Warner Bros. has several hit franchises under its name, including Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, its spin-off The Hobbit, and the superhero universe DCU. The studio recently saw a huge box office success with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide. However, it is not the only intriguing thing about the movie, as it also caused a shortage of pink paint. But Barbie is not the only Warner Bros. film to do that, as Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy also did something similar.
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The Lord of the Rings Spin-Off Exhausted Gold Paint Supplies
The vice president of global marketing at Rosco, the paint company used by the makers of Barbie, recently revealed (via The Los Angeles Times) that the movie “used as much paint as we had,” leading to a pink paint worldwide shortage.
The same issue was caused while filming the Lord of the Rings spin-off The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The second film in The Hobbit trilogy follows Bilbo Baggins on a journey to Laketown and encounters the dragon Smaug in the Lonely Mountain.
Voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, the fearsome dragon’s lair is filled with gold, jewels, precious artifacts, and the treasure he collected over the years. In order to bring it all to life, the makers of the film used gold paint, so much so that it caused a shortage.
According to IMDb, The Desolation of Smaug used up so much paint for the dragon Smaug’s lair that it ended up causing a gold paint shortage in Australasia (A region comprising Australia, New Zealand, and some neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean). To fulfill the requirement, the gold paint had to be transported from Germany.
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Benedict Cumberbatch Said Playing Smaug Was Freeing
Benedict Cumberbatch joined his Sherlock Holmes co-star Martin Freeman in The Hobbit film series as the fearsome dragon Smaug. The actor not only gave his voice to the character but also did the motion capture for the dragon as well.
The Marvel star described his experience playing the character as “freeing” in the Lord of the Rings spin-off. He said during his interview with Total Film (via Gizmodo), “It’s very freeing. Once you put the suit on and the sensors. I’ve never felt less encumbered, actually.” The actor shared that he had to free himself from his surroundings to fully immerse in his character.
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy are available on Max.
Source: IMDb
