I know this is a blog on the Star Wars website, but I figure it's pretty safe to assume many here are also fans of the Lord of the Rings movies. Well Wednesday I had the oppuritunity to see Peter Jackson in action, and in a most unexpected way. Here's what happened.

Wednesday I am sitting at work, kind of bored, and I get an email from my friend. Basically the email is telling me that there is a film being shot locally in Royersford PA, about 15 minutes from my house. The movie is called The Lovely Bones and is being directed by Peter Jackson. So I went online and found out what I could about the movie and who the actors were. I come to find out that the movie stars Mark Walhberg, Rachel Weisz, and Susan Sarandon. I also read online that they had decorated main street Royersford to look like a town from the 1970's, changing store signs and even parking vintage cars along the street. I had actually lived right in Royersford a few years back, and I thought it would be cool to see some of the places I was familiar with all dressed up, so I decided I was going to drive through on my way home from work and see what it looked like.

So I get there around 5:45PM and there was still shooting going on. Traffic was being diverted around main street and there were Police barricades not letting anyone near the action. So I decided to park and see how close I could get on foot. As I walked up to the first barrickade someone asked me where I was headed. I decided to play dumb and told him I was just trying to walk home. He went ahead and let me past since there was a break in the shooting. He said "stay on the left sidewalk and be careful of the equipment." I was surprised but happy. They were going to let me walk right through the middle of where the filming was going on! So I began to walk up the sidewalk, and I noticed the was a lot of smoke. Apparently the were preparing for a scene and were pumping smoke onto the street, maybe to give it an eerie look or maybe there was supposed to be a fire, I couldn't tell. I didn't get too far and another man walked up to me and asked where I was going (they were being pretty strict on who they were letting bast the barrickades.) I told him I was trying to walk home and he said, "No, you are going to have to walk around." So I complied. I went one street over and saw a bunch of the locals gathered around trying to see the action from afar. It was also where a lot of the equipment for the movie had been parked. There was a trailer, props, a tent with snacks and coffee, and all kinds of other movie magic stuff. I stood there for a while trying to see what I could see, which from there was not much.

Having lived in Royersford before I knew there were small alleys leading right onto main street from where I was at. I decided, what could it hurt? I am going to walk down one of these alleys, get onto main street, and get as close to the action as I can until someone tells me I can't be there. So I did. Went down the smallest alley I could and came out on main steet. About 30 yards to my right was a crowd of onlookers behind a barricade, and about 10 yards to my left was a black tent with tv monitors next to it. All around the tent were people with earpieces and walkies. I figured that is where I wanted to get to. As I walked toward the tent I looked around and they truly did make the street look vintage 70's. All the store fronts had been changed. Every little detail including the Visa/Mastercard stickers on the doors being changed to reflect the old credit card company's logos. The classic cars along the road were pristine and I couldn't help but reach out touch one of them as I walked by it.

As I got closer to the tent I noticed a scene being set up in the middle of the street. Then I heard a voice that I recognized from the many Lord of the Rings documentaries I had watched. Peter Jackson's voice. He was just beyond the tent talking to a young actress about what he was looking for in the scene. It was pretty cool seeing him in action. Still no one had approached about being somewhere I shouldn't be, so I decided to press my luck and try and get closer. So I walked right up to the black tent and stood behind the monitors. A couple of people looked up from what they were doing, but no one challenged my being there. I guess they thought I was one of them. So for at least 5 takes I stood behind the monitors and watched as they filmed the scene. It was unreal to be so close to the action during the filming of a movie. For me, living nowhere close to Hollywood, it was probably a once in a lifetime experience. Then it got better. Peter Jackson walked over to take a look at the monitors, coming up to stand right next to me. It wasn't George Lucas, but pretty darn close.

I ended up hanging out there for about half an hour and then casually walked away and headed back to my car. I called my friend right away, and all he had to say was, "Good thing Peter Jackson didn't turn to you and ask for a cup of coffee."