June 2000 Update

Greetings and well met!

This is Calisuri, coming to you live from the official headquarters of TheOneRing.net, Middle-earth.

Stay tuned for this edition of the Lord of the Rings Movie Brief for June 2000.

It's been another productive month in New Zealand! New filming locations continue to crop up like mushrooms. Among some of the more noteable, we have seen action at the Fernside Lodge, near Featherston. We believe this could be Lothlorien.

Lyall Bay has seen the rise of quote "white medieval tents, with green detailing," close to a cliff face; Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) was rumored to be seen here, with a large variety of horses... could it be Dunharrow?

Something rather large is happening at the Claireville Showgrounds in Carterton. A recent report has large moving trucks, camera equipement and other movie making materials moving into this large scale stadium.

The Helms Deep set at Dry Creek Quary has also seen more action , with orc, human, and elvish armies doing battle. It is rumored that the Uruk-Hai at this set wear wear 'black leather-like breastplates and shoulder pads... full length arm coverings... and crested helmets'.

It is also thought that a Minas Tirith set will also be built at Dry Creek Quary.

The Mordor location on Mt. Ruapehu near Iwikau Village has seen a huge cast, crew, and bluescreen hard at work; with elf, human, and orc armies fighting here this could be a location from the early history of Middle-earth, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves.

If you're a regular consumer of Lord of the Rings news you've been treated to some incredible glimpses of what's to come. We have seen Sir Ian Holm decked out as Bilbo Baggins, a beautiful shot of Hobbiton, and a pack of Nazgul chasing down a lone horse and rider. We were also lucky enough to see John Rhys-Davies in full costume as Gimli, shots of Frodo and Gandalf together in a cart, and a fierce-looking Aragorn!

New Zealand's Women's Week continues to produce incredible snapshots of the production: a recent spread included Frodo (Elijah Woods) and Sam (Sean Astin) working closely with director Peter Jackson and some of the crew.

Come down to TheOneRing.net for daily updates on Tolkien and Lord of the Rings movie news! Check out our scrapbook for images galore, our archives sections for past news, and our chatroom Barliman's for the latest scuttlebut on the filming.