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More Filming in New Zealand

Wellington, Nov 4 - Most of The Lord Of The Rings film's 400-450 cast and crew are to wrap up filming in the Wellington area next week and will move to Queenstown for a month. Filming of the $360 million project would resume in Wellington in mid-January, publicist Claire Raskind said today.

"More dynamic exterior scenes" would be filmed around Queenstown, Wanaka, and Te Anau. Of the $360 million being spent making three films, about 75 percent was being spent in New Zealand, Ms Raskind said. Cast and crew in Wellington had spent $20,000 on coffee alone to date.

Filming on the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy began in the Town Belt on Mt Victoria last month. Filming has also taken place at night at Fort Dorset, and from Thursday to Saturday last week at Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt. About 300 people watched filming at the park, even while it was raining, Ms Raskind said. "People came from their homes with their families. They were great.

There was some yellow tape that was put up and nobody tried to break the barrier. Everyone was considerate and polite. As we got into the wee hours people started fading. By 3am there were five die hard fans" she said. There would be a break in filming of about four weeks around Christmas and New Year, Ms Raskind said.

"We are shooting for such a long time obviously we want to make sure we give people the proper rest."

Some of the locations around Queenstown and the southern lakes resulted from suggestions from the public, Ms Raskind said. Mr Jackson appealed on TV earlier this year to people in the area to send him suggestions. Filming would also take place around the southern lakes next year.