I’m just going to start by saying it was a pretty crap day overall. I have had a little time and a few beers to cool off, but I still can’t kick all the bitterness. I’ll do my best not to be too harsh about my day of getting lost, sunburn, thousands of line cutters, and a police shutdown as I tell this tale.

Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit is currently being filmed in New Zealand, broken into two parts, which they recently listed a casting call for extras for the second film that will be released next year. I love the Lord of the Rings films, bordering on obsession, and when I heard about the casting call for The Hobbit, I was going to do anything in my power to make it!

All week I had waited anxiously, counting down the days until I had the possibly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of The Hobbit films. The casting call listed vague requirements, and I didn’t care at all if I got to be the, “oh there is the corner of my ear in that scene” person. I just wanted in.

The excitement was brewing all week with people I knew from other Hostels. Groups of us were planning on going early, so we could guarantee ourselves a chance to be seen. That was my first mistake.

I was originally planning on going by myself, but last-minute I decided to tag along with two others from the hostel. I’m not saying it’s bad to go with friends, but by adding other people to the equation when something is scheduled, and not making sure everyone is on the right page, usually it throws some sort of metaphorical wrench in the works.

9:00 am

In the morning, I didn’t get off on the wrong foot, or the right foot, I actually hopped off the top bunk and landed on two feet, so no bad mojo there. I was sitting downstairs waiting for the two others and doing a little writing when one person shows up. He lets me know we’ll be taking off in about 15 minutes. I pack up, just so I’m ready, and wait while he walks up to get the other guy.

You know what happens when people leave to look for another person? That person shows up while the other one is gone now. Then, just like the first person, they go off to look for them. It’s an endless cycle that could have been broken by a simple phone call.

10:30 am

Finally the two found each-other while I am waiting anxiously to get on my way. Then the next problem arose. One of the people in the group insisted we take the bus instead of the train, even though the train is faster and takes us closer, the bus is less crowded which was the justification. I should have argued for the train, but I kept my mouth shut.

The bus came pretty early, and it took us about 30 minutes to get to where we thought we should get off. I had a map on my phone, but no service, so I had a general idea of where we had to go, but I was under the impression the other two knew the exact way. They didn’t.

11:00 am

We decided to follow a group of other backpackers we suspected were going as well, but one of the people in my group had to stop in the grocery store for water. At that moment we lost our only source of directions. Oh, we’ll just ask for directions from someone! No, it turns out nobody in the damn town knew where the hell Belmont Boarding School was. Well, one guy said he knew, and pointed us in a direction that was the completely wrong way, which added another 30 minute to the journey after having to backtrack the way we came.

12:00 pm
We were on the right track now, still had no clue exactly where it was, but we had made it to the main road that the school was located on, and apparently you couldn’t miss it if you walk down. I figured it would be a quick walk there, well I was hoping so, since I had already developed a couple of blisters from my sandals while we were wandering lost.

The walk was much further than we thought, more like a hike after the previously unexpected hiking while lost, and took us about 30 minutes to arrive at the school. But there it was, The Hobbit casting call location, packed with cars and groups of hopefuls migrating to the scene.

12:30 pm
Up and over a hill, we were greeted by a line stretching all the way from the door of the school, down a path, and in to a large grassy clearing. The clearing was bordered by hillside the went up to the roadway above, and the line had already reached the end and started to spiral around. With nowhere to go, that was the obvious option to spiral the line inward, but what happens when it reaches the middle? And, to our surprise, there was nobody organizing the line.

Beginning of the spiral

End of the line where we were. Not too bad.

1:00 pm
It was now the scheduled time for the extras auditions to start, yet the line wasn’t budging. The spiral was huge at this point. Our part of the line was moved up on top of the hill by one single person now running around trying to organize everyone, and hundreds more were filling in by the minute. At this point we knew the spiral was doomed for failure, but there was nothing else to do.

The Spiral

2:00 pm
After nearly an hour and half of inching more and more forward, we had made it off the hill and the pathway was in sight. Beyond the pathway was the school, and even though it was still far off, the sight of the path was comforting. The heat from the New Zealand sun was roasting me alive, I tried to hide beneath the hoodie but it didn’t help much, and didn’t help my mood at all.

