Do you have a favourite location that you shot on during the six films?
在拍摄这六部电影过程中，您最喜欢哪个地方？
Locations that stand out my mind are things like Edoras, this rock in the middle of a very very windy valley. Just pass Methven, in the South Island. We were looking for a location as described by Tolkin in his book and the city of Edoras is built in a valley on top of a huge rock, a large oval, this place is absolutely perfect, so where as today, we would probably not doing anything other than take photos and do it on the computer later on, we actually back in 1999, actually had to build Edoras on top of this rock in the middle of this windy valley on South Island, so those memories are fantastic when you standing in this incredible location where there is not a single sign of humanity 360 degrees, you are standing amongst this medieval village with a huge big golden hole there or some, you do get transported into some other time or place. I love the PoolburnLakes which was in Central Otago, between Queenstown and Dunedin, and that was where we shot Rohan, where a lot of riders of Rohan with these rolling prairie land and big rock formations, I just thought that is a fantastic atmosphere. I liked it a lot. AndParadise, the end of Glenorchy path. It’s called Paradise, it’s a little pocket. The reason why Paradise is so popular with films is it’s privately owned. Most of the amazing sceneries in New Zealand are owned by DOC, Department of Conservation, they very naturally have restrictions on what you can do and can’t do. But there is a little section of this amazing South Island, a pocket of South Island that is owned by a very lovely farmer and he called it paradise and he allows film crews to go and shoot. You are not pleased in the way you are without DOC’s location. So it is more convenient for film crews to use such a place, and Paradise is a favorite, so we keep going back there time and time again, even for non middle-earth films.
我首先想到的就是伊多拉斯，这是一块矗立在寒风凛冽的峡谷中央的岩石。就在南岛梅思文附近。我们当时正在寻找一个符合托尔金原著描述的取景地，在原著中伊多拉斯城就是建立在一条峡谷中的一块巨大的椭圆形岩石上，而这个地方无疑就是不二之选。如果是在今天，我们可能只需要拍下照片，然后在电脑上进行后期制作就行。但我们当时可是在1999年，我们不得不在这块南岛峡谷中央的岩石上建造一座真正的伊多拉斯城，这段经历令我终身难忘。当你站在这个渺无人迹却又令人陶醉的地方，站在这个带有一个巨大洞穴的中世纪村庄中，就仿佛穿越到了另一个时间和地点。我也很喜欢奥塔哥地区的普本湖，就在皇后镇和但尼丁之间，洛汗骑兵在无边的草原和巨大岩层上驰骋的镜头就是在这里拍摄的，那儿的景色真是令人流连忘返，我非常喜欢。还有就是…天堂谷，就在格伦诺奇小道的尽头。它叫做天堂谷，是一个隐蔽的小山谷。天堂谷如此受到电影人青睐的原因在于它是私有的土地。新西兰的大部分迷人景点都归新西兰环保署所有，因此他们自然会对你在景点的行为设置诸多限制。但是这个位于南岛的隐秘山谷却不一样，它是主人是一位可爱的农夫，他把这里取名为天堂谷，并允许电影摄制团队前往拍摄。当你需要受到环保署的各种限制时，自然不会那么得心应手。因此在这种地方拍摄对于电影拍摄团队而言更加方便，其中天堂谷就是我们的最爱，因此我们经常会到那里进行拍摄，甚至是在拍摄并非以中土世界为背景的影片时也是如此。
Why is New Zealand the best place to have filmed these trilogies?
为什么将新西兰作为拍摄《指环王》及《霍比特人》这两大三部曲巨制的取景地？
Tolkin described a landscape in his books which he was evoking a prehistory landscape of Europe, which in his mind he set later was 6 or 7 thousand years ago. A mythic time before the ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians. It was a time of which these of the things happened but now have been forgotten. We were looking for European landscape, about one which was unspoiled which was sort of almost a European landscape in form, a preschool European landscape hasn’t quite got there yet. So New Zealand is perfect, it was rugged, you can feel the emptiness of the locations we used. They are literally empty. New Zealand has 4 million people, it’s supposed to be 60 million in the U.K. and the countries are about the same size, so you can go to a lot of places in New Zealand and not have another human being anywhere close to you. So certainly shooting a film you don’t want to go TV aerials, you don’t want freeways, you don’t want housing, you just want huge expanses of natural landscape, so it’s the perfect place. Empty and places, the right places.
