00:00So every person in that in that wheel then is very important, they're a very
00:04important cog to it and it it just wouldn't revolve without any one of
00:08those characters. I just repeated myself.
00:14But what about the characters though?
00:30Rob, I'll start with you. I just want to know when you guys are approaching your own
00:33production whether you touch the Peter Jackson films at all just to set the
00:37tone or for preparation or do you really want to separate yourselves and do
00:41your own thing? Well you know the Peter Jackson films were like a big part of my
00:45life. I used to watch them as a kid and you know Lord of the Rings
00:49in general is a huge part of my life and so like when you go into it as an actor
00:53it's like a different sort of perspective really. And so I went to you
00:57know discovered all this material that I didn't even know existed about the
01:01first age and so I just really dug into that and like a historian. To that
01:07end you can get swallowed up you know researching the lore that comes with
01:12this and so how much of that did you rely on just just the script versus
01:17branching off of it and and sort of digging into further materials? I think
01:21everyone was different really. You know I mean I he is a law master you know so
01:27part of the you know part of the research for the character I felt like
01:31was was learning as much as I could. And I think that was more necessary for
01:36some people and less necessary for others. Yeah very true. Tristan when a series has this
01:40many characters and and potential subplots it can be tough for an audience
01:45to keep it all straight and I'm just curious how this series is tackling that.
01:49Are there different ways that the storylines are broken up whether it be
01:52visually or just the way the characters are grouped? Well I think every
01:57character is integral to the telling of the story so it wouldn't be the same
02:02without any one character. Right. So it needs all those characters you know
02:06there's it there's so many worlds in it and stuff and a fantasy world anyway is
02:11is a very heterogeneous place and this is just true to type so every person in
02:18that in that wheel then is very important they're a very important call
02:21to it and it it just wouldn't revolve without anyone one of those characters.
02:24I just repeated myself.
02:30But what about the characters though?
02:37Megan what was the moment on set when the enormity of what you guys were doing
02:41finally hit you when it finally felt real? I think one of the moments that was
02:47most poignant to me was seeing one of our sets for the first time we worked on
02:53location a lot and we were on this like farm that had like this huge forest and
02:58they'd built this incredible set designers were incredible they built all
03:01of the Halfords homes which are these carts and they're like decorated so
03:04beautifully and they are camouflaged to the environment but when I first walked
03:09in there's a scene that you'll see in the show which is really beautiful and
03:15it had all of our background artists who have been working very closely with
03:18Lara who was our movement director and they were creating the sequence they
03:22were rehearsing it for for JA who was also there so doing like a camera
03:27rehearsal to see how it fit in the space and that's when I first walked in and
03:30saw the set so I got to see the set as a live literally a live art form and that
03:37was when I really was like I'm I'm in Middle Earth here and it was just yeah
03:42it was just gorgeous and people talk about going to New Zealand you know to
03:45take tours of the sets that exist and how immersive it is I can't imagine what
03:49what is that what the experience is like when you're on those sets there is that
03:52then you just feel like you're part of another world absolutely it's really
03:55similar for me that one of the first times I was on the set and they were all
03:59the background people and there was but there was also just everyone around and
04:04and all working so hard to create this very real moving vibrant beast and I was
04:11standing there going this is incredible I've said before now that I felt like I
04:15was cosplaying I was just like entering the space and just being completely
04:19overtaken it was just extraordinary really extraordinary New Zealand is
04:23beautiful mmm I love the you mentioned cosplaying
04:25because we're here have you guys had a chance to see any rings cosplayers at all?
04:30I am desperate to I haven't yet, is anyone else?
04:32Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they're everywhere.
04:36We haven't got out, we've been there.
04:39He's making free.
04:41He's actually, he's dressed up.
04:43He's a dwarf.
04:45He's dressed up like someone and went out as a dwarf.
04:47Yeah, there's, there's, I've seen quite a lot of elves but I've not actually I've not seen a dwarf.
04:53Okay.
04:55You'll have to fix that by tomorrow.
04:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:59When Tolkien's works came out it had a lot of parallels to World War Two and so I'm curious how you think this show this series if it does at all
05:07reflects and comments on our modern culture?
05:11Um I think we can we can relate to our to the world that we live in now certainly with um with
05:18Middle Earth sure um being out in New Zealand felt like Middle Earth because it's an island in the
05:24middle of the ocean you know and certainly with Khazad-dûm um I related Khazad-dûm to to Wales
05:33to to where I'm from um I grew up on the side of the mountain and and slate quarries and and coal
05:43mines as well so it's a big part of here I'm looking at Tristan here because we're both from
05:49Wales and um so yeah so um I can relate to Khazad-dûm um uh quite fondly because of because of Wales
06:02and yeah gotcha no that makes sense uh this is for anyone uh the the show comes with so much
06:08anticipation uh that the internet is flooded with theories so um how much have you guys allowed
06:12yourself to maybe uh dip some toes into what people are speculating before the show even drops?
06:18Do you know what's wonderful about it is that no two imaginations are the same they're like
06:23fingerprints so you know you've got to allow people to have their you know their imaginations
06:29run wild of course stuff and then when they come and see the show it'll be similar in some respects
06:35and then different in others but then is consigned to memory so all they've got then is the unless
06:40they can watch it again of course and it'll be all in memory and there'll be like a sort of a
06:46mesh I guess like a marriage of these these two imaginings of this world and that's a lovely thing
06:52just to sit down and mull over yeah that'll be wonderful that's very true um I heard recently
06:58that you guys all got together as a cast and watched the first three episodes was that
07:02were you guys able to participate in that um what was it like what was it like seeing it come to life?
07:09There was a lot of shouting yeah cheering cheering because also we would see because uh we were
07:16obviously so immersed in our own worlds occasionally we would get to see other worlds but but
07:19not often because we were working very hard and so um and we spent so long together and know each
07:25other really really well and to then see all the hard work that we've been doing up on the
07:29screen right right was just I mean we would see people and we'd be like oh my god you know like
07:33all that stuff but then equally a minute later would be in absolute tears as a character something
07:37happened to a character so it it was an odd experience of being oh there's oh my god is that
07:46we were so excited yeah I'm very I'm very quick sorry I'm just gonna say it's a roller coaster
07:52yeah yeah I very quickly forgot that I was watching my friends though
07:56yes you know and which which I think was you know I'm obviously
08:02very very quickly I was just invested in in in the other world that I was watching yes best
08:08compliment yes yeah yes I'll get you out of here on this um how do you all feel about the uh the
08:14binge model uh versus you know being everybody on the same page with each episode dropping
08:20I personally prefer when everybody's in the same point in the conversation um because it's so hard
08:26when you get to a full season drops and the first question you have to ask is like where are you in
08:29the show what have you watched I agree you guys feel that way as well absolutely I think it's
08:34brilliant how they're doing it I think it needs a week you need to kind of absorb it yes I'm
08:39going to go back on it there's so much information within each episode that that yeah you do need
08:45so much richness and yeah and it offers people an opportunity to then you know half a year a
08:49week go I actually need to maybe re-watch that again and absorb it and then be ready for the
08:54next episode and also to sort of maintain that hopefully excitement and anticipation like how
08:59wonderful to see something you've got oh my gosh and have and theories with your friends and chatting
09:03and and all that and then you all get to sit down and watch it the next week and I think it's great
09:08yeah I'm so happy to have you guys come through thank you very much
09:12thank you so much
09:34you
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