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!

[maquiladora]

Hiya Hair! :D

Poster looks great, Viggo looking kingly. Impressive.

Trailer can't be too far away now! Woo hoo!

[HairOfTheDog]

Did you put the big one on your desktop? - Or would you get nothing done that way? ;~D

[Fire-Breathing_Freeper]

I don't get anything done anyway. :P
I have one of Legolas, it's... I think i'll stop right there.

[HairOfTheDog]

Spoiler alert!

FROM TORN:

More ROTK Reshoot Info!
Xoanon @ 4:06 pm EST
andrea writes: Marco Giovanni is the journalist who stayed in NZ during the re-shooting. No new photos, maybe in August issue, but some minor SPOILERS:

-Peter Jackson moved from a set to another, as usual, with his Red Bicycle 'Challenge' model, recognisable by the skull on the handle. It's a Shelob-lair souvenir, where there are also some dangling, mummyfied corpses, which are imprisoned in synthetic webs made by an elasticized fiber of boiled-vegetal-oil (220°C!!!).

-Shelob will be a 5 meter-high monster, really fast, who stops in a second to fix her eyes on her prey.

-The plot will have weddings, coronations, ambushes, suicides, betrayal, but also the biggest battle of the history of cinema: 200,000 orcs in Pelennor field!"

[HairOfTheDog]

They Cropped Anduril!
7/02/03, 3:56 pm EST - Xoanon

John son of Joe writes: I have always liked the detail that they put into all the swords in the movies, but when I saw the new teaser poster of Aragorn holding Narsil, I said "Hey, wait a minute. Narsil and Anduril are full two handed swords. And Aragorn isn't holding a two handed sword." [More]

Personally I don't think this is a big deal, they obviously cropped the image of the sword on the poster so that it would fit on the poster without blocking his face... ~Hair

[2Jedismom]

I love that sword! Be sure and ping me to all things Eowyn!

[Fire-Breathing_Freeper]

If there are 200,000 orcs does this mean that there must be an Imrahil like character to bring exrta reinforcements? Rohan was almost destroyed by the battle of helms deep. And Gondor was never that strong (Faramir talks about it in TTT)

Does the nasty hanging bodies remind you of the mummy returns?

[HairOfTheDog]

That orc army sounds overwhelming.... I hope I don't lose hope before the end!

Does the nasty hanging bodies remind you of the mummy returns?

It might..... though it will probably just look like Moria with webs....

[HairOfTheDog]

Spoiler alert! (minor)

FROM TORN: (My comments in green)

Italy's 'Ciak' Magazine Translation!
Xoanon @ 10:04 am EST

THE LAST RING

[Click here to view the article]

At 11am on June 21 in Wellington as in the rest of the world, the Fifth book of Harry Potter is out: in the very same day Frodo, protected by Sam, was fighting for his life in the enormous spider Shelob’s lair, in an ambush setup by Gollum, during the traditional Pick-ups. Harry Potter was, at least in the cinema, the best rival for The Lord Of The Rings, at least until the second installment gained less then the first one. The opposite was true for The Two Towers, which overcame FotR by many millions of dollars. If it will run all as anticipated, The Return Of The King, the last installment, should gain more than a billion dollars overseas.

It’s been seven years that Peter Jackson has worked on what he always considered a whole, one movie, divided in three parts, exactly like Tolkien’s novels, divided in three books by the editor. And it’s been seven years that he say he lives his personal ‘marmot’s day’, that is to live the same day every day, as in the 1993 Bill Murray movie ‘Groundhog Day’. I.e., today, June 22, he woke up at 5am, put on his very famous shorts, began the shooting at 8am, and, in spite of the rain, moved from a set to another, as usual on his red bicycle Challenge model, recognizable by the skull on the handle. The skull is a souvenir from Shelob’s lair, where there are also some dangling, mummified corpses, which are imprisoned in synthetic webs made by an elasticized fiber of boiled-vegetal-oil (220°C!!!).

Frodo and Sam continue to fight her in front of a Blue Screen, because Shelob, female spider, it’s under ‘gestation’ in Weta Digital! During the years she is continuously changed (the movies were shot at the same time in 274 days between 1999 and 2000). At the beginning, she was a little 30-cm model who didn’t frighten anybody. In the end, she will be a 5-meters high monster, destined to frighten first of all Peter Jackson, who loves splatter movies but is arachnophobic (like Tolkien too!). The last model is a NZ spider called Tunnel Web, that is little and innocuous, but was super-sized by the computer! Shelob, who is different from the other spiders of the cinema, will be really fast, but stops in a second to fix her eyes on her prey.

