LoTR: Return of the King - Pictures, spy reports and spoilers thread (ongoing)

many

[HairOfTheDog]

Lord of the Rings:
Return of the King!
Pictures, spy reports and spoilers thread (ongoing)

Countdown to December!

Larger version of above image here

Beyond this point there be spoilers!

Like spoilers? – Keep reading!

Don't want spoilers? – Click HERE and don't look back!

Don't say we didn't warn you! Spoilers are what this thread is all about. So bring your rumors (substantiated or not!), spoilers, spy reports, and bones of contention about them here as the snippets of RoTK news, photos and interviews come rolling in.

I wouldn't even recommend pinging people to this thread unless you know they want to see them. There are a lot of purists out there that hate to have anything given away before the movie comes out. I, however, am not one of those.

I will start a "RoTK spoilers ping list" separate from the other Tolkien ping lists… so let me know if you want to be on the spoiler alert list!" If we use this thread for that kind of stuff, we won't shock people who don't want to see it. (though I bet they look anyway!)

Report 'em if you got 'em!

One tip….. Don't embed images from TORN (TheOneRing.Net) on this thread. If possible, load the image to another server, or just post a link to the TORN page. TORN's servers are powered by fleas I think, and are horrendously slow, particularly when they have something that is particularly good!

[HairOfTheDog]

Hmmm.... I don't personally have a strong emotional reaction either way on the Sauron issue, Dan.

Anyone else? I know this is a hot issue for a lot of folk.

I can admit that the enemy unseen is often scarier, but for whatever reason PJ can't get his head around that and make it fit into his vision. Can't say why.

One of the great moments in the story is the moment with Frodo at the cracks of Doom where Sauron suddenly realizes exactly what is happening.... [double-take] WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT ?????????????????

I can see it in my mind, but it looks sortof like a red lighthouse beacon, the eye looking somewhere else, searching.... and then suddenly whipping around to spotlight Frodo on the mountain. I don't know if that vision could be made to have drama in pictures without a face or not! But I can picture the Sauron from the Prologue doing what I imagine, suddenly, in the midst of battle, a sense in the back of his head, slow realization, stopping, turning, zooming in.... helpless to stop it. Crying out perhaps or a futile gesture of rage.


And Faramir, as you know, will be made right in the end, probably even made more right in the Extended Version of TTT, as there is reported to be added scenes coming that show some flashbacks to Faramir and Boromir, and show how Faramir knew that Boromir was dead. Also added will be more scenes with he and Frodo after he decides to release them. He was used a little bit to add some suspense and doubt in TTT, but I think when you look at him as a whole after the third film, he will look better. Right now he is one chapter out of the complete context he will have.

[Mamzelle]

I've hear PJ mention it in various commentaries and interviews several times. The formless Dark Lord presents a dramatic problem. The antagonist needs a protagonists, and the camera needs a character.

I hope PJ does not "anthropomorphize" Sauron--but I don't have a problem if he does--PJ will have the problem, because to make Sauron have a form will make Sauron less menacing.

What I'd do, if allowed to play--I'd make the Mouth of Sauron a surrogate, and have Sauron "possess" him like a demon possession, jump into the Mouth's body. That'd let PJ have it both ways--body and spirit...and Aragorn could have someone to swing at.

Can't wait for Eowyn and Merry to take on the Nazgul king. That's what I've waiting all my life to see dramatized.

[BibChr]

Though you addressed HOTdog, I'll respond in reverse.

I think that scene with Eowyn is probably my favority in all the books. I love how Miranda Otto is bringing her to life, and also am really looking forward to it.

Your idea about the MOS is a good one as well.

Doesn't bother you, does bother me. I know it isn't the Bible, but if Tolkien had wanted to depict Sauron reaaling around his room, knocking over chairs and torture-racks, he could have; if he'd wanted him to (heaven save us all) duel with Aragorn, he could have. I absolutely and fully accept that it isn't Jackson's role to follow JRRT in every detail of minutiae -- but this is a pretty major facet.

Dan

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Here's what I think:

I think the rumor reports of Aragorn "dueling" with Sauron are just that...rumors, and should be taken as such.

If there is such a fight scene outside of the Black Gates, I believe it'll be Aragorn contending with the Mouth of Sauron and not Sauron himself. Reason being, Sauron needs to remain a "Great, lidless eye" for the scene where he realizes Frodo has the ring.

