Grond

When visiting Richard Taylor at Weta Workshop recently, we were treated to his amazing boardroom, which is filled with original art from the creative team. It was awe inspiring to see.

We were invited to take pics of anything we wanted - except the awards (though Richard himself later happily let us take shots in front of these and even was willing to take them out).

It was moving that some of the figurines were autographed by the actors - perhaps they chose their favourite representations of their character? We forgot to ask in all the excitement.

But, one piece that had a personal resonance for me was Grond, the wolf battering ram that crashed open the gates of Minas Tirith. How amazing this was to see in ROTK!! As a lover of the books I knew what was coming, but the film version was magnificent.

But that’s not why the model resonated with me. No, my delight was because Grond’s screen appearance was where I had my tiny part in ROTK - as part of the voice team!

In (NZ) Winter 2003, my sister told me that her family’s football club had put out a request for members to come along for some ROTK sound recording. We went along too and were the only women in the group of about 20 blokes who turned up on the field that afternoon.

The film’s sound crew put us through a heap of sound effects (to be supplemented in editing). They gave us brief descriptions of the scenarios for sounds such as: the field of battle (grunts, panting); screams of soldiers and townspeople being dropped from on high by flying Nazgul; an audible gasp when Minas Morghul shot up a sudden pillar of green light; the moving chant of “Death, Death” for the charge of the Rohirrim.

But my favourite by far was chanting “Grond, Grond, Grond”. We had to use really deep voices because the characters in the movie were male. But we did it and it was so much fun. We were exhilarated afterwards but I couldn’t talk about it - I lost my voice for 3 days!

I don’t mention this when Museum visitors ask me if I was an extra in the films. That’s because our fan story is told in the Museum movie. Other than that, the Museum is all about the visiting fans’ experience, not mine.

Instead, I answer that question by saying, “No, I’m just a fan!”. And, being “just” a fan is enough. It’s why the Museum is there!!! Best wishes, Kathy (Just a Fan) xx