tomorrow evening, I thought I'd post the piece of writing I did a year ago, after going to Wellington to the Red Carpet, at the Premier of the first Hobbit film. Unfortunately there will be no New Zealand based Premier this time, but I shall just have to bear it, I'm afraid.
The trip was certainly Hobbit related from the very start. The airline safety video had been tailored to make jokes pertaining to the upcoming release. Although admirable to a hard-core(ish) fan of Lord of the Rings like me, it did seem a little pathetic. But it was well done, for an airline video, and amusing, so I guess it did its job. For the first half of the very short flight, I did something I've never done before… I actually read one of the magazines stuck in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me. Because, you guessed it; the first forty pages or so were Hobbit-related. It was quite interesting.
The article that I can remember most easily is the article explaining the origin of Hobbiton. It sticks in my mind for a couple of reasons. The first reason is because I was already well informed on that topic – Hobbiton is not three hours away from me, quite near the house of some of my relations. I have been there once, and certainly plan to go again, especially as (this was the second reason) the owners of the farm that got turned into the Hobbiton set have, through the new Hobbit movie, been able to negotiate the rights to keep the set intact – Hobbit hole doors and all. Anyone who likes Lord of the Rings and visits New Zealand should without a doubt look into visiting Hobbiton – it is both lovely and surreal, being in such a beautiful, tranquil place that you (or certainly I) have seen so often on your screen, with that beautiful score Concerning Hobbits playing softly behind the sunny scene.
Anyway, back to the trip. Arriving in Wellington airport, it had been… upgraded, to remind everyone of the upcoming events. Namely, a huge “underwater” Gollum head, complete with plastic bubbles, fish and a seabed, was hanging from the ceiling over a set of cafeteria’s, and reaching out to catch one of the three or four fish. My mum was particularly taken with the fake rolling hills and Hobbit holes covering the usual bland and boring luggage carousels. I have to admit, it was quite cute – though I was only in a position to admire it after running after my suitcase not wanting it to go around again. And all around there was the slogan; The Middle of Middle-Earth.
We promptly moved out of the airport and into a waiting taxi. Wellington did have a few decorations about – the most prominent of which, at the time, were the banners of various characters from the upcoming Hobbit film fluttering from various lampposts. After arriving at the hotel and dumping belongings on respective surfaces, my mum, my brother and I went out to get lunch. Nothing really special happening there, aside from an episode involving me, cars, a traffic light and my brother accidentally tricking me into thinking it was safe to cross the road… but we don’t need to talk about that, do we? Especially as, somehow, I managed to drop my hotel key card at the same time.
After lunch, my dad staying in the hotel to work, the rest of us headed out to the Hobbit markets in a park near Courtney Place. It was rather smaller than I expected, but still very exciting. There was a huge field (OK, the field was bigger than I expected), with a massive TV screen, and a host on a stage undertaking Hobbit-related entertainment. It was nice and sunny, and along one side of the field was a row of food stalls that were sometimes related to the Hobbit, sometimes not, but they were always decorated in Hobbit style. That row led onto a double row of stalls that was the actual market – topped with Hobbit-party-looking tent tops and streamers and flags. The row of stalls hooked around, to exit at the back of the field. You could enter through gaps in the middle of the tents at various intervals, and there was a Hobbit Market Entrance (actually nowhere near the numerous entrances) purely placed there for taking photographs. Much to my mum’s disgust, as I have never believed in photographs I am unfortunate enough to get caught in, I wouldn't go anywhere near the sign, and neither would my brother.
