Mortal Engines: Why this new blockbuster was 'surprisingly tricky' to film

It boasts the same team that managed to create the incredibly complex Lord of the Rings franchise, but there was still one key element that made Mortal Engines really difficult to film.

The $AU137 million adaptation of Philip Reeves’ book is Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson’s first major film since Lord of the Rings.

Speaking to news.com.au, Jackson — who worked as a screenwriter and producer for Mortal Engines — admitted that despite finding a way to bring Tolkien’s Middle Earth to the big screen, there were parts of this production which proved “surprisingly tricky”.

Mortal Engines follows the story of mysterious young woman Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar)— who’s hellbent on revenge for her mother’s death — in a world set hundreds of years after civilisation was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, where gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns.

In the opening scene, audiences watch as London — led by the ruthless Thaddeus (Hugo Weaving) does exactly that to another town, amid a barren post-apocalyptic landscape.

“The hardest thing to show was actually the size of the city (London),” Jackson told news.com.au.

“To see the scale of something, you want to drive past something familiar — but there are no other cities, no other landmarks, there’s no buildings (in this world). You’ve just got this landscape with this huge big thing rumbling along.

“It’s just thinking about how we let the audiences know, how do they feel that this thing is miles and miles long? It was surprisingly tricky.”

Eventually, he explained, Mortal Engines director Christopher River had the idea which saved the day.

“He had the great idea of having (London) plough through these pine trees, because the pine trees are this tall — and the cities, this tall, and suddenly you just realise how massive it is. It’s shocking,” Jackson added.

Mortal Engines will be in cinemas from December 6.

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