Hobbit Mania Grips New Zealand Movie Premiere

Thousands of fans turn out in New Zealand's capital for the world premiere of the first part of Peter Jackson's epic trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit.'

Published

6 months ago

Categories

Entertainment

People

Elijah Wood, Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman

Places

New Zealand

Transcript

Some 10,000 people line the red carpet in New Zealand's capital for the world premiere of this holiday season's big movie release, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". Director Peter Jackson re-united much of the cast from his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy a decade ago. (SOUNDBITE) Director of The Hobbit, Sir Peter Jackson saying, (English): "Now with the Hobbit we can bring in the wonderful humour and the whimsy from that book, the novel that Tolkien wrote. But we can still, we now know what the Lord of the Rings world is so we can tie the Hobbit into that. so all six movies will eventually will just tell a united story." British actor Martin Freeman takes the lead role of Bilbo Baggins. (SOUNDBITE) Actor Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo Baggins, saying, (English) : "I wanted to play him in the way I wanted to play him and fortunately Peter wanted me not play him that way too. You know, that's why he wanted me to do it. So between us we kind of hash out a version of Bilbo. There'll be others you know. But our version is this one and I hope people like it." Andy Serkis - who reprises his role as the creature Gollum - thinks Freeman was perfectly cast as Bilbo. (SOUNDBITE) Actor Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum saying, (English): "Oh, it was fantastic, it was great and what I enjoyed most was getting to work with Martin Freeman because he's such a stunning actor. No one else can play the Hobbit." Elijah Wood - who played the lead role of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings - makes a brief return to Middle Earth in The Hobbit. (SOUNDBITE) Actor Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo in The Hobbit saying, (English): "Oh man, it was beautiful. You know, it was a time and a place and a character that I never thought I would revisit. so to get a chance to come, even for a brief amount of time and see old friends. So many of the same crew were working on the Hobbit as on Lord of the Rings, many of the same cast members. It was a gift, it was like a family reunion." "An Unexpected Journey" is the first film in the Hobbit trilogy with the part 2 due for release in December next year.