My partner Kathy J and I have just returned from Canton, NY where we were lucky enough to attend a poetry reading, gallery opening and book signing with Viggo Mortensen! [More]

From Gaming Editor Flinch: Rumors have been trickling down that there is a Return of the King trailer attached to the end of The Two Towers for XBox and GameCube. I'd like to put this rumor to rest. There is footage at the end of the game that is not from the Two Towers theatrical release. This footage is of Aragorn and Gandalf discussing the location of The One Ring. This may be footage that didn't make it into the theatrical release of TTT, but it is not an official trailer for ROTK. (We posted this story originally back in November when the PS2 Version came out with the same footage. We are only re-posting these details as the GameCube and XBox Versions have just now been released.) [Gaming Havens]

Keep checking Gaming Havens here at TheOneRing.net for the latest info on Return of the King from Electronic Arts coming in late 2003!

ADAMSTOWN, Maryland (AP) -- Hobbits in their holes could hardly have been cozier than Robert Wilhelm's students, who gathered before a flickering fireplace to swap the stories behind the story of "The Lord of the Rings." [More]

Empire Magazine has a small article on our Elijah Wood (Frodo) and smoking, as well as Hugo Weaving (as Agent Smith) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) on the cover. [More]

Randy writes: You can get a first glimpse of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Action Figure lines on ToyBiz.com. Some very cool stuff including Lady Galadriel, Gollum, Skateboard Legolas, and Helm's Deep Aragorn! [More] [Shop]

Not sure if we've posted this one recently, but if you missed, go vote: "Starting below with Best Picture, pick your favorite flick of 2002 and then click through the remaining categories to cast your vote in the AOL Moviegoer Awards. Check back March 17 to see who won!" Thanks to Ringer Fan Laurelinda for the link! [More]

TORn community site Quintessential LoTR has recently updated, and now has a proper chapter by chapter image repositiry for The Two Towers and a full script. Go check it out. Kudos to all who maintain this wonderful site. [More]

Ringer Spy Arwenelf writes that BBC is running an online vote on the major award categories for the Oscars - including Best Film. Scroll toword the bottom of the page and click on: 'Watch and vote See clips of Oscar nominees and vote'. You can watch clips from each nomination and vote for your favourite. [More]

J.R.R. Tolkien, the Oxford don and writer of the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, was said to have given away the movie rights to his books for a song. But, according to Forbes.com, the Tolkien estate receives a small percent of the film's profits. [More]

Mamá writes in about the new stuff on the Soundtrack Analysis Page over at Elvish.org "I've been waiting to get my hands on the lyrics to "Evenstar" and "Forth Eorlingas" and they have them [now] as well as "The Mearas."

Ringer Spy Jess sent in a picture from Viggo Mortensen's appearence at St. Lawrence University in the New York area, check it out here!

More about this event when Xoanon returns!

It is the first of March and I find myself deep in the bowels of the Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills, with Asfaloth by my side. She carries a camera, I carry a microphone. The two of us have been bustling about all evening, trying to get the best video footage of Peter Jackson and Cate Blanchett. [More]

Ringer staffers Asfaloth and Quickbeam just phoned with the results of the DGA Awards taking place in LA this evening. And the winner for best director is.... Rob Marshall for 'Chicago.' Stay tuned for more coverage from the event, including a talk with Sean Astin and some great photos.

This weekend, Hall of Fire rejoins the action of the Return of the King. Events are moving quickly - Sauron is on the move, and the muster of Rohan must occur soon if Minas Tirith is to stand. But Aragorn fears it cannot come quickly enough. [More]

Here's a report from Ross describing John Rhys-Davies' recent appearance on a Bulgarian TV talk show. [More]

It's Friday, and that means it's time for another addition to our Miniature Painting Guides. This week we have part one of our Industry of Isengard special cataloging EVERY model ever to stomp through Orthanc. So fill your water cup and get your brushes ready, take a look at part 1! [Uruk Warrior] [Berserker] [Siege Ballista] [Siege Ladder] [Demolition Charge]

For those of you who missed this great article on Legolas' archery, written by somebody who really knows the subject, here's another chance to see it. [More]

Best Buy is now taking pre-orders for the LotR: At Dawn in Rivendell CD due out 3/11/03 on their site. As an added bonus, it's free S&H for all orders as well. For those who might not be familiar with the upcoming CD, Christopher Lee will be reciting poems from LotR set to music.
You can pre-order here Thanks to Angela for the news.

Empire magazine has a few briefs about ROTK [More] Thanks to Elril for the link.

