A GAMLING MAN

From the DOMINION POST


11 DECEMBER 2002

By TOM CARDY
A small role grew when a Kiwi actor impressed the director with the character he created.

When Kiwi actor Bruce Hopkins wrapped up work on The Two Towers he and a few select cast and crew were given a limited edition book about the project. Inside Hopkins' copy, Peter Jackson and screenwriter Fran Walsh wrote: "Thanks for creating a character we didn't know we needed".

The 47-year-old, who has appeared in several New Zealand TV shows and films, couldn't have asked for a better compliment. Hopkins plays Gamling, one of the men of Rohan, who in JRR Tolkien's book is the leader of men guarding Helm's Dike before the battle of Helm's Deep.

However, in Jackson's version Gamling's role has been expanded. We see him a lot with the troubled King Theoden, played by British actor Bernard Hill. After Eomer, played by Karl Urban, Hopkins' role got the biggest part for a New Zealander.

Hopkins had never read The Lord of the Rings. "I had a bit of a go at The Hobbit many moons ago". He auditioned without knowing what part, if any, he would get. It was 18 months before he got the call. "They had already started shooting. Then I got a call saying they wanted to check my availability."

Hopkins was flown to Wellington for filming of Helm's Deep scenes at the Dry Creek Quarry, by Haywards Hill in the Hutt Valley. He thought it would only be for six days with a few, if any lines.

"(Screenwriter) Philippa Boyens approached me on the second night when I was just doing a bit of fighting alongside King Theoden. They said 'We really like what you're doing and we might start putting you in more scenes with King Theoden'," says Hopkins.

"I ended up shooting for 40 days. For the next three or four months the frequent flier points were building up (having to fly for filming in) Twizel and Milford and Queenstown."

Gamling got more lines and Hopkins had a good, serious read of the book to find out more about his character. "It was just fascinating reading it as we were filming . . . You'd be reading it on the page and then turn up somewhere and go 'This is it. This is this scene'."

Hopkins had worked on several films, including Jubilee and Savage Honeymoon, but The Lord of the Rings experience was almost "unreal", he says. "One of the first things we did at Helm's Deep was stand up on the parapets and we were looking down at 10,000 orc and Uruk-hai approaching and about to engage us in battle. To stand up on the scale of that set was just mind-blowing."

Hopkins was so entranced by how the project was filmed that even when he wasn't needed he stuck around to watch. "I was very rarely off in the camper (van). I spent every spare second on set. (I'd) fill up another coffee and stand back and watch. I'd try to position myself behind Peter (Jackson) and just watch the action. It was kind of like getting paid to go to the movies yourself".

Hopkins was born in Invercargill and grew up in the Bay of Islands, where his father was a crayfisherman. He trained to be physical education teacher, had a stint crayfishing and played rugby. He didn't expect to end up as a professional dancer - nine years in Australia and New Zealand - and an actor.

"My ideal was, up till then, to have been a professional sportsman. I saw the Impulse Dance Theatre rehearsing, they were sweating and they were getting paid for it and they were doing it to Dave Brubeck. I'd never heard jazz before either. I was blown away. I said 'Dad. I'm heading down to do a dance workshop'."

Acting came during a stint in West Side Story in Auckland in the 80s. He's had his ups and downs finding enough work - Hopkins has three children aged 12 to 16 to support, two of whom got to visit the set during their school holidays - but has never looked back and has also become an MC and radio talkback host.

However, The Two Towers remains special. "If I achieve nothing else in my career as an actor, this is a pretty cool gig to have been part of. It's one of cinema's greatest-ever projects and I had a decent role."