September 2002 | Foreword to "The Making of the Movie Trilogy"
The day The Lord of the Rings opened at the
Embassy Cinema in New Zealand's capital, Wellingtonians woke to discover
that overnight their city had been renamed by government decree. To honor
the achievement of their local film industry, Wellington was for one unique
day exchanged for Middle-earth on signposts and public buildings. By the
evening a red carpet stretched the length of Courtenay Place in front of the
Embassy, scene of multitudinous celebrations as the audience crowded in to
the premiere. Those of us who couldn't be there had already caught the
Kiwis' excitement when we saw that Tolkien's characters were on the
end-of-year postage stamps, advertising New Zealand's enterprise worldwide.
When a film employs more workers than any other industry in the country,
there is reason for celebration.
For those of us who were drafted in from abroad to
participate in the filmmaking, this local identification was less daunting
when everyone hearing the British accent knew at once, “Oh, you are here for
The Lord of the Rings!”
We also encountered an obsessive concern for the outcome
of Peter Jackson's translation of novels into cinema, and not only in New
Zealand. The Internet was buzzing with questions, half-answers, guesses,
hopes and fears from Tolkien's admirers. My response to this enthusiasm was
to set up my own public journal. "The
Grey Book." Rereading this book now, I realize how inadequate my
observations were, so if you want to experience what it was really like
making The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and even
2003's The Return of the King, you have the most authoritative source
in your hands.
When Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh first
talked to me about their project, I was a Tolkien ignoramus (as I don't
consider a single reading of The Hobbit as a teenager to count very
much!). They came to my home in London some months before shooting with a
file of Middle-earth images and the trilogy's initial screenplay. They left
behind a sense that a great journey was afoot and that my ticket to ride was
the chance of a lifetime. Brian Sibley's book captures the excitement
perfectly. — Ian McKellen, September 2002
The Lord Of the Rings:
The Making of The Movie Trilogy
by Brian Sibley