The Hobbit star John Callen reckons he knows exactly where it went wrong with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings follow-up.
In a new two-part documentary available on YouTube, Callen reflects on the making of the movies and how the role of the dwarves – he played Óin in each movie – was reduced over the trilogy that, as everyone knows, was originally meant to be a two-parter.
"We'd get ready and wait and wait and wait. It so happened that for a number of people and it wasn't just the also-rans among us, they wouldn't be used and so at the end of the day, we'd be waiting all day and nothing would happen," he claimed.
Callen added that even though the dwarves were seen as part of the core cast for the trilogy, they ended up feeling like they were the "world's highest paid extras".
"Whether it had to do with the fact that the studios had said, 'Actually they're all right, these dwarves, yes, but the real stories are the battle between Thorin and the evil orcs, it's the story of the relationship between Radagast and Gandalf and finding Galadriel again and getting her help'," he outlined.
"If that is what the studios were pushing for, then they certainly got what they wanted. What I think they missed out on was the heart that we started with."
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So there you have it, if The Hobbit had decided to focus on the dwarves searching for their treasure instead of taking part in a massive battle of five armies, then the trilogy might have been seen as a worthy Lord of the Rings follow-up.
Maybe.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
