posted
I think the Ent-Wives went far into the East, beyond Rhun and the sea into unknown lands. Their gardens were in the Brown Lands (well, called that now) and were destroyed during the Last Alliance.
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As for the casting list, they're picking all big name actors, which I've already expressed a dislike of for The Hobbit. I'd like to see PJ be actively involved in the casting, I trust him to not just go for big names.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I trust him to not just go for big names.
At the same time, keep in mind that Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler, etc weren't exactly 'unknowns' either.
I'm sure they'll go for the performers they feel best fit the role. And I hope New Line's learned their lesson on 11th hour stunt casting.
quote:I'm sure they'll go for the performers they feel best fit the role. And I hope New Line's learned their lesson on 11th hour stun casting.
What do you mean? There is alot about the LOTR movies I know nothing about as I was in media blackout from 09/01-08/03
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Oh, I was referring to New Line's last minute decision to re-cast Iorek Byrnison's voice in The Golden Compass. Almost everyone I've talked with agrees: We love Ian, we love Iorek, but they aren't a good performer/character match.
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Peter Jackson appeared in The Return of the King, as one of the pirate crew. How can we expect to see him show up in The Hobbit? Remember, he's svelte now.
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quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: Oh, I was referring to New Line's last minute decision to re-cast Iorek Byrnison's voice in The Golden Compass. Almost everyone I've talked with agrees: We love Ian, we love Iorek, but they aren't a good performer/character match.
In my head the casting choice does not make sense. They should have used the voice actor for Iorek from the Audio Book series of His Dark Materials.
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del Toro has shown a propensity to really dive into the source material though, as he has done a few adaptations before, so I give him a lot of credit for that, plus he's done fantasy before. I wouldn't want LOTR to look like Pan's Labyrinth, as I think Hellboy 2 sort of does from the trailer, so I worry about that, but with PJ there to approve the artistic feel of it, I'm more okay with it.
del Toro is fine with me, for the moment. I'd have to see who the other choices are, but right now I can't think of any particular reason to blackball him.
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Hellboy and Mimic (the adaptation films of his that I've seen) were not very faithful to the source material. They were also annoying, boring, and forgetful.
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If you really look for it, some news has popped up in various places about the status of The Hobbit. Apparently del Toro is a regular poster over at the board for Hellboy II on Universal, which is both surprising and amazing, he actually answers tons of questions over there that people have about Hellboy, and some have asked questions about LOTR. I really hope that he'll do the same in a year when Hobbit starts to pick up. Jackson wasn't under a microscope from the public when he was filming LOTR, because most people didn't really know what was going on at the time. But this time around? Totally different story.
Anyway. Apparently between work on Avatar and Lovely Bones, a lot of artists at Weta are starting to do some very preliminary work on The Hobbit. I read a transcript of an interview between a Weta artist and a German LOTR fan site, and he was talking about already working on the Dwarves and Smaug, and how they have a new process for the Dwarf prosthetics.
Various officials at MGM have more specifically defined Jackson's role on the project. They describe it as his project specifically, and that no director or writer will be involved unless Jackson okays it. So far as I can tell, he'll be very involved with production, especially the creative side, which I'm more concerned with, and he'll merely be farming out the directing to del Toro, who, though he hasn't officially been signed on, has already started to find a production staff and worked on cast, crew and arists for the project.
It's also been hinted that if the timing works out, Jackson could take charge of the filming for the second movie. Really MGM has said he can take over the directing for both of them if he wants, but it's a matter of scheduling. The interview with the exec I said hinted that Jackson might be so involved during preproduction that he won't want to let someone else direct it. I think he was joking but, Jackson has spent like a decade working on LOTR, he's bought a ridiculous amount of the props, costumes, even set designs. I read that he has a Hobbit hole on his property.
Despite the fact that principal photography is a year away, preproduction has begun, and by the end of the year will be in full swing I think. My biggest concern as the moment is whether or not Alan Lee and John Howe are involved.
I'll keep you updated.
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quote:Despite the fact that principal photography is a year away, preproduction has begun, and by the end of the year will be in full swing I think. My biggest concern as the moment is whether or not Alan Lee and John Howe are involved.
Oh they'd better be! They're concepts and ideas practically made the LOTR movies. They will be, with Jackson at the helm I'm sure of it. Unless one or both of them has gotten tired of Middle Earth... Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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They've been drawing Middle Eart their entire lives. I don't think they'd give up now, not with the chance to conceptualize Erebor, Smaug, Beorn, the Spiders, the Mirkwood, etc.
