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Another ROTK Review!
Xoanon @ 8:51 pm EST
Michael writes: I thought I'd write a quick note about last night's ROTK preview in Palm Springs. I had no idea of this beforehand, but we were told that this was the first-ever "public" screening of the film--all the previous screenings had been for invited guests. A late arrival at the theatre put me very near the end of the line to get in, which resulted in second-row side seats--directly behind the seats reserved for Sir Ian McKellen. He sat there for a few minutes while he was introduced, then took the stage and spoke briefly, relating his experiences to the importance of public funding for the arts (the screening was a benefit for LA's PBS station) before sitting down for a charming interview which ranged over his entire career. At the end of the interview, he was persuaded to recite a bit of Shakespeare--the "seven ages of man" speech from "As You Like It," which he performed quite movingly, and dedicated to recently-deceased filmmaker John Schlessinger. Sir Ian looked great, in a very beautiful pair of leather pants. Not surprisingly, he didn't stay for the screening. I swiped the "reserved" sign from the back of his seat. He was replaced in the front row by some New Line folks, a couple of whom took turns scanning the audience with night-vision binos looking for bootleggers. I'm disinclined to write a spoiler-filled review of ROTK, especially as I'm still internalizing a lot of it. I will say that I like FOTR much better than TTT--both the books and the films--and had mixed expectations for ROTK. I needn't have worried: the final film of Peter Jackson's trilogy is an absolute masterpiece. I have a few quibbles, of course. I have serious reservations about the characterization of Denethor (my similar reservations about Faramir in TTT faded with repeat viewings, so I'll say no more). I sorely missed Saruman's balcony scene, which, by now, everyone knows was cut. One potential spoiler: I also missed a cut scene I hadn't heard about in advance--the parley with the Mouth of Sauron, which seemed to me to be a lost chance for some real character-driven drama. That said, the dramatic tensions, intercutting between stories, and development of the themes of friendship, sacrifice and loss in ROTK are handled brilliantly. The siege of Minas Tirith and the battle of the Pelennor Fields are terrifying and heart-wrenching. And Frodo, Sam & Gollum's journey through Mordor is a thing of great emotional complexity. Trust me, you'll cry. Visually, how can you lose when you let Jackson's brilliant team loose on rich environments like Minas Tirith, Mount Doom and the Grey Havens, or on fantastic creatures like fell beasts, war oliphaunts ... and Shelob? I'll only say your jaws will ache from repeated dropping. I don't know how I'll feel next year after I've seen the ROTK extended edition a few times and can judge the trilogy properly as a whole. Today, though, to quote Boromir, life is good. I think ROTK is probably the finest of three very fine films.
Middle Earth Meets Orlando (The City)
Xoanon @ 8:32 pm EST
Attention all free peoples of Middle Earth! Just as Gandalf sought out the identity of the One Ring in the library at Minas Tirith so can you discover your true fellowship at the Orlando Public Library. Begin your preparation for the final leg of the journey with an afternoon of all things Middle Earth. Event features: The event is on Sunday, December 14th from 1:00 to 4:00 at the Orlando Public Library, 101 E. Central Blvd Orlando, FL 32828. 1:00 "Prancing Pony Brag Meet"- Secure a table at the Prancing Pony to display your most enviable LOTR goods. 2:00 "Free Peoples of Middle Earth Fashion Show"- Up for some healthy competition? Come decked out in your Middle Earth garb and try for the title of "best dressed". 2:30 "Hobbits in Hollywood"- "Shire" your thoughts about the Lord of the Rings books and films. How faithful to the movies were the books? What underlying themes course through these time-honored stories? Would Tolkien have approved of the films? The answers to these questions are what inquiring minds want to know! 3:00 Lore Challenge- Do you have the heart of the hobbit, the erudition of the elf, and the mettle of men? If so, then prove your valor at the trivia table to determine how well you really know Middle Earth. 4:00 Special presentation by Dr. Jerome Donnelly, professor of English literature with a specialization in Tolkien, at the University of Central Florida. And much, much more! Participate or come enjoy the company of fellow Ringers all afternoon. For a full schedule of the day's events or to register for the Prancing Pony, the Fashion Show, or the Lore Challenge, please call 407-835-7323.
LOTR celebration champagne breakfast
Xoanon @ 8:08 pm EST
Michelle Le Maire writes: Thanks to Tourism New Zealand and the Science Museum in London, British LOTR fans were able to celebrate the premiere of ROTK in style on 1 December. Despite the heavy rain and early hour (07:30) about 100 guests, several in costume, turned up at the Science Museum to drink champagne and enjoy pictures of the red-carpet walk at the premiere in Wellington being beamed across to us (almost live!). The New Zealand High Commissioner gave a little speech to mark the occasion and we were all made to feel very welcome by all the Science Museum staff and the staff from Tourism New Zealand. We even got a chance to wander about in the LOTR exhibition currently running at the Science Museum and to see all the wonderful costumes, weapons and armour on display. It’s well worth a visit if you are an LOTR fan and live in or near London because some of the costumes, particularly Gimli’s and Galadriel’s didn’t come across that well on screen, or else they were just more ornate and stunning in the flesh, so to speak. You will marvel at the detail in the helmets for instance, and remember to take a look at the leather strap at the back of Eomer’s helmet – it has his name embossed in the leather! So many treasures to see, so little time! At our departure we were given goodie bags from TNZ containing LOTR mouse mat, Rough Guide to LOTR and some posters of NZ amongst other things. Many thanks again to Ainsley Pope from TNZ and Matt Garrett at the Science Museum and their teams for giving London LOTR fans such a treat to mark this great occasion.
The greatest story ever told
Xoanon @ 6:34 pm EST
Shane Hegarty writes: Shane Hegarty writes: The final eposide of 'The Lord Of The Rings' trilogy is coming to a screen near you. Shane Hegarty on the epic work, from conception to creation. In Wellington on Monday, the première of The Return of the King, the final instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was a quiet affair. Just the cast and crew, 100,000 fans, a 470 metre-long red carpet, an Air New Zealand jumbo jet flying low over Wellington harbour, its fuselage painted with movie scenes and daubed with its current slogan "Airline to Middle-earth", and a tickertape parade for director and local hero Peter Jackson. Ladies, the Prime Minister Helen Clark was wearing a specially designed Tolkien-style chain-mail jacket. After seven years and a total spend of more than the GNP of Sierra Leone, it was probably not the time to get stingy. The big-screen treatment of Frodo Baggins's adventures in Middle-earth has inspired awe and just as much admiration for how it got there. They are movies great in both scale and soul, but they are also movies of statistics. Twenty thousand extras were used. One in every 160 New Zealanders was involved in the production. 1,600 pairs of prosthetic feet and ears (individually shaped and sized) were made, as were 48,000 swords, scabbards, axes and shields, 300 wigs, and 900 suits of armour. Even breakfast was epic. The crew consumed 1,460 eggs every morning of the shoot. It has taken seven years from conception to conclusion. Filming of all three movies took place back-to-back over 274 days between 1999-2000. In total they cost $330 million to make, not counting the $210 million spent persuading you to go and see them. The first two chapters - Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers - have already made $1.8 billion at the box office and ultimately, the franchise is expected to make $3 billion. The movies were nominated for 19 Oscars and won six. There is a woman in Thailand who claims to have seen Fellowship of the Ring 250 times already. And they nearly never got made. The original studio, Miramax, was unable to guarantee Jackson his required budget and wanted the 1,000-page novel to be squeezed into a single two-hour movie. With Jackson aghast, Miramax allowed him four weeks to find another studio before they would take it back. Six studios did not even return his calls and when Jackson brought a 35-minute presentation made with $50,000 of his own cash to the offices of modest Time Warner subsidiary New Line Cinema, it was with the hope of spreading the three-part book over two films. New Line not only asked him to make three movies, it also allowed him to make them in one go in his home country of New Zealand. The early days went badly. Irish actor Stuart Townsend was removed from the role of Aragorn a few days after filming began in October 1999, because of "creative differences". The following month, sets were washed away by flood waters. New Line began to get a little nervous. During filming, it sacked 20 per cent of its staff and there was widespread belief that failure of the film would end the company. Concern grew that Jackson had made nothing but low-budget horror movies and one indie hit, Heavenly Creatures. The future of the company was in the hands of a Tolkien fanatic with no experience of making blockbusters. Costs spiralled. Much of it went into creating landscapes of Middle-earth through WETA Digital, a New Zealand company Jackson co-owns. The effects were a mix of computer ingenuity and human graft. They created a camera that forced perspective, so that Ian McKellen's giant Gandalf towered over Ian Holm's four-foot tall Bilbo Baggins. More than 250,000 silk leaves were applied by hand to just one tree. There are 220,000 computerised soldiers in the final battle scenes, each of them programmed to independently interact with their surroundings. As the technology evolved and became cheaper, so the battles became more ambitious. The Return of the King has as many effects shots as the first two movies put together. The success of the first two movies allowed New Line to give Jackson carte blanche to do what he needed with the special effects for the third. All the while, secrecy was paramount. Mark Ordesky was the New Line executive charged with bringing footage from New Zealand to Los Angeles. On more than a dozen 14-hour plane flights, Ordesky would slide himself into an aisle seat, put the video tape into a backpack, strap the pack to his chest, drape an airline blanket over his torso, tuck the ends under his thighs for good measure, and strap the seat belt tight across his lap. The paranoia proved justified. In May, 2000, Wellington police launched a sting operation after someone tried to sell footage of the then unreleased first film over the Internet. Police offered €96,000 for the footage before arresting three men, including a member of the film crew. Later that year, a former security guard admitted stealing €114,000 of costumes and props. Meanwhile, the scenery was keen on the limelight. The movies, as the New Zealand Tourist Board is most eager to point out, were made in their beautiful country, and they would like you to come visit. Nobody's quite sure what effect it has had on the local economy. They have been expecting a surge in tourism since the first day of filming but are still bracing themselves for impact. Visitor numbers were up 9 per cent for September, making it the busiest September ever. But Australia's visitor numbers were up twice that amount. It will gall New Zealanders all the more to know that the Melbourne Age was this week running the story: "Rings Film to Boost Aussie Tourism." There is no Oscar for Best Mountain. When the first movie was released there was dismay at how the leading American newspapers did not mention the location in their reviews. Feeling that they let the opportunity slip by twice already, the New Zealand government has been keen to capitalise on the final instalment before it is too late. Some $4 million has been spent on a promotional campaign. The elf queen adorns New Zealand stamps. They have minted a set of coins, all legal tender and "featuring a range of popular characters and stunning scenes from the three movies". A "Minister for Lord of the Rings" has been appointed to oversee the promotion of the country. Meanwhile, there has been growing debate over the true cost of the project. New Line's arrangement with the New Zealand government allowed the studio to set up a tax-sheltered local company to make the films and then buy the finished product from that company. It is estimated to have cost the local taxpayers €115 million, which is about what the country earned from wine exports last year. Current Finance Minister, Michael Cullen, recently pointed out that it would have been cheaper to buy every New Zealander a ticket to each film in the trilogy. A leaked government report earlier this year admitted that it is "unclear whether any substantive profits will be returned to New Zealand". An expensive report on the effect the films have had on the native film industry was dismissed as vague and inconclusive. By way of bait to Hollywood, a large budget grant scheme has been set up, which will reimburse one-eighth of the money production companies' spend there. Local film-makers have complained that it will be of little benefit to them, while cynics point out that only Tom Cruise's next movie, The Last Samurai, has been filmed in New Zealand since. Even Jackson's WETA faces an uncertain future, with as many as half of its 408 workers facing the door. The special effects for his next movie, King Kong, will be made there in 2005, but until then the company acknowledges that it will find it hard to keep everybody busy. Any gripes, though, were drowned out by the scream of the jumbo over Wellington on Monday and will soon be lost under the crescendo of ringing tills. There will most likely be more Oscars in February. Jackson will ultimately pocket $150 million for giving up seven years of his life to the movies. There is talk of adaptingTolkien's prequel, The Hobbit. Meanwhile, The Lord of the Rings can expect an epic shelf life. The extra footage on the DVDs guarantees huge sales. There are porn versions and someone is threatening to do Lord of the Rings: The Stage Musical. The merchandising possibilities seem interminable. A wizard's pipe, yours for only €59.99. A "very collectible" paperweight, a snip at €50. A Lord of the Rings pinball machine of your very own for just €4,000. Millions may have been spent on the movies, but this is no time to start wasting it. In next Thursday's Ticket, Hugh Linehan reports from Berlin on the European première of The Return of the King, and talks to the cast and crew.
A Booklover's Perspective: ROTK review
Celeborn @ 5:43 pm EST
Ringer Lee sends in this very SPOILER HEAVY review of ROTK:
A Booklover's Perspective: ROTK review from advance screening at KCET Public Television benefit event, Dec. 5. 2003
A warning up front: this review comes from the perspective of someone who has had a 27 year love affair with 'The Lord of the Rings.' It also comes from someone with advanced training in literary analysis, and therefore a high standard for any form of storytelling. So if you haven't read the books, or don't really care about thematic coherence and logical consistency in your stories, this review won't mean much to you. On the other hand, I am not a 'purist' in demanding a faithful adaptation of the book: there are obvious differences between print and cinema that require change, and of course Peter Jackson et al. had to make a movie that would sell. So this isn't a review by someone who rejects all change from the original. But boy, if you are going to change the elements of one of the best written, bestselling stories of all time, you'd better have a good reason, and you'd better do it well.
