The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

[charlie]

In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the scale illusion was accomplished by placing Hobbit or Dwarf actors and actresses further away from the camera than Sir Ian McKellen, but still live on the same set. This time, however, the illusion had to be accomplished by having the other actors and actresses on a completely different set, while McKellen performed his, all alone, on a greenscreen set, with only an earpiece connecting him to the performance being provided by the rest of the cast. McKellen ended up feeling lonely and frustrated. To cheer him up, the cast and crew snuck into the tent in which he stayed during breaks and decorated it with mementos from the Lord of the Rings films (mainly old props and tapestries from Rivendell and Lothlorien), as well as fresh fruit and flowers.

[darrell]

Asked how many wizards there are, Gandalf says there are five, naming Saruman, Radagast, and himself, then saying he can't remember the names of the other two, merely saying, "The two blues". Their names, Alatar and Pallando, appear in the book Unfinished Tales, a collection of J.R.R. Tolkien ideas and half-manuscripts edited into book form by his son Christopher Tolkien. The filmmakers didn't have rights to use material from that book, so the two blue wizards remain unnamed in this movie.

[carl]

Viggo Mortensen declined to reprise his role as Aragorn, citing that Aragorn wasn't in the book. Aragorn is briefly alluded to in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).

[melinda]

Gollum only appeared in one scene in the book. Andy Serkis completed that scene during the first week of production, but stayed on as second unit director.

[willard]

The elk that Thranduil (Lee Pace) rides on is played by a horse named Moose.

[miriam]

While filming the Battle of Azanulbizar, Richard Armitage smacked himself in the face so hard with his shield that he managed to bite completely through his lower lip. The injury can be seen in the finished movie. When Azog holds up Thror's severed head, and Thorin screams, the left side of his lower lip is swollen, and there is a pool of blood between his gums and his lip.

[ivan]

Peter Jackson claims that when he called Sir Christopher Lee to invite him to the premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), Lee responded, intimidatingly, "Am I still in the movie?" Lee had originally been slated to appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), but his scenes were cut from the theatrical release, which caused the actor and director to have a brief falling out. The scenes were restored in the extended edition, though.

[kylie]

Daniel Radcliffe, Shia LaBeouf, James McAvoy, Erryn Arkin, and Tobey Maguire were considered for the role of Bilbo Baggins. However, Peter Jackson has said that his first choice was always Martin Freeman. Freeman was initially unable to accept the role due to scheduling conflicts with Sherlock (2010), but Jackson re-worked the entire shooting schedule for the trilogy to accommodate him.

[gabriel]

Aidan Turner (Kili) was cast by Peter Jackson after seeing him on Being Human (2008). Turner quit the series in order to be in The Hobbit trilogy.

[edgar]

Some chapter titles from the book are mentioned in dialogue, such as "a merry gathering" and "out of the frying pan and into the fire" and "roast mutton".

[violet]

The first roar we hear from Smaug, in the first scene of Smaug's attack on Erebor, is actually a sound bite of the special effects director's seven-year-old daughter "roaring". It was manipulated and corrected to sound like a dragon, and was put into the movie.

[aaron]

The sequence between Bilbo and Gollum was filmed in complete takes, with the actors performing the entire scene from beginning to end like a stage play over the course of two weeks. It was at the beginning of production, and Peter Jackson wanted to help Martin Freeman settle into the role of Bilbo.

[kristen]

Thranduil, the father of Legolas, first appeared in The Hobbit book simply as "The Elven King", with no mention of his real name. It is only in The Lord of the Rings, when Legolas first appears in the book, that he is identified as the Son of Thranduil of Mirkwood. When Legolas enters Lothlorien in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Haldir greets him in Elvish as "Legolas Thranduillion", which is Sindarin for "Legolas, Son of Thranduil".

[addison]

The ghost who attacks Radagast in Dol Guldur is the Witch-king of Angmar, the same who stabs Frodo on Weathertop in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). The Necromancer spotted by Radagast is the first sign of Sauron's re-manifestation in Middle-earth.

[chris]

Gloin (Peter Hambleton) is the father of Gimli, the character portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The same axe is wielded by both Dwarves.

[toni]

Stephen Hunter (Bombur) only says one line during the entire movie.

[christina]

The method of creating Hobbit feet was changed for this movie. For The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the prosthetic feet only fit over the actors' and actresses' feet, requiring them to be re-applied after periods of walking in them. For this movie, the prosthetic went all the way up to their (Martin Freeman, Sir Ian Holm, and Elijah Wood) knees.

[richard]

Aidan Turner (Kili) is the only Dwarf actor sporting his real facial hair, the other twelve all have fake beards, or other kinds of fake facial hair.

[gabriel]

Sir Ian Holm and Sir Christopher Lee filmed their scenes at London's Pinewood Studios, because health concerns left them uncomfortable with flying to New Zealand.