Peter Jackson may have completed both of his Middle-earth trilogies of films – The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit – but he’s still got some of the Shire close to home.
Actually, it’s under his home. Stuff reports that a secret bookcase opening in Jackson’s home leads to a recreation of Bag End, the home of Bilbo Baggins.
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Bino Smith, an artist who worked with Jackson on Lord of the Rings and King Kong, helped the director build a livable system of tunnels that includes Bag End beneath Jackson’s backyard.
“[Sir Peter Jackson] bought a two-storey, 1930s mansion, just out of Masterton, he got the boys up first to build this giant roof,” Smith says. “”Bag End is underground. You have to go under tunnels to get to it.”
Jackson apparently entertains some high profile guests in his little piece of the Shire.
“It’s a playground,” Smith says. “Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are over here all the time. Danny DeVito is one of his best mates. And it’s just for them. And they got the shelterbelt and everything.”
Jackson has some other recreations in his tunnels, included mock castle ruins, but the project is far from complete. Started in 2002, the project sounds like it will be a lifelong one for Jackson.
“In 2002 we were told there was 10 stages, and by the time I left [in 2007] we had only finished stage 4,” Smith explains. “He wants to build an airport up there, he wants to do a train track.”
Well at least if Jackson ever gets homesick for Middle-earth, it won’t take him long to get there.
