1317 Feb. 2010

SHE didn’t have PeterJackson’s £ 200million budget, eightyears of filming time or thespectacular scenery of New Zealandto work with. But Kate Madisoncould match his boundless passion— and with it managed to make herown Lord of the Rings film.

The amateur actress was soinspired by the blockbuster Ringstrilogy created by Jackson that shewrote, directed and produced aprequel based on material from theoriginal JRR Tolkien books.

Her hour- long movie Born ofHope , made on a budget of just £25,000 ( Rs 18 lakh), is already asuccess, with more than five lakhpeople viewing it for free on theInternet. Madison, 31, fromCambridge, said watching the trilogyhad blown her mind. “ The battlescenes and the array of incrediblecharacters really inspired me and Iwas desperate to have a go atmaking an epic myself,” she said.She put her £ 8,000 ( about Rs 6 lakh)life savings into the project, worked

as an office temp to gainextra cash and raised afurther £ 17,000 ( Rs 12lakh) by posting a trailer onYouTube appealing fordonations. She convincedmore than 400 cast andcrew to give their time forfree, and played the part ofElgarain the forest rangerherself. And over a year,starting in mid- 2008, shefilmed Born of Hope inlocations around England.

Madison said: “ There were times when it was cold and wetand we were up to our eyes in mud standing in the middle ofa forest wondering if we could make this a success. But nowit’s all done it’s an amazing feeling.” Her story was based ontwo paragraphs Tolkien included in the appendix to his books,which mentioned the adventures of Arathorn and Gilraen, theparents of Aragorn, who was played in the Jackson films byViggo Mortensen. Jackson’s films, released in 2001, 2002 and2003, won 17 Oscars and grossed almost £ 2billion.