Regarding the speculation of a "physical" form of Sauron: If you recall, once the ring is destroyed, Mt. Doom shakes & quakes, the Black Armies stumble, the clouds part, and up from Barad-Dur comes an amorphous shape that billows, menaces, and reaches towards the Company. I'll look for the exact wording tonight, but I read it as kind of a "Mummy" movie-moment. Giant, evil, smokey face, bellowing in rage, straining to personally smack Aragorn. Not a physical, tangible shape, but more ghostly.

I too, will scream if PJ decides to have Aragorn physically fighting with Sauron. That, in my opinion, is just TOO much leniency with the true story!

[HairOfTheDog]

Very true about the rumors and not being able to really know how it plays until we get to see it. I just want to see it! I just want know once and for all what the whole story is from PJ's point of view! I want to see how the actors I have come to love in these roles tell it.

But then I will no doubt feel a bit sad when the ride is over.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

I'm curious to see if they'll include the flaming severed heads that were being launched over the walls of Minas Tirith...lol

I'm also VERY interested in seeing Merry & Eowyn take on the Witch King.

However, he has to do it right, and to date, IMO, the Nazgul have been missing something.

One thing I've always felt that PJ didn't quite grasp was the sheer "fear factor" of the Nine. The way I've always interpreted them in the book is that their very precense invokes such sheer terror, it is crippling to anyone within their vicinity.

In FOTR - Butterbur just hides behind the bar and grimaces. At Weathertop, the 4 Hobbits band together, draw swords, and face them. That's just not right from where I sit.

In TTT - granted, the scene in the Dead Marshes was pretty good at conveying that fear factor. However, when the Nazgul came to Osgiliath, all the men did was yell and run. I pictured them wrapped in dread, falling on the ground, shaking and unable to move, let alone fight back.

Any thoughts on that?

[ItsOurTimeNow]

I agree completely.

Even when I'm reading the story, I always feel a bit of sadness as I aproach the end. That's usually where I'll delay my reading...almost like putting it off, becuase I don't want it to end.

I'm absolutely DYING without having any TRAILERS! At least last year at this time, we had the fuzzy, flickering 4 minute movie trailer! C'mon, PJ! Throw us a freaking bone here!

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh..... I was pretty terrified of the movie Nazgul!

I think no matter what, they remain scary, and Sauron will remain scary, as long as he doesn't have a real human face. There would be no scene at the end like the end of Darth Vader, because we will not want to humanize him, he has no redemption. The faces on the Nazgul, and the masked Sauron in the prologue.... they were still left to the imagination, even when the ghostly images were shown.

[HairOfTheDog]

C'mon, PJ! Throw us a freaking bone here!

I may fall over dead when the trailers *finally* come out. This is the movie I have been waiting for since the credits rolled on the first one. TTT is not my favorite..... it was just the filler chapters. RoTK will be possibly more excitement than I can take!

[Corin Stormhands]

Heh..... I was pretty terrified of the movie Nazgul!

I think the nine are terrifying...

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Agreed,

TTT was exciting in its own right, but I'm more eager to see it's Extended release. I felt that there was just too much left out of it, and it felt rather "empty". Like huge parts of it were missing, yet I couldn't place what, exactly, they were.

RotK will be the be-all, end-all movie extravaganza of 2003. I simply cannot wait~!

[HairOfTheDog]

[Corin Stormhands]

This looks like a job for Photoshop...

[ecurbh]

This looks like a job for Photoshop...

Hmmm...

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh.... You know the job.... but can you do the job?

I actually reduced the size on that photo quite a bit.... there is a bigger one to start with, *if* you had the mind to...

http://www.quintessentialwebsites.com/lordoftherings/movieshots/nineriders_waitingatford.jpg

[HairOfTheDog]

ping 255

[Corin Stormhands]

Heh.... You know the job.... but can you do the job?

I can't from here. I'm more than happy for ecurbh to run with it.

[ecurbh]

Except that there are only 8 in that picture. So which one gets left out? Or maybe I can duplicate one.

[Corin Stormhands]

Except that there are only 8 in that picture.

Oh yeah. Whazzup wid dat?

Didn't we talk about that at one point? Surely somewhere there's a picture of the nine...

[BibChr]

Yes, I remember that description; THAT could be done cinemagraphicotomaically, and could be pretty awesome. But Sauron as The Black Knight, clang clang clang URGH? Nuh uh. I don't think so.

Dan