Note also: I'm not going to refrain from including spoilers, because frankly, if you love the book, you should be warned in advance of changes that you probably won't like. That way, you can focus on what does work in the film, rather than being distracted and disturbed by unexpected elements. I wish I had known about the things that bothered me; then I might have been able to look past them more easily. This review isn't going to go through the movie scene-by-scene (that, to me, would be the true spoiler) but focus on the unexpected--good and bad--that is worth noting.
As most fans know by now, the movie opens with the finding of the Ring by Deagol, and the murder that starts Smeagol's descent. It's a great way to begin this film, grounding us back in the addiction story and reminding us of what it is that Frodo so fears. Unfortunately, Andy Serkis overplays Smeagol as a witless grinning moron, and the SFX for the scene are way below WETAs usual extraordinary level, so the effectiveness of the scene is undercut. But the fight that leads to Deagol's murder is chilling and powerful.
When the film shifts to Frodo, Sam and Gollum in Mordor, we get the beginning of an interesting expansion and change from Tolkiens original. What the filmmakers do, so that we have more to watch than the hobbits trudging along day after day, is to amp up the conflict among these three. We see more of Gollum's plotting; more of Sam seeing Gollum plot; and more of Frodo refusing to see Gollum's true threat. Indeed, the script goes so far as to have Gollum warn Frodo that Sam will ask to carry the ring (which he does soon after), and frame Sam as having stolen missing lembas. The result is that Frodo tells Sam to go home, and faces Shelob alone. Was it plausible that Frodo would march off with Gollum, not even a pack on his back, while Sam weepingly starts back down the stairs? Not really. But the dynamic works nonetheless because it fits the logic of the characters' development. Frodo is suspicious already, so it's easy to see why he'd fall victim to Gollum's deceit; Sam is too loving and simple to know how to combat Gollum's complex treachery. And the sorrow that each feels at this parting is moving and true.
And of course Sam doesn't go home, but returns, and in so doing restores the story to the shared journey of these two brave souls. Indeed, the final journey through Mordor, although much shortened (how much crawling and thirst can a filmmaker depict?), is powerfully done, and pretty faithful to the book.
You know by now that we don't see Saruman's death. We do get a brief stop at Isengard, and a nod to 'Flotsam and Jetsam' (my favorite chapter in TTT), as the slightly drunken Merry and Pippin greet the party from Helm's Deep. But the very brevity of the visit--we're just there long enough for Pippin to find the palantir, and for Gandalf to tell Treebeard not to hurt Saruman--is frustrating. I would gladly have traded seven minutes of Oliphaunts and orcs at the Pelennor Fields for the closure of dealing with Saruman, who was the source of so much pain and death in the previous movie. By brushing him off as 'old business,' the movie makes me feel instead that it has left unfinished business.
The worst disservice to the original story, however, comes in the portrayal of Denethor. Gone is the noble, if arrogant, Steward, with his keen vision. What we get instead is a nasty pig of a man, who won't light the beacons to send for help from Rohan (we're never told why), necessitating an absurd scene in which Gandalf has Pippin secretly scale some insane height so as to light the first beacon. Rather than film the superb moment in which Faramir reports to his father in front of Gandalf and Pippin, and reveals that he's seen hobbits in Ithilien, Gandalf takes Pippin with him on Shadowfax to rescue the riders retreating from Osgiliath. The filmmakers clearly wanted a way to have Faramir see a hobbit, so that he could then tell Gandalf. But as a bit of plot logic, this is just plain silly (why would you take a hobbit with you to ride out against a Nazgul whom you plan to battle with light from your staff?), and misses the chance to have Faramir torn between Gandalf and Denethor and forced to admit to his father that he let the ring go. Instead, we get Denethor, who appears utterly oblivious to what is going on, eating sloppily as he tells Faramir to go on a suicide mission to reclaim Osgiliath, for no other reason than that he hates his son. David Wenham does a great job showing Faramir's pain at his father's cruelty; John Noble chews the scenery as absurdly as he chews his chicken and tomatoes.
But here's the worst--when the orc armies arrive at Minas Tirith, Denethor freaks and tells his soldiers to abandon their posts. How does Gandalf handle this? He USES HIS STAFF TO BEAT UP THE STEWARD OF GONDOR. Gandalf, who embodies wisdom and only uses violence when physically attacked, is reduced to thuggishness in dealing with craven, nasty Denethor. This was for me the low point of the film; I was so astonished at the needless reduction of a complex character, and its distorting effect on the other characters in the film, that I wanted to leave the theatre. In changing Denethor, for no good reason, the filmmakers sacrificed true dramatic conflict for an overly simplistic polarizationDenethor BAD, okay to beat up; Gandalf good, no matter what he does. And can you imagine the soldiers of Gondor obeying Gandalf after they've seen him coldcock their leader?
The other character who is most damaged by the film's revisions is Elrond. We know that he resists his daughter's choic--how could he not? But by ROTK he has become such a doom-and-gloom naysayer that one wonders why he ever held his Council; after all, he seems to think that the side of good cannot win, so why bother to try? In order to give Elrond something to do, and amp up the dramatic tension, he delivers Anduril to Aragorn at Dunharrow, along with the announcement that Arwen is dying: her life force, he says, is now tied to the ring, so that if Aragorn fails and the ring is not destroyed, that will be the end of Arwen. Huh?! Nothing is served by this bit of plot complication; it's never referred to again, and makes no sense in relation to all else that has come before and comes after.This pattern of creating excessive danger and conflict in order to amp up the story reaches its absurdist peak here.
There is much that the film leaves out, of course, of sad necessity. Here are some things you should plan NOT to see, that you might have expected and would be disappointed to miss:
· Merry pledging fealty to Theoden, or any of that plot line
· Eomer mourning his uncle on the field of battle (although they must have shot this, as I've seen stills of the scene) or taking on the role of King of Rohan
· The wedding of Aragorn and Arwen (although we get their meeting on the day of his coronation)
· Anything to do with Faramir and Eowyn after Faramir is rescued from the pyre and Eowyn saves Theoden (except that they stand smiling side by side during the coronation)
· The partings of the members of the fellowship, other than at the Grey Havens
In sum: although there were some excellent and very moving moments in this film, including the Grey Havens, I left feeling that Peter Jackson et al. had moved further and further away from an evocation of the original story, and more towards an excessively hyped-up, Hollywood-ized action adventure. Subtlety and complexity have increasingly given way to simple contrasts and exaggerated dramatic conflicts. The thematics of loss that are the heart of the book are minimized: we see only the prices paid by Arwen and Frodo for their choices, and Arwen seems happy enough at the end that even her sacrifice is minimized. Where there is thematic coherence--as when Frodo wakes after being rescued from the slopes of Mt. Doom, in a scene very like his awakening at Rivendell--the film goes for the quickie result, showing a bunch of happy hobbits hugging and laughing. And where ROTK might have come back to the theme of heroes and storytelling that Sam raises at the end of TTT, it fails to do so, missing another opportunity to develop its own ideas.
I hope this review will help other lovers of the trilogy to be prepared; perhaps, if you are, you will be able to tolerate what is wrong and better appreciate what is right. It is still an amazing thing that Middle Earth was brought to life!
Lee
Trilogy Tuesday Contest in Baltimore
maegwen @ 2:33 pm EST
Thanks for posting the information about our "Trilogy Tuesday" ticket sales that took place on October 10th. If you recall, at that crucial time our www.senator.com site was down from hurricane Isabel [and stayed down for some time!] As a direct result of your timely posting, our overnight line for "Trilogy Tuesday" tickets included a good number of true believers that came from all over the surrounding states [we are the only location in Maryland doing the extended edition screenings and "Trilogy Tuesday"]. Two fans showed up from Colorado! We also will be doing drawings each evening starting this Friday 12/5 through Thursday 12/11, before each evening's 7:30pm show of the special edition of "The Fellowship of the Ring" for two tickets to "Trilogy Tuesday". So each evening, on those dates, some lucky individual in our audience will win two Trilogy tickets.
I wanted to pass along some additional information to you. Blessedly, our new site is up at www.senator.com .
Thanks again for giving us a timely leg up and keeping your site visitors informed of what's up at The Senator Theatre, "Baltimore's Premiere Showplace".
As an 900 seat, single-screen historic independent moviehouse in a chain dominated industry, it is an extraordinary honor to have been designated by New Line Cinema as the only theatre in Maryland to present this special LOTR engagement. For all of us who are striving to maintain and enhance The Senator's cutting edge state-of-the-art presentation quality and gracious style of operation, it is truly wonderful to be honored in this way.
The LOTR fans we have gotten to know from our prior engagement of "The Two Towers" and from the "Trilogy Tuesday" ticket line have been terrific. As fellow fanatics in our own right regarding The Senator Theatre, we all established an immediate rapport and we are really looking forward to making this upcoming LOTR engagement a very special one for all concerned.
Regards,
Tom Kiefaber /Owner
Ian McKellen Chat Transcript!
Xoanon @ 1:46 pm EST
Thanks to Glorfin2 we have the complete transcript from Ian McKellen's recent chat on Sci-Fi.com! Take a look! [silverstars] Hi, Ian, If you could ask J.R.R. Tolkien anything about his character Gandalf, what would it be? [SIM] Is there a Missus Gandalf? [ninjor] Are you familiar with the similiarities between Gandalf the wizard and a character called "Vainamoinen" from a Finnish mythology called "Kalevala"? Has this aspect came clear to you as you have introduced yourself to the [SIM] No, I am not. But I am aware that Tolkien may have been familiar. But the actor's duty is to be fiathful to the screenplay, not to the novel itself or even to the influences on Tolkein. [Varda] Is there a Gandalf quote that you love the most? Can you tell us what it is? [SIM] I will try. [superandi48]: what has been your favorite scene in the filming of the three movies? [SIM] I think as far as Gandalf is concerned, I mjost enjoyed visiting the hobbits in Hobbiton. I did that on my very first day of filming in January 200. [deathskiss]: Hello Sir Ian- Would you consider reprising Gandalf if Peter Jackson decides to do 'The Hobbit'? [SIM] Certainly! [Locke]: Other than Gandalf, is there a character you would like to have been in the LOTR trilogy? [SIM] Hmmmm... [Siwel-Kire]: In the scene in Bag End where Gandalf hits his head on the beam directly after hitting his head on the chandelier, I've heard that that was not in the script. Is that true? [SIM] That is true. [Aragorn-Elessar] : Hey Ian. Did you do anything to set a differance between Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White? If so what? [SIM] The basic difference is that Gandalf becomes more focused, more determined, and is rejuvenated -- is actually younger -- as Tolkein suggests. [Igtica] : Sir Ian, did you have to learn to ride bareback to do the shadowfax scenes or was there some other means? [SIM] [laughs] [ricquebec]: my daughter would like to now if sir ian has a cat at home and if he do ,what's its name [SIM] No, I don't have any pets. But if I did, I think I would have a dog. [Siwel-Kire]: The differences between your most recent characters of Magneto and Gandalf were very different. How did you become such a good actor? [SIM] Thank you. [Mithrandir2]: How was the sequence on top of the Tower of Orthanc filmed? [SIM] The top of the tower was a raised platform built in the carpark of the film studios. [Tabrimmon]: Sir Ian, which of the three films is your favourite and why? [SIM] I think I prefer the first. Because the exctement is beginning to build, and you get to know the characters well. [Dan]: What was your reaction to seeing yourself for the first time in a video game? :D [SIM] [laughs] [ElessarKing] : What is it like going to all of the premieres for The Return of the King? In NZ [SIM] It was one of the most exciting and emotional days of my life. [OrangeBlossom] : What was your last day of filming like? [SIM] Hard work. [sbcglobal] : Sir ian, will you ever be coming to Russia for LOFTR premiere? We are waiting for you so much [SIM] I would love to return to Moscow. [sam] : Hey, Mr. McKellen I was wondering if learning the different lanaguges Tolkien created for the LOTR was an easy task or was it diffcult? Being Gandalf you had to learn so many different speeches... was it hard to keep up with it all? [SIM] [laughs] [ChatMod] [Paladin] : Sir Ian, (you are a fantastic actor!) about how many hours did it take for make-up for you? [SIM] To begin with, it took two and a half hours -- maybe more -- for Gandalf the Grey, but it got quicker as the months went by. [ChatMod] Was it hard acting out the movie sequences involving the Balrog? [SIM] I did not see the Balrog until I saw the film! [cowgurl222] : bet you have learned so much working with Peter Jackson and with everyone on this film... what is one thing y ou will carrie with you? [SIM] To be patient, and not expect to achieve everything at the first take. [moldy-hair] : Sir Ian, What would you say was your worst day of filming, and could you elaborate? [SIM] Ohhhh... [LOTR4life] : Hi, Sir Ian, did you volunteer to do most of your own stunts? [SIM] No. [ChatMod] [superandi48] : How has you history in Shakespearean history helped you on the film? [SIM] In Shakespeare, as in Tolkein, I have had to be able to play-act with intimacy, and with large rhetoric. [ChatMod] Mercury] : Who is your favourite cast member in LotR? [SIM] Gollum. I want to meet him some day. [zachary] : Sir Ian are you sad that it is coming to an end? [SIM] Since I finished principal photography as Gandalf, I have been in three other movies and played in Strindberg's "Dance of death" which I am revising in Sidney Australia next month. [ChatMod] How would you contrast working on small films like Gods And Monsters with blockbusters like LoTR? [SIM] The principal difference is the budget. [Mithrandir2] : Since Viggo once needed a taller double to fit the proportions when he was beside a hobbit, did you ever have to have a taller double in the same way? [SIM] Yes, Viggo and I shared Paul, a New Zealand actor who is nearly seven feet tall as our double. [ChatMod] Sire Ian, our final question -- and thank you so much for taking the time to join us. What advice do you give to aspiring actors and actresses? [SIM] [laughs] [ChatMod] Thank you Sir Ian
script and history of LotR?
