When I visited New Zealand back in July, I had the opportunity to visit the set of The Hobbit when they were filming the Battle of the Five Armies. With a strange fate, I stumbled across the casting director and she cast me as an elf extra.
I was brought to the makeup trailer to put on the elven pointy ears and elven full armor costume. I was ready to go on set and shoot some fighting scenes for the background with about fifty other elves and orcs extras, but we needed to wait for the lights and cameras to set up before shooting, so we just sat around and waited for the 2nd unit director Andy Serkis to call for action.
While we were waiting, I couldn’t help but sneaked into the block where the main unit was shooting their major battle fights. I was hiding behind the tent and I watched Peter Jackson directing Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian Mckellen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Thranduil (Lee Pace) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lily) to take on an army of orcs. It was unbelievable, seeing them in their full costumes, fighting with orcs with blades swinging in the air. It was almost like I had stepped foot into the realm of Middle-earth.
But soon I heard Andy Serkis calling to shoot across the speakers, I ran back to my shooting block to start filming. They gave me a plastic sword when I returned and told us to keep fighting in the background before shooting started. Whereas the real stuntmen in the foreground could use real steel swords and real working bows. Then something I could not believe happened, the thirteen dwarves came out of a large tent in the studio! They were hiding inside the tent to keep themselves cool, as their costumes and prosthetics were thick and hot. They came over and stood beside the stuntmen who were dressed as orcs, and got ready for battle. When Andy Serkis called for action and the cameras started rolling, the battle was in its full swing.
We battled against each other over and over again until we were all exhausted. But not for the dwarves. Especially Richard Armitage who played Thorin and Aidan Turner who played Kili. Within their veins, immense strength flowed. Their energy did not seem to wear off at all, even though they gave their best shot after shot. But the extras over my side were all completely wrecked. We collapsed and couldn’t even get ourselves steady on the ground.
When they were resetting the cameras for the next shot, I managed to have a chat with Richard and Aidan, who were both my favourite dwarves. When they found out I was from Hong Kong, their eyes sparkled with surprise, because most of the extras were from New Zealand. We had a really nice chat and they invited me over for a drink after filming that night.
At the second round of shooting, I got to use a bow to fire fake arrows to the orcs. That was the most adrenaline-rushing thing I had ever done. I felt like I was a legendary archer like Legolas himself. We shot for another three to four hours and at the end of that I was looking pale and white, almost zombie-like. But I still couldn’t hide my excitement of getting a drink with Richard and Aidan afterwards.
Mercifully the shooting ended before midnight and I joined the company of dwarves and headed for a local bar. I was bursting with emotions with butterflies in my stomach, I thought I was living through a dream. But something I could not have foreseen happened, all the other major cast members joined us too. Aidan, who were right beside me, whispered beneath my ear and told me all the principle cast members go to the bar every night to grab a drink and hangout.
When we arrived at the bar, there was a big round table reserved just for us. Obviously we were expected. We all took a seat and ordered our favourite drinks. Various interesting conversations started to emerge and I was lucky enough to have a chat with everyone, including Lee Pace, whom I was dying to meet. He was so handsome and charming, I think I fell in love with him. At the end of the night, I took a picture with everyone and bid each other our fond farewells. With Aidan and Evangeline Lily’s accompany, as they were worried that I had to return on my own in the midst of the night, I went back to the hotel that I was staying at.
It was truly an extraordinary and unforgettable experience being an extra on the set of The Hobbit. This is something I’ll cherish in the whole of my lifetime. My most ambitious dream came true and it was better than I could ever imagine. It was an unexpected journey that somehow happened when I stumbled across the casting director that got me into the world of film-making. My pay cheque came due a week after, but I didn’t consider it necessary It was nothing compared to the once in a lifetime experience itself, which is already the best reward you can ever ask for. This astonishing adventure may never occur again, but I’ll always remember the day I spent on the set of The Hobbit as an extra.