For about an hour we wandered – almost annoyingly casually, at times – throughout the stalls. There was a stall for models, stalls for jewellery, a stall with boots and an armour display, a couple of swords, a poster stall, trinkets, paintings, maps, books, stamp collections, and ridiculously overpriced cloaks and scarves by the same people who made the clothing for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Some of the clothing was “collectible”, and some of it wasn't. There were also a couple of young women dressed as Hobbits, with garlands of flowers, playing suitably Hobbit-ish music on violins or fiddles or whatever they were. Anyone who knows me will have gathered, by now, that this market was for me both Heaven and Hell at the exact same time. It was Heaven because I had never in my life seen so much stuff related to Lord of the Rings – much of it wonderful and beautiful. It was Hell, because, at the same time, I of course wanted to own much more of it than I could afford. For example – a cloak was 900 NZD, just as a random example to give you an idea of how expensive things were. While my brother got bored and went to sit on the field and watch the screen, I agonized over what I wanted and what I could afford. I eventually bought a big poster of the White Council from the Hobbit, and a collectible Gandalf-scarf (Gandalf the Grey) from Lord of the Rings. We paid for it in advance, but because they had no more we had to pick it up the next day.
With the poster I also got a free fold-able Gandalf hat, which I took to give to my brother – probably more for my sake than his, because he had barely shown interest in buying anything, and I couldn't bear having him leave the Hobbit market with absolutely nothing. In any case, we went back to the hotel, and with my usual brilliant timing and weakness of conviction when it comes to swimming, I decided to go to the pool with my brother. Which meant that I had a limited amount of time to argue with the pathetic hair-dryer, and because of the awfully crowded roads we were ten minutes late for the open-air screening of the Return of the King – which was OK, because we mostly missed Smeagol/Gollum strangling his cousin. We came within hearing distance as Merry and Pippin began their drinking song, and I couldn't help skipping along and jumping off things. Truth be told, that probably didn't quite fit with the boots, fur coat and leather gloves, but oh well.
After setting up, my brother went off to get us hamburgers. May I just say at this juncture, I am very proud of the fact that I managed to eat the whole thing only dropping one piece of lettuce. I have no idea how I did it, but let’s be honest; no-one ever manages to eat a hamburger without at least one spillage. So, we settled down to watch the movie, my dad with iPod headphones (insert scandalized whispers here) for the first hour or so. But even I have to admit that it was really, really cold – they don’t call it “Windy Wellington” for nothing, and I was honestly envying some of the huge duvets around us, quietly wondering if it would have been reprehensible to bring my Harry Potter Hogwarts blanket to a screening of Lord of the Rings. There had been a showing of the Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers in the two nights previous to this one, but unfortunately I hadn't been in Wellington at the time – and having never been to an open air screening before I didn't have any experience to inform me of just what my mum meant when she said “cold”.
That being said, I wouldn't pass up the experience for anything. It was absolutely wonderful – I got a huge but completely satisfying surprise when the audience started cheering at a point in the movie – the first instance being when Gandalf smacks Denethor in the face in Minas Tirith when Denethor is telling the soldiers to flee for their lives. I, of course, joined in the clapping and cheering. Here is a list below of all the main times when the audience cheered:
1. Gandalf: “Prepare for battle.” (after knocking out Denethor)
2. Eowyn: “I am no man!” (stabbing the Witch King of Angmar in the face)
3. Sam: “Not if I stick you first!” (saving Frodo from an Orc)
4. Sam: “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” (do I need an explanation?)
5. Collapse of Sauron’s Tower.
6. Aragorn and Arwen’s reunion kiss.
7. Aragorn: “My friends. You bow to no-one.” (after which the whole coronation party bows to the Hobbits)
8. Sam and Rosie’s wedding kiss.
9. “The end”.
Now, which were my favorite audience moments? Of course, I loved the first one because it was such a brilliant surprise, I was ridiculously happy – it made you feel closer to everyone, truly. After No. 1 Cheer, I had been secretly afraid of losing my felt rapport with the audience if they cheered later on, in a similar instance, but in which Gandalf knocks Denethor into the fire. But they did not disappoint me, staying respectfully silent at that point. No. 2 Cheer was definitely one of my favorites – I have always loved Eowyn, and I have always loved that line. No. 3 Cheer... well, I actually would have preferred it if the clapping had happened as Sam killed Orcs in the stairway, or where he says “Put him down, you filth,” to the spider – but I cheered along anyway. Of course, from No. 3 Cheer onward, I loved all of the celebratory moments. But if I had to pick a favourite out of the rest of them, I would have to say the “You bow to no-one” cheer (Number 7) was the best. I have often cried at that moment in the film (well, not just that moment, a lot of others, but that one a lot) and was ecstatic to realize it was not just me who truly appreciated the beauty of that moment.