Ringer Spy Ryka sends along these scans from i-D Magazine featuring some candid shots of Viggo Mortensen. [More]

From Billyboyd.net: Billy is going to be on a tour of Canada with Sniper470 as well as other Scottish short films. The information we have at the moment is sketchy at best but we will update the information as we get more. [More]

Vis Sit Tecum Musicorum is proud to announce they have been invited to perform at TheOneRing.net's Oscar Party, to be held in Hollywood, CA on March 23, 2003. At the celebration by the fans of the Lord of the Rings films, Vis Sit Tecum will be providing musical atmosphere for the more than eight hundred partygoers. Members of Vis Sit Tecum are fans themselves and are delighted to be participating in the now famous Oscar party, the one in 2002 being a stopping place for several cast and crew of the New Line epic film on Oscar night. [More]

Lorien Archer writes: The special sneak peak on 'Pirates' did indeed air on Access Hollywood on Thursday the 27th of February. There were comments by Orlando Bloom and the other actors, and even shots on set! There was a scene where Johnny Depp actually accidentally hit Orlando with a sword, but no damage was done.

Decipher is pleased to announce that it will host its World Championships for The Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card Game and Star Trek™ Customizable Card Game, and all related DecipherCon festivities, July 24-27, 2003 at Gen Con Indy at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. [More] [Gaming Havens]

Ringer Spy RT sends along these pictures from Qantas magazine featuring Orlando Bloom (Legolas). [More]

Harry from AICN e-mailed Peter Jackson to get the final word on the trailer, and Peter has confirmed what New Line studio sources revealed just a few days ago - there will be no preview added to the Towers theatrical release because of the demands of making the TTT EE DVD. However, we should see an RoTK trailer in May or June. [More]

If you live in and around the Canton, NY area head on over to St. Lawrence Univserity to catch Viggo Mortensen reading poetry, signing books and watching FOTR! [More]

More information on the PJ in Poland story we posted earlier. The answer from PJ's camp is exactly what we thought it would be, no. Peter was never in Poland in a helicopter and he was most certainly never scouting locations for a Hobbit movie that he will most certainly not make after ROTK. We are certain...

We shouldn't talk about our TORN book without mentioning the cover art by TORN community member Saulone. We met him in real life at DragonCon last year, he stunned us with his talent, and we immediately put him in touch with our publisher. Visit Saulone's site to see why we're so excited to have him involved in our book. [More] Saulone's also providing line drawings for the chapter headings.

Thanks to the thousands of you who are interested in 'The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien", written by Tehanu, Anwyn, Quickbeam, Turgon and Ostadan, we've rocketed up Amazon's Bestseller list. We've jumped an astonishing 4200 positions in 1/2 a day! [More]
UPDATE: The People's Guide is now sitting in Amazon's Top 40. *Thunk!* -Tehanu

Peter Jackson's long odyssey is almost over. Taking a break from the editing of "The Return of the King," the third and final installment of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Jackson is slated to be in town Saturday for the 55th annual Directors Guild Awards, where he is one of five nominees for the directorial achievement in feature film award for his work on "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." Jackson recently spoke to Todd Longwell for The Hollywood Reporter by phone from his base of operations in Wellington, New Zealand. [More]

VATICAN, Feb 26, 03 (CWNews.com) -- In a highly favorable review of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the official Vatican newspaper has said that the work carries "echoes of the Gospel." [More]

From: The John Howe Website: Just returned from a bit of a safari to rather colder climes, which made returning to Switzerland feel positively springlike. After several amusing episodes involving visas and border guards, missed planes and queueing in consulates, it's good to be back at the drawing table. [More]

Belcarnen writes: David Wenham (Faramir) is in Prague as one of the actors from new vampire movie called VAN HELSING. Places like sv. Mikulas cathedral and the neighbourhood are being used as Transylvanian locations, also a small "Transylvanian village" was built there.

Piotr sends along this report that PJ was recently spotted in Poland scouting locations. I find this hard to believe at the moment, and we are looking into this. A word to the wise, you can completely ignore the Hobbit rumors in the aritcle below, PJ most certainly wants to take a break from Middle-earth, and god bless him he deserves it! [More]

We've been getting a ton of emails from people excited to bits about seeing Shelob for the first time in that small image of Richard Taylor holding a small pink model of Shelob. It is NOT a new picture, it has bee floating around the net for over 3 years. It is from the FOX TV special that aired back in 2001.

It is our pleasure to announce the release of TORN's own book, "The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien." It's written by TORN staffmembers Tehanu, Anwyn, Quickbeam, Turgon and Ostadan. Many thanks to Jon at Cold Spring Press for believing in us and guiding us through the process of making this book a reality! [More]

So now you know what's been keeping the Green Books staff and me busy this past year.