[SIM] All we have to do is to... fill the time that is given to us? Something like that. And I like the fact that there is no religious ethic or morality involved in Middle Earth.
[SIM] There is no church in Hobbit Town.
[SIM] Every person must decide for themselves how they organize their life.
[SIM] 2000, I mean.
[SIM] It was thrillintg to see the village brought to life.
[SIM] [Laughs]
[SIM] No, I think I'm very happy just to have played Galndalf -- but don't forget I play TWO Gandalfs so I was doubly lucky.
[SIM] That was my idea.
[SIM] It told the audience that Gandalf was a little bit forgetful and that he had not been to Bag End recently.
[SIM] So his voice changes, along with his movement and attitude.
[SIM] Sir Ian chuckles...
[SIM] Under Gandalf's voluminous costume, there was a saddle.
[SIM] But there was no bridle, and sometimes no stirrups.
[SIM] there was also Basil who was the stunt rider.
[SIM] I have been acting professionally for 42 years, and have not yet been out of work.
[SIM] Practice does not necessarily make perfect but it helps.
[SIM] The winds were provided by wind machines, but the interior of Orthanc was a set in the studio itself.
[SIM] Gandalf has more variety of character in that film.
[SIM] I thought "that will make a good present for my great-nieces and nephews."
[SIM] Film actors rarely meet their audience.
[SIM] It was wonderful to feel the love that fans have for these characters, as well as for the actors who portry them.
[SIM] I did a lot of Gandlaf's fighting for the final battle.
[SIM] We then had a party and I was given Gandalf's sword as a souvenir.
[SIM] But so far I have not been invited!
[SIM] I would really love to visit every country in the world and meet Gandalf's friends.
[SIM] I spoke very little non-English.
[SIM] But I had to learn Elvish, but just by rote.
[SIM] Like a parrot!
[SIM] [laughs]
[SIM] Gandlaf the White took almost half that time.
[SIM] He was -- it was -- just a yellow tennis ball on top of a pole for me to shout at.
[SIM] I felt like screaming "You shall not bounce!"
[SIM] Peter sometimes asked us to do scenes more than twenty times as the camera rolled.
[SIM] Probably one of the very few days in which I got made up and dressed abd had to sit all day without ever working.
[SIM] My attitude is that stunt people have an expertise which very few actors have.
[SIM] it would be irresponsible to risk being injured so that filming would have to stop.
[SIM] However, most of the time you see Gandlaf fighting, it is me.
[SIM] The riding was a different matter.
[SIM] A friend of mine was fatally injured riding on set, and I always remember him when I am asked to do something dangerous.
[SIM] So I was not frightened of acting big in the film.
[SIM] When required.
[SIM] But I am very fond of Ian Holm whom I have admired on stage and screen since I was a boy.
[SIM] he plays Bilbo.
[SIM] So the wizard and I have already drifted apart.
[SIM] Gods and Monsters could only take four weeks to film..
[SIM] Although I like the challenge of intensive work, I think I prefer the more leisurely time scale that a larger budget permits.
[SIM] I also saw him once dressed as a giagantic Legolas.
[SIM] You save the most difficult question for the last!
[SIM] I am sorry I don't have more time to elaborate, but the best advice I can give is to act whenever you can, paid or unpaid, with people whom you know will be honest in their criticism.
[SIM] Also, watch other people act and analyze why you think they are good or not good.
[SIM] I might direct everybody to my website: www.mckellen.com where I have answered many similar questions in my e-postings.
[SIM] All best wishes from Middle Earth.
Director's Guild Theatre Screening with PJ Report!
Xoanon @ 12:55 pm EST
Patrick writes: I've never written before, but LOVE your site. BIG LoTR fan here, ever since THE HOBBIT cartoon appeared on tv in the late 70's. Last night I was blessed to attend an advanced screening of RETURN OF THE KING at the Director's Guild theatre in Hollywood. This is where director's view their films privately among their peers and to vote on Oscars, Golden Globes, etc. It is arguably the best theatre in L.A. - private - with the BEST sound and image available (and darn comfortable seats too). The film started at 7 p.m. - we were there at 5:30. We got seventh row seats. The lights went down... I honestly, in good conscience, don't feel right about giving away spoilers to this film - it is right to leave surprises for yourself on this one. You must have the chance to experience it 'clean'. But there are a few here, so read at your own risk... I PROMISE you - you have never seen what you are going to see in this film. I work in the industry IN GRAPHICS, and my jaw was on the floor (that is, when I wasn't saying "Oh my gosh!"). Helm's Deep truly is now nearly dull! The film is epic, sweeping, a vast grand saga in the truest vein. I had high high hopes and expectations, and they were not only met, but SURPASSED. The balance between top-notch action and truly small, personal, touching moments makes this film an incredible narrative. It IS exhausting, but in a very very good way. It is thurough (as thurough as a film with this much in it could be). This film truly delivers, as a final film in a series never has. Not Indy, not Jedi, not Aliens, and certainly, CERTAINLY not Matrix. I personally felt the first hour was just a little slow, but then its non-stop from there. They got so many of the scenes dead on. Eowyn/Dernhelm vs. the Witch King - awesome! (especially what happens to him when he dies). Shelob - oh boy! Every strike from Sam is right out of the book. Denethor and the pyre - greeeaat scene (his actual demise has been dramatized, but its really cool). YES, there are many exclusions and changes that will get under the skin of us purists, but most of them were understandable and acceptable. There were a few that were NOT, however. NO MOUTH OF SAURON!? Why? That one didn't make sense. And no House of Healing - too bad - it was a way for Aragorn to show his kinglyness in a non-fighting way. And no union of Eowyn and Faramir - no uniting of the two kingdoms - hard to accept that one. AND by the way - they TOTALLY could have kept the Sauruman scene just fine - it might have been slightly slower, but it is an interesting and exciting scene, and would have flowed okay. It felt odd not having his stoy=ryline closed correctly - too easily. And also, the passage of time in RoTK is off, but that has been a problem with all three films. Hopefully the EE will help that one some, like it did FELLOWSHIP. By the way - If you have ever had to say goodbye to someone you dearly loved, and knew you would never see again, YOU WILL CRY in this film. Me, I'm a marshmellow, but my brother is stone stoic - and he was trying to wipe the tears without my noticing! There were sniffles in the crowd. Also - not to offend anyone - but if you are of the Christian faith, like Tolkien was, the coronation scene can't help but remind you of a return of Christ analogy. Aragorn looks INCREDIBLE in his Kingly garb and glory! Also - use the restroom RIGHT BEFOREHAND, or have a big, big bladder! Afterwards Peter Jackson took the stage to an immediate standing O. He answered questions for about 45 minutes. He spoke of the Sauruman scene 'probably' being on the dvd, along with a beer drinking contest between Gimli and Legolas which he said was 'hilarious'. When asked if he thought the Fantasy genre was unjustly ignored and viewed illigimately by Hollywood, he said yes he thought it was, and that "all films are in essence fantasy anyway, aren't they? I mean what is the difference between our scene of Eowyn cradling the dying Theoden in her arms, just because there's a castle and an elf in our movie? We are just taking more extreme methods of conveying basic human conpcepts." About THE HOBBIT - he said he was definitely interested in doing it, once New Line had worked out the rights with United Artists, who he said aquired the distribution rights 20 or 30 years ago. Afterwards, when he was speaking to people personally, I asked him if he thought Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis would be interested in reprising their roles in THE HOBBIT (I knew Ian McKellen had already said that he HAD to play Gandalf if the movie was made, and I assume they'll get a younger, new Biblo). Peter Jackson's answer was "Oh, I would assume they would want to. I mean, I'm sure they would." A point of interest - the fellow who had shot Elijah Wood's audition video, which was sent to England and won him the role, was there and introduced himself to Jackson. Peter stayed afterwards, until twelve o'clock, and met everybody who wanted to meet him, answered every personal question, and signed every last autograph (see attached). For someone who has been doing this project for nearly seven years, he gave interesting, excited, non-rehearsed answers, and treated every fan like they were important. And with kids, he took on a wonderful, excited, imanginative, and fun persona, teasing and treating them special. What a great guy - I'm glad that he was the one to head up our beloved novels. He is a true geek through and through. Special thanks to my boss at work - who graciously allowed us to attend the evening in his stead.
Elijah Wood on Jay Leno Transcript
Xoanon @ 12:25 pm EST
A BIG thank you to Cyloran for this transcript, photos to come soon. (EW enters to band playing Shire theme) Elijah Wood: My God, such a regal entrance! Jay Leno: It is a regal entrance. It’s a regal movie! EW: I’m not the king, tho! Viggo is. JL: That’s alright. You’re as close tonight as we have to a king. EW: I’ll do, then? JL: Forget the movie, even tho it’s like the biggest movie ever and it will make more money – forget that. Something that has amazed me more than anything else, you have finally got your own place! Did I hear that you’ve moved out of your mom’s house? EW: That’s right. (to the band) I think I need a little music for that, guys JL: Wow. That’s amazing. EW: I thought you’d like that, Jay. JL: Because the last time you were here I was teasing you about living at your mom’s house, folding the socks and all. EW: She’s does all of the laundry and all that sort of stuff. No, no! Not any more. Not any more. JL: Where’s the new place? EW: It’s in the Flat Iron District in Manhattan. JL: Oh, you’re in New York! Okay! EW: Yeah, in New York. JL: Now how does one go about that? I mean, you’re a young guy. Did they recognize you, for instance? Did they know it’s you, or do they go, this kid wants an apartment, let’s get out of here? EW: They were actually, to be honest, they were very nervous about me getting the apartment because I’m an actor, so it was kind of a rigorous screening process. Because the building that I’m renting from, the people actually own the building that live in the building, and so they met my sister and I who also moved out there with me, and they wanted to sit down with us and sort of have a chat about us living there, because they had a lot of questions in regards to, you know, do we stay up late at night, do we have parties, that kind of thing, because I think they had an idea of me that is not me. JL: Let me ask you this, do you stay up late at night or do you have parties? EW: I stay up late, I don’t have parties. JL: Well, parties with your sister, that seems almost creepy, but, ya know. Now you’re just back from where, New Zealand? EW: Back from New Zealand yesterday morning. JL: Which is really today. EW: Exactly. JL: So you’ve only been back an hour. EW: That’s right. JL: It’s confusing, isn’t it? EW: It’s a little weird. JL: How long a flight is that? EW: It’s about 12 hours. A 12 hour plane flight. JL: Well that’s not too bad. EW: Not too bad, but we’d just had a massive premiere and parade the day before. 125,000 people in the town of Wellington, the city of Wellington, came out for the premiere. It was pretty extraordinary. JL: Now in the parade are you dressed as the characters or do you dress normally? EW: I dress normally. I was in a suit, yeah. It would be pretty silly if we – JL: Well, I don’t know. I don’t know how those things work. EW: Right, okay. JL: Not being an actor, you know. Now you shot the whole movie down there, so one must go a little stir crazy being far from home. EW: A bit, yeah. JL: I mean, did you pull pranks? Did you do things like that to one another? EW: There was a bit of pranks on the set. I mean, you know, it was a rigorous schedule so we had to kind of mix it up a little bit to sort of ease the tension. There was one time where Dom Monaghan, who plays one of the hobbits, and myself fashioned . . . we had this idea because Viggo, one of the other actors in the film, had been attacking people’s trailers and sort of decorating them in horrible ways and so we – JL: Attacking their trailers and decorating them? EW: Yeah, yeah. Sort of spray painting the trailers and coming up with ways to sort of decimate various actors’ trailers, so we came up with this idea to fashion a turd, a piece of poo— JL: Yeah, I think we know what a turd is. Anybody not familiar with a turd? You know, poo? EW: You know, poo. Thought I’d clarify it. JL: Of course. EW: Out of this sort of cotton material. We were in getting our feet worked on, as you do when you’re a hobbit, and we basically took this sort of cotton material, got some paint which there were lots of various colors of paints – JL: Turd colored. EW: Yeah, a good brown. In fact, they did have a poo color. JL: This is more information than I want. EW: So we sort of molded these wonderful poos that ended up looking very realistic and then we set them on his doorstep of his trailer. I think that went over very well. JL: Let me ask you this. When you went for your apartment in New York, did you tell them this turd story. Did they know? EW: No, that was not included. It wasn’t necessary. JL: Okay, we’ll take a little break, more with Elijah after this. (coming back from commercial) JL: We’re back with Elijah Wood from Lord of the Rings. Sorry about being in New Zealand. Now I heard about some drinking that happened on the set, did I hear through the grapevine? EW: It wasn’t on set, actually. There was plenty of drinking, not on set. There was one sort of experience that we had. JL: Experience? EW: Well, yeah. There’s a fountain in the center of Wellington that was a point of particular frustration for myself and for Dom Monaghan who’s in the film, he plays Merry, and it’s a fountain that is made of buckets. Colored buckets that each, the water sort of comes down and falls from one bucket to the next bucket to the next, so it lands in this sort of pool. But it doesn’t actually work because the sort of area around the fountain is sprayed with water as well. So we walked by this thing and people would walk by and they’d get water on them, and I thought, this is poor engineering. Why would someone create a bucket like this? Fountain like this. So one particular drunken evening, Dom, myself, Billy, who’s also in the film, were walking home from a bar and we saw this fountain, and Dom and I look at it and went, that thing is rubbish! And he said, yeah, we should conquer it. I said, conquer it? He said, yeah, come on, let’s climb it! I said, alright, let’s climb it! So we climb the thing . . . (laughs, then shakes his head) . . . and, um, once we got to the top, what else is there to do? JL: I don’t know. EW: But urinate in it. And really show our disgust. JL: You know, this is why Americans are loved around the world. We go to a foreign country and we urinate in the fountain. EW: There you go. JL: Now the people walking by, rather than just be splashed with water, would have urine on them as well. EW: Possibly, yeah. And Peter, Peter Jackson was very upset. The director of our film, was very upset when he found out that we’d done this. I believe he was heard to say, but I grew up with that fountain! Which was a bit of a shame, so I felt a bit bad after that. JL: So we had the turd story, and we have the – EW: Yeah, I’m just coming up with gems, aren’t I? JL: It was good. Now tell us about the movie. This is the big one? La dee da, the king and the whole bit. EW: This is it. JL: It’s an amazing series of movies, and you did them all at once, didn’t you? EW: All at once, yeah, we shot over 16 months in New Zealand. JL: Okay, so you must be stunned when you watch, oh that’s where that scene is! Did you shoot them in order – EW: Completely out of sequence. It is one story so it’s not too crazy. But yeah, this is it. This is the end of the journey. JL: (cueing monitor) Now what is this footage we’re going to see? What’s happening here? EW: I believe this is Sam and Frodo and Gollum, and Sam is attacking Gollum because he suspects him of some villainy and Frodo is saying that we need to keep Gollum with us. JL: You know, I was trying to think of who Gollum looks like. Put Gollum’s picture up there. And then I realized, it’s James Carvell (shows split screen with pic of Gollum and J.Carvell). It couldn’t be more exactly. Amazing! EW: That’s fantastic! JL: What an amazing likeness. EW: We should give James a call. JL: And you’re hosting Saturday Night Live, right, on the 13th? EW: That’s right. JL: Are you nervous about that? EW: I am quite nervous about it, but I’m also very excited. It will be a good time. JL: Have you hosted before? EW: No. First time. JL: Oh! First time! Ohhh, so you get the initiation – oh, I don’t want to go, to tell you – EW: Okay. JL: I don’t to go there, but you’ll have fun! EW: It will be awesome. JL: Elijah, congratulations! You’re doing terrific work.
