Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings' TV series seeking 'funky looking' people to be extras

A New Zealand casting agency has put out a call for ‘funky looking people’ to appear in Amazon’s forthcoming Lord of the Rings series.

A post on BGT Actors Models & Talent’s Facebook page says it is looking for people with unusual looks in the Auckland area to appear as extras in the big budget show.

The agency says the production is seeking people with “overbite, face burns, long skinny limbs, deep cheekbones, lines on your face, acne scars, ears that stick out, bulbous or interesting noses, small eyes, big eyes, any deformities, Skinny faces, missing limbs”.

The casting call is only open to people living in New Zealand with “great availability”, so there’s no point tagging in your “funky looking” friends and family unless they’re local to the production.

BGT has previously issued casting calls for the series, which won’t cover the events of JRR Tolkien’s books which have already been adapted for the films, seeking “short people” under 4 feet 8 inches, “tall people” over 6 feet seven inches, men with long hair, and action extras with stunt training.

Production on the Lord of the Rings series was recently halted due to coronavirus but is expected to resume imminently as New Zealand businesses begin to reopen after lockdown.

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Amazon acquired the rights to make a series based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings for a blockbuster fee of $250m in 2017. It’s a five series commitment, rumoured to be costing Prime Video $1bn in total.

It’s set in the Second Age of Middle-earth before the events of the Lord of the Rings novel and films, with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay as showrunners. Morfydd Clark is set to play a young Galadriel, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s JA Bayona set to direct the first two episodes.