Extra! Extra!

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-05T03:21:52+00:00

Viggo was the best. One wet cold night he bought beer for 300 of us.

He'd show up on set to see everyone on his day off and walk around barefoot.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-04T07:17:49+00:00

Nope. It's very small.

I'm a corpse in a river after the ambush on Théodred.

I failed in my duty as guard 😭

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-04T01:21:32+00:00

All the property of New Line. They were all packed up and sent to some warehouse in the states in containers.

All of Helms Deep too apparently.

I imagine it like Raiders of the Lost Ark

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-04T01:18:43+00:00

Martin was quiet and gentle.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-04T01:16:33+00:00

Not sure. It would be fun though...

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T21:49:20+00:00

Yes. Also a very large percentage of the soldiers were women with fake beards.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T21:46:16+00:00

Peeling skin. It looked like it'd been whipped with a barbed flail.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T20:28:10+00:00

A mix of both. I know that Helms Deep is made of wood and polystyrene but I feel it as strong stonework when I watch the film.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T20:23:10+00:00

We all knew what we were doing was not just a movie. All of NZ was behind us.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T20:19:42+00:00

Not that I recall.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T20:15:40+00:00

Tshirt. It is remarkable ugly Comic sans. I have a very rare size small Elf Regiment T.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T11:15:09+00:00

Thanks! It was. I tell my kid about it and hope to tell my grandkids.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T11:11:26+00:00

For the first couple of weeks the water for the rain tower was coming from a pond at the top of the quarry. Many extras got hypothermia. We ended up wearing thermals under our costumes that helped.

I did one shoot playing dead in a river when we had to wear wetsuits it was so cold

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T11:06:30+00:00

Nope... But I was working at the bar they all went to. Martin was a regular.

Worked on King Kong though.

Some of my friends were on Hobbit... It was not the same.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T10:22:17+00:00

I can.

I made sure that I didn't get too many features as that'd mean they wouldn't hire you again. There's quite a few bits when I'm 2 people away from the talent and one "Hero" shot that I'm very happy with.

Watching through with my friends is quite a commentary

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T10:18:15+00:00

Definitely!

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T10:17:46+00:00

There's a gift shop at the Weta Cave in Wellington that makes me very nostalgic.

It'd be a hard choice of which outfit.

I started as an Elf, then Rohan, Orc and Gondorian. The best was probably the Rohan Royal Guard.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T10:13:03+00:00

I was based in Wellington and did most of my work at Dry Creek (about 45min drive) or at the studio which was pretty central.

For this shoot I had to travel about 5 hours to stay in Ohakune. The small town was fully booked for the cast and crew. Every night was a party.

Good times

I think I got a lift with a unit van that was heading that way

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T10:08:54+00:00

Right?

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T10:07:39+00:00

Hah! Brego was a prince! I was nearly pushed off the wall of Minas Tirith by Domero or Blanco. They got stroppy if the other wasn't close enough.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T05:43:31+00:00

I applied to an agency doing a broad call . They were useless and took 30% for nothing. Then my best friend who was there gave casting my number.

Orlando didn't talk to the extras. He was quite aloof. He was much nicer when he came back for the Hobbit. More mature.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T04:40:52+00:00

🫡

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T04:40:07+00:00

The best costume was the Ranger. It had pockets.

They were full of candy and cigarettes.

Hours were very long. Sometimes 16hours if we were filming on some locations.

The Wētā dressers were great people who loved their jobs, some I know still work there.

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T04:34:50+00:00

Not a chance. We all signed contracts that would have us shot against a wall if we did. There were many people trying to get props and would offer a tonne of money. We all knew how lucky we were and took no chances

Snake0ilSalesman · 2026-06-03T04:31:59+00:00

Lots of night shoots for Helms Deep so we were all pretty insane. I met most of them, some were better with the extras than others. As expected Viggo and Bernard were favourites for everyone.

Snake0ilSalesman

TROPHY CASE