Aside from that, the experience during the film was… cold, certainly. Dad went and got us hot chocolates at one point, which was a life-saver, even if there were no spoons and I was desperate so I ended up scooping out the froth with my finger (it was dark, come on, no-one could see me anyway). If I am to stay true to my aim of accurately describing the experience, there is one slightly unfortunate episode that I must outline. Mum left to go to the toilet about two-thirds of the way through, and upon coming back stepped straight over us to crouch about three meters in front. I called her twice, but she didn't hear me. So I reluctantly resigned myself to going and getting her. Unfortunately (very much so) for me, I forgot about the scarf we had been sharing. I got up, at first trying to stay low in consideration of the audience behind me (not too many, we were near the back, thank goodness), but upon standing a little straighter and trying to get there faster I promptly tripped over the trailing end of the scarf… in front of, I guess, about one-hundred people.
I am proud to say that at least I landed quite sensibly, on my forearms, between people, right behind my mum. I coolly just tapped her on the back, mentioning where we were – all in the couple of seconds before the laughter started. Someone asked if I was all right. I replied that I was, and I moved back to where I had been sitting, grinning at anyone who met my eye. To be perfectly honest, I usually have quite a low tolerance for embarrassment to myself, but after that I couldn't stop giggling for about ten minutes. Any other place I would have been terribly embarrassed – but in this instance, it was another one of those odd moments that makes you feel closer to people. We were all there for the same purpose, we all had something in common, and it felt like they were laughing with me rather than at me – so I didn't really mind.
After the film and the cheering at the end, we arose with much grumbling to take photos of the now-empty Hobbit market – the empty concourse and tents bedecked above with fairy lights. It really was quite pretty, and we walked off to a pub near to our hotel, amiably debating points concerning the film that we had just seen. Actually, that’s a rather civilized way of putting what actually happened – it mostly consisted of my mum and I reminiscing (or her mostly listening to me reminisce, if we want to be really picky), my brother tolerating the chatter, and my dad slagging off points of error or annoyance in the movie. I wouldn't let him spoil it for me – even though he was not complimentary about the “I am no man!” sequence. However, I feel I should bring up the point we all agreed on. To put it simply, as I had been thinking for ages; “If Frodo and Sam could have been flown out of Mordor, why couldn't they have been flown in?” Mum’s response to this was the Nazgul would have caught them, while I was privately thinking I didn't care. If Gandalf and Co. had corrected the admittedly rather large mistake in transport planning, we wouldn't have a series. So who cares?
The next morning, the day of the Premier, we got another paper, and headed across the road for breakfast. Just for the record, I never read the paper, so I only got it in Wellington for the Hobbit-related material. Of course, I am soon to cut out and organize the clippings into the box my Gandalf-scarf is in. The mood in Wellington was definitely heightened. You could feel the excitement in the air, and as the day went on it felt emptier as people filtered through the city to the Red Carpet. In any case, I will skip over the coffee lecture I got from my dad, the long and pointless walk to try and find my brother a water polo ball, and the second terribly-timed swim in the hotel pool – the consequence of which was that mum and I set out to collect my scarf from the Hobbit market at around twelve o’clock.
To cut a long story short, we got the scarf, and headed off for the Courtney Street, the street in which they had rolled out the Red Carpet, leading to the Embassy Theatre. The Embassy was adorned with a huge Hobbit-Hole, a plastic (I think) Gandalf standing next to it. There was a smaller cardboard version of this in our hotel lobby, and I was subjected to many rather embarrassing photos underneath it later on, but we’ll get to that later. After much indecision, we set up on one side of the carpet – only to move fifteen minutes later when mum decided that the other side was far better, and to be perfectly honest, she was probably right. I got a photo (*sigh*) in front of the Red Carpet and Embassy Theater, and then we headed off to set up, at around one o’clock, on the other side of the Carpet. There were also a few people in costume – a very pretty elf one, some Hobbits… I swear I saw a Narnia costume, but I refrained from pointing that out to anyone but my mum, as probably only I am crazy enough to be able to notice the difference.