Olivia sends along this article from 'Heat Magazine' giving us some details on a talking Gollum figure hitting the shelves in the Spring. [More]

Another great report on Sean's appearance at the Texas Film Festival appears over at Aint-it-cool-news Really interesting stuff there, Sean Astin is certainly one to watch as he carries his Sam-nature over into real life. [More]

Laura writes: The British Radio 4 Quiz Show, The Write Stuff, did a Tolkien themed episode today (Wednesday, 26th Feb) [More]

Michael writes: The official X-Men movie site has updated and there is now a very cool looking wallpaper of Ian McKellen as Magneto, as well as a profile. It's in the Stryker's Database section of the site. [More]

ADAMSTOWN, Md. - Hobbits in their holes could hardly have been cozier than Robert Wilhelm's students, who gathered before a flickering fireplace to swap the stories behind the story of "The Lord of the Rings." [More]

Mark Ordesky was promoted to the new post of executive vice president and chief operating officer of New Line Productions, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the film company's production staff. The promotion is a reward for Ordesky's championing of the lucrative "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, which has grossed $1.7 billion worldwide. The final installment is set to be released this year. Ordesky was the executive producer for all three films.

When casting an epic, it apparently helps to have actors with epic experience. That seems to be why, in casting ''Troy,'' director Wolfgang Petersen is filling supporting roles with ''Lord of the Rings'' actors Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean, as well as two actors associated with the David Lean-directed epics of the 1960s, Peter O'Toole and Julie Christie, Variety reports. [More]

Since that 'Dobey/Putin' thing came out a few weeks back, everyone is looking to compare CGI movie creations to real life politicians. Well now WHO Magazine has an article referring to the unfortunate similarities between Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Gollum. [More]

Well, I think we woke someone up with the last batch of rumors.. Apparently there will not be a trailer for The Return of the King attached to The Two Towers, that is at least what ComingSoon.net is reporting... [More]

Jeroen heard of a glimpse of some LOTR-footage being shown on the Belgian television channel Canal+, presumably part of the new The Return of the King-trailer! Here's what it featured! Minor Tiny Spoilers [More]

A Bad Hobbit writes that members of Science Fiction Writers of America just got their final ballot for the upcoming Nebula awards. "Because of the way the Nebula rules work we're just now getting around to giving out awards for work released in 2001. I took a great deal of pleasure in checking the box next to LOTR FOTR as my vote for best Science Fiction or Fantasy movie script." Awards will be announced at the 2003 Nebula Awards Weekend: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 18–20

Just a snippet from Full-Bloom courtesy of Ford of Rivendell, who alerts you to the fact that on Wednesday (Today?) Access Hollywood is 'On the Set' of Pirates of the Caribbean, Orlando's current film project. Of course they may just witter on about Johnny Depp or something, but you never know. [More]

Fun stuff for the creative and literary types: More details on doing the Legolas hair braids, more access to film props fabrics for those Elven cloaks, if you sew, and a couple of reading groups studying TTT and ROTK. [More]

More on NZ's preps for the ROTK premiere. Gee, it'd be nice if we started getting as excited about the arts as we do about sport. Auckland has the Americas Cup, and Wellington has ROTK. I'm jealous. Meanwhile in Japan TTT continues to do well, better than FOTR; Swedish readers look forward to a relief from the groan-inducingly bad translations of LOTR they've had to put up with for half a century. [More]

Inevitable Entertainment's hairy-toed adventure is now heading to PC, GBA and all next-gen consoles [More]

And rubbing shoulders with JK Rowling too, in a special 'British' episode apparently. Check out this report on IMDB.com and thanks to Nuannaiel for the link.

GB Staffer Anywn writes: Check out Ostadan's contribution to the Towers Wars -- his review is here, heading up his informative and in-depth Lore & Letters section. Don't forget to browse around the rest of Green Books. The perennially popular Q&A has enough material to satisfy hours of Tolkien curiosity, and Turgon's two new Bookshelf articles have all kinds of sneak peeks into the latest Tolkien commentary.

-- Anwyn

Ringer Spy Iluvatar writes: i got my dirty claws on a rumour from a friend who works for Edwards theatres. This weekend on firday night, tv networks will begin to re air the trailers for TTT but now at the end will be what we have all been waiting for...THE RETURN OF THE KING TRAILER HAS ARRIVED!!! I figured this would interest everyone whom has been starving for news on this subject just as I have. My source tells me that the preview will be shown at the end of the movie starting in the second weekend of March 2003. Hope you like this.

Like it? Heck yeah! Now folks, please keep in mind that this is the only news we have about the ROTK-trailer at the moment, so please don't email us for more; we'll throw it online when we have it. In the meantime, if you happen to be the one who knows more about this: drop me a line!