Jackson’s pickups are not re-shootings, but little additions, sometime only a sentence, a glance, looking for a psychological deepening. Jackson says: ‘RotK is the movie that has to justify the other two installments’ [I love that!~Hair]. He shoots every scene ten times, from multiple angles. He decided this in the very beginning of the production, inserting this ‘vice’ in the production budget of $310 millions. In the end he will exceed 500 hours of film, reducing them to only 10 hours.

Every Friday the troupe organize a raffle with prizes taken from
merchandising, but every month of pick-ups (they will end on July 10) was a long feast. Every time an actor came back home, they had a party and gifts. It’s happened with Arwen (Liv Tyler), Eowyn (Miranda Otto), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellen). The 4 hobbits have to do another week, while Saruman (Christopher Lee) has not arrived yet. It’s a soft atmosphere, like in the end of the movie when most of the characters leave Middle Earth in the Grey Heavens. Elijah Wood, who promised an annual assembly with all the members of the cast and crew, says: ‘Do you know when I could shoot another time the most important movie of my life?’ [I love him too!~Hair]

The RotK is PJ most-liked part of the trilogy. Producer Barrie Osborne
says ‘go to the cinema with tissues!’. Hobbit Merry (Dominic Monaghan), who saw a pre-edited copy of the movie, cried during the whole last 8 minutes [OK, I love him too!~Hair]. The plot is full of weddings, coronations, ambushes, suicides, betrayal, but also the biggest battle of the history of cinema: 200,000 orcs in Pelennor field! We’ll see a new, sophisticated city (Minas Tirith) and a new race: The Pirates (oriental in origin). [Oops! Corsairs? Something lost in the translation or is Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp doing a Pirates cameo?~Hair] Faramir will have his 15 minutes of fame, while a new entry, Denethor (Australian actor John Noble), steward of Gondor, is a Shakespearian-tragic character. We will see him in the longer version of TTT (47 minutes longer!!) which contains three key- scenes: Eowyn’s declaration of love to Aragorn, Aragorn’s declaration of age (87 years old!) and the growth of 10 cm. of Merry and Pippin after drinking an Ent-drink. If we had a ‘The Middle Earth Times’, here we would have the last news: -World premiere of RotK on December 1

-European premiere on December 10 in Berlin

-Italian premiere in Rome on December 13

After LotR, Peter Jackson is going to direct a remake: King Kong, the most famous gorilla of the planet. It will be a digital creature, but humanized like Gollum: voices speak about the same actor to give life to Kong: Andy Serkis.

[RMDupree]

AWESOME!!!

It draws closer....

[ican'tbelieveit]

Getting excited. We just finished our family reading of mount doom last night. Now time to tie up loose ends.

[HairOfTheDog]

166 Days 11 hours 35 min.

[HairOfTheDog]

Recent re-shoot pic. I just love these spy dudes with the telephoto lenses.... OOOH! - We've got those tents, we've got a big rock wall, and a cool arch set there! I think I would like to paint a room "blue screen blue".... (I am in a really weird mood)

[ecurbh]

Or if you painted the whole house that color, you could make it any other color you wanted.

[HairOfTheDog]

SO very true! :~D

[ecurbh]

I have to go buy some groceries. Back in a bit.

[maquiladora]

Hey folks, dont think TORN have this yet:

In the new issue of Australia's EMPIRE magazine (August 2003 issue #29) in the Pipeline section, there is a little tid-bit on The Return of the King. Here it is:
OD'd on The Matrix Reloaded? Then allow Dominic Monaghan - aka fearless Hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck - to get your Return of the King juices flowing.
Speaking to Pipeline before he flies back to New Zealand to "shoot some pick-ups and have a cry," Monaghan told us that - surprise, surprise - ROTK is shaping up very nicely.
"I saw a cut and it was like being dipped in electricity," he enthused.
"It's an incredible piece of work. If everybody thinks Peter Jackson has peaked with The Two Towers, they haven't seen his full power yet. I sincerely believe that The Return of the King is gonna be one of the best films you'll ever see."

[HairOfTheDog]

WOO HOO! - I sure wish they'd toss us a trailer!

[maquiladora]

Hey Hair, looks like someone was listening to you! Just looked at the bottom of that story from ComingSoon:

It's music to our ears, too bad we'll have to wait until after the summer for a first glimpse at the trailer. 'ARagerCool' does, however, tells us that New Line will be present "The Return of the King" material at this month's Comic-Con in San Diego, so stay tuned for word on that.

[HairOfTheDog]

I would hold my breath if I thought it would help speed it up!