The New Hobbit Hole

To add to the info about Page To Screen, here is the blurb on the Bravo website about tonights show...

Tucked away at Oxford in the peaceful world of prewar England, a humble English professor and linguist wrote a single line on the back of an exam paper: "In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit." It was the beginning of an adventure story that ignited the imaginations of millions of readers, spawning an almost cult following that crossed many generations and many nations. With The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien set the standard for fantasy, creating a world where the readers could escape modern life to a pre-industrial, mythical time of heroes and legends. So complete was the author's vision of Middle-earth that he wrote pages upon pages of appendices detailing the various languages spoken by fantastical creatures, their calendar systems, histories and maps. His publishers, upon seeing the vast work, made him break it into three volumes published months apart. Could such as epic ever be brought to the big screen? Attempts were made, yet ironically it would not be until the time of advanced computer technology that Tolkien's vision could make the journey from the minds of his readers to the eyes of the movie-going public.

In this spellbinding hour, director Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood ("Frodo"), Sean Astin ("Sam Gamgee"), as well as "Pippin", "Merry" and the evil "Saruman" are joined by screenwriters, makeup artists, special effects masters, set designers and Tolkien experts, to reveal the story behind the making of The Lord of the Rings, from page to screen -- a task that was so daunting that Jackson had to use advanced telecommunications to simultaneously direct several scenes in several different locations. In the end it would take an army the size of any in Tolkien's volumes - including 1,600 Hobbit feet and 20,000 extras - to make the book of the 20th Century into the movie of the 21st.

Oh very cool. I will have to try and catch it. Thanks for the heads up.

Another favorite on Bravo now, a little thing on Riverdance. Didn't go much for Flatley, but the music and dance was tremendous. So double thanks!

Thanks for the reminder! - I saw that but would have forgotten!

by the way - No one thanked me for NOT giving you a reminder about Ian McKellan on "Inside the Actor's Studio" last night! You should be thankful whether you know it or not! ;~D

Yes, I'm glad I missed that. It really irked me during the cast commentary on the extended DVD that he just couldn't resist pointing out his sexual preferences. I don't want to know so much about the actor as to distract from the character.

For those interested in this sort of thing, I just posted a news item on the financial impact of the LOTR movies on New Line Cinema and AOL. You can find it here: Tolkien Trilogy Has Given New Line Boost Inside AOL.

There was also an interesting article about Christopher Lee on Reuters. I posted it here: Christopher Lee Stakes Claim as Cinema Icon.

Too much good stuff to read! Thank you thank you!

I've found even more reading for everyone...

Peter Jackson at the world premiere of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' in New York last week. Picture / Reuters

Jackson dreads saying goodbye to Rings

09.12.2002

PARIS - Film director Peter Jackson has lived every minute of The Lord of the Rings for seven years and now increasingly resembles one of his hobbit heroes.

But the bearded New Zealander is dreading the day when he will have to say goodbye to one of the biggest projects in the history of cinema: the film trilogy he made that majestically captures the fantasy world of J R R Tolkien's classic saga.

He felt intense pressure last year with the first film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Millions of Tolkien fans around the world had personal visions of Middle Earth, with its fantastical elves, orcs and hobbits. The future of the studio, New Line Cinema, also hung on his success.

But the fairy tale came true. The movie became a worldwide box office hit, grossing US$860 million and grabbing four Oscars after a near-record 13 nominations.

Now Jackson is back on the global promotion trail for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which opens on December 18.

The renewed pressure does not stop him adopting a laid-back approach to the media, as show business reporters interview him before the film's European premiere in Paris.

The tousle-haired and dishevelled director strode into the conference room of an elegant Paris hotel barefoot and dressed in shorts. A diminutive and burly figure, Jackson is a dead ringer for one of the hobbits he put so memorably on the screen.

He has no regrets about giving a huge slice of his life over to this great saga. "Lord of the Rings is one of the things I am happy to spend seven years of my life on," he said.

"The first film certainly had pressures of its own," he said. "If the first film wasn't a success, it was possible the studio would not have survived."

Once the hoopla has died down after the second film is released, he will move straight into post-production on the third movie, which will be released at Christmas next year.

Already nostalgia is creeping in.

