Ultimate Collectors' Forums

Alright, since the king elessars crown thread has gone way offtopic, I decided to create this thread. Ask Dallas, any question concerning his e xp eriance at Weta Workshop

Let me star by saying, Welcome to the forums, and thanks for joining. It will be intresting to hear your stories and what-not. I have a couple question...

-what else did you make at Weta?
-what have you done outside of weta?
-Have you meet Peter Jackson, and/or any of the actors for LOTR? (if so, what were they like?)
-Im sure you meet Richard Tailer, what was he like?
-You said you have a rare collection, including stuff from the film, what do you have?
-Other then your hand, were you in any other part of the movie as an extra etc?
-Have you been in the 'extras' of the dvd for the weta section?

Thanks, tell us all your stories. So much information we need to know
-wormtongue

Dallas wrote:Oh, and YES! - I've just finished a whole year on weapons and armour for Lion,Witch - incredible stuff but I can say absolutely nothing!! Started on Kong weapons a month ago, but it's halfway through filming already! D.

I know part of working in film is keeping your mouth shut when it comes to spoilers, but do you think some of the weapons your seeing now are better then the LOTR weapons? Aswell, Im guessing since you have worked alongside the actors, and have done stunts and been stand ins, you would know them. What were they like?
-wormtongue

Whoa, I miss a day, and this thread appears. Interesting to learn the original crown was made of copper, and then covered in silver. So, there will be adaptations of the Narnia books eh? Am I to presume PJ is directing them, or is it just that WETA will be working on the production?
Anyway, it is very exciting to have someone from WETA here. It's cool you actually got screentime as well, very cool! So, yeah, what else did you produce in the films? It would also be interesting to know who designed the jewellery, did you have a hand in that??

The Flame of the West wrote:Whoa, I miss a day, and this thread appears. Interesting to learn the original crown was made of copper, and then covered in silver. So, there will be adaptations of the Narnia books eh? Am I to presume PJ is directing them, or is it just that WETA will be working on the production?
Anyway, it is very exciting to have someone from WETA here. It's cool you actually got screentime as well, very cool! So, yeah, what else did you produce in the films? It would also be interesting to know who designed the jewellery, did you have a hand in that??

I belive the guy who directed shriek will be making the Lion witch and the wardrobe. Hes filming it in NZ, and probly tring to follow PJs footsteps to make his movies a classic.
-wormtongue

Dallas wrote:Okay, here we are. I will do my best to satiate your thirst for knowledge however I'm sure there is more you would know than I have time to tell (how much can you write in one of these things??). Perhaps I should start with a proper intro. Here's the "Readers Digest" version; Dallas Poll, born in NZ Oct 1966. Classically trained Manufacturing Jeweller (proper english spelling ). Seven years as a Police officer (incl. 2 yrs CSI and 2 yrs Firearms instructor at the Royal NZ Police Academy). Turned to ski instructing, which lead to stunt work for T.V. then acting and finally a role in LOTR. Then on to WETA where I've been for just over a year. That's the brief version. More to follow..

From all of us here at UCForums, we welcome you Dallas. I have a few questions for you if you don't mind. Would you like to have a section at UCForums for WETA discussions? We would be honored to do this for you because the WETA products really run hand in hand with many of United's Products. ANd there are many fans here who collect them as wel as the swords. I have no problem with doing this for someone who has graciously shared with the fans here your vast knowledge of the products from WETA as well as the behind set e xp eriences. I would like to also honour your participation here with a Special Avitar if I may, to designate who you are and who you represent. Your presence gives our boards a lot of credibility and is very exciting to say the least.

Do you have a title you would like to be recognized by? Kit Rae, United's Product Design Director uses a signature like this.

Kit Rae
Product Design Director
United Cutlery/Kit Rae Fantasy Art
kitrae.net

Well enough of the questions, we are honored to have you here and will enjoy your comments and secrets very much!!

Let me welcome you to our boards, Dallas! As Swordsman stated, we are honoured to have you here. We have seen the likes of Kit Rae and Gregory Bates from United Cutlery at our forums, and Now we are gifted with a member of Weta Workshop, who was involved in the Filming of the Lord of the Rings. I do not have any 'Questions', but I would very much like to hear about your e xp eriences at Weta Workshop. Prehaps if you have time, you could create a thread, detailing your e xp eriences and work at the Workshop, and I would love to discuss it with you. Until then, feel confortable here, and if you wish, Swordsman could create the titles, avatars, and Forums that he speaks of. I hope that we see more of you here, Dallas.

