Peter Jackson finds Mt. Doom off limits for The Hobbit
With only five weeks to go before principle photography begins, the local Maori have decided to refuse Peter Jackson permission to shoot in and around Mt. Ngauruhoe because the iwi have declared the range sacred. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and his traveling companions set out to traverse this rocky terrain as they head up the misty mountain to battle the dragon Smaug.
Having been refused the sacred mountains as a central location now has Peter Jackson and his crew scrambling to find an alternative. The director recently flew into Queenstown to inspect Mt. Taranaki and the Southern Alps as a possible alternative.
This is just one of many setbacks the trouble-plagued The Hobbit has run into since it was first announced. Martin Freeman recently joked about this so-called The Hobbit curse.
"There are some bits of bad luck associated with it. We're ready to go - just as soon as 2015 comes around."
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey comes to theaters December 14th, 2012 and stars Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee. The film is directed by Peter Jackson.
Comments (44)
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gandoff2169
@mosorwvlad Sorry, I missed the description part where it was going to be used as the rocky terrian for the misty moutains part. But no need for name calling.,,, lol.... But there has been some rumors the studio have been pushing for some LOTRs type things in the Hobbit. Like a glimps of Mount Doom, and some characters from LOTRs who are either not in, or just mentioned by name in the Hobbit. So I took it they was doing a Mt. Doom set up, as if it awakes at the ring being found by Bilbo.
1 year agoby @gandoff2169Flag
knobie09
i go with dylan on this. the scoop is a hoax.
1 year agoby @knobie09Flag
BrianBoru
Obviously the iwi is thinking that its association with Mt Doom and the plains of Mordor via the LOTR movies is not doing anything to enhance the significance that the iwi attach to it. I suspect that if Tolkien was asked his opinion about that he would be behind the iwi. I must shamefully admit to my ignorance on what the significance of the area is to the local iwi, especially given that I was born in that area in the town of Turangi. If anyone can inform me what that is please do. I say that Tolkien would be behind the iwi 100% because they are wanting to achieve exactly the same thing that Tolkien was trying to achieve in his works.
1 year agoby @BrianBoruFlag
Shnoopbop
True or not, I think there might actually be a Hobbit curse. From the battles between Jackson and the studio, the director changes, the sets being destroyed, the problems with the actors in New Zealand, Jackson having surgury, and now there's this Mt. Doom thing. Plus, I saw Christopher Lee at the BAFTA awards and he looks like he's about to drop dead. Jackson might not survive this film. It's starting to approach Apocalypse Now or Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote proportions
1 year agoby @shnoopbopFlag
Dylan242
This story is false.
Movieweb, you may want to update this.
1 year agoby @dylan242Flag
Dylan242
There has been no mention about this in New Zealand apart from one online newspaper that got the country's geography completely wrong.
It also doesn't make sense considering that the mountain range in a national park and legally the local iwi have no control over the park. Them declaring it "sacred" occurred way back in the 1800's - and so this story here doesn't seem real at all.
And to make matters worse this article reads that Jackson, just out of hospital, went down to Queensland to have a look at Mt Taranaki - which is strange considering that Queensland is near the bottom of the South Island, and Mt Taranaki is on the eastern side of the North Island. They're miles away from each other, not even on the same piece of land.
1 year agoby @dylan242Flag
skywise
wow, one thing after another. Do you ever wonder if this is all for publicity? To get people reading about MiddleEarth again?
1 year agoby @skywiseFlag
LuxoIII
I don't think this is a huge deal or why it would delay production. Story wise, they're never at Mt. Doom, so it would be logical to find another mountain for filming other than the one used for LOTR. Secondly, they could shoot a few other scenes while finding another mountain which, in New Zealand, shouldn't be very hard.
1 year agoby @brady1138Flag
RojoDiablo
In doubt this holds up Jackson all that much.
1 year agoby @rojodiabloFlag
Dylan242
Let's report on a story that isn't real.
Let's screw the Geography.
Let's screw the law and politics.
