Explore Middle-earth, and relive your favourite moments from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies.
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New book reveals more of how Kiwi movie mogul Sir Peter Jackson was forced to change the filming schedule for The Lord of the Rings so star actor could join the cast.
On-set safety fears included cast and crew walking through a zone featuring unexploded military munitions.
Code names were given to locations and put on all documents as a security step during filming.
The author writes about staying in an underground hobbit home connected by a tunnel to Jackson’s mansion in Wairarapa.
A new book written by a close confidante of Sir Ian McKellen – who travelled to New Zealand to film The Lord ofthe Rings and The Hobbit trilogies - has lifted the lid on some of the previously kept secret details of Sir Peter Jackson’s Academy Award-winning films.
In his book - For Entertainment Only: Behind the Scenes of The Lord of the Rings and More – author Keith Stern also writes about his earlier life in the music industry, working with the likes of R.E.M, Iggy Pop, The Ramones and Joan Jett.
Life on the set - including safety concerns - of The Lord of the Rings was written about in Sean Astin’s controversial 2004 book, There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale.
During filming, Astin – who played the role of hobbit Samwise Gamgee - had to be airlifted to hospital after severely cutting his foot.
Among revelations in his newly-released book, Stern writes of the nervousness around filming in the Rangipo Desert, an area used for some of the key battle scenes at the fictitious Mordor, near the Waiouru Military Camp.
“Some locations are inherently dangerous,” Stern writes in For Entertainment Only.
“The Mordor set was on the site of an army weapons testing ground, and we were warned to stay on the paths that had been cleared of unexploded munitions.
“Most of us did as told, though I smuggled out a few spent shell casings as souvenirs.”
The new book For Entertainment Only: Behind the Scenes of The Lord of the Rings and Other Movies reveals some of the secrets from filming of the movie trilogy.
The American travelled to New Zealand to work alongside McKellen, who he was building an autobiographical website for.
During his time around the set, he also got to know Astin, who he would also later produce a website for.
Stern also created a website for Andy Serkis; who did motion capture acting and voice-overs for the computer-generated character, Gollum.
Serkis was to work with Jackson again, providing the acting for the computer-generated King Kong in the 2005 movie remake of the same name.
The journey the hobbits took to Mordor saw them filming around areas where it was feared unexploded military ordinance remained, a new book reveals. Photo / New Line Productions
But it was a different story for Astin, after the contents of his book, Stern wrote.
“Sean is not one to withhold his opinion and he was frank while telling the story from his point of view,” Sterm writes in For Entertainment Only.
“A few people took offence to things he wrote, including the director of The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson.
“In general, film sets can be dangerous places with lots of people swarming around, climbing ladders, wrangling equipment and animals, performing stunts, shooting arrows etc. Huge sound stages have many unlit corners and charged high-voltage cables snaking across the floor.
“Sean was not invited to work with Peter Jackson again, not even on The Hobbit.”
The battle to cast Gandalf – backlash over actor’s homosexuality
Just how close Stern is to McKellen – who in 2002 received an Academy Award nomination for best actor in a supporting role for his part in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – is clear from the cover of his new book.
At the top of the cover of For Entertainment Only is a quote from the actor endorsing the book, stating: “From one who knows”.
Stern has revealed more about how McKellen – and by default Stern – almost didn’t make it to New Zealand for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Sir Ian McKellen's casting as Gandalf came under fire from some because of his sexuality.
The legendary British actor was always the preferred man to play the role of Gandalf; with the character being a wizard who was sent to Middle Earth to fight the threat of Sauron.
But after being offered the role by Jackson, he was already committed to filming X-Men in Canada.
“It seemed like an insurmountable obstacle, and after months of negotiations, Ian had to turn down the role of Gandalf,” Stern wrote in the book published by Shoreham House Publishers.
“That was the situation when I came for a return visit in July 1999, to continue scanning documents from Ian’s archives; a lot of cardboard boxes filled with papers stacked on the damp floor of his basement, below the level of the Thames.”
During the stay in the United Kingdom, Stern accompanied McKellen for a night at the theatre, before they headed to a seafood restaurant.
Stern reveals in For Entertainment Only that during the late-night dinner, McKellen was approached out of the blue by Robert Shaye, the boss of New Line Cinema –the company that had obtained production rights for the trilogy.
“Shaye told Ian how pleased he was that he’d be playing Gandalf. Ian replied, ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve had to turn down the role due to a scheduling conflict with X-Men’,” Stern wrote.
“Shaye said, ‘Oh really? We’ll see about that. I’m sure I can make some sort of arrangement. Leave it to me’. I thought, ‘sure he will’.
“It’s not often that people in Hollywood deliver on promises like that, but Bob Shaye did.
“He convinced Peter Jackson to rearrange his schedule to begin filming without Ian until he was done with X-Men.”
Sir Ian McKellen was only able to take on the role of Gandalf after delays to some of the shooting of The Lord of the Rings.
As well as being an award-winning actor, McKellen is also known and respected for backing LGBT rights globally.
The 85-year-old came out publicly as being gay in 1988.
In the decades that have followed, his support for equality – including being the patron of Pride London and Oxford Pride - has seen him awarded the Freedom of the City of London.
But it was personal attacks – and not accolades – that McKellen received from a section of fans of the works of JRR Tolkien after it was revealed he would play Gandalf.
Those intensified as the cast of The Lord of the Rings started promoting the release of the first of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, in late 2001.
“In the beginning, Ian had to overcome a significant amount of vitriol aimed at him for being gay,” Stern wrote in For Entertainment Only.