Orlando Bloom on Jay Leno Transcript
Xoanon @ 12:16 pm EST
Thanks to Cyloran for the transcript! Photos to come soon. Jay Leno: Great to have you here, on the cover of all the magazines like GQ. Very cool. (much cheering and squealing from the audience). I know you’re from England, but where abouts? Orlando Bloom: Canterbury and Kent, just outside of London. JL: Okay, you grew up there. Now when did you get into the whole show business . . . when did you first do a play or get on stage or anything of that nature? OB: You know, I always really loved performing as a kid. I once . . . my first performance was a little embarrassing because I was doing a play at a local theatre and it was quite a big deal because it was the whole of Canterbury was there, and I was a monkey. Dressed in a monkey suit. There were three of us. And this monkey suit was really hot, you know? It was like one of those sort of synthetic suits, and I was only four, and I’ll never forget it. I think it’s lived with me ever since, I’ve been really paranoid about making the same mistake, but I, um, I itched my butt on stage because it was, like, I had this terrible itch, and of course the audience went mad with laughter. But I was a monkey, so it was sort of what a monkey would do! But I was like, “what did I do?” because I’d sort of broken the routine out of what I was supposed to be doing, so I was like, Uh! So it was sort of stage fright. JL: I was going to say, considering the other things monkeys do, that’s not bad. Now when did you first leave home to do acting and all that? OB: I was about sixteen, I moved to London, but I sort of finished my education in London and I sort of moved from Canterbury up to London because my best friend was at University up there and I sort of felt like the big city was the place to go if I was going to make it as an actor. JL: So you went to acting school. Did you do all of those sort of theatrical . . . you know, the exercises? OB: Oh, yeah! I went to drama school so, yeah, I was at Guild’s Hall for three years and they get you to do all sorts of exercises to get you in the . . . you know, to help you loosen up and sort of be natural and stuff. One of the exercises we had to do, you had to go and study animals at the zoo, you know, in order to find . . . it’s quite useful way for a character to actually find the animal’s movement and whatever. I kind of wanted to be an ape because I kind of liked the idea of idea of sort of being a bad -- (hits chest ala an ape and accidentally hits his mike). JL: That’s very ape-like. OB: Yeah. But my teacher insisted on me being a lizard so I wouldn’t do things like that (mimes beating on chest). And I had this sort of more stillness and composure, so I was a lizard, and that just meant that I had to hold this one position for like hours on end and occasionally jog my head and stick my tongue out. JL: Have you still got the lizard tongue out? Because that could come in handy, actually. OB: You want to see my tongue just – (Audience squeals and cheers.) OB: (laughing) It was sort of like that --! (quickly sticks out tongue, audience goes wild) JL: Very good! That was very good! And you’re actually, I understand you, I know you ride motorcycles like I do. Did you break your back once? Did I hear that? OB: I did, yeah. JL: And how did --? OB: That kind of changed my life. I was 21 and some friends had an apartment with a roof terrace and a landing below their apartment, and the door had been warped by the weather and it had been kicking open from the outside in. And I walked into their apartment and I thought, wow this is great. I looked out the window and the roof terrace was about a meter and a half to the left and down, and I thought I could just hop across. But instead I got onto this piece of lead flashing running down the wall, like a drain pipe but not, and I just fell back. I didn’t, it was rusty and old and it wasn’t much to hold on to and I fell back three floors and landed on a – JL: Three floors? OB: Yeah. I had a sort of really narrow escape because I landed the roof terrace below that was belonging to the neighbors below, and there was an old washing machine that was left out and I fell in-between the railings that were going around it and the washing machine, and I was just like there. They couldn’t get to me because there was nobody in the apartment, they had to get helicopters and firemen with fire engines to try and get to me. It was pretty trippy. JL: When you break your back aren’t you sort of confined to a wheelchair? I mean, that’s pretty serious. OB: It was a very narrow escape. They told me I wouldn’t walk for a while, they didn’t think the first four days, because I had no strength in my legs, but I bruised my spinal cord and I hadn’t severed it so I was very very lucky, and it sort of kind of changed my whole approach to life. Because I was a little bit reckless. I’d broke my leg on a motor bike and I had sort of broken my other leg skiing and snowboarding and had injuries. Not very elf-like. Like Legolas would never fall off a motor bike, you know what I mean? But it was . . . I kind of think of it as a really good thing. I think that things that happen to you that feel like their going to ruin your life actually there’s always something really positive to have out of it. JL: I think that’s a really good attitude to have. Now tell us about Return of the King. These are epic movies. I’m astounded when I see them how visual they are. It’s almost like you have to see them 4 times to go, hey, I didn’t see that dragon in the corner before! Tell us about what happens in this one. OB: Well, this is the last chapter of the three and I think the last of any movie is always the most exciting, you know? Because it’s sort of the dramatic conclusions to what’s been two films already and this is the third. So really you get a sense of closure on this and you see what happens to the Ring. I mean, if you don’t know, the books obviously quite well read and well known and everything but basically it all ends well. You just get a real sense of Aragorn becomes King, Frodo and Sam go off to Mt. Doom and do their business with the Ring and it sort of works out well. JL: And you have blonde hair and blue eyes. OB: That’s right, yeah. JL: (to audience) He’s not a natural blonde. (cues monitor) Let’s take a look. What’s happening here? You know this scene? OB: This is, I think this is as we enter the Paths of the Dead. This is about Aragorn assuming his responsibility to become a king. Part of it, he can call on the Dead to help him fight. (Shows clip of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli entering Paths of the Dead) JL: Terrific job! Orlando, please, please come back and see us again! OB: Love to.
10 Minutes of ROTK Goodness!
Xoanon @ 12:05 pm EST
Dimatariel writes: I just found out a Norwegian TV channel, TV2, broadcasted 10 minutes worth of footage from "The Return Of The King" on their website! The problem is, the sound quality is bad, and you've got to be a member and pay a small fee and stuff like that to see it, so I've published a small sort of summary of all the nine clips here:
Clip 1: Called "I Am On Your Side", this is Frodo, Sam and Gollum, I'm not quite sure where they are, and it all begins with Frodo holding Sam back, as if preventing him from attacking Gollum. "Sam, no!" he cries, and then Sam replies something I can't quite make out, which ends with: "He means to murder us!" Gollum screams then, and says humbly: "Never! Sméagol wouldn't hurt a fly! Stupid hobbit! Fat hobbit who hates Sméagol! He makes up nasty lies!" he screams, pointing at Sam. "You little maggot!" Sam cries, and almost attacks Gollum again, with Frodo pulling him away. "YOU'RE the liar!" Sam cries to Gollum. Frodo says angrily at Sam: "Sam! We're lost!" Sam replies then: "I don't care! I won't wait around for him to kill us!" "I'm not sending him away," Frodo says, and Sam says to him: "You don't see it, do you? He's a villain." Frodo says, seriously: "We can't do this by ourselves, Sam. Not without a guide. I need you on your side." Sam whispers: "I am on your side, Mister Frodo." Frodo says to him: "I know, Sam. I know. And so is he," he adds, referring to Gollum, who approaches him. "Come, Sméagol," he says, taking Gollum's hand and leading the way. As they walk off, Gollum grins evily at Sam.
Clip 2: Called "Something For The Road". This is in a stable, I think, with Gandalf lifting Pippin up on Shadowfax as they prepare to leave. "How far is Minas Tirith?" Pippin asks, and Gandalf replies: "Three days' ride, as the Nazgûl flies. Let us hope we won't have one of those on our tail." Then Merry comes in, handing something to Pippin. "Here," he says, "something for the road." Pippin looks at it, then says: "The last of the pipe weed", or something like that. "I know you've run out," Merry says seriously. "You smoke too much." Pippin looks down at him. "But... we'll see each other soon. Won't we?" Both he and Merry look at Gandalf, who seems worried as he gets up on Shadowfax behind Pippin. "I don't know," Merry says. Then he mumbles something I can't make out, but he seems about ready to cry. "Merry," Pippin whispers, as Gandalf eagers Shadowfax to get moving. "Merry!" Pippin cries desperately as they ride off out of the stable and onto the road. It's un unbelievably touchy scene, no doubt Merry and Pippin will finally create a few need-to-weep scenes in this film!
Clip 3: With the title "It Is Time", this is Arwen, I don't know quite where she is but it does look like Rivendell, and she's approaching Elrond saying: "Tell me what you have seen." "Arwen," he says, and she continues: "You have the gift of foresight. What did you see?" Elrond stares at her seriously and says: "I looked into your future and I saw death." Arwen says: "But there is also life." She approaches him, saying: "You saw there was a child. You saw my son." Elrond stares out at the view as he says: "That future is almost gone." Arwen follows him. I think she says something like: "It is not past," and then he says: "Nothing is certain." Arwen kneels at his side, the first thing she says I can't make out, but the rest is: "If I leave him now, I will regret it forever. It is time."
Clip 4: "At Your Service". This is Gandalf in the Stewart of Gondor's hall, saying to Denethor: "I come with tidings in this dark hour, and counsel." Denethor, sitting at the steps with Boromir's cloven horn in his hands, says: "Perhaps you have come to explain this. Perhaps you have come to tell me why my son is dead." Both Pippin, who is in the background, and Gandalf stare wideeyed when they see the horn. Then Pippin says: "Boromir died to defend us. My kinsman and me. He fell defending us from many foes." He comes forwards, and Gandalf says "Pippin!", but then the hobbit kneels in front of the Stewart and says: "I offer you my service. In payment of his death." Gandalf seems unhappy and worried about this...