"I expect next year is going to be bittersweet," he said. "I expect I am going to be, in some respects, relieved to get to the end of it. But it will be like saying goodbye to an old friend."

But how does he keep motivated on such a giant undertaking and keep a sense of vision after 18 months of non-stop shooting in New Zealand, now that he and the 2400-strong film crew have the three movies in the can?

"Ultimately, I am spending seven years of my life on the project. But each film is different from the one before, and that keeps you fresh," he said.

The film, going head to head at the box office with Harry Potter and James Bond in the run-up to Christmas, is being given a spectacular round-the-world send-off, with premieres from New York to Sydney and Copenhagen to Wellington.

And another...

A time for hearts to pound again

10.12.2002
By RUSSELL BAILLIE

A year on from the release of the first movie in his The Lord of the Rings trilogy it's clear that Peter Jackson's great gamble hasn't just paid off big time, it's also had an effect far beyond the cash registers.

Yes, the first film has made US$850 million-plus (NZ$1.7 billion) - already paying for the whole trilogy nearly twice over - and probably half as much again with its DVD releases and merchandise. And there has been a huge upsurge in sales of J.R.R. Tolkien's printed works, too.

But it has changed things other than bank accounts. It has done wonders for the acceptance of DVDs while reminding that some movies need to be seen on the big screen first.

Films of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy are now underway, the former being directed by expatriate New Zealander Andrew Adamson.

That Tom Cruise's period epic The Last Samurai is taking over parts of Taranaki early next year is undoubtedly a result of the Rings' success.

Costume designer Ngila Dickson, who features in this special souvenir edition, is working on the Cruise film, as is the Weta Workshop headed by double Oscar winner Richard Taylor who talks about the new aspects of The Two Towers in the following pages.

Arguably the best thing that The Lord of the Rings has done - and will continue to for years - is give pop

culture a brain again. It has proved you can be big and still be beautiful. Here, it has also affected cardiac systems with those constant surges of pride.

It's changed how we see ourselves a little. It's given us something new with which to impress - or bore silly - foreign friends. Something to add to the "that's-us" list, the one which used to begin with Sir Edmund Hillary and then head directly to sports.

Now it's time for those hearts to pound again for the second film, a reportedly darker, bloodier more physical affair than the first and one which departs from the book more markedly, too.

And one more...

The warriors of Rohan (above) fight Saruman's force at the battle of Helm's Deep.

The new armies of The Two Towers

10.12.2002
Weta Workshop's RICHARD TAYLOR on the new movie's display of force.

The Uruk-Hai

"The march of the minions of Saruman, the coming of the Uruk-Hai to the world of Middle-earth is something that will take people's breath away: the fact that he has been able to tune this highly trained, specifically bred race of creatures whose sole task is to destroy mankind and bring the ring back to Saruman.

"The single-minded almost bestial force that is the Uruk-Hai we see at Helm's Deep will be a rich and awe-inspiring image to have. It's one of the great battles which has been committed to film."

The Rohan

"The race of the Rohan -- they ride on the Riddermark. They are in control of their lands. They ride light and they ride with the intention of keeping the lands free of any foe.

"The Rohan were enjoyable to create because we had the ability to really play out their culture through their costuming at a very high level in their armour and weapons.

"They ride horses, so they are very much of the horse culture and their whole lives exist around their ability to utilise horsecraft at a high level.

"I'm very pleased with the design work which we did on the Rohan and I think it will give a real feeling of a cultural inheritance in those characters.

"Just a helmet took a considerable amount of design. In the pursuit of realism, it was beaten out of plate steel, acid etched into steel, and had handworked leather. Then we finally took silicon moulds to replicate to create the stunt double version. So, a considerable amount of work for a single helmet.

"It's very much Norman/Saxon influenced -- we think that is what Tolkien visualised when he wrote the characters of the Rohan, so we in turn tried to get the Rohirrim [the Riders of Rohan] to be of a similar ilk. And it's an introduction to a whole pile of really rich new characters and actors who played out the parts so beautifully."

Oh, you are just the best!

The very best...

Teeheee

Doh! Again, neglecting the source. You can find all three of the above articles at the New Zealand Herald. Their Lord Of The Rings coverage can be found here: Feature - Lord of the Rings.