Filming for The Hobbit finally wraps this week and, feeling a bit nostalgic, I’ve been looking back at some of the non-Hobbit premieres, shows and charity events the cast attended/took part in, during their time in New Zealand.
The charity events were, of course, dominated by the terrible earthquake that hit Christchurch soon after the arrival of the cast in New Zealand. People rallied to help Christchurch and one of the first fundraising events to be organised was a Celebrity Cricket Match.
The Celebrity Cricket match was held in Wellington on 13 March, 2011. Some 10,00 people went to watch, raising over $500,000 for Christchurch. Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Mark Hadlow (Dori) umpired the match whilst James Nesbitt (Bofur) coached one of the teams (Russell Crowe was the other team coach). Ian McKellen (Gandalf) was the match referee. Other members of the cast, including Richard Armitage (Thorin), did their bit by rattling the collection tins.
Here’s a 3News video of James Nesbitt, Adam Brown (Ori), Graham McTavish (Dwalin), Jed Brophy (Nori) practising before the match.
Photo’s of Ian McKellen and Richard Armitage and James Nesbitt with British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell by UKinNewZealand.
One of the biggest fundraising events was the Rise Up Christchurch Telethon on 22nd May, 2011. We watched with amusement as the cast took part in a video, introduced by Ian McKellen, which gave us a first look at the dwarves in costume.
LukeEvans at Ian McKellen’s show by Angela Moriarty
Striking out on his own, Sir Ian McKellen decided to raise money for the quake damaged Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch, by holding a series of one-man shows across New Zealand. Much to the delight of his audience, he was joined on stage for his Wellington show, by the rest of The Hobbit cast, who also raised money with collection buckets and by posing for pictures. The shows raised $354,000.
Photo by noei1984
There were plenty of other charitable works too!
Peter Jackson raised almost $15,000 for Medicine Mondiale with an auction for a visit to The Hobbit set; coffee with Bret McKenzie raised money for Oxfam; Mark Hadlow and John Callen supported Pens for Poverty . More recently, there was a Make-a-Wish visit to The Hobbit set.
I hope you enjoyed reminiscing about these charity events. Next time I’ll be looking back at some of the other events The Hobbit cast supported during their time in New Zealand.
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