Thomasin Mckenzie recently shared one of her fondest memories of working on the massive blockbuster, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. These days, most people will recognize the New Zealand actor from such films as Jojo Rabbit, Leave No Trace, and Last Night in Soho. However, McKenzie has been exposed to big-budget film productions since she was around the age of twelve.
Many people may not realize that Mckenzie had a small role in the final installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies. McKenzie (who was only a child at the time) took on the role of a small girl credited as "Astrid" who lives in the village of Lake-town. Lake-town is the village built in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain, which is almost annihilated by Smaug the Dragon at the start of the third film.
In a recent interview with Collider, while promoting Last Night in Soho, McKenzie was asked to recall her impressions of experiencing a big-budget Hollywood production for the first time. McKenzie was quick to state that what she remembers most was sitting in the make-up chair and looking up and seeing the rows of elf wigs used in the production. According to McKenzie, the elegant wigs made quite an impression on her, but she has wanted to play an elf or a fairy-like creature ever since her Hobbit days. See her full quote below:
"It was just a huge production. It was filmed in Miramar in Wellington and for the longest time they had a huge green screen up and you couldn’t miss it when you drove through Miramar. It was massive. And just the sets that they made, especially, I can’t remember the name of the town that it was, but it was the river town that was at the base of the mountain … and it was so incredible, absolutely incredible to see a creation like that.”
“I was so young. I think when you’re that young you kind of take those things for granted. I think I was 11 maybe at the time, 11 or 12, and so the thing I remember most was sitting in the makeup chair and looking to my right and seeing multiple shelves filled with elf wigs, and ever since then I’ve been obsessed with playing an elf or a fairy or something where I could wear, very much like Anya [Taylor-Joy]’s hair, like a long platinum blonde straight wig. I think that would be so much fun.”
McKenzie also mentioned how, at such a young age, she took the scale of the production somewhat for granted. She went on to describe a massive greenscreen that was erected in the New Zealand town of Miramar. According to McKenzie, people could not drive through the town without seeing it. However, at the young age of twelve, it was still the elven wigs that captured her imagination more than anything else.
In the seven years since the release of The Battle of the Five Armies, McKenzie's career has grown impressively, and at the young age of twenty-one, it's likely the actor will go farther yet. With an actor as in demand as McKenzie, it's not unrealistic to think that her goal of one day playing an elf may come true. Perhaps audiences will be treated to a McKenzie performance as an elf in a future season of Amazon's upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series. Until then, fans of the actor can catch her in Edgar Wright's thriller, Last Night in Soho, which is in theatres now. Or look for her in cable showings of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
Source: Collider