Taika Waititi revealed he used stolen props from The Hobbit set to film the cult classic What We Do in the Shadows. In a new interview for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Waititi explained how the film’s crew reused green screens and wood from Peter Jackson’s film because they didn’t have enough money to produce What We Do in the Shadows.
After his successful adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson decided to return to Middle-Earth with The Hobbit. Due to The Lord of the Rings' success, there was no lack of money for Jackson, who directed The Hobbit with an impressive budget of $180 million. As for Waititi’s and Jemaine Clement’s, the filmmaker duo only counted on a meager $1.6 million to bring What We Do in the Shadows to life. That’s why they decided to recycle abandoned props from The Hobbit once the New Zealand blockbuster wrapped production. As Waititi tells it:
"When I did ‘What We Do in the Shadows’, when Jermaine and I were shooting that, we didn't have much money to do that film. ‘The Hobbit’ had just wrapped. And, so, our production designer– man, I don't know if I should tell this. Okay, but I will. Our production designer, in the dead of night, took his crew to ‘The Hobbit’ studios and stole all of the dismantled, broken-down green screens and took all of the timber, and we built a house."
What We Do in the Shadows went to become a huge success. Despite its modest box office of $7.3 million, the universal acclaim of the comedy mockumentary helped the film become a cult classic. Not surprisingly, What We Do in the Shadows also spawned an American comedy series that already got renewed through Season 6 even before Season 4’s premiere. All thanks to The Hobbit’s props being stolen in the middle of the night.
Waititi should be thanking Jackson, as What We Do in the Shadows helped him launch his successful career in Hollywood. However, the filmmaker admits he never even talked about the event with The Hobbit’s director. As Waititi puts it, “I don't know if he knows. I like telling it at parties, that story. But I don't know if he actually knows.”
Waititi is directing Thor: Love and Thunder, the highly-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel to his critically acclaimed Thor Ragnarok, set to hit theaters on July 8. He’s also set to return as the pirate Blackbeard for Season 2 of pirate rom-com Our Flag Means Death.
Watch the interview here: