With a little over a week to go before the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, director Peter Jackson has unveiled one last production blog to take fans behind the scenes of the second installment of his The Hobbit trilogy (though Jackson notes there will be one more blog before the end of the year).  The beginning of the video gives a peek into the filming of the scenes featuring the titular dragon, and it’s interesting to see that during principal photography, Jackson still hadn’t settled on a final design for Smaug.  Nevertheless, we get to see Martin Freeman reacting to the intimidating voice of Benedict Cumberbatch, who makes a cameo in the video.  We also get a look at the goings-on in Lake-Town featuring Stephen Fry, and the process by which Jackson "shot" many of the digitally enhanced Smaug sequences.

Hit the jump to take a look at the production blog, and click here to peruse a large batch of high-resolution images from the film.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens in 2D, 3D, HFR 3D, and IMAX 3D on December 13th.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug:

The second in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.

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