Clip 5: Called "Ready For Fight". This is again Pippin and Gandalf, standing at a balcony with the view from Minas Tirith. Pippin is looking through some armoury, saying: "So I imagine this is just... ceremonial possessions. I mean... They don't actually expect me to do any fighting. Do they?" He lookes worriedly up towards Gandalf. "You're in the service of the Stewart now," he says. "You will have to do as you're told, Peregrin Took." Peregrin leans on the railing, saying: "It's so quiet." "It's the deep breath before the plunge," Gandalf says. "I don't want to be in a battle," Pippin says. "But waiting on the edge of what I can't escape is even worse." Gandalf approaches him as he asks: "Is there any hope, Gandalf? For Frodo and Sam?" Gandalf replies with a slight smile: "There never was much hope. Just a fool's hope."
Clip 6: Called "You Have Given Us Hope": This is Aragorn and Éowyn, preparing to leave. Aragorn says to her: "You ride with us?" She replies something like: "Only for a short distant. It is tradition for the women of the court to farewell the men." Aragorn hesitates, then approaches her horse looking under the saddle to find she's got a sword there. Éowyn quickly hides it again. "The men have found their captain," she says. "They will follow him to battle. Even to death. You have given us hope."
Clip 7: With the title: "Tell Me Everything", this is from when Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith with Pippin asleep under his cloak, riding with many Gondorian horsemen into the courtyard, where they stop. Gandalf hears someone call out: "Mithrandir!", and turns to see it is Faramir, who approaches him. "They have taken the bridge and the west bank." Another Gondorian rider says: "It is what lord Denethor predicted! Long has he forseen this doom." Gandalf says angrily, removing his cloak from Pippin: "Forseen, yet done nothing." Faramir stares wideeyed as he spots Pippin, and the hobbit doesn't seem too comfortable being watched. "Faramir?" Gandalf says. "This isn't the first halfling to have crossed your path?" Faramir confirms, "No." Now Pippin smiles, asking: "You've seen Frodo and Sam?" Faramir nods, and Gandalf asks: "Where? When?" Faramir replies: "In Ithilien. Not two days ago. Gandalf, they have taken the road to the Morgul vail," or something like that. Gandalf then says: "The pass of Cirith Ungol?" Faramir nods, and Pippin asks worriedly: "What does that mean? What's wrong?" Gandalf looks at Faramir. "Faramir, tell me everything."
Clip 8: "More Will Come": This is a clip which is a bit difficult to describe, because there's a lot of bad sound in it. It's a scene with Théoden, Aragorn, Legolas and many other ride through a Rohirrim camp, Théoden getting news from different men as he rides through, I'm guessing mostly about how many warriors have come. The scene then turns to Théoden and Aragorn, standing staring out at the Rohirrim camp. Théoden says: "Six thousand steers. That is half of what I had expected." Aragorn mumbles something here, and then Théoden says: "More will come." Aragorn actually speaks very low again, and I can't make it out, but whatever he says Théoden nods at it...
Clip 9: This last clip is the one from the entrance to the Paths of the Dead, one which has been released before, so I won't take the trouble of desciribing it... It's called "The Road Is Blocked", though.
| 12-05-03 Latest News |
Ticket Exchange: FIVE Exchange opportunities UPDATED
maegwen @ 7:09 pm EST
With Trilogy Tuesday only 12 days away, we are stepping up the pace on Ticket Exchange. LOTR fans are surely a generous bunch, and we still have quite a few tickets left to offer. Tonight we have FIVE Ticket Exchange offerings. Please read all the details carefully before replying. More information on Ticket Exchange can be found here. A brief excerpt: When a post is made, the FIRST e-mail I receive -- AFTER THE POST IS MADE -- expressing interest in that ticket and containing the correct subject line will be put into contact with the ticket-holder. You will do this by sending an e-mail to maegwen@theonering.net, with the following information: DO NOT E-MAIL IN ADVANCE OF ANNOUNCEMENTS, PLEASE. THERE IS *NO* WAITING LIST. By expressing interest, you agree NOT to resell this ticket for ANY AMOUNT higher than what you yourself pay for it. Edmonton, Alberta Canada: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please Valley View, Ohio: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please Farmingdale, NY: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please Farmingdale, NY: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please Plano, TX: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please
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That's it for tonight. We may have more ticket opportunities posted next week. Good Luck!
Minneapolis Carleton College ROTK Reviews!
Xoanon @ 4:38 pm EST
Reportd from the Minneapolis Carleton College ROTK Charity Premiere with Barrie Osborne: RDP writes: ***** Steven writes: This became more of a synopsis then I've read anywhere else online. I'm not sure how much people would want to read so Please label SPOILER for them. Feel free to post what you want of this if you want to post any. I'd love to be known as Master Oxley if you could. I saw the Return of the King tonight... and I thought you may want to hear a story about it Well to tell the story I'm lucky in a few ways, first off I work at a video store and I have the great benefit of screening movies before they hit the shelves, which in itself pays off when things like the Extended DVD of LotR comes out and I get it 5 days before street date. Anywho, so i've been pouring over all of the little features of it, the hours upon hours of documentaries, Director commentary, Cast commentary... and these things get you excited for what you're going to see next. I did the typical fan, I'm gonna watch FotR Ex and TTT Ex back to back before going to see RotK... which I did last night, and I tried to watch them with fresh eyes, trying to pick up the little things that matter. And it had been a while since viewing the Fellowship Ex cut so it was fun to return to that time, where things didn't have layers upon layers of depth... Life was simple, you eat, you drink, and you are content and don't need to go off searching for anything else because how could anything compare with what you have got already. So Today I wake up, after not sleeping more that 4 hours, awake from Just so you know I am bias a lil against Smeagol/Gollum I think on part that I read the LotR before the Hobbit so when it comes to the trilogy I love every minute with Sam and Frodo but grow to hate Gollum more and more I'm sure if you're reading this, you've read online what parts aren't in it so I can skip that. This movie starts out just like TTT by jumpin right into the story. Well kinda, you see Smeagol and you find how he comes into the Ring's path and this scene is very well punctuated with Andy Serkes' creepy eyes and how you can tell they will never focus on anything other than the One Ring. The title Return of the King comes up over Aragorn as they companions ride horseback through the forrest. Then it takes you to a very well watered down Isengard, and two Hobbits that are beaming with pride of the accomplishment that they have been part of. This scene ends with Pippin picking up the palantir from the water and Gandalf quickly snatching it away and covering it. Edoras makes another appearance and this is the place where this movie starts to tear at your heart. After some light-hearted drinking and celebration, Pippin with his inquizitive nature seems to be drawn to the palantir almost like Gollum to the ring. There is a fun scene where he swips the palantir from Gandalf but quickly this turns dark. The planatir becomes enflamed, and Pippin has nothing to do but hold on, and feel all the power that the eye is sending his way. The palantir seems as if it's ying to escape but is eventually stowed away by the wizard. This leads to the descision that the forces of Mordor will soon be moving and someone needs to warn the men of Gondor at Minas Tirith. The scene in the stable is one that starts you welling up with tears and this feeling doesn't go away for long throughout the rest of the movie. Because of the reason for the need of this warning Pippin and Gandalf ride from Edoras to Minas Tirith to forewarn the steward who sits there, seeing the white tree sitting in the stone courtyard is definately a reason you feel the prestige of the city. With the steward Pippin follows Gandalf's directions to the T, ok maybe not. But seeing this small Hobbit stand in the Hall and pledge his allegiance to the father of the fallen Fellowship member is powerful. Minas Morgal's bridge is a great scene where the is seemingly pulling Frodo across and the door coming to life as we cut to Gandalf and Pippin seeing the light in the night sky, and knowing what is to happen. The Nasgul screaching is one reason you'll want the sound at the theatre LOUD. I got this evil smile on my face throughout the film when you hear the screaching. The army marching and the Hobbits with Gollum hiding make for tension. Faramir and Osgiliath is some tense fighting where you see the leadership of Faramir which goes unrequieted by his father later on. The retreat from Osgilliath bringing the warriors to Minas Tirith and also being followed by Nasgul then this sets up for Gandalf to storm out on the fields staff in hand to protect the riders as the come full boar. The lighting of the beacon scene is great and powerful and needs to been seen! (that's all you get) Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, et al.. come to campsite after leaving Edoras, this is simple story, need more men, hmm how bout a sword, how bout dead men? so the three boys go off into the dark. Fun scenes, great errie green glow of the dead army. Aragorn finally stepping up to what he his is profound. Who stole the Lambus from the cookie jar? not Gollum then who? (sorry bout that badly placed joke) Gollum uses the rings corruptiveness to his advantage. Good little dumb creature. Sam becomes the heart of the story right here. Denathor sends his son to death, Pippin tears at your heart with a song, Denathor stuffs his fat head. Minas Tirith becomes a dart board for some big angry Mordorians.Which from here until the battle is done, is nothing if not spectacular and seeing this which had only been in your head is great. Kudos PJ Kudos A cool little strech effect of the camera makes you feel the same evil as the first Black Rider in Fellowship. Shilob's lair is a dark dark place, once again.. I don't much trust that Gollum creature, if only you could toss him from the cliff. Hmm?!?! Sam returns at the end of this sequence and shows once again why his heart is big, but blast if he doesn't lose Frodo again. More Fighting (which is great) Denathor burning his own son, or trying. Then plumetting from the crest of Minas Tirith is just WOW. Ships sail in, what more bad guys? or maybe not. Aragorn and the legions of dead clean the friggin battlefield up. Theodan falls, Eowyn rises, two Hobbits reunite Men decide to give Frodo a chance, Saddle up boys we're going to the Gate. The Eye is light a pretty wicked lighthouse. focus' on Aragorn and friends. Aragorn needs to thank his speech writer for rallying the troops. Sam and Frodo take their sweet time, stop for a nap or two. Doors open, LEGIONS upon LEGIONS come out and surround that of which is left of men. So Sam, I bet I could go to the Crack of Mt. Doom doing a handstand, no you can't Mr. Frodo. Aragorn runs for it Frodo shows his quality as an old friend reemirges, Sam takes you into the dark with fallen hope. Airshow at the Black Gate. The Fate of the Ring BOOM A comfortable ride home on Eagle Air, The rejoining of the Fellowship Crowning of a King, where you'll be choked up at the beginning of this scene and the end of it will have you in tears for the 5th time in the film. A Voice over that I didn't think was too accurate, then Drinks back home at the bar. Sam spots a cute lil Philly. Happiness ensues. Some housecleaning is done, a lil paperwork put to rest. Then ships to the Grey Havens, featuring an Old author. .........And as I got home to my couch at 1:30 in the morning I said to myself, "Well, I'm Back" The End ***** Johnny writes: Xoanan--it doesn't look like TORN has received any reports from the showing last night that Barrie Osborne (God bless him!) put on for Carleton College, so I figured I'd send in my 2 cents. First, some non-spoiler comments. As a longtime Tolkien fan and TORN reader, I'd been looking forward to last night since August 1999. Over four years of anticipation, and the greatest acclaim I can give the movie is that I was NOT disappointed. It delivered. Big time. Admittedly, I haven't given it time to sink in yet, and the movie did have a few minor warts that may seem more glaring as time goes on, but I honestly think my biggest complaints--some missing scenes I would have liked to have in, and some pacing issues--will be put to rest by the extended edition. (In that sense, I'm kind of happy the scenes were left out--it leaves us something new to keep looking forward to.) So the main message I have to share is--especially for other lovers of the books--if you've managed to put aside your grievances over PJ et al.'s changes in the past films and appreciate them for the cinematic magic that they are, you should have no trouble sitting back during this film and feeling the full effect of the tension, the fear, the anticipation, the majesty, the treachery, the grief, the awesome thrill, and the bittersweet sadness of parting. What a ride. So, to close, a few highly spoilerific caveats and kudos... Some may want to read these just to get the minor disappointments out of the way before they watch the film... . I agree with ringer Hornhead that the biggest problem in the film is the buildup to the Black Gate/Mount Doom sequence. The Houses of Healing scenes were cut (can't wait for that EE DVD!) as well as maybe Aragorn challenging Sauron through the Palantir (I seem to remember an AICN report about that scene), so there's only about 5 or maybe 10 minutes of screentime between the end of the Fields of Pelennor battle/Tower of Cirith Ungol sequences and the final climactic sequence, and the scenes in the Tower of Cirith Ungol and just afterwards seem to be a little too tightly edited. It could use a little more breathing room, so that we're emotionally (and physically) over the effects of the prior (amazing!) battles before launching into another climax. And we (almost) completely miss out on the Eowyn/Faramir relationship (again, hope we see this in the EE DVD.) And the change from the books that seemed most jarring to me: While climbing the Stairs, Gollum succeeds in turning Frodo against Sam. I won't give details, but just be prepared for some unexpected changes here. In the end, it didn't bother me much, and in general, the changes in this film bothered me quite a bit less than changes in the first two films. Saruman's absence is unfortunate, but I think entirely understandable, and I'm content waiting to see him on the EE DVD. DO NOT read this if you're a huge fan of the books and want the pleasure of a pleasant surprise, but... ...Kudos to PJ, Phillippa, and Fran for pulling out the info from the ROTK appendix about how the Witch-King would not fall by the hand of any man and really exploiting it in a gloriously perfect action-film one-liner. I don't know that Tolkien would approve, but I'm sure film-goers will love it. Otherwise, expect the best from all of the other main characters. Dom and Billy and Miranda shine in their newly heroic roles. Ian McKellan--when he's not kicking orc butt--again delivers some of the grandfatherly peaceful gravitas he gave us in the first film. Bernard Hill and Viggo are both kingly, and Liv (whose role is surprisingly small) is a fitting queen. Elijah and Andy/Gollum hold up the weight of their story, and Sean Astin may just be the most deserving of an Oscar nom. As for the scenery, set pieces, battle sequences, and effects--there are far too many highlights to mention. OK, I think I've shared more than enough. Can't wait to see it all again in two weeks! -Jonny ***** Brian writes: I am at home writing this recap about last night's (Dec 4th) pre screening of the Return of the King in Minneapolis. 18 years ago, when I was 13, I was laying in my bed in that cold, snowy December reading the 'Lord of the Rings' for the first time. I remember pouring through the pages, all 1500+ pages, staying up until 2:00 AM, waking up at 6:00 AM to start reading again. It took me 4 days. I dreamed of Gandolf, Frodo, and of the brilliant battles in the trilogy. Forever epic, thoughts raced to find context for the compounding of armies in the Battle of Pelenor Fields, and the journey to Mount Doom. Just when all seemed lost, what horns will ring to strike fear in the enemy. Good vs Evil, the perilous journey, these are the two simplest but best storytelling devices of all time. 5 years ago, when I heard some fool moviemaker was going to make an attempt at filming the Lord of the Rings, I rolled my eyes. Fearing another cartoon-like version, I concluded that I might go see the movies, but would probably sit alone in some theater. Instead, I am sitting here at my computer, listening to the Return of the King soundtrack, still shaking from last night's screening. From what I saw last night, ROTK will make movie history as the best of all time. Three theaters were used at the screening at Block E Crown Theaters in Downtown Minneapolis. A total of 1100 people bought tickets to view the movie. Producer Barrie Osborne was the guest of honor. Looking a little tired, he started out each movie with a quick speech to a warm ovation. Among his words were, "There is a lot of Frodo at the end". Following the movies, a catered reception was held in a next door Borders Bookstore. I will not go into detail about what's in the movie. All I can say is the Return of the King is my favorite movie of all time! It is powerful, majestic, sad, joyful, lonely, triumphant, epic, loud, and brilliant. One of the my favorite early scenes deals with small fires at the tops of a mountains. Another early scene of Gandolf on horseback galloping through Minas Tirith, with the heavy brass Minas Tirith theme blaring left my mouth open. I turned to my companion next to me and whispered, "Wow". As someone who had read the book, I knew what would play out. I was still surprised throughout the movie. After seeing these magnificent films, capped of the greatest movie of them all, I do a slow, long hobbit-like bow to Peter Jackson, Barrie Osborne, the crew, and all the actors. For I will be joined at the theaters on December 17th by millions of people to watch the greatest ending to the greatest trilogy ever made. After which, I will spend the rest of my December in my bed rereading the 'Lord of the Rings'. Thank you
I just came back from the Minneapolis Carleton College ROTK Charity Premiere screening.
