We're having to time the shots, at times, between the planes taking off.
Wait for the plane.
Winner stands in and loser plane-watches, okay?
Good luck.
Yes! See you.
It was either wear this, or go up the hill and spot planes.
So I'm actually quite happy I'm wearing this.
That's one large aircraft leaving right now.
We're watching for aircrafts.
We just let the ADs know when the aircrafts are coming, how big they are.
We've got another one leaving in about 30 seconds there, Bruno.
MAN [OVER WALKIE]: Yeah, Hayden.
Lovely. Here we go. And action.
There's directing, and then there's plane-watching.
And then there's the rest of the jobs, like camera and grip, and lighting and stuff.
So we scored this one. We won, obviously.
And here we are!
And they have to be boring, on set filming the movie.
[WEAL LAUGHS]
Shh.
Action! One, two, three!
So, on splinter unit, we shot a lot of stunts.
A lot of action stuff.
Yeah, that was a good one, Richard. That was great.
RIVERS: Most of the actors want to do all their own stunts.
Especially Orlando.
So he's coming up behind you...
...and you're landing just as he appears there.
- Is that plank going to be there or not'? - No, of course it's not going to be there.
It would be a wussy thing--
MAN: Three, two, one, action!
Don't mess with this elf, right? A'ight?
I have melting ears. I'm sweating them off in all of my stunt work.
LILLY: Tolkien describes the Silvan Elves as less wise and more dangerous.
Tauriel is a little bit reckless...
...and doesn't quite have the self-control that a lot of the other elves do.
You like death?
Then let me give it to you!
[THRANDUIL SPEAKS ELVISH]
LILLY: So she doesn't have that kind of floating, ethereal thing.
I do not think you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan Elf.
No, you are right. I would not. Still, he cares about you.
Do not give him hope where there is none.
You peer around, and you see him standing in the middle of the room.
Naked in a bath.
I love this. In this spa bath, yeah.
- What do they call that? - It's a Jacuzzi.
"I know you're there, Elf."
The fortunes of the world will rise and fall. But here in this kingdom, we will endure.
Thranduil is so old. He's 3000 years old and immortal.
A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an Elf.
I'm patient. I can wait.
[ALL LAUGH]
PACE: He's not interested in how he presents himself to other people.
He's just interested in what they have that he wants.
That's how kings are.
Shall I take my leave of you now?
- Get out of here. - Or should we get in the Jacuzzi?
- Get out of here or get in that Jacuzzi. - Cannonball!
JACKSON: It's like dropping the audience, bang, straight into it. The chase is still on.
- That's a good one. Let's do one more. JACKSON: So I hope you've enjoyed that.
We're going to keep the blogs coming thick and fast now between this point and the release.
So soon it will be "Pickups: Part Two."
Look forward to seeing you then. Thanks for watching.
Dwarves will take some catching.
And so do burglars.
[MAKES WHOOSHING SOUND]