Dedicated with love to Mike,
Claire, Sarah and Barney.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W, X, Y, and Z
Plates
Copyright
Alfrid
Alfrid was a new character created by director Peter Jackson for The Hobbit movies. Through his Facebook page, Jackson told fans: ‘The Master’s conniving civil servant, Alfrid, will be played by Ryan Gage. Ryan is a great young actor who we originally cast in a small role, but we liked him so much, we promoted him to the much larger Alfrid part.’
Alfrid is Ryan’s biggest movie role to date. Previously, he has worked mainly on the stage, appearing in several productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has had small parts in the British TV shows Hollyoaks, Doctors and The Bill. Ryan trained at the Drama Centre London and graduated in 2005. He was performing in a Tom Stoppard play called Artist Descending a Staircase in a room over a pub when spotted by a casting assistant for The Hobbit. Originally he was cast as Drogo Baggins, but he impressed everyone so much that he was given the part of Alfrid.
Before making the trip to New Zealand to start filming The Hobbit Ryan played Simon H. Rifkind in Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London. On 16 July 2011, he tweeted: ‘Tonight was the last Ghost Stories after 13 months in the West End. A big thank you to everyone who came to watch the show. #ghoststories.’ However, he didn’t have much time off as he had to be in New Zealand two weeks later. His first week on set was hectic, during which he tweeted: ‘I’ve had a fun first week but I’m looking forward to getting some deep sleeping done this weekend.’
If you would like to follow Ryan on Twitter, his account is @RyanGage.
Peter Jackson, the director of The Hobbit movies, was thrilled that Ryan, and the other members of the cast and crew, got on really well as a team. He told News.com.au: ‘Everybody’s gotten to know each other very, very well and the spirit’s great. I just believe when you’re shooting a movie to have the atmosphere on set be friendly, and focused on the work, but have some fun.
‘It’s a long time to be getting up early in the morning and working ’til late at night – and if you’re not enjoying it, you’re not going to make a good film. There has to be a spirit on set amongst the cast and the crew that will ultimately rub off on the screen. We’re having fun.’
Auditions
Thousands of people auditioned for parts in The Hobbit, including some famous faces. Boyzone star and Australian X Factor judge Ronan Keating was keen to win a part because he wants to become known as an actor as well as a singer. The first auditions took place in 2010.
Ronan told Clickonline.com: ‘When a singer tries to become an actor it’s very, very difficult. It’s harder for someone, like a singer, to prove they can be an actor because people immediately want to say, “Oh, he’s no good.”
‘I’ve gone to a lot of auditions over the years, and I’ve just never been ready, and I have never been good enough. But I feel over the last two years, I’ve grown into my skin and feel comfortable to prove to people that I can act.’
For his audition for The Hobbit, Ronan read for the part of an elf warrior but didn’t manage to secure the part. He is still glad he went for it, though, as it was a great opportunity – he thinks his lack of experience may have counted against him. Since his Hobbit audition he successfully auditioned for a part in an Australian movie called Goddess (March 2013) and was given the role of James Dickens, the main love interest.
He told journalist Kathryn Rogers: ‘I wish the timing had been different and Goddess had come out before The Hobbit opportunity – maybe they would have given me the chance as it would have been an amazing film, and I would have been honoured to be involved.’
DID YOU KNOW?
British comedian and actor Bill Bailey auditioned unsuccessfully to play Glóin.
Comedian Jarred Christmas also auditioned for The Hobbit but he, too, was unsuccessful. He told Spoonfed.co.uk: ‘Last year I auditioned for The Hobbit, to play one of the dwarves. I thought I could do it in my Kiwi accent but the casting guy wanted me to do it in a British accent. I started off West Country, went a little bit Welsh and ended in Cockney. I didn’t get the part. I don’t think they were after an accent-schizophrenic dwarf.’
Both Ronan and Jarred auditioned for speaking parts but there were hundreds of extra roles up for grabs. Casting bosses decided to hold open auditions in Lower Hutt near Wellington, New Zealand, to find the extras they needed, but so many people turned up that they had to call the police. They had naively expected no more than 1,200 people but the number ended up being 3,000-plus.
Although the first 800 were allowed to audition, they then had to stop before things got out of control. The audition queue grew ridiculously long, crowd wrangler Chris Ryan explained to the New Zealand Herald: ‘It was just starting to cause a few problems on the motorway, people slowing down and looking at the crowds really, I think more than anything else.
‘The crowds were pretty good, most of them were pretty sensible and had set up; they brought umbrellas and chairs and sunblock.’
So many people wanted to be part of The Hobbit movie, and all sorts turned up. The official casting call had asked for men under 5’4” (163 cm), women under 5’ (155 cm), big men with character faces 5’9” and over (175 cm-plus), men with large biceps of any height, women with character faces and long hair, men and women elves slim, athletic, 5’5”–6’4” (165–193 cm).
The decision was made to do the rest of the auditions online rather than face-to-face, to prevent the same thing from happening again.
Azog
Name: Azog
Alias: None
Race: Orc (Goblin)
Played by: John Rawls
Character description: Azog is the King of the Orcs of Moria. He has a huge head and is a ferocious warrior. He doesn’t actually appear in the book version of The Hobbit, but fans were thrilled when they found out he would be in a flashback scene in The Hobbit movies.
The actor chosen to play Azog was John Rawls, who trained at the EADA Academy of Dramatic Art in London and New Zealand. He has appeared in movies, plays, TV shows, music videos and commercials in New Zealand and in the UK. John is very