The Hunt for Gollum

Love The Lord of the Rings movies? On the edge of your seat waiting for them to produce The Hobbit? Well in the meantime ... have you seen The Hunt for Gollum yet?

It's a 40 minute fan-film, set in the gap between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, based on Tolkien's written notes and very very much in the style of the big budget movies. Fan films are usually ropey and risible: this one isn't. And it's not a piss-take. Made by an international crew using almost no money (under $5000) and filmed in North Wales and south England, the results are extraordinary. Apart from a single dodgey wig it looks just about flawless.

The plot: Aragorn is hunting for Gollum, who has left the Misty Mountains in search of the One Ring. This is the guy playing Aragorn btw. He's no Viggo Mortensen, but full marks for trying!


Because it does clearly breach all sorts of copyright laws the makers have also fallen over themselves to make it clear than this is a non-profit venture, and so far the Hollywood lawyers seem to have restrained themselves.

This blows me away. Not much makes me feel warm and gooey about human nature, but that so many people put so much time and talent and effort into a creative endeavour like this, out of sheer love for the story and someone's fictional world, just knocks my socks off. I'm in awe, especially after watching the "Making Of" documentary.

All you need to do is go to The Hunt for Gollum site and click on Watch the Film. My cranky old computer couldn't quite handle High Definition but did fine on High Quality.


Enjoy!