ROTK was showing on three different screens for this special premiere, and producer Barrie Osborne was in attendance. Before each screening he thanked the audience for coming, and spoke a little bit about the film.
The audience I was with was swept away with Frodo, Sam, and all the others in the film. Everyone shines in this film. Even the villains, Gollum, and Shelob, have special moments that are not to be forgotten.
After the film, there was a small reception held at a bookstore with Barrie Osborne also there. I was able to speak with him for a few moments. I told him I thought it was a great film, he said, "Thank you," and I told him, "Thank you for the film!" He smiled, and we shook hands. Defiantly, a memorable moment. He seems like a very nice, down to earth, person.
All in all it was a memorable night!
Down from the door where it began . . .
excitement and in looking at the clock it's only 9:00am. The show wasn't til 6:15 and it was still about a 3 hour car ride down to Minneapolis. So as the morning went past, Travis stopped by and we went and picked up Gabe the third person in our own trilogy and we started to venture down to Minneapolis... Now out of the three of us, I was the only one to have read the books, but that was like 6 or 7 years ago when i was fresh in middle school. I mean I did what I think every other LotR fan did, and started reading Fellowship again when I heard the movies were being made. But I was in college at the time, and had different things to occupy my free time. Travis has read parts of the books, but after seeing the first installments was waiting to finish and Gabe decided to stop reading half way through, when we decided that she would want to find out the ending at the show.
So now the movie...
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ROTK Screening at USC Reports
Xoanon @ 4:22 pm EST
Reports from the USC Screening with Lenord Maltin last night (December 4th) Spanky writes: So a few seconds ago I was just a few feet away from where Return of the King was playing .... at the Norris theater at USC, as part of Lenny Maltin's class. Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Andy Serkis are here. It's the talk of the entire campus. Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan were supposed to be here as well, but cancelled at the last second. I would kill to be inside that theater right now. I hung around it for a little while. Talked to the guy at the front door. Then I put my ear to the door and heard a few snatches of dialogue. Someone saying "All of Gondor is mine!" in an evil voice ... Then I heard Pippin's voice, then Gandalf's - having a conversation. Yep. ***** Andrea writes: i was present at the screening last night - the first 'civilian' screening in l.a., as maltin called it. i'm not a usc student, i was snuck in...but i am a filmmaker, so it was of tantamount importance that i see the film! i was spirited in past security and hidden until the film started. monitors kept sweeping the aisles with night-vision goggles to make sure nobody was filming the show or taking cell phone pictures!
suffice it to say that although this film is honestly not going to be for everyone - as last night's audience was an excellent cross-section of generic film viewers - but it will alter the perceptions of those who do appreciate it. there are those who are going to be confused by the story, bored with the pacing, and laugh inappropriately at the most painful parts (as plenty of people last night did!).
i, however, was not one of those people. my opinions about what a film can be and how an artist with a vision can execute it were forever altered. sean astin (and billy boyd and andy serkis) spoke after the screening about how peter was unwavering in his knowledge of his vision, and that was inspiring as well. there aren't a lot of things that you can see that actually change your ideas and desires and thoughts about your life, your career, your relationships, but - at the risk of sounding excessively trite - this film is one of those things.
North Castle Public Library's Tolkien Party
Xoanon @ 3:55 pm EST
Deirdre J writes: I'm just sending you an announcement of a party for young people, to be held at the North Castle public library in Armonk, New York next Friday afternoon. (December 12th, 4:00 PM) I am appending an attachment of the flier (it's an MS word file - hope you get it OK!) There's also info. about the party on the Mount Kisco library web site. From the main site, mountkiscolibrary.org, click on either teens or kids at the left, then on "programs," (kids page) or scroll down a little and click on the green dragon (teens page). In case you don't get the attachment, here's the info. Tolkien celebration at the North Castle Library,
Friday, December 12th, 4 PM.
For Students from 9-14 years old.
Space limited, registration required.
Call (914) 273-3887 or (914) 666-8041 to sign up.
Trilogy Tuesday: Portugal
Xoanon @ 3:36 pm EST
Silmarien Patricia writes: I’d like to pass on some information regarding Trilogy Tuesday in Portugal: The Extended Versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers will be shown from today (December 4th) until December 11th exclusively at the Millenium Alvalaxia cinemas in Lisbon. December 16 there will be a marathon of all three films and Return of the King will show at 11.00 pm. Alternatively, the Portuguese Return of the King premiere will take place December 10th at the Sao Jorge cinema in Lisbon. This is a charity event and tickets cost 20 Euro: the proceedings shall go to association ACREDITAR which helps children with cancer.
Line Party Goodies from Sabertooth Games!
Xoanon @ 3:34 pm EST
MrCere here with some good news! We have some great partners helping us this year with our LP3 - The Return Of The Line efforts. One of these, Sideshow Games is shipping out a figure produced just for some select LP3 lines. Read on for details If seeing the highly anticipated "Return Of The King," with adoring fans isn't a great enough reason to be part of a line party, Sabertooth Games has sweetened the pot. In a deal exclusive with TheOneRing.net and for its fans, Sabertooth has created a Frodo miniature to be handed out exclusively at LP3 events for fans. Only 5,000 of the exclusive figures have been produced and they are sure to be highly collectable and a great asset for gamers as well. Line party leaders in select cities will have the figures shipped to them in lines around North America. (Due to shipping chargers, TORn and Sabertooth opted to stay on the continent.) Line leaders will then distribute the figures, leaving a lot of lucky fans happy to not only see a movie but to be able to take something home as well. “We’re very excited to be able to bring this opportunity to the TORn community,” said T. Carl Kwoh, project coordinator at Sabertooth Games. “It’s a great figure and I think that being able to take away something extra from these line parties will make the core fans of the movies very happy.” Twenty or more line party events will be equipped with the figures including cities on both coasts and dotted around the middle as well. Sabertooth recently launched its line of The Lord Of The Rings™ Tradable Miniatures Game which are available for viewing at the Sabertooth website (Sabertoothgames.com) which also includes a locator to helps fans find a retail location to buy merchandise and play games. A few cities may yet be added to the list. The announced cities are, in no particular order: Tempe Los Angeles New Port Beach New York City Dallas-Ft. Worth Salt Lake Kenosha, Fresno Chicago Seattle Boston Louisville Austin St. Louis Tulsa Portland Pittsburg Indianapolis San Jose San Francisco Westminster (Denver) Co. Columbus, OH MrCere here again. The number of figures sent depended, in most cases, on numbers reported by line leaders. Signing up at these lines now will probably not get you a figure. This was intended as a reward for already participating LP3 TORnados. Thanks again to Sabertooth games!
Harkins Arizona Mills 24
5000 Arizona Mills Circle
Tempe , United States: Arizona
The Vista
4473 Sunset Dr.
Los Angeles
300 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach
Loews 34th Street Theater
312 West 34th Street
New York, NY
Cinemark Legacy 24 in Plano Texas
Ritz 15 Hollywood Connection
3217 South Decker Lake Drive,
West Valley City, UT
Cinemark Tinseltown 14 - Kenosha
7101 70th Court
Kenosha , United States: Wisconsin
Edwards Fresno Regal Cinemas Stadium 21
7750 N. Blackstone Ave
Fresno, California
AMC River East 21
322 Illinois Street
Chicago , United States: Illinois
Cinerama
2100 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121
Loews Cineplex (formerly GC Fenway)
175 Tremont St
Boston , United States: Massachusetts
Showcase Cinemas Stoneybrook
2745 Hurstborne Parkway
Louisville , United States: Kentucky
Regal Gateway 16
9700 Stonelake Blvd
Austin
AMC West Olive Theater
12657 Olive Street
St. Louis , United States: Missouri
Cinemark IMAX Theater
Hwy 69 and 71st Street
Tulsa, OK 74133
Lloyd Cinemas
1510 Ne Multnomah Blvd
Portland , United States: Oregon
Loews Waterfront Theatre
300 West Waterfront Drive
Homestead PA, 15120
Kerasotes Showplace 12
Glendale Shopping Center
Indianapolis , United States: Indiana
Century Theaters Oakridge 20
925 Blossom Hill Rd
San Jose, CA 95123
The Coronet Theater
3575 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118
AMC Westminster Promenade 24
10655 Westminster Parkway
Westminster, CO 80020
AMC Lennox Town Center 24
777 Kinear Road
Columbus
Hall Of Fire Chats This Weekend
Frode @ 2:39 pm EST
Only a couple of weeks left to wait for 'The Return of the King'. In #thehalloffire we shall shorten the wait, by having a little chat about 'The Two Towers - Extended Edition'. Forty minutes have been added to the film; we get to see the entmoot, huorns at Helms Deep and Denethor with his two sons. It's commonplace to pack new and deleted scenes into DVD offerings these days, but no one does it quite like Peter Jackson. Does the extra material make 'The Two Towers' a better movie? Does it make it a better adaptation of Tolkiens story? Can it do both? Which of the added scenes work best? How does the added material change the movie? How has Peter Jackson reasoned to make the changes he has made, and do you agree with his reasoning? Join us in #thehalloffire as we take a look at the Extended Edition of Peter Jacksons 'The Two Towers'. Upcoming Topics: Times: Sunday Chat: ET = Eastern Time, USA's East Coast Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at
December 13-14: The Scouring of the Shire - Chapter 9 of the Return of
the King.
