Upper Hutt is a suburb of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. Along Akatarawa Road lies Harcourt Park, which can been seen in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING as Isengard. This is where the wizard Saruman the White (Christopher Lee) lives in Orthanc, a 150-metre (500 feet) high tower.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:47:35 |
He is visited by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen). The wizard asks Saruman for help but instead is imprisoned on top of the tower. Scenes that were filmed in Harcourt Park include the arrival of Gandalf and when he goes for a walk with Saruman, unaware of what awaits him. The tower and the circular fortress were scale models that were digitally added, just like the mountains. It was not easy to find the exact filming locations.
The park is quite large. There are lawns and a variety of trees. Colourful parrots called eastern rosellas are flying around. These birds are quite shy.
In the blog post on
Mavora Lakes, I referred to the
YouTube-video by Niki Topgaard, who also visited this location. Thanks to his directions, we were able to recognise some of the trees.
When Gandalf arrives on his horse, only the trees are real. These have been digitally altered. The gravel path was constructed for the film and removed after filming. The exact location can no longer be traced.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:46:56 |
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| Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt, 5 January 2020 |
The section of the park where Gandalf and Saruman are walking is easier to recognise, even though the trees and bushes have grown over the years. The red tree is a set piece and was added to bring more colour to the scenery. The mountains are located 1000 kilometres south in
Glenorchy, Paradise Valley, a nature reserve on the South Island that I have blogged about before.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:47:26 |
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| Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt, 5 January 2020 |
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| Glenorchy, Paradise Valley, 19 January 2020 |
Later in the film, Orcs are tearing down trees to use as firewood. This scene was also shot in Harcourt Park. The trees cut down are obviously not real. Again, the exact location cannot be identified, so I added a photo of a tree in the park that would fit the film.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:47:26
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| Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt, 5 January 2020 |
The extended edition on dvd was used for the screenshots.
Screenshots © New Line Cinema/Wingnut Films
