Movies
Sir Ian McKellen has today launched the Royal Mint's set of commemorative Lord of the Rings coins.
The coins, available for purchase online, feature a variety of characters and scenes from the movies. The coins will become legal tender in New Zealand, where all three of the movies were filmed back-to-back.
"It's very touching," McKellen told Empire magazine. "New Zealand's quite a small country and for the 18 months we were filming Lord of the Rings the biggest employer of any industry in the whole country was the film. So everybody knows somebody who was involved in it - you know, had an orc mask on or made some of the scenery.
"They turn out in their thousands to welcome the films each year, and for the first film they actually changed the name of their capital city to Middle-earth for the day. There is an absolute devotion."
The final instalment of the trilogy, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, has a worldwide release on December 17.
The coins, available for purchase online, feature a variety of characters and scenes from the movies. The coins will become legal tender in New Zealand, where all three of the movies were filmed back-to-back.
"It's very touching," McKellen told Empire magazine. "New Zealand's quite a small country and for the 18 months we were filming Lord of the Rings the biggest employer of any industry in the whole country was the film. So everybody knows somebody who was involved in it - you know, had an orc mask on or made some of the scenery.
"They turn out in their thousands to welcome the films each year, and for the first film they actually changed the name of their capital city to Middle-earth for the day. There is an absolute devotion."
The final instalment of the trilogy, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, has a worldwide release on December 17.
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