See story above posted by maq!
From TORN
Okay, I went to Games Day. Today there was a lecture type thing about Lord of the Rings. Some of it focused on the games from Games Workshop, some on the movies. The guy giving the lecture had actually seen the next movie(I guess in a rough cut form). Anyway, we got to see a special preview, with new scenes. In fact we got to see it twice, once at the beginning and once at the end. It was funny, because at first the guy offered to answer questions about Fellowship, but said "remember, the longer we take answering questions about Fellowship the longer it will be before we can get to the footage from Two Towers." Everyone shut up, no-one asked any questions at that point.
Anyway, I asked two questions, and after I give them I will get to other things I learned either from others asking questions, footage from the films, or stuff the guy said on his own.
My first question was "Where does the movie end in relation to the book? Peter Jackson said it would end earlier, before Shelob." He would not give a direct answer, but said that if we thought the first movie had a cliffhanger, this one was even worse. He seemed to imply in different parts that Shelob was in this one, because they were discussing releasing a Shelob model, so perhaps the movie ends after they are first attacked, or Frodo is bitten and left for dead or something, I don't know. I think it will end a little earlier though.
Second question was the following: "Sorry to ask two questions, but people'll kill me if I don't ask this(I was talking about you guys!)." Anyway, I asked him "Is it true that Saruman gets spiked in the next movie?" He looked at me and responded, "No comment." The audience laughed and he went to other questions. So there you have it.
Some other tidbits picked up: * Shadowfax will be really big. The guy said that New Line was supposed to loan them a cardboard standup of Gandalf on Shadowfax, but somehow there was a mixup and it got left in the warehouse. He said, however, that it was actual size and it was 14 feet tall. So Shadowfax is pretty big.
* The shield surfing scene is definately real. I guess this has already been confirmed but just wanted to make sure. It's not that bad, it's not really like it's really blatant in-your-face kind of "look at this!"
* The battle of Helm's Deep will be forty-five minutes, no interruptions at all.
* Haldir will appear at Helm's Deep with some Elves, contrary to the book where Legolas makes a comment about wishing his kinsman would appear. The guy giving the lecture said that it was a moving scene though: when the outer wall falls, the elves give their lives to hold up the Uruk-Hai and give the Riders time to retreat.
* On the opposite side, the battle at Isengard with the Ents will probably not be shown. The ents will be shown marching to Orthanc, and then later on you will see the results. The guy giving the presentation said that Peter will probably have extra footage of the assault on the Extended Edition, but personally I don't know if I believe this. Peter has a good idea how long the movie will run, and I doubt he actually filmed a lot of footage like this just to cut out later, but who knows.
* A lot of models for the game will be released shortly before the movie or at the same time as the movie, but Treebeard and Gollum will not be released until a while later, because New Line wants everyone to get a chance to see the movie before Treebeard and Gollum are revealed in a non-movie form(i.e. people will have to see the movie instead of just looking at the models or whatever).
* Someone asked if Gollum's origin would be revealed, and the guy didn't seem to really know for sure, but the answer seemed to be 'yes,' he said Peter figured people wouldn't remember enough of the first few minutes of the film to get confused if they re-did the story. He also said Peter wanted Gollum to be really slimy.
* Arwen will of course be at Helm's Deep, but the lecturer said it wasn't that bad and he didn't understand why everyone made a big deal out of it.
* The next film will have Oliphaunts and Wargs, and Games Workshop models will be made of both.
* Someone asked if Grom was to be in RotK but he didn't really know, because the film hasn't really been reviewed yet. He figures it will be, and either way they will probably make a model.
* Games Workshop has liscense to anything LotR or directly related, which means they may put out some Hobbit-based scenarios, like the Battle of Five Armies and maybe Balin in a scenario fighting with his men in Moria.
* He said Peter Jackson has said he wanted to make the Hobbit later, but he's working on two other films right now. Someone yelled out "What are they?" It got a laugh, but as it turns out the two films are actually not TT and RotK- Peter is now filming a WWI movie, that they are claiming will be "a WWI version of Saving Private Ryan." [Cool!]We'll see.
Also he said that Peter wanted to make the Hobbit but didn't say much because New Line wanted to see how LotR did first, and I guess Peter figured he would do the same instead of worrying about a possible 'prequel' or whatever.
* Someone asked if Peter liked the game. The lecturer said that he thinks it's kind of fun to see a game based on his movie, and he likes the models, but he's not interested in the game itself as such.
* He seemed to think Sauron would appear again in RotK in physical form, but this was an opinion since he has not seen RotK(how could he?).
* The Nazgul will appear in RotK(duh) but he hears they will look a little different.
From: Ringer Spy Taniwha
Okay, I wasn't going to tell you guys about this in case I got busted somehow, but I was in the shooting of Helm's Deep on one of the 'Riding the Shield' days (Legolas hanging ten), but I'm not going to tell you where in the shot I am.
BUT: The call sheet for Helm's Deep that day was titled "The Death Of Haldir"…only I didn't know who 'Helldeer' was (I only heard them talking about it), just that he got whacked by an Uruk hai before Aragorn could save him. So yes, he's at Helm's Deep, but I'm not sure how long he lasts…naturally, I was already LONG since dead in the shot, like all the other elves.
See story above posted by maq!
This is one where I hope PJ does NOT stick to the book... If he leaves me hanging with Frodo either "dead" or captured by Orcs for a whole year, I will cry... Seriously. I will burst into tears!
Second question was the following: "Sorry to ask two questions, but people'll kill me if I don't ask this(I was talking about you guys!)." Anyway, I asked him "Is it true that Saruman gets spiked in the next movie?" He looked at me and responded, "No comment." The audience laughed and he went to other questions. So there you have it.
No need to answer, we have seen it!
Some other tidbits picked up: * Shadowfax will be really big. The guy said that New Line was supposed to loan them a cardboard standup of Gandalf on Shadowfax, but somehow there was a mixup and it got left in the warehouse. He said, however, that it was actual size and it was 14 feet tall. So Shadowfax is pretty big.
Shadowfax will not be 14 feet tall, the writer is being ridiculously silly here trying to pull clues out of a cardboard standup being 14 feet tall.
An Andalusian stallion will stand 5'8" or so at the shoulder. Add the height of Gandalf sitting on him, and their combined height might be a bit over 10-11 feet, depending on the hat. Have the horse rearing or in motion and you might get him a couple more feet off the ground.