Flashback to life in New Zealand!

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28 January 2012 will always hold a special place in my heart, as it was the day that could have led me down the road to really, truly living in Middle Earth. On that day, I went to Wellington for an extras casting call for “The Hobbit.”

Now when I originally heard about the call, I figured I’d have no chance and that I shouldn’t tease myself. For that particular 2 week period off my kiwi island I’d planned on meandering my way through the Northland region above Auckland. Plans changed when a phone call home ended with me sobbing from the news that my parents’ sheltie had died. My dad told me to eat some ice cream and head to Wellington, finally visit various LOTR (Lord of the Rings) filming locations, and take my tour of the Shire along the way. “Father knows best,” so I took his advice.

Unless you’re a LOTR and map junkie, feel free to skip the following 2 paragraphs.

Loaded up in Shadowfax, my trusty white Nissan station wagon steed, I began the trip south. I stopped in Mordor (Tongariro World Heritage Site/Whakapapa Ski Field), near the Ithilien Camp (Ohakune/Tongariro), at the River Anduin (Rangitikei River Gorge), in Trollshaw Forest/Osgiliath Wood (Waitarere Forest), in scenes for leaving the Shire (Otaki Gorge), at the Pelennor Fields (Paraparaumu), in Isengard Gardens (Harcourt Park), and at the River Anduin and Rohan River (Hutt River).

After the casting call, I stopped by where the hobbits left the Shire and escaped from the Nazgul (Mt. Victoria Park), where Frodo and Sam cowered at the Black Gate (Red Rocks at Te Kopahou Reserve), the Dimholt Road (Putangirua Pinnacles), “Rivendell” and the Fords of Isen (Kaitoke Regional Park is beautiful, but it’s 100% clear that Rivendell is mostly digitally rendered. We all knew it was too good to be true.), and Hobbiton/the Shire (Matamata).

I literally slept in a holiday park (campground) next to Isengard. After a stroll through Isengard’s garden in the morning, I made my way toward the casting call location in Hutt City. I didn’t know exactly how far away it was or where to park, but when I began encountering people crossing the highway, I had a feeling I’d reached the area of my destination.

The casting call was very diverse in its reach, including:

• Males, Under 5’4”
• Females, Under 5′
• Large men, 5’9″ tall and over, who have character faces.
• Men and Women of any height who have large biceps.
• Women who have character faces.
• Men and Women, slender and athletic, between 5’5″ – 6’4″
• Must be 17 years of age and above.
• Must have flexible availability for filming.
• Must have New Zealand residency OR a valid New Zealand work permit.
• Must be located within reasonable driving distance of Wellington during filming.

Who doesn’t want to think they have a face of character? Instead of ~1200 of us showing up, over 3000 hopeful extras formed a complicated swirling and twisted line in the grassy areas next to the highway; I think I joined the end of the line and didn’t cut in somewhere, but I really can’t say for sure. Ultimately the police had to shut down the event because of traffic/safety problems. I hadn’t reached the doors, but just being at the event was an experience in itself.

I couldn’t decide if it was worth mailing in my application, considering I had limited time in NZ. Of course, if I did happen to get contacted, I would have immediately canceled future flights and jobs to be an extra. Ultimately I decided, “Why not?” I got my head + shoulder and full body shots printed off. The application itself was pretty basic; I had to provide contact information, availability, any “skills” (i.e. animal handling, martial arts, or virtually anything), my height, my shoe size, and … my suit/dress size.

Uh oh. When had I last worn a dress? 8th grade Confirmation/graduation seemed accurate. I probably had grown a bit since then. Also, were NZ and US sizes the same? Somehow I had to find an answer to this question. One option was to try on a dress of the friend I was staying with, but I felt too silly to ask her. Instead I found a mall, went inside the first store that looked reasonable, and found a few dresses that didn’t look ridiculous.

Yes, I tried on a few dresses to figure out my size so that I could tell the folks at 3 Foot 7 Ltd. in Miramar what dress size I was. It was that important to me.

Once I had found my answer, I left the store, filled in that blank in my application, and sent it off to the Extras Casting.

What did I do next? I drove to the Putangirua Pinnacles, which are the bizarre rock formations on the trail to the Paths of the Dead. The zip-off pants and quick dry shirt were definitely more my style!

I will admit that wearing a dress wasn’t as vile as I’d considered it for years. The ultimate answer is… yes, if I had been contacted to be an extra and told I’d be wearing a dress, I’d have done it in a heartbeat.

*Note: The awesome burn lines come from standing in line. That was one of the very few times when I didn’t wear sunscreen down there.