I had brought my copy of the Hobbit with me, along with a Sharpie; just in case we got close enough for autographs, which we did, much to mum’s surprise. Anyway, I got through about fifty pages of the Hobbit before I started talking to a young woman named Katie (it took me long enough to remember that, I can assure you, I am dreadful with names), who was from Wellington, and had been teaching in Madrid for a while, but was now back. She too, was disappointed at Orlando Bloom’s and Ian McKellen’s absence (bad Gandalf *shakes finger*). Katie most wanted Martin Freeman’s (Bilbo’s) signature, while I wanted any of the veterans from the previous Lord of the Rings films – namely Hugo Weaving (Elrond), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Elijah Wood (Frodo), and Cate Blanchett (Galadriel).
Katie wasn’t a huge fan of the films (she had seen them, of course), and was more there for the atmosphere. I should take an interlude here to explain why I was so utterly happy to be at the Premiere, and more importantly, why at this time, I was proud to be a New Zealander. Although I love my country to bits, I never really feel proud of our achievements, as such. We can only really be proud of Rugby, Rowing, and Lord of the Rings. The first two bore me out of my mind. That at least helped me to understand perhaps why my dad was not so enthusiastic about Lord of the Rings – he could no more understand my enthusiasm for it than I can understand him shouting at the T.V during an All Blacks Rugby match. In any case, I was proud to be a New Zealander. In Peter Jackson’s own words – “"It's great to have so many people come out to celebrate the movie. It's very humbling. New Zealand is a very small country; it's a very young country. I just think we like to celebrate when we punch above our weight. We sometimes do quite well in sports, and now we're doing OK in movie making too." On that note, there were an estimated 100,000 people celebrating around the Red Carpet, although it was probably closer to 80,000.
So Katie and I chatted up until about three o’clock, when the “entertainment” was supposed to start. Let me be perfectly clear. I am not exaggerating. Their idea of “entertainment”, up until the concert scheduled for four o’clock, was a woman in a ridiculously pink costume, running up and down the carpet with circus hoops, not actually doing anything with them, laughing in a high pitched voice, and doing this gross trick where it looked like she put a wire through both her lips… at least I think it was a trick. We were all standing by three o’clock, and Katie and I were in the second or third row back, behind a small pile of rubbish (cunningly – we could kick it out of the way and get to the second rank when the stars got close). Anyway, the only reason the woman in pink was marginally forgiveable was that afterwards they did hand out autograph sheets, flags, and souvenir Gandalf hats. I tried to get my brother one as an upgrade to the folding one, but I had no luck in that regard. Before the concert started, they also flew the Hobbit-decorated plane low over the Carpet, and that was pretty cool. It was definitely the closest I've seen a plane fly, aside from when I’m in one, of course.
The concert was scheduled to start at 4:00. The performer was Neil Flynn, the composer of “Misty Mountains” – the main Hobbit theme. He played quite a few obscure songs from my iPod, which was a nice surprise, and then moved on to the “Misty Mountains” song just before four thirty. That song is epic, wonderful, and beautiful. But as great as it was, I thought that the small-time band doing the sound-check around one, who also played “Misty Mountains”, sounded a bit better. In any case, it was great listening to the song again, especially hearing it on the Hobbit Red Carpet, and at Katie’s suggestion I texted my friend, Alex, saying “Guess what I’m doing? I’m listening to Misty Mountains live!” Alexandra loves that song to bits, so I thought I may as well tell her, even though I think she was still in a French exam at that point, poor thing. In any case, after a pathetic, failed attempt at trying to get the audience to sing along with a second run through of “Misty Mountains”, the concert closed up at four thirty with the arrival of – you guessed it – Peter Jackson, on the Red Carpet.
