Eye candy: behind the scenes on The Hobbit
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens tomorrow (over here in the UK: in North America, you’ll have to wait until Friday). But if you’re already clutching advance tickets – and praying that Peter Jackson and Weta can pull off a little more of the old Middle Earth magic – there’s just time for one last fix of making-of featurettes.
The latest official teaser is essentially landscape porn, with lots of shots of New Zealand looking rugged, while sundry dwarves and hobbits wax lyrical about how great it was to film there.
But you do get to see Hobbiton being rebuilt as a permanent set – not to mention Kiwi Prime Minister John Key turning up for an informal-looking photo op alongside Peter Jackson: something you don’t get in LA or London.
If that hasn’t scratched your itch for epic fantasy, you can catch the previous featurettes and trailers in one handy YouTube playlist, or check out Peter Jackson’s archived video production diaries.
We’ll be hanging on for Friday, and hoping that Weta’s big effects scenes – glimpsed tantalisingly in the latest TV trailer (below) – look as beautiful as New Zealand itself.