Читать книгу An A-Z of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit - Sarah Oliver - Страница 11

Luke was thirty years old when he auditioned for his first movie.

Because Luke’s character doesn’t appear until the second movie (2013) he didn’t start filming at the same time as Martin Freeman and the dwarf actors. He also had to wait longer for his script to arrive. Luke confessed to Empire Magazine: ‘I think what’s been great about what Peter’s doing online at the moment is doing these video blogs, which are just brilliant because for somebody who’s not joined the cast at the beginning of the film, it’s quite nice that by the time I do join it, I’m going to know who the actors are, who the roles are; I’m not going to be daunted by turning up in Middle-earth.’

He found walking around Bilbo’s home the strangest experience because he remembered the first time he had seen it in the cinema when he was twenty-one. Back then he had no idea that he would be acting in a Tolkien movie.

Being cast as Bard was life changing for Luke – he had to leave London behind and move to New Zealand for a year. He says it’s been the best job he’s ever had, he’s had an absolute blast and made some lifelong friends. Luke told MTV: ‘Living in New Zealand, it’s like a different world – it is a different world. It’s very, very cool.

‘We’re so far away from home. We have a little family. Peter [Jackson] and the team create a very warm atmosphere, on set and off set. We all socialise, it’s really special – I just feel very lucky to be a part of it.’

Initially, Luke was a bit jealous of the members of the cast who had been in The Lord of the Rings movies. He confessed to Collider.com: ‘I feel very lucky to be here, you know – I’m watching this being made, and then watching Pete do his thing – because you only have to read any articles about the boys who were in the first three movies and how they talked about the experience being in New Zealand and working with Pete and the long period of time that you spent here.

‘I was just very jealous of them, in a healthy way, but it was always something I was envious of. And now I’m here, and now I’m actually one of those boys – I’ll always remember this as one of those experiences in my life.’

Luke thinks the hardest thing will be the return to normality as he has loved playing Bard so much. And he is so glad that director Peter Jackson decided to be faithful to the book, as he explained to Q TV at the British Film Awards: ‘It’s very loyal to the book. When you have a book like The Hobbit, you don’t really need to embellish it much. The characters are so well written and everybody who loves the book will absolutely love this.’