IMDB Newsbit 1: Director Wolfgang Petersen insists that, contrary to previous reports, there "won't be a week of delay" in the production of Troy, starring Brad Pitt as Achilles and featuring Peter O'Toole, Julie Christie and Orlando Bloom. Petersen has told Daily Variety that shooting will begin in London in April, then move on to Malta, before winding up in Morocco. Worries that anti-American feelings in Morocco could lead to disruption of the filming there were dismissed by the director who said, "We won't be shooting those final battle scenes until July or August. If things are going on in the world that make Morocco impossible, we have explored Mexico and Spain. Of course, we will take care of the security and safety of everybody involved."

IMDB Newsbit 2: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said today (Tuesday) that it has mailed out Oscar ballots for the 75th annual awards to its members. The announcement was made during a ceremony marking the first day of issue of postage stamps commemorating "American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes," honoring filmmakers involved in art direction, cinematography, costume design, directing, film editing, makeup, music, screenwriting, sound and special effects. Producing is represented on the frame of the 10-stamp sheet. Academy members in each of those areas will receive a ballot affixed with the appropriate stamp.

(Lets hope they all reach the voters...like this guy -Xo)

AintItCoolNews.com has posted a story that seems to be partial heresay, and yet partially confirmed. Either way take a look and prepare for Sherlock Holmes vs. Christopher Lee as Moriarty! [More]

Falborn sends along the awards TTT won at the 1st International On-line Critics Awards: Best Visual effects, Best Sound editing, Best Make-up, Best Picture, Best ensemble

Sean Astin can soon be seen in the Sci-Fi tv series 'Jeremiah'. Sci-Fi Magazine has the first pic of him seen anywhere. Take a look! [More]

Shawna sends in this article from Sci-Fi magazine showing what a geek-version of the Oscar would look like, Minority Report, Star Wars, Spider-Man, Signs and of course TTT leading the way! [More]

Hugo Weaving, who reprises his role as Agent Smith in the upcoming sequel films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, told SCI FI Wire that his character's ability to replicate himself made for some interesting challenges during the filming. "We achieved the multi Smiths in a number of different ways," Weaving said in an interview. "Sometimes I would move into a room, say, and do it 10 times and end up in 10 slightly different positions. And then there would be 10 of me." [More]

Dave writes: gameplay.co.uk had this to say about the two towers dvd release: "Coming June 2003 we have part 2 of this epic saga on DVD. No details are available yet, however we can expect to see the same pattern of DVD release as with Fellowship..." [More] [Gaming Havens]

Mark writes: Our local public television in Boston (WGBH) will air a special on the good professor - "J.R.R. Tolkien, Master of the Rings" - in early March (on four different days). [More]

From AICN: Hugo Weaving (Elrond) will star opposite Jacqueline Mackenzie in the new Australian film PEACHES for director Craig Monaghan. Shooting begins in South Australia in the coming weeks. It's a romantic drama set against the backdrop of a peach cannery.

Winsome Elf writes: I just read in the CNN ticker-tape news at the bottom of my t.v. screen that Universal had optioned the rights to the Tolkien-esque THE ELRIC SAGA with the intention of possibly making it into a movie trilogy.

Heard of the 'Alties'? Neither have I, but hey, I'll eat anything once. Take a look at the slightly odd categories you can vote TTT for. [More]

dr00g writes: I have great pics from Ringcon (not to be confused with the Euro Ring*Con held a few months ago -Xo). I went there today and really had a blast. [More]

Andrew writes: The latest issue of SFX magazine has an announcement that Christopher Lee will be appearing at their event this year and picking up a special award - amongst others which he's likely to win because he's going to be there. [SFX Awards]

Bruce writes: TTT was the #1 movie the weekend it opened in Japan. No money figures here, but the link below gives the ranking for the major cities in Japan. [More]

Fancydots writes: My roommate attended the American Cinema Editors 2003 Eddie Awards Sunday night. The Two Towers was nominated for Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic). Despite Dominic Monaghan being the presentor for this award, the winner was Gangs of New York. Other nominees were About Schmidt, The Hours, and Minority Report.

The world was young, the mountains green,
When what I wrote was often seen,
Unwearied then were TORN's folk;
Now feeling it was time I spoke
My fingers on the keyboard smote
to make this new Tehanu's Note
Blame the Messageboard, there's been an outbreak of limericking there...

Havens Staffer Lao of Gondor managed to snag some time with Tom Lischke and Joe Alread for a round of questions on the upcoming release for the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game: The Battle of Helm's Deep expansion. Take a read through these very in-depth questions. Including what you can expect from the next expansion: The Ents of Fangorn! [More] [Gaming Havens]