Saturday Chat:
5:30pm ET (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 9:30am Sunday (09:30) AET]
7:00 pm (19:00) CET
[also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 5:00am (05:00) Monday morning AET]
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AET = Australian East Coast
halloffire@theonering.net
Details about PayPal
Calisuri @ 12:18 am EST
PayPal is essentially a 3rd party who handles online payment transactions within the e-commerce community. The convenience of their service is a great asset to online businesses worldwide. A user goes to www.paypal.com and registers their credit card. A checking account can also be registered to expand services and options. When a user bids an auction or purchases from a website that accepts PayPal, they will simply click the PayPal logo to begin the payment process. The user is then forwarded to the PayPal site and prompted to complete the transaction. After logging in, users will find a very easy to read, simple layout of charges. After confirming the total and the user makes the payment, Paypal automatically transfers the funds from the user’s credit card or checking account to the vendor. There is a very small transaction fee, which varies depending on the amount of the purchase. Where they really shine is in the case of international purchases. The difference, no matter what the currency, is automatically converted and the user is shown that information at the time of payment. Payments received can either be left on account for future use, or for a minimal amount a check can be cut and sent directly to the user. Upon further exploration of the PayPal site, users will find that all transactions are stored in a very logical and easy to understand format, showing the user which transactions were payments, which were funds received, to whom they were paid, etc… Be sure to read their safety rules and policies. All transactions are covered under their policies to ensure secure trading in the event of possible fraud. Being owned by Ebay, users are ensured a fairly seamless transaction. Register with PayPal today! [Click Here]
| 12-04-03 Latest News |
LA Press Roundtable
WeeTanya @ 9:57 pm EST
The Return of the King press round table was held at the Four Seasons Hotel. This was my first-ever press junket, and I had no idea that the whole point was to coddle us (the press) into submission. The Four Seasons is an amazing place for coddling – there are people hired simply to stand around and smile and ask you if you need anything.
Did I mention the swag? We were handed bags of promotional material to “help” us report on the movie. The bags had several movie-related books, Return of the King itself (with Viggo on the cover), little figurines, a puzzle, a PlayStation game, and more. So much swag that it instantly felt like stupid levels of bribery.
“Love us,” insisted the swag. “Write good reviews of the movie.”
So it’s a good thing that I have nothing bad to say about the junket – in fact, quite the opposite. The entire event was joyous and intense, and the actors and production people were lovelier than I could have imagined.
The format of the round table was simple: put a bunch of reporters in a room (around a literal round table). Stuff them with good food, provide more drink than they can swill, and trot the talent from room to room for a rapid-fire twenty minutes of questioning.
Howard Shore
Howard Shore was our first guest. He came in looking pale and drawn, and sat with hunched shoulders.
“How was the world premiere of your symphony?”
“It was very good. Viggo came and sang, and everything went well.”
I asked him whether he’d had any difficulty writing the score when the movie was coming to him somewhat piecemeal, and Shore shrugged.
“I knew the arc of the score. It didn’t matter which bit of the movie I received, I was able to apply the score to whichever part Peter handed me.”
I asked whether he’d known the actors were such talented singers.
He replied that all of the singing happened during principal shooting, and he was handed the songs to incorporate into the score. Shore took time to praise the vocal talent of Viggo and Billy. “Viggo’s an excellent singer,” Shore said.
Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd
Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd came into our room next, accompanied by an aide who held a tray full of food.
Dominic must not be a morning person. He looked positively huddled in his seat, and rarely looked up at us, even when answering questions. He mostly looked at his food.
One of the reporters in our room was a Japanese woman, and she stared at Dominic’s tray with amusement.
“You eat Japanese food?” she asked.
“Hai,” said Dominic. “Arigato.”
At a certain point during the interview, Dominic tried to separate two pieces of seaweed. The Japanese reporter offered to separate it for him, and he handed it to her.
She handed it back in several pieces, and Dominic bowed a little and said “Arigato!” again.
At another point during the interview, Billy Boyd lifted the cover of Dominic’s rice bowl and snitched several grains. This garnered the first fully awake reaction from Dominic.
Dominic glared at Billy.
Billy opened his eyes widely and innocently.
“That’s nice,” muttered Dominic.
I asked Dominic which of his many cut scenes he most wanted to see in the Extended DVD.
“Any of them, really,” said Dominic, chewing seaweed. “Twelve of my scenes were cut.”
I also asked about the inspiration behind the song Half-fling from the album Pandemoniumfromamerica.
“We’ve started to get questions about that? Amazing,” Dominic said to Billy. “The song is based on an invented language that Elijah and I have. We speak it when we’re tired.” Dominic gave an example, a falsetto squeek that sounded like Chipmunks gibberish.
Dominic denied that the song was an ironic send up of Hobbit life, despite the name. “Viggo named it,” Dominic said.
Dominic also wore a Carbon Neutral t-shirt, and asked that we all check it out.
Billy talked about the difference between Peter Jackson & Peter Weir, and said that with both of them, they were visionary and experimental, etc. etc. Basically, he took the opportunity to praise them both.
Billy also talked about the maturation of Pippin, and the changes he goes through in Return of the King – changes that are spoilers, really, so I won’t go into them here.
Dominic ended by grabbing Billy into a huge cuddle. “I get to spend Christmas and New Year with Billy!”
“Scotland?” I asked.
“The Lake District,” said Billy.
“Will you be hunting again?”
“Perhaps we’ll try fishing this time!”
Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom walked in next.
They sat down. Or perhaps they didn’t sit down so much as fold themselves elegantly floor-ward, or any other phrase that might pertain to movements that fabulous people make.
Of course, they both had on expensive and silky looking casual clothes, the kind of rumpled up stuff you find at the bottom of your Givenchy-laden wardrobe and throw on for a long day of chatting with the press. Orlando also wore a tatty and meaningful looking bracelet of cloth, which I’m sure is emblematic of something or other.
Enough of that.
I asked Liv whether the constant rewrite process ever caused her to lose sight of the arc of her character’s development.
She said both yes and no – initially she wasn’t able to really feel or find her character, due to the constant training with weapons and horses, and the emphasis placed upon Arwen as a warrior woman. Liv said that after Philippa and Fran went through the process of removing Arwen from Helm’s Deep, she was much better able to find her character’s emotional center.
“Movie Legolas and book Legolas are different creatures,” I said to Orlando, “What do you think movie Legolas does after the action of Return of the King ends?”
“Leggy [Orlando’s nickname for his character] takes off in a big silver space ship, of course,” the man said promptly. Orlando then went on to explain his own vision of elven behavior, which involved a lot of graceful physicality. He mentioned the signature Legolas shots, and said that Return of the King has the best one yet.
Andy Serkis
Andy hacked, Andy coughed, and up came a hairball that sounded like
"gollum, gollum."
To be honest, I don't have much to say about Andy that hasn't already
been said in countless books, DVD extras, and interviews. Everyone
asked the obligatory question about how Gollum was created. Andy
demonstrated motion capture, Andy discussed rotoscoping, Andy talked
about the infamous blue suit.
"My children got a bit confused about it," he said. "They're 3 and
5. They see Gollum on a bus, and say, 'Look dad! It's you!' But they
don't know quite how their dad in the blue suit became Gollum."
DarkHorizons guy asked if his children had seen the movie.
"Not yet. I want to wait until they're older so that they can
appreciate it more."
Andy said that there were several scenes between himself and Sean Astin
that he wants to see in the extended DVD.
And Andy asked that we all buy his new book, all about being Gollum.
Bernard Hill sat and looked around the table, and instantly started in on telling us a story. He actually stopped us from asking questions once or twice, simply because he wanted to complete his thought.
Apparently the scriptwriting process for Theoden was quite collaborative. At the very beginning of the filming process, Bernard suggested to Philippa and Fran that he ride in front of the line of Rohirrim before the Battle of Pelennor Field and touch his sword to all of their spears.
“I was inspired by seeing the great weapons at Weta Workshop. But Phil and Fran said ‘Bernard! We aren’t filming that for nine months!’ And so I went away, but kept trying to come back to the idea.” Suddenly it was a few days before shooting, and Bernard finally got the writers’ attention for long enough to add the scene to the script. And the next day, they were shooting it with Peter.
“But did Peter say, ‘nice scene, Bernard, well written’? No! The bastard.” Bernard added that it was tough controlling a horse one-handed while wielding a sword, and that his horse (nicknamed “Snow-worries”) had to be swapped out for a different horse, simply because the horse wasn’t having any of his off-handed reigning.
And after filming the sequence, Peter mentioned casually that the shot would be mirror imaged. But Bernard pointed out an error.
“Theoden is left-handed, you see. And you’ll notice in that shot that Theoden is clearly holding his sword in his right hand, which un-reversed is my left.”
Apparently this didn’t really bother Peter much, because the shot made it to Return of the King.
Richard Taylor and Barrie Osborne
Richard Taylor and Barrie Osborne came in together, and sat smiling side by side at us like (okay, I’m sorry) Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They had the exact same expression on their faces: lines of worry smoothed into relief, and under it all a great sense of joy. They seemed better able than the younger actors to handle reporters; I’m guessing it’s because they routinely have meetings of just such intensity and length, and more.
We talked first about Christopher Lee’s excision from Return of the King. Nothing new was said, simply that Barrie and Richard both had long conversations with Christopher, and both felt the movie’s pacing was improved by Peter’s decision to remove the scene. [Small spoiler: There is no continuity problem in Return of the King. We see the beginning of the scene, including a certain chapter from The Two Towers that many have wanted to see for a while, and we go on to a conversation with Treebeard in which Saruman is dispatched of as being in Treebeard’s hands. And then Pippin finds… but I digress.]
They are both looking forward to seeing Saruman in the extended DVD.
The Japanese reporter asked if they’d see more of their wives now that the movies were getting done. Barrie and Richard both laughed.
“My wife works in the office with me,” Richard said. “Sits right behind me. And Barrie’s wife works for the production too.”
I asked whether the Tolkien estate had agreed yet to a permanent Lord of the Rings exhibit in Wellington.
Richard looked sad and said it was no go, but that the traveling exhibit was still in England.
I asked whether Richard and Barrie would be attending TORn’s Oscar Party, and: they said yes.
At the very end of their session, they handed out even more swag! This time, a pin in the shape of Sauron’s red eye, the symbol of WETA.
Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens entered then, both wearing black and looking positively lovely. Fran is a petite woman with an amazing grin, especially when she’s talking about work that she’s passionate about, namely, anything to do with Lord of the Rings. And currently, King Kong. Philippa also has an amazing smile, and was the more outgoing of the two women.
In my opinion, they were the most interesting people (aside from Peter) to talk to, simply because the entire structure of the movie was ultimately their creation, from characterizations to plot to motives to … well, everything.
The fellow from Aintitcoolnews is going to scream when he sees that I’ve included one of his questions in this report, but frankly it’s too good not to discuss. Plus, he owes me one for filling him in on all the Lord of the Rings news that he didn’t know.
[Spoilery discussion follows about the movie’s ending. Skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to read about it.]
The Aintitcoolnews guy asked why there was a series of five or six endings to Return of the King. He said that he felt the movie ended with the destruction of the ring, and felt that the extended whited-out screens leading to denouement after denouement didn’t work in a cinematic sense. Philippa handled this question. She said that the movie wasn’t actually about the destruction of the ring, it was about Frodo. And that the denouement (returning to the Shire, the Grey Havens) wasn’t a denouement, it ended Frodo’s story. “As fans of the book, we couldn’t consider leaving it out,” said Philippa.
[End spoiler.]
Fran and Philippa said that they were deep into work on King Kong, and that they’ve scrapped the script they’d developed years earlier and were working on a totally new one. “We’re going to try to tell it like we told Lord of the Rings,” said Fran. “Like a history.”
Philippa mentioned that her children are already clamoring to be extras.
At this point, everyone took a lunch break. Lunch Four Seasons style including even more free stuff, and the kind of food served at five-star hotels. I admit it, I was too excited to do more than stare at the notes I’d taken and cackle.
We ended lunch with the abrupt appearance of a father-and-son act. David Wenham and John Noble came in together. John has the subtlety and poise of an old-fashioned stage actor, and he knew Denethor better than I did, to my lasting shame.
“You’ve mentioned in an interview that the death of Denethor’s wife – Fimbrethil? - is part of the motivation for his character’s actions,” I said. “Care to elaborate?”
“Yes,” he said softly, his accent impeccable, “His continued grief at his wife’s death – Finduilas, actually…” He shot me a look that might have held some mischief, “and the weight of the long years of struggle to maintain Minas Tirith in the absense of a king…” All of these things added to Denethor’s final dementia.
I asked David Wenham whether there were any parts that he’d particularly look forward to in the extended DVD.
“Why yes, finishing Faramir’s story, and the bits with Eowyn,” he said promptly.
The Aussie fellow from DarkHorizons asked if he minded that those bits didn’t make it to the theatrical release.
David shook his head. “No – no. The movie’s great, I’ve got no complaints at all. And the extra parts are in the DVD for posterity.”
David talked for a bit about how much he enjoyed working with Peter Jackson, and about how he’d long been a fan of Jackson’s movies.
“What’s your favorite of Peter Jackson’s movies, then?” I asked him, wondering which of the blood-and-gore bunch he’d pick.
“Oh, they’re all so good. There’s Braindead… Meet the Feebles…”
John Noble shot me another sideways glance. “Heavenly Creatures,” he said softly.
The Japanese reporter asked how it felt to shoot a certain very important scene with Denethor and Faramir.
“There was a wax double made of me,” said David. “Really quite eerie, actually.”
