with more false beards than a Santa convention and more silicon than Sunset Strip, here’s everything you need to know about The Desolation Of Smaug, part two of Peter Jackson’s three-part adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit
Hollywood Reporter called the three Hobbit films
'a $1 billion gamble', the first two films costing £315 million each.
The stakes are high, the rewards potentially huge: Lord Of The Rings
grossed nearly $3 billion
1) It cost HOW much?
Hollywood Reporter called the three Hobbit films ‘a $1 billion gamble’, the first two films costing £315 million each. The stakes are high, the rewards potentially huge: Lord Of The Rings grossed nearly $3 billion, with 2003’s The Return Of The King winning 11 Oscars.2) It’s hairier than the hairy bikers…
Nearly every character in The Desolation Of Smaug (with the possible exception of the dragon) needs a wig. So the wigmakers made 752 of them – 91 for the film’s 13 dwarfs alone. The hair is not synthetic but from humans – or yaks.3) … and just as beardy
And then there is the facial hair – 263 beards were made for the film, held on with 4.45 miles of toupée tape. To be fair, they are very big beards, especially that of Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf.4) Making up is hard to do
It took five hours to complete hair, make-up, prosthetics and wardrobe for each dwarf. And, although there are only 13 dwarfs in the trilogy, it took 165 people, including actors, doubles and stunt men, to portray them.
5) It’s got a giant dwarf
Thorin Oakenshield, king of the dwarfs, is played by British actor Richard Armitage. Arriving on set for An Unexpected Journey, the first in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, he feared he’d be sacked for being too tall – he’s 6ft 2in. He needn’t have worried – Jackson uses special effects to ‘shrink’ the actors on screen, but the dwarfs did have to be trained how to walk. ‘We had weighted belts to pull your centre of gravity low,’ said Armitage.
Published in 1937, 'The Hobbit' has so far sold more than 35 million copies worldwide
6) What’s it all about?
‘The Hobbit’, about the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, was JRR Tolkien’s prelude to ‘The Lord Of The Rings’. Published in 1937, ‘The Hobbit’ was a single volume of 300 pages that so far has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. Peter Jackson is dividing the story into three films; the third will be ‘There And Back Again’, due next December7) It’s plastic fantastic
Four tons of silicon was used for facial prosthetics – and 860 bottles of isopropyl alcohol were used to remove them. In total, 11,862 prosthetics have so far been made for the trilogy. One crew member was given the job of looking after prosthetic hands – wonder how that gets written up on their CV?8) Haven’t I seen you before?
In days gone by film stars might have had a stunt double for high-flying action scenes. Here, each main character had five doubles – including scale, stunt and riding doubles. Orlando Bloom (Legolas), though, got hands on, and performed his own epic stunts.
The trilogy was shot on location in New Zealand,
with 115 drivers to transport the cast and crew to the 94 sets. Two
crew sat in a car overlooking the airport to warn when planes took off,
so noise didn't interfere with filming
9) Lord of the flight paths
The trilogy was shot on location in New Zealand, with 115 drivers to transport the cast and crew to the 94 sets. Two crew sat in a car overlooking the nearby airport to warn when planes took off, so noise didn’t interfere with filming.10) Film song is Sheer genius
Peter Jackson’s daughter Kate pushed for Ed Sheeran to write the song for the closing credits. A wise choice – Ed’s a Tolkien fan and The Hobbit was the first book his dad ever read him. After seeing a screening, Sheeran immediately went into a studio and recorded I See Fire – the British singer-songwriter’s first single in two years.11) Aaargh! Spiders!
Arachnophobe Peter Jackson has often used his fear to make his films scary. In The Return Of The King, his computer- generated giant spider Shelob was inspired by his fear of the New Zealand tunnel-web spider. ‘Whenever I see movie spiders, they’re based on tarantulas, shot in slow motion so they move slowly. I wanted Shelob to move fast.’ In The Desolation Of Smaug, Mirkwood Forest is overrun with spiders that may be Shelob’s ancestors and which feed on unsuspecting travellers who stray from the path.12) It’s a growth industry
John Bell, 16, who plays Bain, grew four inches during the making of the film.13) It’s Elf and safety gone mad!
Evangeline Lilly, best known as Kate Austen on
'Lost', plays the elf Tauriel. 'I've melting ears!' she disclosed on
Peter Jackson's blog. 'I'm sweating them off with all the stunt work!'
14) Enter… the dragon
What does Smaug look like? The CGIgenerated dragon is under wraps until release, but you can hear Benedict Cumberbatch’s voiceover online in a sneak peak of the trailer. We know what Smaug’s lair will look like – 2,000 hand-spun goblets were specially made and 117,000 punched aluminium gold plated coins are trickled over the lair. That’s one lah-di-dah dragon.15) Here come the girls
Maybe unsurprisingly for a 1937 book, there aren’t many women in The Hobbit. But in the film they’re as abundant as orcs. New characters include feisty elf Tauriel, who carries twin daggers, a bow and arrow, and is fast and agile in battle, a bit like Lisbeth Salander with Spock ears. She’s not a ‘floating, ethereal thing’, says Evangeline Lilly.16) It’s got Legs...and knows how to use them
Orlando Bloom’s character, Legolas, doesn’t feature in the novel, though the elf is a main character in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Bloom recalls that, before shooting, Peter Jackson met him in London. ‘He said: “Listen, we have this idea of Leggy coming back. What do you think?” And I said, “Of course!” I was worried about how fans would react... but Pete convinced me.’17) Simples!
More than 100 prosthetic hobbit feet had to be
made for Martin Freeman, who plays reluctant hero Bilbo Baggins. 'They
were heavy. And they were six inches longer than real feet,' he said
Gandalf the glum: Sir Ian McKellen considered quitting acting on the first film
18) Gandalf the glum
McKellen considered quitting acting on the first film. Gandalf is supposed to tower over hobbits and dwarfs, so he had to be filmed separately, on a greenscreen set. ‘I felt pretty miserable… I wondered, had the time come for me to stop acting if I couldn’t cope?’ But he battled on.19) Lights, camera… coffee
More than 140,000 coffees were made by the caterers during production – that’s 35,000 litres of cappuccinos!20) Extra extras!
A remarkable 1,200 extras appear in the trilogy. Last year, an audition for extras took place in Wellington. The casting department said they were looking for men under 164cm and women under 155cm, big men with ‘character faces’ over 175cm, men with large biceps, women with ‘character faces’ and women with long hair. However, the casting call proved more popular than thought: it had to be closed down when more than 3,000 people showed up.The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is released on December 13
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