I'm really wondering how they'll portray the Elves in Mirkwood. These are different elves from the ones we're used to seeing. Imladris and Lorien were full of a combination of Sindarin and Noldorin Elves, which either saw the light of Aman or at least came over the Misty Mountains into Beleriand. But the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood never went on the march, never saw the light, never learned from the more knowledgable elves. They're described as less trusting, quicker to anger, basically closer to Dark Elves or humans in many ways. They aren't the elves we're used to. Legolas is different, mostly because I believe he has Vanyar heritage, but even with him I think we saw that his raiment and what not weren't quite as grand as everything else we saw of the Elves, and he was royalty. I love Elves, but I also love accuracy.
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I can't remember which, but either Howe or Lee is reported as being signed on to the project.
It's also being reported that the script will be written by Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, under the direction of PJ and GDT.
There will be a Q&A on TOR this weekend with GDT and PJ. I'd love to be a part of it but I have to work all weekend. I'd love to ask them a half dozen different questions, but I think we'll get some of the big questions out of the way this weekend. Should be interesting!
Contact has already been made with Viggo, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis about reprising their roles for these two movies. An exec at MGM has also been quoted as saying that Hobbit and Sequel are slated for December '11 and '12. And they are also talking about FURTHER sequels, and she was excited about the prospects of a franchise to take place during the huge gap between The Hobbit and Fellowship.
Which is a HORRIBLE idea. If they were to tackle anything next, it should be the Silmarillion. As a side note, two of my friends over this past Winter, one in Scotland and one in Ireland, got me a first edition hardcover copy of The Silmarillion, both of which I love dearly. Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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They are filming a Del Toro producede film in the village where my wife works. I have a network of people with my cell phone number in case Guillermo arrives on set so that I can drop everything and pester him mercilessly into being in the film(s).
After recent dietary excesses I'm shooting for Bombur...
I'll let you know how I get on...
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Reprising Aragorn? So they're doing all the behind the scenes stuff with the storming of Dol Guldur and the like? Cool!
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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The Hobbit VI: Aliens VS Sauron The Hobbit VII: Dwarves in Boats (We don't jump the shark, we toss them over it.) The Hobbit VIII: A very special episode--Young Frodo and Wizard's Wand.
Lord of the Rings VII: The Black Fleet of the Caribbean Lord of the Rings VIII: Ents in Love Lord of the Rings IX: Legolas Saves Christmas
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I actually don't remember there being THAT much in the Silmarillion about what happens during that time period. I think they'll have to look at half dozen different books like the Lost Tales or Unfinished Tales to really get the info they want.
And I don't know how I feel about Ian Holm narrating. I prefer Cate Blanchett.
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Doug Jones has been unofficially confirmed by GDT for a role in The Hobbit. He's said the role will be very difficult and involve long hours in heavy makeup. Any guesses?
On concerns that the creatures in The Hobbit will look like Pan's Labyrinth creatures, and for that matter strikingly similar creatures in HBII, he had this to say:
quote:"Yeah, but remember one thing. The terrain that is covered by the trilogy is a very defined area. The Hobbit goes different places, goes different things. To give you an example, Shelob is a spider but the spiders of Mirkwood are completely different. So I plan to bring myself to The Hobbit, no doubt about that."
One of those lovely non answer answers that sort of spooks me a little bit, but we'll see.
quote:Del Toro went on to say that the film will not necessarily be similar in style to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor will it be like any of his own dark fantasy films, such as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth.
"I'm not trying to honor either my style or what I'm gravitating normally towards," del Toro said. "I know that for a fact I gravitated towards the novel. So there's something there that echoes with me very strongly, which is not the case with most fantasy, in my case."
James McAvoy is rumored to play Bilbo, but both he and GDT have denied this. The role has not yet been cast so far as I can tell, and JM wants to take some time off from acting, though he says he'd consider it if the script was right.
GDT has also said that when The Hobbit II (which he has literally stated will NOT be named "The Hobbit 2: Electric Boogaloo") is completed, he'd like to start work on Hellboy III.