Let's provide a quote that is irrelevant.
Let's provide a false cast.
Nicely done, MovieWeb. You're normally better than this.
1 year agoby @dylan242Flag
Dylan242
wait a moment...Ron Perlman is in The Hobbit? Since when?
1 year agoby @dylan242Flag
Dylan242
This story has a lot of issues. For starters; the department of conservation has the ultimate authority over the mountains, not the iwi - it is, after all, a National Park. Mt Taranaki is in the North Island whereas Queenstown is in the South Island - they're nowhere near each other. The Southern Alps run the entirely of the South Island, not just Queenstown - which is at the farthest end. The volcanic range is called Tongariro, not Ngauruhoe. The range was declared sacred by the iwi in the 1800's which is why it became a National Park. In LOTR, they used Ngauruhoe as the face of Mt Doom, but then filmed all of the scenes on Mt Ruapehu - which is right beside Mt Ngauruhoe. This story, in itself, is only rumored and there has been no confirmation at all - it was only reported by two news websites in New Zealand.
anywho, enough of the corrections. Mt Taranaki would be the perfect Misty Mountain - it's almost identical to the depiction on the traditional book cover.
1 year agoby @dylan242Flag
mosorwvlad
God damn spammers!
1 year agoby @mosorwvladFlag
Mutant
This is just stupid, just pick another Mountain
1 year agoby @zenderFlag
DFILMCRITIC
Is there anything else that can prevent the movie from being made?!?!
1 year agoby @djdmoviesFlag
MovieWiz001
This is like an Irwin Allen production!
1 year agoby @moviewiz001Flag
slysnide
Freeman's right. There's definitely a Hobbit curse! :P
1 year agoby @slysnideFlag
caifa
f*ck the biber or whatever the f*ck his name is LOL
1 year agoby @caifaFlag
Kinetic
Oh... ok...
So the same mountain was gonna be used as a different "set"?
1 year agoby @KineticFlag
The Narrator: The Better Man
@Kinetic, they weren't gonna utilize the mountain for Mount doom. they were gonna make it the Lonely Mountain. The article header just got it wrong, but yeah.
1 year agoby @narratorFlag
Kinetic
Mt. Doom was not in the Hobbit, nor did anything signifigant take place there "off-screen" as it were...
It's theLonely Mountain where the Battle of 5-Armies took place...
Sauron was, during the time frame of the Hobbit, in the Mirkwood Forest, very deep in it....
1 year agoby @KineticFlag
Playhouse
This doesn't surprise me. If I recall, there were claims that the production from the first three films did significant damage to certain lands, including the mountain, the last time.
1 year agoby @playhouseFlag
jess-51
good looking out
1 year agoby @jess-51Flag
thedude-abides
I could be way off base here, but I wonder if the Iwi declaring the site sacred has anything to do with the fat sums of money potentially raked in after letting them use the location for filming the first time around? Just a thought.
1 year agoby @thedude-abidesFlag
thedude-abides
I should have elaborated. What I mean is, they can find a similar shaped mountain and nobody will ever know the difference :)
1 year agoby @thedude-abidesFlag
thedude-abides
Well, as far as mountains go, they all look the same to me :) This is nothing to cry over.
1 year agoby @thedude-abidesFlag
Daveactor7
@mosor lol relax. Its his opinion
1 year agoby @daveactor7Flag
The Narrator: The Better Man
As the biggest Middle Earth fan here, I am sort of bummed about this news. Regardless, Jackson can find other places to shoot for The Lonely Mountain, but I feel Mt. Ngauruhoe was the biggest and most iconic volcano that NZ had, and they aren't going to outsource... bummer. Let's hope the film works.
1 year agoby @narratorFlag
Tyranus
Mt. Doom doesn't feature in the Hobbit. I guess they're using some of the events from the Middle Earth history books that were occuring during the Hobbit.
1 year agoby @tyranusFlag
Dan
Lets just assume that if something bad/wrong can happen, it will :P
1 year agoby @dan1Flag