Peter: [Exodus From Edoras] All of the extras at Edoras were basically local farmers and their wives, because this is a very rural part of New Zealand: there’s not really any towns or cities close by, and so we had –. All these extras were brought in from the various farming communities within a, sort of, fifty-mile radius of the set.

Fran: Well they were amazing. They got up at two in the morning to get on a bus in Christchurch to be driven to the set –

Peter: [at same time as Fran] The location, yeah.

Fran: – yeah – and that would be two or three hours of travel.

Peter: Yeah.

Fran: And then they would be in wardrobe and make up at six in the morning or something [Peter: Yeah.] ready to the set by seven thirty.

Peter: Yeah.

Fran: So they really didn’t sleep, those extras.

Peter: No, they were fantastic. (beat) [screen cap] This is a wonderful shot. John Mahaffie shot this – I just thought it was the most beautiful image, all done for real.

Fran: Are they very high mountain lakes, those?

Peter: Well there’s this place in Queenstown in New Zealand – if anyone ever goes there – called Deer Park Heights, which is like a bit of a wildlife sanctuary, and it’s just this mountaintop – it’s a hill right next to Queenstown Airport, and we did a lot of our filming at Deer Park Heights, because you drive up there, it’s very easy access – only five minutes from town –