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Lord of the Rings Collectables for Sale
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Bafta award-winning actor Ian Holm was no stranger to the Lord of the Rings when he accepted Peter Jackson’s offer to play Bilbo Baggins in the $300 million trilogy. After a distinguished stage career was put on hiatus due to a complete emotional breakdown he turned to other media including playing Frodo in a Radio Four adaptation of Tolkien’s three novels in the 1970s. He also concentrated on film work including roles in Alien, Chariots of Fire and Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan. Although many of the cast members such as Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood and Sir Ian McKellan would be involved with the trilogy for the entire 18 months they took to film Holm only spent eight weeks with the production. Prior to flying out to New Zealand he familiarised himself with Jackson’s previous directorial efforts including “Bad Taste”, “Heavenly Creatures” and “Braindead”. Describing Peter Jackson as a “woolly little man with a crinkly grow-anywhere beard and a bandy, slightly concertinaed shape” Holm also recognised that he was the right, perhaps the only man able to manage the massive undertaking. Jackson’s boundless energy was needed as there were often as many as nine sets hundreds of miles apart to consider. He would allow others to direct, watching as the rushes were fed through to a bank of TV sets in front of him. Constantly talking on his mobile phone he would finish one take before rushing off to do something else, sometimes even riding a bicycle between sets. When Holm asked him about the logistics of making the three films at the same time Jackson replied “It’s like running a war”. Holm’s admiration for the shy director grew as Jackson took the time to work very closely with the actors, trusting both them and the technical team to do their jobs while he acted as the glue that kept it all together. Holm recognised that this was enabled by “his quirky non conformism [that was] buttressed by a stubborn, visionary streak”. The production also became renown for an obsessive attention to detail. “Bag End” Bilbo’s home in The Shire was actually two different scale sets. The first was so a normal person would seem like a hobbit with oversized doors and high ceilings. The second set was small so Ian McKellan as Gandalf would have to stoop to go through the doorways. A number of short and tall stand-ins were used when the actors’ faces weren’t visible. Even Bilbo Baggin’s ring pocket was kept full of stones when it was hung up so that it would look baggy and used. Of the makeup used to transform the British actor into Frodo’s elderly cousin Holm commented that he most remembered that hobbit feet took an hour to put on. After finishing filming his role Holm took a holiday in New Zealand describing it as “probably the most beautiful place I have ever visited” also stating “to breathe the air is to remember what air is really like”. Another memory he took away from the experience was a genuine friendship with Ian McKellen (Gandalf) whom he found “utterly charming and generous”. It wasn’t until the Lord of the Rings premier at the Leicester Square Odeon on Monday 10 December 2001 that Holm says the cast and crew finally realised that “something extraordinary had happened”. Even now, despite the relative smallness of his role, Ian Holm still routinely receives between 20-30 fan letters a week with some envelopes only addressed to “Bilbo”. ©Jen Longshaw
2001-2006
Please do not copy in any manner, print or electronic,
without permission from the author.
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If
a New Zealander asks if you're feeling crook should you be insulted
or touched at his consideration? And why is going to bed with a hottie
no reason to get excited in the Land of the Long White Cloud?