Now, before you get excited, I actually didn't see Peter Jackson, really, apart from on the big screen. He obviously really cares about his fans, and must have been doing loads of signing, because it literally took him almost two hours to walk down the Carpet. Unfortunately for us, because we were down the other end of the Carpet, near the Embassy Theater where they were showing the film, which meant by the time he got to us he was hurrying to get up to the Theater and we barely saw him. Anyway, can’t be helped, so, moving on.
We did see quite a few celebrities, and a nice guy in front of me was passing through my autograph sheet to get signed when he could. They had passed the autograph sheets out at the same time as the Gandalf hats, but I did come prepared – I had my Hobbit book and a Sharpie just in case. My mum hadn't thought I’d even be close enough for autographs. Anyways, I got two autographs to begin with, from two of the actors of the dwarves. The autographs I got were Graham McTavish and Stephen Hunter. To be perfectly honest, I was not so excited about getting autographs from the dwarf actors, because I hadn't seen them in Lord of the Rings – but mum did get a photo of McTavish, whom I also managed to say thank-you to from where I was somewhere between the second and third rank. The “nice guy” in front of me had a girlfriend who was right up next to the barrier. She got way more signatures than me, because she was seriously a professional screamer, so it was quite fortunate that I was next to her actually.
In any case, soon after that the “nice guy” let me take his place very close to the front, because it was obvious it was his job to get photographs, and his girlfriend’s job to scream and get signatures. It was just as well that he gave me his place at that time, because then Andy Serkis came along! I was so excited, because this was the first actor I had seen who had also been in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, plus I had seen him in Inkheart as well, so I was super excited. Just for the record, Andy Serkis is way cuter in real life than he is as Gollum – I mean, you would have to hope so, wouldn't you? In any case, I couldn't believe it when he actually signed my sheet, I was so happy! I tried to pass Katie’s through for her too, because she was still behind me, but I couldn't get it through before he’d moved on. Mum got quite a good picture of Andy signing my autograph sheet, so I was literally bouncing with happiness by the time I got back to the hotel.
That was the last of the celebrity signatures I got. I had especially wanted Cate Blanchett’s (Galadriel’s), but as I mentioned we were probably at the wrong end of the Carpet, where the celebrities had to start hurrying; Cate went by so fast I only glimpsed her, and mum couldn't even get a photograph. Next was Hugo Weaving – in other words, Elrond. He had (quite inconsiderately, I thought) grown a massive beard, for a role apparently, so he was barely recognizable on the screen. In any case, he too spent ages talking to the media station close to us and then whizzed past like Cate. But at least he spent long enough talking to the media that mum was able to get a good photo of him and his beard. But I have to say; probably the biggest disappointments were the Hobbits – Martin Freeman and Elijah Wood. Well, Elijah wasn't exactly a disappointment, I’ll g
et to that later.
Martin Freeman plays Bilbo in the Hobbit films, and in talking to Katie before the celebs arrived I discovered that of all the celebrities he was the one she most wanted to see. Poor Katie – we heard someone yell “Bilbo!” about fifteen meters away from us, down near the media station, and then about three minutes later he was up at the stage on the screen next to the Embassy Theatre and we haven’t even seen him. I felt really sorry for Katie. In any case, mum thought that perhaps Martin Freeman, having never been on a film this big before, may have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the time he got to our end. I had two theories. The first of these theories, my least favourite, was that he had a red camouflage suit to wear and crawled along the Red Carpet where we were. The second theory, the one I favour, was that Freeman stole the real One Ring from the set, and used it to disappear when he got up our end, just for a break. He totally did. He totally stole the Ring. Katie and I also thought that they needed something along the lines of a Marauder’s Map of Celebrities (Harry Potter reference), showing the location of all the celebrities on the Red Carpet, and their location at any given time – rather than playing the Hobbit trailer for the seventh time.