托尔金在原著中营造出的是史前时代的欧洲风貌，根据他的设定大概是六七千年之前，是一个更早于古希腊和古埃及的虚构时代。在那个时代发生的所有事情如今都已经被遗忘了。我们希望找到的是一个具有欧洲风貌，而又人迹罕至，充满原始气息的地方。因此新西兰正是我们的不二之选，它极具原始韵味，你可以明显感觉到取景地的渺无人烟，这个形容决不夸张。新西兰的人口数量是400万，而英国拥有6000万人口，两国的面积却相差无几，因此在新西兰，你可能去到很多地方都不会遇到一个人。毫无疑问，在拍摄电影时，你可不希望画面中出现电视天线、公路、房屋这些东西，而只想要无边无际的自然风光，因此这里就是最佳的取景地。人烟稀少而又景色宜人，这就是最适合的取景地。
These films have left a lasting legacy on film tourism here, what hopes do you have for the future of Middle-earth, New Zealand?
这些影片为新西兰旅游业留下了永恒的宝贵遗产，你对现实中土世界– 新西兰的未来有何期许？
The future is gonna be different to what it is now, because obviously the releasing of the films, the premier of the films, the actual promotion and all that activities surround the film was what dominate during this particular period of time, I meant 15 or 10 years ago for the Lord of the Rings. but you know we are very quickly going to find ourselves in a future in which these movies would become part of the fabric of film culture, there will be a generation growing up who won’t remember that the Hobbits are shot after the Lord of the Rings, you will be able to watch them in the right order, they won’t have the memory of them being another way. They will change and become part of memory. Hopefully, New Zealand, I don’t think is gonna change. In quite that way, so Middle-earth will always gonna be down here. It will always be down here waiting for anyone that sees these six movies at any point of the future. It’s down here and waiting for people come to visit. I think it will be here for another few thousand years, hopefully. We might have 4.1 million people here by that time maybe. Still be lots of empty places.
未来与现在肯定会有所不同，因为很明显，在现在这个特殊的时间段，影片的上映、首映礼、宣传活动和与之相关的各种活动占据了主导地位，在10或15年前则是《指环王》三部曲占据主导。但我们很快就会进入新的阶段，这些影片将成为电影文化的一部分，下一代人可能不会知道《霍比特人》是在《指环王》之后拍摄的，他们就能以正确的顺序去观看这些影片，他们的回忆也会有所不同。时代会不断改变，会成为回忆的一部分。而新西兰，我认为不会改变。现实中的中土世界也会永远在那里等待，等待未来观看这六部影片的粉丝们前去亲身体验。我觉得它还能持续个好几千年。可能那时候新西兰人口已经增长到了410万，仍然土地广袤。
You’ve made cameo appearances in 2 Air NZ Hobbit inspired safety videos now. What’s it like to work with the airline and what are your thoughts on the safety videos?
你已经在新西兰航空的两部以霍比特人为主题的安全短片中客串。与新西兰航空合作的感觉如何，你对这些安全短片有何看法？
I think it’s fantastic that a very boring dry part of travel. Certainly, the airplanes have lecture about the seatbelts and exits of all those bloody things that goes on. We have had that various forms from all sorts of airlines for our entire lives and the fact that Air NZ now found a way to turn that into entertainment while still not losing its essential safety, quality, I think it’s fantastic. It’s actually, you know it’s guys I have been in 2 of them so I gonna in the third to complete the trilogy. How we gonna make that happen? I’m sure one day. But I think it’s fun when something is frankly boring, anywhere else in the world, those airline safety things are bloody boring, now they are making them entertainment. Hey, you should be a part of it.
我认为这是旅行中一个非常无聊、枯燥的部分，对于安全带、紧急出口和各种安全事务，我们已经听各种航空公司说教了无数次，而新西兰航空找到一种方式来将它变得具有娱乐性，而又不会丧失最重要的安全性，我认为这非常棒。确实，我已经出演了两部短片，因此我还会再演一部，凑齐一个“三部曲”。什么时候？有朝一日吧。但我认为，他们将在其他地方都非常无聊枯燥的乘机安全事务变得如此具有娱乐性，这很有趣。我就觉得，嘿，算上我一个吧。
Air NZ has also created two Hobbit inspired aircraft liveries, including one depicting your vision of Smaug the dragon. What’s it been like to see Smaug take flight?
新西兰航空还设置了两架《霍比特人》主题客机，其中一架描画了你想象中的巨龙史矛革。看到史矛革飞上云端的感觉如何？
Popular culture, movies, they are so accessible now, everybody has a tablet or a smartphone, everything is so accessible, I think the fact you have an airline that is tapping into popular culture, as well as being a national carrier, it’s also entering into the fun of what these films are supposed to be about, they are entertainment, they are supposed to be something that you watch for piece of escapism, and what better thing than an airplane to fly off to a different form of escapism, a vacation or a trip, and see the dragon on the other side of the plane I think it’s really make sense.