“A lot of fans had a difficult time adjusting to the fact that their beloved Gandalf was going to be impersonated by a homosexual.
Martin Freeman (left to right) Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Peter Jackson on the set of The Hobbit.
“Ian tends to want to stay above the fray when it involves personal attacks against him. I tend to want to respond. I encouraged Ian to respond and he wrote a short essay titled, A Gay Gandalf?, that I published on his website.
“The homophobic attacks ceased and were forgotten long before the studio’s official publicity campaign began. All it took was for Ian to put the cowardly attackers on notice that he was not going to be a pushover.”
Life on and off the set of Lord of the Rings
Stern opens up about some of the security steps taken to avoid information about the trilogy project – including some of the exact filming locations – going public.
While numerous key sites were well-known before the cameras started rolling, others weren’t.
A code name was adopted and used prominently on documents in case they were lost. That name was also used on signs leading to locations.
“I rose early the next morning and was driven to the location in Tongariro National Park where battle scenes were being filmed,” Stern writes in For Entertainment Only.
The exact location of some of The Lord of the Rings sets were closely-kept secrets. Photo / New Line Productions
“We followed a series of bright yellow signs marked ‘Jamboree’, the code name for LOTR filming.
“The title pages for scripts, call sheets and other production documents all referred to the project as ‘Jamboree’ in an effort to maintain security. The thought was that people would be less interested in swiping materials about a film being made documenting a Boy Scout meeting.”
While shooting around Mt Tongariro – the movie’s home for Mordor sets – Stern also got to know Viggo Mortensen; who played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The introduction came via McKellen at the Ohakune accommodation the cast and crew were staying in.
“A tall man approached us from the end of the hall, in full medieval battle gear of leather, armour and sword. Ian introduced me to Viggo Mortensen,” Stern wrote.
“He was every inch King Aragorn, and I felt a little intimidated, like I should bow down, or something.
“Viggo prefers to stay in character (and costume), as much as he can, and defied the wardrobe mistress whose job was to confiscate and account for all elements of costume at the end of each day.”
Viggo Mortensen liked to stay in character off the set during the filming of The Lord of the Rings.
Mortensen probably had good reason to stay in character; he was a late addition to the cast after the actor originally signed to play Aragorn, Stuart Townsend was sacked by Jackson the day before filming began.
While filming in Wellington – which included scenes on Mt Victoria and in the Hutt Valley – home for McKellen was a “ridge-top house overlooking the bay in Seatoun”.
Stern reveals in For Entertainment Only that shortly after setting up base in New Zealand’s capital city, the award-winning actor had to conquer one of his fears; riding a horse.
“We drove up the west coast to the stables where he was to meet Blanco and Demero, the white Arabian stallions who would take turns playing his trusty steed, Shadowfax,” he wrote.
“Ian was nervous about riding horseback. After all, there was a spare Shadowfax but only one Ian.
The Lord of the Rings shoots took place in some of the most scenic places in New Zealand. Photo / New Line Productions
“His friend, Roy Kinnear, had died after falling from a horse while filming The Return of the Musketeers. Still, Ian diligently trotted around the ring several times.”
Stern added numerous scenes featuring the character of Gandalf on a horse. However, the scenes were completed by stunt doubles, or had McKellen sitting atop a “prop horse”.
Stern also revealed the three most popular hospitality venues for cast wanting to relax away from the set of The Lord of the Rings.
That included Chocolate Fish Cafe, Fidel’s Cafe and Matterhorn.
“If you were looking for any of the actors working on The Lord of the Rings in the evening, it was a good bet you wouldn’t have to look beyond those three joints to find them.”
Movie memories - Gandalf’s nose and inside Sir Peter Jackson’s mansion
Working with actors who starred in some of Jackson’s blockbusters saw Stern collect numerous mementos and memories for life.
That includes the prosthetic nose that McKellen wore in his role as Gandalf.
He said the famous actor found the prop “uncomfortable and (it) tended to slip and itch”.
“He couldn’t wait to tear it off his face once the cameras stopped rolling,” Stern wrote in For Entertainment Only.
“After he exited the forest set after filming the ‘return of Gandalf’ scene, he handed it to me, half-melted by the hot lights.
“The make-up crew told me it would dissolve completely after a week or two. I keep it [in] my refrigerator and, after 24 years, it’s the same.”
The Lord of the Rings trilogy wasn’t Stern’s only exposure to New Zealand and Jackson.
A prosthetic nose that Sir Ian McKellen wore while playing the role of Gandalf later found a special home.
He also travelled here during the shoot of the remake of King Kong by which time he was working with Serkis, managing his online presence.
He was back in New Zealand in 2007, this time spending three nights in Bag End; the movie-set home of hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Once filming was complete, Stern wrote how Jackson “had the full-sized set moved to his country home, where it was buried into a hillside and equipped to serve as a guest room with electricity, running water and a telephone”.
He went on to say how staying in Bag End was a life highlight and revealed how it was joined to Jackson’s mansion by a tunnel.
Sir Peter Jackson, left, in one of the hobbit home sets that he later had installed alongside his Wairarapa mansion.
“It was fully furnished with props from the films, as if Bilbo had just stepped out for a moment,” he wrote in For Entertainment Only.
“A lengthy, elaborate decorated tunnel, its entrance hidden behind a swinging pantry, connected Bag End to the main house, transitioning from a coal mine to Victorian subway to medieval cellar then back again before exiting through a bookcase into the living room.
“Kids loved to play in that tunnel, but few guests wanted to stay underground, away from the action and comforts of the main house.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
