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Why Lord of the Rings Will – and Must – Be Remade
Tech Central Station ^ | July 16, 2004 | Doug Kern

Posted on 07/20/2004 12:26:58 PM PDT by quidnunc

More Lord of the Rings movies — oh, yesss, preciousss, we wantsss them.

And within the next twenty or thirty years, we'll get them. Children who watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy will take their own children to a complete remake of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's inevitable.

Most great movies will never be remade. We will never see remakes of The Godfather, or Gone with the Wind, or even Star Wars. But Lord of the Rings is different.

Why? Consider these five reasons.

• The pre-existing fame of the LOTR novels prevents the actors in the LOTR trilogy from dominating the roles they played.

No sane actor would dare to recreate the role of Vito Corleone; the role is bound up too tightly with the performance of Marlon Brando. Similarly, what actress can hope to compete with Vivian Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara? But in the current LOTR trilogy, no actor consumes his role so completely. The finest performance in LOTR (Gollum notwithstanding) may have come from Ian McKellan as Gandalf. Yet, much as I enjoyed his performance, I can think of several actors who could have done as good a job portraying Gandalf: Sean Connery, Brian Blessed, Derek Jacobi, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Caine, Patrick Stewart — the list goes on. The major characters in LOTR are so densely textured in the books — and yet so indelibly etched into the minds of Tolkien's fans, after decades of reading and re-reading the novels — that the performances of the leads in the current trilogy seem like interpretations of the characters, rather than definitions. Moreover, Peter Jackson's direction emphasized plot, rather than characterization, thus allowing room for future actors to place their own imprints on the characters in a way that would be impossible in other remakes.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at techcentralstation.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: lotr
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To: Osage Orange

Bring back the hamburgler.

Robble robble robble.


21 posted on 07/20/2004 12:48:10 PM PDT by cripplecreek (John kerry is unbalanced)
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To: quidnunc

It SHOULD be remade for the mentally challenged whose minds can't grasp the allegory.

Sauron is recast as Osama Bin Ladden. The Orcs are Islamic Fundamentalists, Saroman the White is Saddam Hussein, the Mountain Orcs are the Iranian Ayatollahs, the Ring of Power are WMD, Bush is Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gangy is Cheny, the Nazgul are Islamic Terrorists, the Elves are the Christian Fundamentalists, the Dwarfs are the Conservatives, and the Balrog is the entire western Liberal Establishment.

Mount Doom is where we are all headed unless we get rid of the Islamic Fundamentalists.

Oh, and I forgot - Gollum is John Kerry.


22 posted on 07/20/2004 12:48:33 PM PDT by ZULU
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To: quidnunc
Well I hope the next time, they don't leave out Tom Bombadil!
23 posted on 07/20/2004 12:49:56 PM PDT by bikepacker67 (Sandy wasn't stuffing his socks, he was stuffing A sock.)
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To: ZULU

Also, Gandulf is Rumsfeld.


24 posted on 07/20/2004 12:50:30 PM PDT by ZULU
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Rumor has it that The Hobbit is going to be made, by PJ. Anyone know anything about this?


25 posted on 07/20/2004 12:53:25 PM PDT by mamalujo (stultus est sicut stultus facit)
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To: ZULU

that was great!!!!!!


26 posted on 07/20/2004 12:55:27 PM PDT by mamalujo (stultus est sicut stultus facit)
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To: quidnunc; Professional Engineer

Well, it would certainly give us something to ~talk~ about in the hobbit hole.... ;~D


27 posted on 07/20/2004 12:55:39 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog (~*-,._.,-*~Loves her hubbit~*-,._.,-*~)
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To: Deb

What?


28 posted on 07/20/2004 12:55:54 PM PDT by bellas_sister (" Senator, do you know there's a girl found dead in your car?")
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To: 2Jedismom; 300winmag; Alkhin; Alouette; ambrose; Anitius Severinus Boethius; artios; AUsome Joy; ...

Ring Ping!!

The Hobbit Hole :: Troop Support Projects

Anyone wishing to be added to or removed from the Ring-Ping list, please don't hesitate to let me know.

29 posted on 07/20/2004 12:56:25 PM PDT by ecurbh (I love my wife.)
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To: bikepacker67

Leaving out Bombadil is what convinced me there was hope the movies would be good. The single most annoying character in the books, one of the most annoying characters in literature.


30 posted on 07/20/2004 12:58:36 PM PDT by discostu (Gravity is a harsh mistress)
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To: PMCarey
The special edition versions are laughable.

I will never forgive George for the Greedo-shooting-first affront to God and Man. Yes, I am a geek.

31 posted on 07/20/2004 12:58:42 PM PDT by RogueIsland
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To: mamalujo

The Hobbit? He expressed a willingness to do it...

Lawyers have to write a lot of letters and people will have to write checks over the rights.


32 posted on 07/20/2004 12:59:37 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog (~*-,._.,-*~Loves her hubbit~*-,._.,-*~)
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To: mamalujo

I've read that as well. I'd love to see the Sillmarillion made into a movie - I thought that was even better than LOTR.


33 posted on 07/20/2004 1:00:11 PM PDT by TightyRighty
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To: discostu

Don't be such a pickle stu. Lots of people love Bombadil, he can be less than a favorite of yours but you don't have to be insulting!


34 posted on 07/20/2004 1:02:33 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog (~*-,._.,-*~Loves her hubbit~*-,._.,-*~)
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To: tallhappy; HairOfTheDog; JenB; ecurbh; Fedora
Lord of the Rings and other Tolkein had already been made in to movies long before this most recent series.

Those were cartoons, not movies.

35 posted on 07/20/2004 1:03:38 PM PDT by Corin Stormhands (I'm going on vacation in 10 days...)
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To: discostu
You know, the first time I read LOTR, I really hated Bombadil. It was the hobbits had strayed into a musical on the way to Bree.

Just this past weekend, reading through LOTR the second time, I had a kinder view of him, but still found myself wishing these chapters had not been in the way.

Besides, there comes the question of casting an actor to play Tom Bombadil. And of course, there's only one person who could accurately portray a sing-songy, flamboyant, brightly dressed character: Nathan Lane.

And that would kill us, kill us... (and kill the movie).

(I should say though I find the debate over what or who Tom is to be fascinating).

36 posted on 07/20/2004 1:04:40 PM PDT by StoneColdGOP (Nothing is Bush's fault... Nothing is Bush's fault... Nothing is Bush's fault...)
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To: HairOfTheDog
Well, it would certainly give us something to ~talk~ about in the hobbit hole.... ;~D

I'd go see 'em.


37 posted on 07/20/2004 1:04:53 PM PDT by Corin Stormhands (I'm going on vacation in 10 days...)
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To: BlueLancer; ecurbh; All

What I could see and would enjoy would be expanded screenplays of parts of the huge story, as if LoTR was a genre in itself, like Arthurian legends are. No one need take on the entire work in a package again.... many different and very interesting parts of the stories could be made into fine movies.


38 posted on 07/20/2004 1:05:46 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog (~*-,._.,-*~Loves her hubbit~*-,._.,-*~)
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To: Corin Stormhands

Cartoons are movies.


39 posted on 07/20/2004 1:05:48 PM PDT by tallhappy (Juntos Podemos!)
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To: discostu
one of the most annoying characters in literature.

Heh, for me, Dobby from the Harry Potter books ranks up there too.

40 posted on 07/20/2004 1:06:07 PM PDT by ecurbh (I love my wife.)
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