Now we come to Elijah Wood. As I said, I didn't get his signature (*cries*) but in a way I don’t mind it as much as the others. The reason is; he was so cute! I’m sorry, it’s true. Hugo and Cate just breezed past our end without really signing anything – and I know some people where we were had been waiting since four o’clock the previous morning to see some of these actors. But Elijah… as soon as he got past the media and heard everyone screaming for him, it was so obvious that he was really conflicted, because he had to hurry (it was almost time for the speeches) up to the stage at the Embassy. But it was also so obvious in his face and in his manner that he really wanted to sign things for everybody, it was so cute, I think he absolutely knew how much the fans love him. In any case, the screaming girlfriend next to me sadly did not prevail this time, and after moving to the other side of the barrier Elijah moved on. But as I said, I didn't mind so much, because it was heart-warming to see that he truly (in my opinion) would have signed as much as he could if he had had the time. But he was the last real celebrity that we saw, and it quietened down after that.
However, there was still one surprise remaining at the Hobbit Premier. Soon after Elijah Wood left, Andy Serkis came sprinting down the side of the barrier, hi-fiving all the fans.
Unfortunately someone had obscured my view so I didn't get my hand out in time, and my mum, with her usual brilliant timing, had gone to the bathroom, so we didn't get a picture either. But once again, it was enough just to be there – it was really cute seeing Andy do that. And I was quite impressed, the Carpet was probably about 500 meters long, and he ran the entire length up and back to hi-five everyone. I assure you, between talking about how cute Andy and Elijah were, I think my brother and my dad were quite sick of me within a couple of hours. Wait, did I say hours? I meant minutes.
In any case, soon after that the nice guy and screaming girlfriend decided to leave. I moved forward to the lounge on the barrier with Katie, but the excitement was mainly over. We talked a bit more, and watched the screens, but I soon got sick of it. This was purely because I was wearing small high heels, and after wearing them all day it was only then that they began to hurt. On top of that I was standing on a grating with perfect-sized holes for my heels to go through, so my perch was rather precarious, to say the least. I think a heel went through about three times, and when I got home I noted, very annoyed, that I had scraped some fabric off the right heel. Ah well, it was worth it. After a while Katie, my mum and I decided to see if we could get any closer to the stage, but it was a bit hopeless, so after peering over people’s heads for a bit I said my farewell to Katie and headed off. I am quite sad I didn't think of taking her phone number or anything – I doubt I shall ever encounter her again. Before setting out I had expected to get into a conversation with someone at the Premier, and after having that wish or expectation fulfilled I feel silly for not having prolonged our relationship. Wherever she is, I wish her all the best.
There is not much more to tell, really. Back at the hotel in the morning mum made me wear my Gandalf scarf in front of the cardboard cut-out of Gandalf in the hotel lobby, so that she could take a ridiculous amount of pictures. I had to carry my poster onto the plane because it wouldn't fit into my suitcase. I also found out it only just didn't fit on my wardrobe door, so I had to fold it slightly, but anyway… At Wellington airport my brother and I had a ridiculously overpriced lunch underneath the huge model of Gollum on the ceiling – I am surprised that it didn't put me off my lunch, but it didn't bother me in the least. Well, at least until we started casually discussing all the ways it could fall down, how heavy it would be and how many people it would kill. Anyway, we did get home in one piece.
At home, after saying hello to my puppy Ellie, I played my Fellowship of the Rings board game with my brother and my friend Lorinda, who had been looking after the puppy, just to try and keep in the “Middle-Earth” mood a little longer. Meanwhile my puppy almost ate my Gandalf scarf when I tried to show it to Lorinda. I put the poster up, and I am waiting to get that photo of Andy Serkis printed so I can stick it on the right side of my autograph sheet (all the autographs were on the left). If they have a Premier next year, I fully intend to go, and also Alex with me if she can come – the one that is totally in love with the “Misty Mountains” song. And I certainly hope to see Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen next year. There may be several plans hatched involved *falling* over the barrier when certain actors make an appearance *cough* *cough* Orlando Bloom and Richard Armitage *cough* *cough*.
I had a great time – even if I do go next year, this will always be my first Red Carpet experience. :)
