Ian Mune heads the cast of local Rings heroes & Dialogue: Ten good reasons to love our movie

Ian Mune heads the cast of local Rings heroes

By PETER CALDER and LOUISA CLEAVE

[…] Craig Parker felt like a kid let loose in the world’s biggest playground during filming of The Lord of the Rings. The actor formerly known as Shortland Street’s Guy Warner plays Elf captain Haldir in the first two movies of the trilogy. Parker has nothing but fond memories of his two years flying up and down the country to be part of cinema history. He won’t even mutter an expletive when recalling two weeks of working in the darkness and rain during a Wellington winter.

“It was fantastic fun, but probably the most physically taxing. You always know there are a lot of people around you working damn harder than you are, so you can’t really whinge too much.”

The only negative he can think of was realising he doesn’t suit being a blonde. As Haldir, Parker adorned a long blonde wig, Elf ears made from gelatin and flowing robes. Some “slight lifts” to change the shape of his face completed his two-hour makeup ritual.

“Everything is so amazingly life-like. Once [the ears] were on and blended in you couldn’t tell. And the gelatin heats up, so once your body heats up, well, it gets very confusing sometimes.” Like scratching the wrong ear? “Yeah,” he laughs. “I’d never experienced that attention to detail. Weta created things that you could look at in full close-up and they would be perfect. There wasn’t a lot of pretending needed, really.”

Parker says he has no complaints about the rigours of filming, especially as others endured longer hours in makeup and on the set. “I think of that Michael Caine quote, that he is paid to sit around and acting he does for free.”