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Moonshine set used for Anduin scenes? - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

August 11, 2000 at 19:00:28

TheOneRing.Net has published a picture of the infamous Moonshine set where allegedly dangerous LOTR film crews have stirred up the local populace in what may be the silliest controversy to strike Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' production yet.

We don't mean that the residents who felt threatened by security guards should be ridiculed or disbelieved. Clearly, some misunderstanding has befallen and ill will has developed in the community toward a history-making film production that has hitherto only sought to bring as much benefit to New Zealand as possible. But the Moonshine Bridge location will be forever remembered as the set where local residents claimed they had been warned of potential violence from angry film crew members.

Our initial review of the picture leads Xenite.Org to conclude that this set is most likely being used for scenes on Anduin. It may not be necessary for any of the principal actors in the three-film production to appear on the location, but the terrain looks to be ideal for represent the scenes on Anduin where Frodo spies Gollum following the Company of the Ring, and where Legolas shoots down the winged steed of the airborne Nazgul. Other possible scenes may include the final segment of the river journey.

However, another TORN spy report says that scenes on the Anduin have been filmed, as well as Aragorn and Boromir on the slopes of Amon Hen. (Xenite.Org has heard that the death scene of Boromir has long since been filmed in closeup, and that when the cast and crew were shown the footage there wasn't a dry eye in the room.)

Another possibility could be that the location is to be used for filming one or more scenes along the Isen river. The Ents sent a huge army of Huorns marching south along the river to help the Rohirrim at the Hornburg, and Gandalf later led a party of Rohirrim (and several of his companions) back up to Isengard. The Dunedain had just crossed the Isen when they overtook Aragorn and the Rohirrim on their way back to the Hornburg.

The scene with Arwen and Frodo fleeing across the Bruinen to the safety of Rivendell has already been filmed, so it seems unlikely this could be a river set for an Eriadorian scene. The terrain doesn't match the rivers in Eriador, either.

The Hutt river need not actually be involved in the filming, so the field described in the spy report could simply be one used for filming an open grassland scene, of which there are numerous such scenes in the literary story.

We reserve the right to change our minds on the possible uses of this set as more information is brought to light.