Boromir Of Gondor

Dallas, this kite be asking to much, but why dont you tell some of your 'weta' friends anout our site. It would be intresting to have other people who can comment on stuff they built to. Ofcourse, its up to you and them
-wormtongue

Dallas wrote:BTW, saw the extended version of Return of the King in Peter Jackson's private theatre at Weta - on the BIG screen. Quite a treat! (he's good like that).

Yeah, I heard all the people associated with weta saw the ROTK EE. It has scense that evn us regular folk will never see. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for your Info.
-wormtongue

Thank you for your response Dallas, I will have weta a section up today as well as your Avitar. But remember I am only an ex-brick layer by trade and am not a graphic guru. I just felt that I needed to-do something special for you and weta, who have worked so hard over the last few years to bring to us fans, in my humble opinion, some of the worlds finest examples of craftsmanship in movie props the world has ever known! We as fans we here at UCForums are very grateful for all the talent that weta has put together under one roof to provide the movie industry with such artwork.

And I would not dream of asking you or e xp ect you to divulge anything that would put your job at risk. We will be happy to hear any kind of information that you or weta decides to share with us. As hungry fans, we are just very excited to know that we have someone like yourself here in our ranks who can share with us some stories and e xp eriences of that adventure. For that we are grateful. I am sure you are aware of just how popular your work is and how may fans would love to know anything you could share with us to help us better appreciate the work that has been done there. Whatever else you or weta decides to share with us will be just icing on the cake. I would also like to encourage any friends that you know that may want to share any of there e xp eriences with us to visit our site. We will do all that we can as a community to make your stay here a pleasant one.

We wish you the best of luck in your search for an agent here in our country and look forward to hearing seeing how things progress for you in that area.

With that said I again want to wish you a warm welcome and hope that you will feel at home here at our community. I for one will be keeping an eye out for your posts it sounds like this could be lots of fun and we will all learn more of how weta works as we go along...WELCOME!

In the Gollum DVD that comes with the The Two Towers Extended Edition gift set they said that everyone at WETA Workshop had a piece that they wanted to create(meaning the busts,statues,medallions etc that Sideshow Weta distributes),did you work on any of them and if so,which ones did you work on and which ones would you have liked to work on?

Thanks for joining us at UCF, Dallas. It is a pleasure to have you here!
I believe we- the general public- are due to have 50 minutes added on the Extended Edition. Glad you got a preview. What were you working on before you were conracted to 3FT6 wardrobe?

Dallas wrote:Great - it's gonna be worth the wait.

I was doing a few commercials, T.V. shows etc.. Did some stunt fighting for a season of "Dark Knight", an Ivanhoe serial for the U.K. along the lines of Xena and Hurc. 90% of the budget was spent a really bad CGI monters ! Consequently, the sets and costumes were, ummm, not great. I think they used to have a web site somewhere. My sporting background is all weapons based - archery, fencing, Kendo and shooting so it wasn't too hard to get in on the act (so to speak).

Also was a "test pilot" , for want of a better term, and crew trainer for a thrill ride called "FLY BY WIRE", a NZ invention we tried to franchise world wide. You can still do it here, but Texas went belly-up I think (after I left!) Look here; http://www.flybywire.co.nz/index2.htm - that's me in the photos at top. Way cool!

Wow!! I wish I could ride one of thoses those at our amusment parks here in the states! Have you tried contacting Carowinds in Charlotte NC. It could be worth a shot..never know.

Oh by the way I redid your title and added a signiture in your file. It should appear in your next post.

Your not the only one. I just noticed this post now. I'm all caught up

Welcome aboard. It's great to see and hear from someone from behind the scenes. As much as I enjoy the work in the LoTR films, none of it would have been possible without your help and other workers at Weta. You rock =)

Hey dallas, you should create another thread just about your life and the e xp eriances making the LOTR films

Im sure that would be a couple hours to read, but we'ed enjoy it. Atleast tell us some of your most memerble e xp eriances from making the movie, aswell as your proffesion. Were all ears, and excited to hear
-wormtongue

Hmmmm...where'd Dallas go? No word for a fortnight..

I think we scared him off.......

Elfstone wrote:I think we scared him off.......

Perhaps he posted somthing he shouldnt have, and new line got mad at him. Maybe hes just busy working on Narnia, there are several possibilities. Dallas, if you read this, there are still questions unanswered, and we would like to hear from you. Your a very respected member
-wormtongue

I have seen Dallas viewing the forum again, his last visit was a week ago, so I decided to move this back from the Archives

~wormtongue