Packed with exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs, this official illustrated guide tells the detailed story of the making of the second film in the award-winning Hobbit trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson. Journey deeper into the magical world of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, through exclusive interviews with director Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom and principal filmmakers and new cast members, including Stephen Fry as the Master of Lake-town, Evangeline Lilly, who plays Tauriel the Elf, and Benedict Cumberbatch, who reveals film-making secrets about playing the dragon, Smaug. Richly illustrated with a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes photos of the actors, creatures and costumes, and numerous special effects scenes, this essential guide is an indispensable companion to the second film in the award-winning trilogy. 'In our adaptation of The Hobbit we have done something that Tolkien didn't succeed in doing in print and, hopefully, this will come fresh to people who will have never seen the full story playing out in chronological order.' PETER JACKSON

Author Biography

BRIAN SIBLEY is a writer and broadcaster with a life-long interest in fantasy books and cinema. His fascination with J. R. R. Tolkien and the myths and history of Middle-earth led to his critically-acclaimed BBC radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings in which the role of Frodo was played by Ian Holm, who now portrays Bilbo in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Brian's subsequent radio dramas included several of Tolkien's short novels collected under the title Tales from the Perilous Realm, C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, two series of Tales of the Bizarre by Ray Bradbury and Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan and Gormenghast which won him the prestigious Sony Radio Award. His books include Three Cheers for Pooh, Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie, Cracking Animation, The Disney Studio Story, The Land of Narnia and Shadowlands, as well as the text accompanying three maps by John Howe based on Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Brian is currently writing an in-depth account of the making of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for future publication.