In September 1998 Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema discovered the Alexander family farm during an aerial search for suitable film sites for the films. The fantastic views and rolling country side of the Alexander Farm closely resembled Peter Jacksons perception of what Middle-earth looked like as described by author, J.R.R Tolkien.
The large established pine tree, later re-named the party tree, was already perfectly placed in front of the lake. The surrounding rolling farmland was untouched by 20th century clutter such as roads, buildings or power lines. The farm was perfect.
Site construction started in March 1999. Initially this involved heavy earthmoving machinery provided by the New Zealand Army. Total site construction took nine months. Throughout construction and filming all activity on the site was kept under strict security due to commercial restraints by the movie company.
Filming commenced in December 1999 and continued for three months. At its peak 400 people were working on site, including director Peter Jackson, and actors Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo), Sir Ian Holm (Bilbo), Sean Astin (Sam), Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry).
When Peter Jackson spotted the Alexander Farm during an aerial search of the North Island for the best possible locations to film The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, he immediately thought it was perfect for Hobbiton. Nevertheless, a lot of work was still needed to be completed before it was up to the director’s high standards. Some of the measures that had to be taken included a big Oak tree being cut down and brought in from near Matamata. Each branch was numbered and chopped then transported and bolted together in one of the fields. Artificial leaves were imported from Taiwan and individually wired onto the dead tree. 37 Hobbit holes were created, the mill, the pub and double arch bridge were built out of scaffolding, ply and polystyrene, glued and painted. In addition, hedges and trees were brought in and gardens were planted and nurtured throughout the winter.
There are only 17 of the actual 37 hobbit holes left. This is due to New Line Cinema's policy to never leave a movie set behind. Every movie they have ever produced has always been returned to its natural state. The company were in the process of dismantling this site when torrential rain forced them to temporarily stop. When locals had heard that there were still parts of the movie set left the Alexander farm was inundated with visitors. This gave them the idea to look into starting a tour. They first had to get permission from New Line Cinema who eventually allowed them to do it as long as they agreed to keep everything the way it was and they were not allowed to enhance the movie set that was still left. Therefore when on the movie set you need to have a good imagination to visualise the shire as it was in the film as it just looks very plain and ordinary compared to how it was in the movie. The hobbit holes are not actually holes, they are just plywood attached to the side of the hill. Only one of the holes can you go in, as this is the only hole that they were required to shoot a scene in. The rest of the scenes inside the Hobbit holes were shot in the studio in Wellington. They used all kinds of effects. For instance, they had 3 different size rooms in height built in the studio to accomodate the height they wanted the actor to portray. So when Gandolf would go in he would appear large in size as he was in a smaller room than what Bilbo was filmed in. Bilbo was filmed in a larger room to make him appear the correct Hobbit size. In some scenes they used a 10 year old boy to play the role of Bilbo. An example of this was when Gandolf and Bilbo hugged at the entrance of Bilbos Hobbit hole.
Auditions for the part of Hobbits were held in the local school and people from all over the world applied. 16 locals were selected and had to sign contracts preventing them from telling anyone anything and revealing their identity until after the release of the 3rd film. All staff were also forbidden from taking any props from the set or any photograpy. Each day they were searched on entering and exiting the set. One local managed to take a picture and was caught. His camera was confiscated and he was sacked on the spot.
The set is being returned to its original look as the film Hobbiton will be getting filmed there and is expected to be out next year.
The movie set was a working sheep and beef farm. During filming the stock was herded into fields out the way. As it is still a working farm at the end of the Lord of the Rings tour we were taken into a shed where we got to watch a 6 month old lamb having its first hair cut. You can see a video of this here. After this we were then given the chance to feed 3 month old lambs.
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