The Hobbit three years away: Jackson

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/479050%3Fformat=html ^ | Mar 12, 2005

[nickcarraway]

Oscar winning director Peter Jackson says it will be at least three years before he shoots The Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit.

Jackson this weekend took a break from his busy schedule filming King Kong in Auckland, stopping by Sydney's Powerhouse Museum to check out the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) exhibition.

On Saturday, the very private director will give a talk to fans about his films at the State Theatre.

A slimmed-down Jackson, who arrived in Sydney on Friday, was asked how long it would be before he started production on The Hobbit.

"Three or four years would be accurate, I would say," Jackson said.

The rights to J R R Tolkien's novel, The Hobbit, are split between two major Hollywood studios, MGM and New Line Cinema.

Jackson said he was keen to return to Middle Earth for The Hobbit but that MGM's sale to Sony Corporation made the project's future unclear.

"I think there is probably a will and a desire to try and get it made," he said.

"But I think it's gonna be a lot of lawyers sitting in a room trying to thrash out a deal before it will ever happen."

More than 140,000 people have seen the LOTR exhibition since it opened on Boxing Day.

The exhibition, which closes on March 31, includes memorabilia, sets, costumes and props from the hit film which took almost $US3 billion at the box office and garnered 17 Oscars.

"It is great that the film has got such an after life," Jackson said.

"Normally a film comes and goes and ends up on TV and the bargain bin in the video store but for this film to actually generate a museum exhibition and give people a chance to come look at the things we made, is fantastic."

Jackson's current project, a remake of the 1933 film King Kong, began production late last year.

It stars Australian Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow. Andy Serkis, Adrien Brody and Jack Black also star in the film.

"I am glad Kong is one film and not three," Jackson said, noting that the film had been a bigger project than expected.

"The hardest thing is that you are trying to create such an artificial environment, an artificial world because your central title character doesn't exist and he has to have an emotional story which really touches your heart and has a connection with your leading actress."

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't really know, only suspect they are fairly well off from the sale of the books and the renewed interest in them from a new generation.

I do have some hope in new attitudes from future Tolkiens, if we ever hope to see more of Tolkien's stories brought to film :~D

[SaltyJoe]

THREE YEARS!!! is Ian going to be around to play Gandalf?

[CollegeRepublican]

Well, he would have a better chance at being around if he was not gay.

I actually hope he does stick around to do the Hobbit, his being homo not withstanding.

[SaltyJoe]

Yes, it's a shame that we could lose him to his dangerously suicidal sex life. We tend to sideline a lot of misguided (and outright "lost") celebrities, but how often do we keep them in our prayers? Well, other than Mel Gibson, how many celebrities do we pray for.

Speaking of which (if my memory serves me correctly), once I bought a (Catholic) Mass Card for Ozzy Osborne. I didn't write "Ozzy", but left it "Osborne family". I see him bless himself like a Catholic and he re-married Sharon via Rabbi (Sharon opposes abortion and publicly regrets her own). I figure Christ can rope this silly family to the family values side. If anything, the Mass intention will be good for the couple's children.

[Sam Cree]

"If New Zealand is smart, they will allow Jackson to build Hobbiton and let it stay as a tourist attraction."

Kind of like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, corny but still educational and worthwhile. You can get beer in the Williamsburg taverns and I'm sure it would be the same at the Hobbiton pub, forget now what it was called. Drink it out of one of those cool tankards they made for the movie.

[SuziQ]

If he rebuilds Hobbiton for the movie, I hope that he doesn't dismantle it, but makes it part of a LOTR Museum, where all those things that have been on tour can be placed permanently. I think New Zealand would be thrilled to have it; talk about a boon for tourism!

[SuziQ]

I don't see why Ian Holm cannot play Bilbo. Remember, once Bilbo has the ring, he does not age between that time and the time of the beginning of LOTR. Remember Gandalf's comment to Bilbo at the beginning of Fellowship, "You haven't aged a day!"