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I'm more curious in some ways if they'll try to re-do Hobbiton in the same location they did last time. That was a peculiar confluence of good fortune (including getting the New Zealand military to secure airspace so they could keep the shooting a secret!...) that is not likely to happen twice.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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After having recently seen The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Kill Bill 2 recently, I have become more fully convinced that Michael Madsen should be the voice of Smaug. Just imagine "Well, thief. I smell you and I feel your air" in that voice.
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Awww... I guess Ian Holm is too old to reprise his role as Bilbo. That would have been too perfect anyway. Oh well... He was an awesome Bilbo, honestly I have trouble imagining anyone else doing it.
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Dag - Is Michael Madson the guy who played Bill? If so, I agree that'd be a good choice.
Holm is expected to be involved in some way Alcon, but not as Bilbo.
pg - Last time I looked at IMDB, he was listed as Bilbo (rumored). Considering there is no script and preproduction doesn't even begin until the end of next month, I tend to side with those who think it really is just a rumor. Very few roles have already been cast.
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quote:Dag - Is Michael Madson the guy who played Bill? If so, I agree that'd be a good choice.
No, he played Bud, Bill's brother. He played the chief wolf in TLtWatW.
David Carridene played Bill, and he wouldn't be a bad choice, either. Tarrentino seems to cast actors with good voices.
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Originally posted by JonHecht: "Edit: I still don't understand how PJ went from doing horribly cheesy low quality Australian horror flicks to LOTR."
That would be NEW ZEALAND horror flicks, thanks very much. Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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If I were to write movies based on the Silmarilion, I'd begin with a flashback to the separation of the elves, touch briefly on what happened in Valinor, but then start the story from the point of view of the Sindarin just as the Noldor return. Then slowly start revealing what the sons of Feanor did while in Valinor, putting the conflict with Morgoth as a backdrop for the conflicts the elves have with each other.
Edit: I feel a little silly. I didn't even realize there was a second page to the thread, and I didn't even look at the dates on the earlier posts. Whoops.
posted
Quoting Lyrhawn: "Even still you'd have a lot more story to tell, as the Second Age, largely unwritten but not entirely, has tons of stories to be told. To say nothing of the 3,000 years of Third Age that there is that takes place before Lord of the Rings."
I posted on this very thing about a year or so ago, but in relation to books other, approved-by-the-Tolkien-estate, authors could write, fleshing out the stories in the Annals and so on, in the same way that Asimov's universe has been opened up in carefully controlled ways. It seems logical to me that Tolkien would want this incredibly detailed and beautiful world he created to be a living, organic thing rather than something frozen in amber forever.
I'm just one of those that thinks it's perfect the way it is. There's no author out there I'd trust with it, other maybe than Chris Tolkien. And anything that anyone would write for it wouldn't be canon as far as I'm concerned.
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I know Lyrhawn, it was you that responded to my original post on the topic. I know what you mean, I just find the stories in the appendices so tantalising. I think Christopher Tolkien's pretty hidebound about the whole thing, understandably, he has a tremendous legacy to protect, but still, I somehow think JRR would be a little less precious about it all.
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In the book he is so old that the ring can't touch him. I think this is because Tolkien wrote songs about Tom Bombadil before he even started with the lord of the rings.
So time is not measured in the time of the story alone. What can be older than the world? Tom can. Because he was there before the world was, in the mind of Tolkien.
I think Tolkien refers to this as sort of an inside joke.
Posts: 129 | Registered: May 2008
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I don't think Tom is THAT old. I think he was one of the Maiar, if I had to guess. It's never said explicitly, but I don't see a better explanation for his abilities.
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Except that Gandalf and Sarumann are both of the Maiar as are all of the Istari and they are not immune to the ring in the way Bombadil was.
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But Tom is not part of the war. He is not part of anything. He has a complete other quality about him, ,a complete different force, from another tale. At least, that is how I see him.
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quote:Gandalf calls Tom Bombadil the eldest being in existence; this is also evidenced by his Sindarin name Iarwain Ben-adar (Eldest and Fatherless). Dwarves called him Forn (Scandinavian, meaning "Ancient" or "Belonging to the distant past"), Men Orald (compare to german: uralt, very old). All these names apparently mean "Eldest."
From wikipedia, but I remember where those things are said in the books. I think it's fair to say that Tom Bombadil is not one of the Maiar. However, wikipedia also says that even Tolkien didn't really know what he was. He was intended to be one of the mysteries of the world. One of it's oldest denizens and very powerful and wise in his domain.
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