The spiral had collapsed now. Throngs of people we pouring over the hill and into the spiral, and since there were so many people, it looked like a giant blob. People had no clue where to go, and no clue where the end of the line was. That guy organizing the line? He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He was darting back and forth, fear on his face and no clue what to do. He lost control, well, he never had it to begin with.

Never-ending line

2:30 pm
I was fuming at this point. The line had failed, and nobody was trying to organize anything. How could this happen? How could they not expect thousands to show up for one of the biggest upcoming movies in the world? And how could they stick one guy out there to tun the line and drown in thousands of bodies? The inner rings of people decided to just mold themselves into our line, pushing us outward, so now were we behind thousands more people who had waited only 30 minutes, not all damn day.

“7 people per minute! They are seeing 7 people per minute!” This was what the line manager was yelling out. I don’t know if he expected this to console us, or that it was going to fix the ever-growing problem. If you do the math, 7 people a minute for maybe 5,000 people, it would take 11 hours to see everyone. Not great news man.

People flowing down the hill and mixing in

3:00 pm
We were on the path! Thousands of people had cut the line in front of us, pushing us further away, but we finally reached the pavement, and we were almost in sight of the school! The line began to move faster and faster, a spark of hope ignited in me after thinking we would never make it by the 4pm shut off time. Gradually we were making our way up the path to the top of the hill, so close.

Then a guy walked past the entire time. Not someone who was staff, just someone who had ben in line, and told us all they had shut everything down. No more people were to be seen today. Everyone go home. Bullshit! We all looked at each other and figured he was trying to get masses of people to leave so that he could have a chance. They would just shut it down and send all of us home after waiting in the hot sun. Right?

Wrong. We reached the top of the hill, the goal of the day, because just meters away were the doors to my destiny. At the top, a bearded guy in an orange traffic jacket stopped us. Stopped us, we were the cut off point for the line! He told us because of safety reasons they weren’t seeing anymore people for the day. The cops had rolled in and deemed it was an unsafe gathering of people and were sending everyone home. Well, there was no way I was going to be the cut off point! We strolled around him when he wasn’t looking and made it into the “In” line just as cops were pulling up to assists him. I felt good, like I still had a chance!

3:15 pm
I was in the safe zone. I felt slick, and I still had hope that I would make it! The line was pretty long still, but I could see the school, and that is all that mattered. Then chaos. Everyone in line started breaking, walking ahead of everyone else towards the school, and soon a mob of people were rushing the doors. Of course I joined them, not waiting to be left behind, though I had no clue why the line broke.

The crowd gathered at the doors of the school. A large, curly grey hired man emerged, the bearer of bad news. Of shit news. He announced in a soft voice that the event was shut down, that the police said they couldn’t see anymore people for the day and everyone had to leave. There was nothing he could do. I could feel the disappointment flow through my body. I was exhausted, pissed off, and now just overall unhappy. He told us we can send our head-shots in, and they will look at them still, but I hadn’t come all the way down there for that. I had walked an hour and a half to get there and sat in the scorching sun for 3 hours to audition for an extra spot.

Bearer of Bad News

People waited afterwards as he walked back inside, like there was still some chance of trying out if they waited, but I knew there wasn’t. Head down, blood boiling with frustration, I followed my group as we walked away empty-handed, all the way back to the train station.

 

Disappointed People

The reason I am so bitter about everything is just how it went down.

I don’t care about the walk, or the heat, or getting lost. What bothered me the most is how a huge film production, the ones who created the Lord of the Rings trilogy, could not manage an open casting call. Everything combined with that, like the people who showed up hours after me that assisted in pushing us nearly to the end of the line, infuriated me. Granted, maybe they didn’t expect thousands of people to show up, but there was no organization at all, no one to let us know about the process, or how the day was progressing. Nothing from a world-class production. Nothing except a disorganized farce.

Will I send in a headshot online? Well, my hopes have been stampeded on, ground into dust, and blown away with the wind. Maybe I will send it in, but I have no headshot, and no real desire at this point. I know it was only an extras casting call, but doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been awesome for the chance to be a part of the film, even in the smallest way. My little Hobbit dreams destroyed, and all I got our of it was a sunburn…

 

Have you ever been a part of a film as an extra? What was it like?

 

 

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