With just over a month until filming, talent agents are getting creative as they try to find enough extras for Lord of the Rings.

Filming for Amazon's Lord of the Rings television production is due to start in February, sources say, which will require hundreds of actors.

Casting calls have specifically asked for people who are very short or very tall to come forward, or for people with lots of wrinkles and missing teeth.

Teone​ Kahu, from casting agency Kam Talent, says they've been scouting country pubs and Christmas parades, trying to find enough people to fill the roles required for Lord of the Rings.

"This month alone, I've brought on 90 Japanese people, over 30 very good horse riders and a lot of elderly people.

"But we've struggling to find that weathered look, really struggling – so what we've done is, we're going out to pubs and we've found one really good pub. Shout out to the Puhoi Pub," Kahu said.

The upcoming production, which had a $1 billion budget, could need around 1000 actors, Kahu said.

According to him, some filming days would require 500 people for big scenes.

SUPPLIED Hundreds of extra are needed for the Lord of the Rings, a talent scout says.

Kahu had also been approaching soldiers, because he said the film would benefit from actors with military experience or people with a rugged look. His team had been visiting Christmas parades in recent weeks, looking to find entire families who could appear on the programme.

Talent agency BGT had also been advertising for actors of unusual heights, but videos from the agency asked for people who were exceptionally hairy or had "weathered looking skin".

BGT director Sarah Valentine said she couldn't comment about specific programmes, but posts from the company were clearly looking for Lord of the Rings actors.

One post read: "BGT need hairy males and females! Long hair, beards, eyebrows – the more hair the better!"

Kahu said this was the biggest project he had ever worked on, far surpassing the demand and interest of movies such as Avatar.

Already, he said KAM talent had found people to play body doubles of key actors. He said the main focus of this first season would be Gandalf the Grey.

"It's about the Second Age, 2000 years before The Fellowship Of The Ring. You'll see orcs in different a light, and different styles of people. There might even some humans," he said.

SUPPLIED The Lord Of The Rings is being made for television, for a $1 billion Amazon production.

With that diversity of characters, he said people of all different colours, ages, heights and builds would be needed for the programme.

"Maybe even new types of elves. They might have some cousins that aren't blue eyed [with] blond hair."

Kahi said he would be happy to have more than 1000 actors on his books for the programme – but ultimately, Amazon's producers would decide who was needed. All of the roles were paid, and needed to be filled by people with the right to work in New Zealand.

A major struggle, so far, had been finding people who didn't fit the typical actor mould.

Scouts were targeting builders, at the moment, trying to find people who could play welders and carpenters in the show.

"They're looking at getting these real people, real builders and welders, real bikies. These looks pay off. They're after genuine people," Kahu said.

Amazon has already confirmed it would make a second series of Lord of the Rings. Filming for season one was due to start in February, 2020.