Te Anau Filming Nears End for Lord of the Rings
Tom McKinlay

On-location filming for The Lord of the Rings trilogy winds up in Te Anau next week.

Production publicist Claire Raskind said a cast and crew of about 150 would move back to Te Anau for a few final days filming next week.

Many of the main actors would be involved, as would directer Peter Jackson.

Department of Conservation land would again be used.

There has been some opposition to the use of conservation land but Ms Raskind said about a third of all filming had been on the conservation estate.

"It looks like 7000 years ago when Tolkien's trilogy was meant to take place."

The only thing that could delay the winding up of location filming in Te Anau was the weather, she said.

The crew was on schedule to return to Wellington after about 14 months' filming in locations throughout the country.

Final filming would be completed in Wellington.

South Island settings from Takaka to Tuatapere would feature in the film, she said.

Cast and crew had the weekend off to fish, bungy jump, parapente and skydive.

"There were lots of stories on-set today," Ms Raskind said.