Posted on 10/13/2002 9:01:41 AM PDT by maquiladora
I’ve recently returned from the marathon screening of FOTR:SE at New Line`s intimate screening room in West Hollywood, California.
The screening was attended by a few website folks and DVD aficionados. Keith Stern from McKellen.com was in attendance as well, Gordon Paddison and Wendy Rutherford also attended.
We started out early Saturday morning with breakfast and a little small talk. The 15 or so people who were there were abuzz with excitement of seeing the extended version of FOTR. What will we see? What was added? Removed? Changed? It wasn’t too long that we were all sitting in the 50 person screening room listening to opening introductions by Gordon Paddison, Michael Mulvihill and Jay Sherbon of Laserpacific.
They outlined what we were to see, the extended edition of the film, and all the special features. You can tell there is a general air of satisfaction with the product when they talk about it, you know they KNOW it’s a great DVD, and they want others to feel the same way.
The laserpacific folks gave us a bit of their background with New Line; they told us their experiences working with New Line since Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and all the craziness that LOTR has been for them.
They then proceeded to screen the film for us on a small silver screen. They were showing the actual DVD, with all its menus and interactive titles. It is truly some of the most beautiful DVD menu screens I’ve ever seen.
If you want to know exactly what is on the extended edition of FOTR, refer to my report from September 12th. That report is basically 100% accurate to what we saw today (down to Gimli snoring), if that’s all you came for, then you can leave right now.
What I was interested in was the behind-the-scenes stuff that only nerd boys like us lust after. Let me tell you first and foremost this DVD is PACKED full of information on the film. Basically going from Tolkien’s first writings of ‘The Book of Lost Tales’ in World War I to the New Zealand premiere for FOTR just this past December. You can truly feel like YOU’VE been through every step of making this film after watching these specials.
Disk 3 starts off, as I stated, with a brief documentary on Tolkien, with a brief bio and information on how ‘The Hobbit’ and LOTR started in the written form. With interviews from Tolkien biographers and authors from a whole range of Tolkien books, this documentary doesn’t get into the finer details of the man, but is an interesting look at the one who started it all.
The following documentaries follow the evolution of ‘Fellowship’ from it’s initial stages with Miramax, PJ’s first meeting with Michael Shaye at New Line, and his pre-pre-PRE production work with people like Richard Taylor and Andrew Lesnie.
Disk 3 really gets into the nitty gritty of just what was needed to be prepared before any cameras started rolling. They tell the full story of finding John Howe and Alan Lee, getting the locations scouted out and developing costumes, cultures, weapons and more for such a massive undertaking. We are taken through every small detail of the work, from armour to clothes to locations and set design.
One of my favourite scenes in this section involved Grant Major talking to the camera on the way to the Hobbiton set with Peter Jackson in the car ahead of him, Grant tells us that he is a bit nervous because this is the first time PJ will be seeing the ‘almost’ finished product. What we see next is Grant and Peter looking over the rolling hills, with Grant saying ‘here it is’…..and this long…painful silence from Peter…as he mulls it over and says ‘right…well..needs some work right?’ It’s funny in many ways but also goes to show how much detail Peter wanted in every aspect of the production, can you just imagine spending an afternoon making sure there are enough plants around Hobbit hole fences to look realistic This is attention to detail at its finest!
To be honest the 3rd disk had so much attention to detail that my head started swimming. I certainly do not recommend you watch all of these documentaries in one sitting. At one point I really couldn’t care less that it Uruk-Hai armour was made of leather and if I saw Richard Taylor pick up another piece and explain it I’d lose it!!!!
Thankfully at this point we had a break and I got some food in me....
We then moved on to disk 4, which, for me was my favourite part of the entire DVD set. The documentaries continue their timeline to the start of production and casting. We don’t get any sort of garbage like ‘Elijah Wood plays Frodo...’, We KNOW he does! Get on with it! Thankfully they don’t pander to that audience... what we do get is truly candid little insights into each actor from all the OTHER actors’ point of view... truly amazing stuff. If I hadn’t been working on this film for two years and already feel a part of this family, I would certainly have after seeing these little segments. We get to hear Dominic Monaghan tell us of the first time they met John Rhys-Davies when he took them out to dinner and ordered a meal for an army, we get to hear how Billy Boyd screams like a girl, and how Ian McKellen yelled at Dom and Elijah when they played their music too loud during make-up calls, and how Sean Bean was so deathly afraid of helicopters that he spent two hours WALKING to locations that the rest of the crew flew too! Really great stuff.
The disk then moves onto digital effects, we see an amazing display on all the excruciating details that go into some of the smallest shots, and how some shots that seem totally natural were in fact worked on for weeks and weeks. There is a very interesting doco on the different types of tricks used to scale the Hobbits down to size, from digital trickery at its latest to having to Hobbit boys on their knees at times. A great documentary called ‘A day in the life of a Hobbit’ details all the trials and tribulations these little Hobbit boys went through for the entire production.
The sound department also have their say on this DVD as well. They go into detail on almost all the different sounds used and abused for the making of the film. They show some of the tricks used (you will NEVER guess what the sound of the screaming Nazgul is!).
Ngila Dickson gets her own segment when talking about costumes, we see an entire WAREHOUSE full of costumes for the film. She explains that for every major actor they get 10 costumes. So, for example, we take Pippin, that would mean 10 pippin costumes right? Not so sir, you have to factor in his small double (mini-me costumes they were called), his stunt double, and his mini-me stunt double! Imagine the massive amount of costumes for just that 1 character alone!
Howard Shore also has a segment all about his music and what is involved in making such a mammoth masterpiece for Peter Jackson. They go into so much detail on every song, every bit of score, and everyone involved in it, from Enya to the London choir boys. This doco will certainly leave music fans with a huge smile on their faces.
The documentaries round off with a segment called ‘The Road Goes Ever On...’ with video clips from the various premieres in London, Los Angeles and Wellington. A really great send-off for this DVD. They flashback to a few shots we see earlier in the film, and you can’t help but now feel part of the people involved on the journey with them after seeing these documentaries. This is truly a gift for fans of this movie, and movie making in general.
Almost 12 hours later I walked out with a handful of others (a lot of people left...but not TORN!). I was amazed at the fact that there were still MORE things we hadn’t seen on this DVD! There were over 2000 concept art sketches, an interactive map of Middle-earth and New Zealand. And FOUR full tracks of commentaries from producers, directors, artists and actors from the film.
Those who vow not to get ‘milked’ into buying this edition of the DVD will cave in as fast as Legolas can sling arrows and shoot them, my friends…this is DVD making at its finest.
BTW, you have a great-looking family.
TOLKIEN TOWN! Tolkien TOWN!
World's Largest Tolkien Store!
I have never seen such a place! 
Calling all possible elf-loving ladies: This poster of Legolas Stopped my heart! Holey Mackerel! What a cool place! - Where's my wallet?
I'm going to check this out.
WOOHOO!
Personally, I found the movie to be boring (Both FOTR's hehe). But then again, when stepping back, how can one pack on the silver screen a book of epic proportions...
Just the one in the little catalog that came with my DVD. It looks (in the pictures) just like the ones in the movies. Pretty pricey, though - $60, as I remember.
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