The
Timaru Herald
Edoras at Mt. Potts
September 30, 2000
Lord of the Rings
Filming in Full Swing at Mt. Potts
Staff Reporter
The set, perched on Mt Sunday in the Rangitata River valley, has been buffeted by strong winds in recent days, but not enough to stop filming.
"It's a beautiful location, and will be filming some big scenes in the next few days," publicist Claire Raskind said.
These will include some 220 extras on the largest day and some 100 horses (with riders). Production teams expect to leave the area at the end of the week.
She also confirmed the possibility there would be further filming in the Twizel area. If this was to go ahead as rumoured it would be on private land in mid-October.
Ms Raskind said in spite of its remoteness and tight security, the Mt Sunday location had proved quite popular with visitors.
"The public are welcome to see whatever they can from the road, and people have been doing that. But our base camp and set are pretty much locked down, which is good for us in terms of security."
Ironically, most people would drive up to the area on Sundays, when there was no filming being done.
"We have a pretty hectic schedule that we have to complete every day, and obviously things run smoother without interruption. We haven't really had any yet," Ms Raskind said.
It was a long drive to just look, she said. Those going out appeared to be dedicated fans.
Meanwhile, the trilogy will cost $675 million to make and be the second most expensive movie production ever, according to an American magazine.
If correct, it would put the project about $315 million above its originally reported budget, Vanity Fair reported.
This would make the trilogy the second most expensive movie production after the three new Star Wars films, costing about $736 million.
Production company Three Foot Six would not comment on the report.
The cost of making the Rings films had been estimated at $360 million but Vanity Fair reported the production would cost $US270 million - about $NZ645 million.