Oh, come on, come on, Gandalf. It was just a bit of fun.
JACKSON: The Lord of the Rings is based on such a well-loved book.
So the responsibility of bringing this world to the screen...
...is obviously enormous.
And finally the technology caught up with the incredible imagination...
...that Tolkien injected into this story of his.
And so this is the time.
This is the time that this movie can finally be made.
MAN: And action!
JACKSON: We began the shoot in 1999.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime, especially in New Zealand...
...where we don't get to make films of this size. We never have.
BLOOM: There was no expectation.
No idea of what the movie was going to be.
There was a lot of things that we were kind of figuring out as we went along.
This is the biggest low-budget film we've made in the history of the planet.
[LAUGHTER]
Follow me. Follow me.
JACKSON: We shot all three movies at the same time...
...with the same cast, with the same crew.
Elijah suddenly realizes that he hasn't got the ring.
And he's like, "Oh, my God. Where is the ring?"
It was a massive undertaking.
This was never planned. This is chaos. Organized chaos.
WOOD: How lucky are we to be in New Zealand to see this?
That's half of why this movie is so amazing.
OSBORNE: By the time that we shot the bulk of The Two Towers...
...we started to split off into units.
We weren't together anymore.
A literal breaking of the Fellowship. They all went off...
...to do their journeys.
Going UP-
Fire!
JACKSON: The Helms Deep, we shot endless night shoots.
There were about three or four months' worth of night shoots.
[YELLING]
MORTENSEN: You can see it on people's faces how tired they were.
Everybody had this sort of vampire life, and they're like these creatures of the night.
[LAUGHING MANIACALLY]
Been there, done that. Ha-ha-ha.
JACKSON: We were inventing a lot of the technology in the way...
...in which we could use digital tools to tell a story like this.
[IN GOLLUM'S VOICE] Oh, yes.
JACKSON: We were under enormous pressure to design and develop Gollum...
...at a time when CGI had never gone to that level.
All new territory. People weren't sure if it's gonna work.
I'm not listening.
[YELLS]
You know, it was a big rolling adventure. You're holding on to the reins.
This thing's completely out of control, but you're trying to ride it out.
OSBORNE: Even looking back on it today, I wonder how we got through all of that work.
- But we did. - Ah! Uh!
Four years down the line, and finally you've arrived at your official last day.
And cut.
Lovely last shot.
WOOD: Thank you, Peter.
You finished it.
JACKSON: It's become a lifestyle more than just a job.
It was like your suburb, really. Everybody's lives just kept happening...
...in this place for a very long period of time.
Have you seen my tattoo?
Where are the tats? Get the tats out.
[MAN LAUGHING]
That is nine.
Elvish. Of course.
The Fellowship, baby.
Not one member of the Fellowship that I don't think I'll know for the rest of my life.
WOOD: We were doing it together as a force...
...and in that way, the Fellowship became a reality.
MORTENSEN: Fifty years from now, the interaction of the characters...
...and the way that Peter has inspired everyone...
...to commit to this story is what will last.
JACKSON: It was made with love, it was made with great care and commitment.
And I do genuinely think...
...that that spirit has made its way onto the screen.
LEE: They've never before given an Oscar to what they described as a fantasy.
Ever. Ever.
JACKSON: Doing three movies with all the complexity and detail that these films have...
...is something I probably will never want to do again in my life.
This is the first and only time.
Ten years later...
- B mark. - And now we're going back.
We're doing it all over again.
- Yes. - Bring me another Dwarf.
ALL: Ah! JACKSON: Fran and I just took the attitude...
...if we end up doing The Hobbit, it will be because, you know...
...that's where fate has pushed us.
I'm going on an adventure!
All right. Who would have thought it would ever have happened again?
I know. And I turned 19...
...at this location.
- And I'm 30 now. Ha-ha-ha. - Jesus.
This is my family.
So to be asked to come back...
...and be a second unit director was just phenomenal.
It was a little bit like returning to summer camp.
So many of the people who were part of the first journey are part of this journey.
He's back.
JACKSON: Shooting of The Hobbit was almost walking step by step...
...with our company as they were on their own quest.
We actually shot for 266 days on The Hobbit...
...which was the same number of days that we shot on The Lord of the Rings.
So I've sort of done the once-in-a-lifetime experience twice.
But not a third time. There won't be a third time.
BLOOM: So now it's a slightly more well-oiled machine with the same charm...
...and chaotic geniuses behind it.
Pete has such an amazing ability to take on such huge stories...
...on such epic scale.
[DRAGON SCREECHING]
Slightly scary filming a real dragon.
You've always got the thought at the back of your mind. What is Smaug gonna look like?
Unless you get this right, you're actually jeopardizing the entire film.
We're trying to shoot a dragon that doesn't exist yet.
Kept thinking of Benedict Cumberbatch's face...
...which is not good. It's not gonna look like Benedict Cumberbatch. Ha-ha.
[GRUNTS]
The Battle of Five Armies is going to be astonishing.
JACKSON: Film three, I'm actually enjoying. I think it's the best of the three.
There's a hell of a lot of action.
That's why it's called The Battle of the Five Armies.
Because it's got a battle.
We're going to see a battle unlike any battle committed to film before.
EVANS: It all became...
...an epic, exhausting few months of our lives.
ARMITAGE: So we were all battle-ready.
I know I did maybe two and a half, three weeks' worth of fighting.
I feel privileged. I can now be involved in those battles.
A huge, epic, Peter Jackson battle.
[ALL YELLING]
I can't wait. We're just gonna, you know, smash some Orc butt.
The other important thing with the battle is to keep the focus...
...on the hero characters, main characters of the film.
They are the driving force of the battle.
FREEMAN: What I always liked about Peter...
...is he never has that action and battle stuff at the expense of drama...
...and he never has it at the expense of an emotional call.
LEE: What has appeared on these screens...
...has never been done by anybody else.
ARMITAGE: There will be six movies that sit alongside each other.
It really is the end of a long journey.
[ALL CHEERING]
BLANCHETT: The power of the films, that lasting power of the films...
...as well as being gloriously entertaining...
...they'll be a memorable time capsule of the time in which they were made.
Completing these films is better than winning a gold medal at the Olympics.
This has been my home for 18 months...
...so thank you so, so much.
BROPHY: None of us wanted it to end.
I still don't want it to end. Ha-ha-ha.
That's it, mate. We did it.
We've always had the support of this incredible crew...
...that have become a family.
They went on the journey with us.
They went there and back again.
It's a big piece of your life that you spend making these films.
And now we're coming to the end of our fellowship.
Whew. That was a journey worth going on, you know?
[ALL YELLING]
[PEOPLE APPLAUDING]
[ALL CHEERING]