In 2002, Miranda Otto found herself in the mountainous wilds of New Zealand learning swordcraft to play the role of Eowyn in the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. On the South Island’s golden grasslands, she delivered one of the series’ most memorable lines while dispatching the Witch-King of Angmar, who had said that no man could kill him. As Miranda plunged her sword into the foe, she ripped off her helmet and declared, “I am no man!”
It was a favourite role, and one Miranda says will stay with her forever. It also gave her the chance to spend some time with her half-sister, Gracie, then 13, who stayed with her for a week on set. Gracie ended up appearing in the trilogy, and having her eyes opened to a side of filmmaking she’d never known.
The epic scale of the project was such that it was common for visitors to be recruited into the Middle Earth cast. “I think everybody’s family was an extra at some point,” Miranda laughs.
As transformational as the role was for Miranda, the visit left a lasting impact on Gracie, too. She had been raised around actors, and so had a better understanding of the craft than most, but she had never been given up-close access to such a grand production.
“It was great. I remember walking around and seeing [director] Peter Jackson in his gumboots and thinking, I just want to be like that guy. I found his job the most interesting,” she says. “I loved the film and TV world. I just never really wanted to be an actor.”
Two decades after that memorable family holiday, Miranda and Gracie have reunited on set, working together for the first time on the Disney+ series The Clearing. Miranda plays the role of Adrienne, a fearsome matriarchal figure inspired by Anne Hamilton-Byrne who presided, in pearls and a bouffant, over the 1960s Victorian doomsday cult, The Family.
この記事は Australian Women’s Weekly NZ の July 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Australian Women’s Weekly NZ の July 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.