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Poolburn: What will be filmed there? - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

October 04, 2000 at 15:36:32

TheOneRing.Net's spy report about Poolburn got us to wondering. And since we blew it with identifying the funeral at Edoras, we thought we'd try to redeem ourselves by figuring out what will be filmed in Poolburn.

Poolburn is a lightly populated district located in Ida Valley near the southern end of the South Island in New Zealand. The region, like all the country of New Zealand, is a mixture of landscapes. The spy report mentions one area of the valley has willow trees, and we did find some pictures of well-wooded regions in the Ida Valley. But DozDanz doesn't think the filming will be near the willows, and we agree.

On June 9, 2000 The Southland Times carried an article which attributed to "Lord of the Rings" publicist Claire Raskind the statement that a number of battles would be filmed in Central Otago, and the article went on to say
"It is understood filming could be about 40km to 50km from Alexandra with the Poolburn and Maniototo areas tipped as likely filming sites because of the moon-like landscape."

Poolburn is located west of Alexandra, although it's not clearly marked on the map segments we located above. There are in fact several "Poolburn" locations or features, including Poolburn Gorge and Poolburn Dam and Poolburn Resevoir.

Canadian Jean-François Fontaine visited New Zealand when he was 19 years old (in 1992-3) and engaged in a little rabbit hunting in Poolburn. He has posted several pictures from his expedition on his Web site. Rabbits are not native to New Zealand and I was curious to learn that the Ida Valley is afflicted with rabbit calicivirus disease in the Twizel and Maniototo areas. The disease is deadly to rabbits but can afflict other species of animals.

Well, putting all these facts together (except for the RCD problem), one can see that Peter Jackson is most likely interested in the rocky landscapes, not the woodland areas, in the Ida Valley. But what kind of battle scenes would be filmed in such territory? It will be interesting to see what, if any, spy pictures or news media images appear which reveal more about the exact location.

Our analysis of the available data leads us to conclude that a Mordor battle scene is planned, or at least something in Mordor. The region might also lend itself (despite the appearances of these pictures) to filming for Ithilien scenes. There are picturesque and well-wooded areas in the Ida Valley. Another possibility could be the Emyn Muil, the rocky hills east of the Anduin River where Frodo and Sam meet up with Gollum. These hills are separated from Mordor by the Dead Marshes.

It is not necessary, judging by the literary story, to film any battle scenes in a rocky area, but the cinematic story may require some background setting. It could also be that the report of plans for battle scenes in the region was in error, or that the plans have changed (i.e., the battle scenes were or will be filmed elsewhere).

One other possibility does come to mind, although we are not necessarily in agreement about it. That is, Aragorn leads his company of Rangers through the highlands of Gondor in the White Mountains. The region is well-inhabited in the literary story, and that implies it must be well-wooded and watered. Nonetheless, because of the dramatic scene at the Stone of Erech, it may be that some people interpret the region as being rocky (and there is no reason the highlands of Gondor could not have a mixture of landscapes, just like New Zealand's Ida Valley). Hence, perhaps scenes involving Aragorn and the Rangers will be filmed here.

In the literary story, Aragorn led his company, and the Army of the Dead, down to the city of Ethring, where a Gondorian army was engaged in a fierce battle with Corsairs and Haradrim. Ethring was situated on the Ringlo river in a valley of the Ered Nimrais. The river was navigable at least as far north as Ethring, since the Haradrim and Corsairs had sailed up the river from the sea.