Gollum Catches Lunch at Wellington Airport

The muck and pool is nice and cool, so juicy sweet! Our only wish, to catch a fish, so juicy sweet! Well, yes. Exactly.  We all know how Gollum liked his lunch, wriggly and raw, but how would you like to be reminded of the fact while you are having yours?

Image Credit Flickr User ohsarahrose

Very much so. This amazing – and huge – sculpture has just been installed at New Zealand’s Wellington Airport. It has been designed by Weta Workshop which designed props and effects for The Hobbit trilogy of movies coming our way very soon.  It also gave them the opportunity to not so gently remind people that the country was used as the stunning stand-in for Middle-earth in the movies.

Image Credit Flickr User Brendon & Keryn

Image Credit Flickr User 111 Emergency

The sculpture was painstakingly created (mostly out of polystyrene) by a team of 18 and consists of nine detachable parts.  It took four months to create. To give you an idea (as if the pictures don’t) of its huge size, the head and outstretched arm measures over forty feet and weighs in at over 2,000 pounds. For such a skinny wretch this particular Gollum is seriously heavy.

Image Credit Flickr User Brendon & Keryn

Image Credit Flickr User 111 Emergency

The whole piece is scarily real – it really does look as if Gollum is taking the plunge in an attempt to catch the fish (each of which is four meters long). There are even bubbles coming from his mouth as he hungrily lunges at his prey. I think we can fully expect gleeful reportage about terrified children, their screams resonating throughout Wellington airport, in the very near future.

Image Credit Flickr User styler*

Image Credit Flickr User 111 Emergency

To further celebrate the movies, the airport has taken another step and renamed its terminal.  When passengers alight at their destination they are now greeted with a sign announcing that they have arrived in the middle of Middle-earth.

Image Credit Flickr User ohsarahrose

Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in which Andy Serkis reprises his role of everyone’s favorite hairless homunculus, opens next month.

Image Credit Flickr User 111 Emergency

First image credit by Brendon Doran, as are several others from the Flickr Photostream he shares with Keryn. Thanks to Brendon for his kind permission to use the pictures. Please visit their website, 2kiwis.com

Kuriositas would also like to thank Flickr User 111 Emergency for his permission to use the pictures credited to him here. Please visit his Flickr Photostream.