[SuziQ]

I see I repeated myself on the thread, but that's ok. Yeah, wouldn't a 'Green Dragon' be a great place to get a Hobbit sized meal and a half-pint, or even a pint, like at Bree!!

[AmishDude]

Wow, this is an old thread.

You're right, although if you watch one of the "making of" DVDs, you'll see that they did a little face-stretching on Ian Holm when he finds the ring.

I suppose it could be done that way, although I'm not sure Holm is up to it. I vaguely remember something about his health.

[JohnnyZ]

James Earl Jones as the voice of Smaug, too.

Your faith in your dwarf friends is your undoing, Mr. Lucky Number. Barrel may be your pony's name, but I am your father!

[Feanor]

The shame here is that you presume that because McKellan is gay that he leads a "dangerously suicidal sex life". Honestly, what do you know about his personal sexual practices? Being gay does not mean that a person automatically becomes insanely promiscuous or is any less concerned about protecting their life than the average straight person.

I don't know him personally but Ian McKellan seems like a very gentle, compassionate, and giving person. Anyone who directly or indirectly puts him down (ie. he's not such a bad guy; too bad he's gay) for his sexuality is doing him an incredible disservice and doesn't deserve to see him reprise the role of Gandalf.

Having said that, I hope that he does reprise the role. He personified the role so adeptly that I would have a very hard time accepting another in his place.

[SaltyJoe]

Perhaps Peter Jackson can film Ian and then digitally manipulate him into "The Hobbit" before Ian dies.

I think you need a little story, but I don't know if you'll find it disgusting or titillating. A US Coast Guardsman rescues a boat in distress. In Southern California, the USCG got a distress call concerning a boater that had passed out. The USCG ask them what the victim had been doing before he became unconscious. "Shrimping" was the answer. The rescue team arrived quickly and one of the USCG team members reacted to save the life of the boater. Thankfully, the victim awoke and was fine.

Then the USCG got wise, "Where's the shrimping equipment?" The boat was just a simple pleasure boat. with no fishing gear...and the passengers were all male, all in thongs.

"Shrimping" is a homosexual act of sucking a males DNA out of the rectum that had already been ejaculated into by another male. The boating victim of this "accident" had choked on either his own or someone else's DNA. The USCG rescuer was not please...he had given the victim mouth to mouth resuscitation.

"Ian McKellan seems like a very gentle, compassionate, and giving person"

Yes, and don't forget that he's a professional actor. In Richard III Ian seemed like a ambitious, lying, murdering S.O.B.

Now, maybe Ian is too old to have his penis get erect, but old homosexuals don't need to be erect to participate in homosexual acts. The movie business isn't short of available, attractive, and willing flesh pots or recreational drugs. The odds are very much against Ian. Old men don't lose their sexual mind or ambitions even if the sexual abilities taper.

Homosexuality is not about flying banners, dressing flamboyantly, and screaming like a little girl. Glossing the image of homosexual acts betrays the help that homosexuals really need. I'm not going to patronize or lie about such a world of self-destruction.

If you want to risk yourself and the ones you're responsible to, then you give these poor distressed victims of their own vice the mouth to mouth they'd deceptively trap you into.

I'm ready to Baptize them before they asphyxiate. If I don't have a gloves and a CPR face shield available, that victim is going to die. If the reverse happened to me, I would understand if a would be rescue (and a stranger who doesn't know me) denies first aid for safety of his own well being. Before homosexuality (more than rampant sexual "liberation") was popularized, blood borne pathogens were not such a threat to rescuers.

Sorry to put the facts so coldly. I didn't start the sin or command the consequences to such sinful behavior. My reaction is purely self-preservation for those who might have the chance to avoid sinful acts or avoid continuing sinful acts. Not giving such a warning would be wrong on my part.

[Old Seadog]

I've had that book on my book shelf for over 30 years and have never read it. I don't know why.