如今，人们都非常容易接触到流行文化和电影，人人都有平板电脑或者智能手机，能够非常方便地接触到各种东西，我觉得有这样一家勇于融入流行文化的航空公司是非常难得的，作为一家国家航空公司，它同时能够为工作注入乐趣，这也是拍摄这些影片的初衷，它们本身就是娱乐的手段，是人们忙里偷闲享受虚拟世界的媒介。而还有什么比乘上飞机，享受一次假期或旅行，在绘有巨龙的飞机上傲游云端更符合这种精神的呢？我认为它们非常相得益彰。
附录
霍比屯（Hobbiton）：即《指环王》中比尔博与弗罗多所在地的拍摄场景，位于现实中的玛塔玛塔(Matamata) 怀卡托城(Waikato)。从奥克兰(Auckland)向南行驶几个小时，就能看到怀卡托一望无际的肥沃农田。该地区还以乳品业和优良纯种马而闻名。霍比特人的粉丝可在导游陪同下前去霍比屯电影外景地参观。
惠灵顿（Wellington）：新西兰首都惠灵顿坐落在北岛的南端，背靠绵延青山，面朝万顷碧波。惠灵顿在2011 年被《孤独星球》誉为“世界最酷的小型首都”。对于指环王迷来说，惠灵顿是彼得•杰克逊的维塔工作室(Weta Workshop)和维塔之家(The Weta Cave)的所在地，在这里你可以了解到电影神奇的幕后制作。
凯特里特里（Kaiteriteri）：凯特里特里镇以其美丽的金色沙滩以及碧蓝驰名四方，拥有汽车露营地、旅馆、普通商店和各式餐厅。这座美丽迷人的海滩小镇距莫图依卡(Motueka)仅13 公里，与亚伯塔斯曼国家公园(Abel Tasman National Park)更是近在咫尺。
尼尔森（Nelson）：尼尔森坐落在南岛的西北端，是新西兰阳光最充足的地区。尼尔森的地形景观变化多端，有长长的金色沙滩，了无人迹的森林，也有高耸入云的崎岖山峦。这里居住着众多毛利艺术家和手工艺者。游客们可以随意探访他们的工作室，与艺术家们闲聊，然后带一个有特别意义的艺术品回家。
梅思文（Methven）：梅思文位于南阿尔卑斯山脉(Southern Alps)的山脚，距基督城(Christchurch)只有一个半小时的公路路程。冬天的时候，这里是雪上运动爱好者的乐园。在其他季节，喷射快艇、高空弹跳、热气球以及山地自行车等运动非常盛行。
奥塔哥（Otago）：奥塔哥半岛位于但尼丁(Dunedin)海港的南侧，靠海的一面地势高且凹凸不平，靠海港的一面则温暖避风。这里原来是一座火山，现在的半岛就是大型死火山口岩壁的一部分。奥塔哥半岛有精彩的生态圈，你可以看到企鹅和海豹。
皇后镇（Queenstown）：皇后镇是新西兰最负盛名的旅游目的地之一。有人说，以前的淘金者拜服于此地皇室般高贵端华的美丽，便将之命名为“皇后镇”。皇后镇坐落在水晶般澄澈的瓦卡蒂普湖畔(Lake Wakatipu)，四周环绕雄伟群山。壮美的风光、热情的人民，使这里声名远扬。皇后镇四季分明，是全年皆宜的度假胜地。
但尼丁（Dunedin）：但尼丁城的建立，使用了淘金热带来的财富，因此，它有着南半球最出色的爱德华七世和维多利亚女王时代建筑群。在城市周围，你可以参观古老的房屋，走进巧克力工厂，浏览博物馆。这里还有企鹅、信天翁和海豹聚居地。
天堂谷（Paradise Valley）：《霍比特人：史矛革之战》剧组选择将天堂谷中的一个内陆农场——阿卡迪亚驿站作为剧中比翁之屋的取景地。天堂谷仿如世外桃源，这里大自然的宏伟景色与华丽色彩相辅相成，彼此共生，达到完美平衡。
格伦诺奇（Glenorchy）：格伦诺奇位于瓦卡蒂普湖附近，有喷射快艇，皮划艇，骑马等活动项目。毛利人的传说中说有一位巨人，北面的格伦诺奇是他的头部，皇后镇是他的胳膊，金士顿(Kingston)是他的腿，瓦卡蒂普湖的湖底是他的大身。
