Читать книгу An A-Z of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit - Sarah Oliver - Страница 29

Like many of the actors playing dwarves, Stephen had read The Hobbit as a child but he didn’t get to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy until he was in his twenties – and it took him a year to get through it!

When Stephen was told about The Hobbit auditions he was excited but nearly messed up on the day because he followed a friend’s advice and did some exercises before going in. He did some press-ups but felt out of breath and nearly didn’t make it in. Once the audition was over, he had to wait a whole two months before he got the call telling him that he’d landed the part of Bombur. His pregnant partner Laura was at home at the time and she thought something bad had happened to someone they knew because Stephen went deathly pale with shock. There were so many famous actors lined up to be in The Hobbit movies and now he was about to rub shoulders with them!

Stephen admitted in Production Video 6: ‘I think my favourite day on set unquestionably was floating down the Pelorus River in barrels. That was way cool and if they ever make that a ride, life-time pass, please!’

Another highlight was his very first day on set because he got to see Bilbo’s hobbit home and do a walk-through with Jackson and the rest of the dwarves. When they were filming there the police arrived and warned them that they were about to issue a severe weather warning so they had to pack everything up as quickly as they could. It’s a good job they did because just a few hours later, the whole area was flooded. The river water level rose approximately 20–30 feet!