Make-A-Wish Visit To the Hobbit Set

A dream came true for 17 year old cancer victim elvenbutterflies, when she had an amazing Make-A-Wish visit  to the set of The Hobbit.  She met Peter Jackson, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly and had a memorable time with Richard Armitage, getting her ear cuff caught in his wig! She also watched a scene being filmed with Aidan Turner (Kili) and Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), which she says she can’t tell us about!

I’d definitely recommend reading all of her report  (the link is at the bottom of the page) but here are some extracts to enjoy.

With Richard Armitage:

It was AMAZING. I watched Richard Armitage ACT… Then we heard “cut” and I saw him walk off set. And we all know how Richard is a method actor. He stays in character all day. He walked off the set with /the/ meanest look on his face and glared RIGHT at me. I GOT A THORIN STAREEEEEEEEEEEE. Then Sebastian walked over and whispered in his ear and literally it was like night and day. His face went from “imma kill” to “Flowers and tea, yay let’s go play” And I got up and walked over to him. He said (in the most adorable accent on the planet) “Hello there, I’m Richard.” Now guys………I love Richard Armitage ok. Proud member of the Armitage Army like come on look at my blog, so you can imagine what my insides were like when I was standing in front of him. He was sooo tall compared to me (well I mean everyone is, I’m 5’2) but I was like (in a really dorky tone because I was literally over the moon) “Hello Mr. Armitage!” and I was shaking a little because RICHARD ARMITAGE. And then he held up two swords that he was holding and was showing them to me saying how they were covered in orc blood and we were touching it together and he was like “Yeah it’s pretty sticky, I have it all over me” and then we had a conversation about something that I can’t say but damn I’m pretty sure it made me seem educated in the world of Tolkien. Then he turned away to look at something and I was like “Can I ask you something?” and he was like “Sure!” So I asked him if he really played flute or if it was just a rumor, and he was like “Yeah I do, why?” And I said “Well, I play too!” And he was like Oh, really!! What level are you?” Then in my brain I was like Oh awkward because in America (at least where I come from we don’t have levels) so I told him that I have been playing for 6 years, and then he rubbed his majestic beard and was like “You know, you should really check out this Skavinsky piece, it’s one of my most favorite things to play, you’ll love playing it.” So I told him I would, and then I told him I had to tell him something. I explained how The Lord of the Rings was a huge part of my life growing up in a rough childhood, and waiting for The Hobbit really helped me get through cancer, because it gave me something to look forward to, and I thanked him for bringing Thorin to life so beautifully. I started to get a little choked up because cancer was tough on me and he was like “Oh my, come here.” And pulled me in to a giant bear hug. I thanked him again even though my voice was muffled in his fur shoulder thing. It was such a great moment, and then guess what happened… My earcuff I was wearing was dangly, and had these elvish looking leaves on them, and one of the leaves got stuck in Richard’s wig. IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING. Actually, at the moment it wasn’t because we were both laughing about it trying to get undone. And my aunt told me later that Richard was smiling like an idiot and looked like a little 5 year old trying to get untangled and he said “Oh! I think we may be stuck!” But now that I look back at it I kinda die with embarrassment lol but I guess how many girls can say their earring got stuck in Richard’s wig? Not many 😉 But after we were unstuck I was like “I’m so sorry!” and he was like “no no, it’s fine, but i really like your earring!” I told him thank you, it’s my elvish cuff, i wore it just for today, and he was like “Aaah! I’m wearing one too, see!” And he pulled his wig hair back with his giant dwarf prosthetic fingers and revealed his dwarven ear cuff on his right ear. Then idfk why i said this i was like “Wow! We’re twinning!” =__= don’t ask my mind wasn’t on earth.  Then he was like “Would you like a picture?” So we took a normal picture together, and then he handed me a sword and my cousin one and he was like “Alright, take a swing at me.” And I was like “????????? I don’t wanna hurt you! I’m really clumsy” and he was like “You won’t, just do it like this” and then he pointed the end of my sword at his chest and he acted like he was getting stabbed, and we took the picture like that and I just can’t believe how creative that was and sdfghjkl RICHARD <3 So then after that I gave him another hug and said goodbye and then we were off to lunch!

With Lee Pace:

So  my family and I were just chillin for a second when I spotted Lee Pace, standing behind the guys with computers at a little desk looking station in the middle of the giant sets. We made eye contact and I waved to him, and he flagged me over and mouthed “Come here!” I was really confused…so I pointed to myself and mouthed back, “Me?” And he was like “Yeah!” So I looked back at my family and they weren’t paying attention so I was like “Deuces lol” and I walked over and stood next to Lee. He was telling me how this was his favorite spot to hang out because he gets to see all the cool stuff. Then he pointed to one of the computers (There was like 8 of them it was really intense) and he’s like “See that? They’re doing that live, in another stage right now, isn’t that cool?!” Then the guys behind the computers started acting like little kids and were like “Samm look at this! Look at that!” And then, they showed me something so amazing that I KNOW I shouldn’t have seen and they friggin knew what they were doing and what is was was so mind blowing…and he [Lee] looked down and was like “Wasn’t that cool?!?!” And then I had a little moment and was like “Yeah!!” Then Lee looked behind him at a giant set, pointed, and said “Have you been up there yet?” And I said no, and he was like follow me!” So he led me up the stares up to that set (Which was freaking amazing) and he told me a little bit about the set, and I told him some facts about that certain location in the book and he was like “Hmm I didn’t know that!” And then we walked down the steps, and right at the bottom of the steps were Gandalf’s staffs. Lee said “Have you seen these yet? There’s so many of them because of the stunt doubles and to make the dwarves look smaller and Gandalf taller.” And then I told him I held one earlier and he said “I’m pretty sure no one would notice if you took one and hid it under your sweater.” Then I laughed and said “I wish.” And I was telling him how Gandalf has 2 brown  staffs and I told him why that is and he literally looked at me …and said “Really…I didn’t know that!!” And he looked genuinely interested. It made me feel so bubbly. Here’s a dialogue of our next conversation: Note, this whole time I was thinking “Why is Lee Pace taking the time to hang out with me [we were literally all alone for like 20 mins, it was heaven.] …WHY IS LEE TALKING TO ME IS THIS A DREAM) Anyway, it went a little something like this:

You can read more about  elvenbutterflies wonderful visit to the set of  The Hobbit  here.  It’s well worth a read!