Let it be noted, therefore, that if you want amazingly lifelike waxen (and rather sickly looking) models of the two brothers of Minas Tirith, there’s now a complete set! Just ask Richard Taylor for details… [Before you go calling him, this is a joke.]
John Rhys-Davies is not a tall man. Or not as tall as he appears in the DVD extras, when he’s standing next to such petite fellows as the hobbits or Peter Jackson. In fact, JRD is also a trim fellow, not much extra bulk on him at all.
He was wearing a bright green shirt and an even brighter green tie with pictures of fruit on it. You can guess which.
JRD was obviously an old hand at press functions, and sat and chatted and told stories with us like we were all the oldest of friends. Such was his charm!
He made us all pronounce the phrase “Ish ka kwee”.
We could, and he said, “you’re all smarter than I was, let me tell you.” He told the story of his last day in Wellington, upon which Peter Jackson presented him with an axe. “That damned phrase made it into the blooper reel. It was about ten utterly embarrassing minutes of nothing but me muttering ‘Ish Koo – o damn. Can I have that again?’”
JRD informed us that he’d actually broken his back in last year’s on-set mishap, and said that his insurance company refused to pay for an “act of God”.
“Such as an entire wall toppling over and falling on me!” he spluttered. “Act of God indeed.”
Peter Jackson came in clutching a cup of coffee. He leaned on the table and stared down at the array of recording devices in front of him. His eyes, trapped behind a wild flop of hair and thick pair of glasses, were rather like a bear’s. This, coupled with his rounded appearance, gave the deceptive impression of harmlessness.
“So,” said the DarkHorizons guy, “You’re wearing shoes.”
“Yes,” Peter said in a somewhat short tone, “I am wearing shoes.”
The number of interviews in Peter is questioned about his barefooted tendencies have to be countless, and I instantly warmed to the man for allowing his irritation to show. Good for him.
“I heard in an interview for the New Zealand press that your first complete viewing of Return of the King was at the Wellington premiere. So. Did you like it?” I asked.
Peter hedged a bit. “Well. I’d seen all of it, of course, just not with all the sound and CG effects and music… Did I like it. To be honest, I was too busy watching other people’s reactions to really watch the movie!”
“Did you feel that another few weeks could have been worthwhile in honing the final product?”
I admit that this question was rather idiotic.
“Of course,” said Peter. “If I had an extra day, week, month it would have been much better. It can always be better.”
Which is, my friends, why we’re all waiting for the Return of the King EE DVD.
Peter confirmed that Naomi Watts is playing the lead in Kong, and that it would be his major project for 2004 (other than the ROTK EE DVD).
“So there I was on the sleeper plane from New Zealand to Los Angeles, and I woke up and looked around me, and I was surrounded by Orlando, Liv, Viggo, Elijah… So much beauty. And I thought I must be the luckiest man on earth,” Ian McKellen said, grinning around at us.
“On your website, in one of your e-posts, you mention that you preferred playing Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White, because Gandalf the Grey was a more dynamic character… For the third movie, how did you get into your character, now that he’s more of a warlord, less conflicted?”
“Oh dear,” said Ian, dropping his cheek to his hand, “I said that?” Ian said that from his perspective, he wasn’t aware of three movies so much as one character. “And the break came for me between the Grey and the White, of course. But the White is sent back for a reason, of course. He returns, and is driven.”
Viggo Mortensen carried a cup in his hand. The cup was ornate, and had something resembling a metal pipe sticking out of it. The whole effect was rather intriguing, and some of the other reporters whispered questions across the table.
“Yerba mate,” I replied promptly. “He drinks it all the time.”
And I asked: “There are hours of documentaries about you riding horses and training to sword fight … did you find that the emphasis upon the physicality of your character got in the way of Aragorn’s psychological journey?”
“No,” replied Viggo. “Action is part of who Aragorn is – his journey as a character is fundamentally about action: fighting, riding.”
“Peter Jackson has mentioned that he considers Lord of the Rings more a history than a fantasy movie. What genre do you place the movie into?”
Viggo chuckled and said, “Well it’s obviously a fantasy movie.” And then Viggo went into a small rant about how Tolkien invented the genre, and about how Norse mythology informs Tolkien’s writing. Refreshing to hear from an actor.
Viggo also answered the routine questions about injuries, friendships, etc., and was obviously a little exasperated that he had to go over the answers yet again.
“So how did it feel for you to play Aragorn during the coronation?” asked the Japanese journalist. “Everyone is giving you so much respect.”
Viggo said that it was indeed strange, but that Aragorn was always aware that it was the entire fellowship that brought about his coronation, not just one man.
“I am afraid that tonight’s premiere is going to be a letdown,” said Sean Astin. “After the amazing reception we had in Wellington, where it wasn’t just another movie premiere, but it was a huge moment in the history of the country – even though Los Angeles is my home, I’m afraid that it just won’t be as intense.”
Sean came into our room just as the New Line representative apologized to us that Elijah Wood was not going to be able to chat with us.
“That’s okay,” said Sean, “I know everything he has to say about any question you might ask me.”
I jumped right in. “On the extended Two Towers DVD, you mentioned that you saw the relationship between Fran and Peter, and decided that you want to have a similar working relationship with your wife. Do you have any projects planned together?”
“My wife is very involved in my business, actually. And it seemed like my company had a whole lot going on at the middle of the year, but now it’s all kind of evaporated. So I think I’m going to take some time to rethink our direction.”
DarkHorizons guy brought up a possible Oscar.
“You know, it would be nice if I had one, of course. But I’m not looking for it.” Which is almost exactly what Peter said earlier to the same question.
The Japanese journalist asked him about how he felt in the very last scene in Return of the King.
Sean answered, and then tried to give a name to a place, a certain volcano. He asked if anyone could spell it.
I spelled it out for him, and the table full of reporters laughed at me. “She’s with Theonering.net,” the DarkHorizons guy said.
Sean turned to look at me and said, “You guys threw an amazing party in New Zealand. I loved it. Tehanu and Cliff were great.”
“Will you be at our Oscar party?” I shilled shamelessly.
“You know – people have been asking me about the award circuit, and I’m not even there yet. Not thinking about it yet.”
Coda
And that’s all. I packed up my bags, realized that in the excitement of the interviews my deodorant had completely worn off, and realized with great sorrow that my brush with fame was over.
“But wait, what about Elijah?” you might ask.
That darned actor had gone off to a gig with some man named Jay Leno, and didn’t have time to stay to chat with us.
And then I went to see Return of the King, but that’s another story…
Ticket Exchange: FIVE Locations
maegwen @ 6:58 pm EST
With Trilogy Tuesday only 12 days away, we are stepping up the pace on Ticket Exchange. LOTR fans are surely a generous bunch, and we still have quite a few tickets left to offer. Tonight we have FIVE Ticket Exchange offerings, one of which has special circumstances. Please read all the details carefully before replying. More information on Ticket Exchange can be found here. A brief excerpt: When a post is made, the FIRST e-mail I receive -- AFTER THE POST IS MADE -- expressing interest in that ticket and containing the correct subject line will be put into contact with the ticket-holder. You will do this by sending an e-mail to maegwen@theonering.net, with the following information: DO NOT E-MAIL IN ADVANCE OF ANNOUNCEMENTS, PLEASE. THERE IS *NO* WAITING LIST. By expressing interest, you agree NOT to resell this ticket for ANY AMOUNT higher than what you yourself pay for it. That's it for tonight. We will have more ticket opportunities posted tomorrow. Good Luck!
* * *
Orange Park, Florida: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please* * *
Rochester, New York: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please* * *
Williamsville, New York* * *
Bakersfield, California: WE HAVE A WINNER! No more e-mails please* * *
Edmonton, Alberta Canada* * *
TV Guide ROTK Covers!
Xoanon @ 3:53 pm EST
TV GUIDE'S DECEMBER 13TH ISSUE (ON NEWSSTANDS DECEMBER 8TH) VISITS MIDDLE-EARTH WITH FOUR "RETURN OF THE KING" COLLECTORS COVERS
Star Elijah Wood Calls "Return" The Most Intense Film In "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy
December 5th, 2003/New York, New York - For its December 13th issue (on newsstands December 8th) TV Guide celebrates the upcoming release of "The Return of the King," the third and final installment in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" saga, with four collector's hologram covers, each featuring a different signature character. The four covers include Eliljah Wood's hobbit Frodo Baggins; Ian McKellen's wizard Gandalf; Viggo Mortensen's warrior Aragorn; and the slippery deceiver Gollum.
Following the immense success of 2001's "The Fellowship of the Ring" and 2002's "The Two Towers," the pressure and expectations surrounding this film are huge. But as far as Wood is concerned, this is one grand finale that will not disappoint. "We always knew this one had something more special than the other two," he tells TV Guide. "It's just so intense, so emotional and so relentless. What the characters are going through is at its most extreme and its darkest." For the cast and crew, who spent years working together on these films and whose commitment to detail often bordered on obsessive-compulsive, the end of this journey is bittersweet. "It's been a huge gift being part of these movies," says actor Orlando Bloom, who plays Elf warrior Legolas. "It was definitely an emotional ending."
McKellen remembers director Jackson telling him on the first film that he was hoping for three "cry moments." "In this one," he says, "I think there are going to be many more than that." While this looks like the end, diehard fans can still hold out hope: there is always the possibility of adapting the Tolkien novel that preceded the trilogy, "The Hobbit," which introduced readers to the world of Middle-earth. Jackson says there are legal complications involving the rights to "The Hobbit," but he'd "certainly be keen [to direct it]. I'd feel pretty weird if someone else was doing it," he says.
| 12-03-03 Latest News |
Montreal Triple Screening - CANCELLED
Xoanon @ 10:13 pm EST
Note: This letter was sent to the over 330 people who were signed up for the LOTR-Triple Screening planned by TheOneRing.net's Michael Regina (Xoanon) and Sebastien Mineau of MONSFFA. A copy has also been sent to Susan Smythe susan.smythe@allianceatlantis.com (VP, Publicity and Promotion) & Julia Caslin julia.caslin@allianceatlantis.com (Director, Publicity and Promotion) as well as several media outlets in Montreal.
Ladies, Gents, Fans
We have sad news to announce you today, it seems we will not be able to host a Montreal Triple Screening of the Lord of the Rings movies.
This comes to an even blow to us since we feel like we let you all down. Please read this e-mail to its end. Thank you.
Now for the full story:
Jim Sherry, C.E.O. of Alliance Film Canada as finally answered our numerous attempts at contacting him. Here is what he had to say without even having heard all the options we had to propose to him :
Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with three prints of the Lord of the Rings extended versions to screen at a theater of your preference under conditions which you find ideal. We've offered the trilogy to the Montreal market in two locations and are happy to provide this benefit in consideration of the fans support of these films. In doing so, we've provided each fan with an equal opportunity to be the first to see it.
Therefore, no further dialogue between you or I at this point is necessary.
I would recommend you discontinue contacting myself or any representative of this organization on this matter.
As for respecting your organization, I'm not familiar with your organization and therefore couldn't possibly be discourteous of it.
Lastly, Alliance Atlantis holds all rights to The Lord of the Rings films in Canada. Our position on protecting the rights to these fantastic films as well as the 6600 films which we hold rights to is very clear. We will protect them to the fullest extent of the law. I've copied our business affairs representative on your correspondence in the event you feel compelled to challenge our interest in these rights.
Sincerely,
Jim Sherry
I would like to point your attention to this particular phrase:
As for respecting your organization, I'm not familiar with your organization and therefore couldn't possibly be discourteous of it.
He is clearly disrespectful of the fans who go to see his movies and give him our hard-earned money.
We still want to hold an event, and we will most definitely get back to you later in the week on the details, but we can tell you it will most likely be a simple buffet-line party as we did last year.
The cost would be 20$ and there will be tons of presence prizes and fun to go around. In the hopes that you will still attend our line-party.
Sebastien Mineau & Michael Regina
FAN REACTIONS:
I've compiled a list of fan reactions that may interest people to read.
I hope you will pass this along to Sebastien Mineau & Michael Regina. That letter was so rude and needlessly hostile. The response ought to be clear. Anyone with the means should endeavor to see Return of the King at a theater that does not use Alliance Film Canada as its distributor. Letters should be send to the theater managers letting them know that you plan to boycott Alliance Film Canada films at every opportunity.
That letter was threatening and terribly offensive. This man needs to be hit where he lives, which is clearly his wallet.
Jonathan
*****
Oh dear. Well truly sorry to hear about your predicament. I am a huge fan like you, but I was thinking that perhaps this fellow is either ill informed or totally unaware of TORn (which I find truly hard to believe), and was just following corporate policy as to film distribution and rights etc. Trying to keep the pirates at bay and all that. There are a lot of legal issues involved. But I don’t of course know all the details. I wish you the very best of luck with getting to at least see the trilogy somewhere. I know we’re all the way across the country but there may still be tickets at the Capital 6 in Vancouver. (Now there was one weird situation when it came to getting tickets in the beginning). Must go now as Elijah is on Leno tonight and I can see it twice – at 8:30 (cable from east) and at 11:30 on west coast stations. You truly do have my sympathy regarding the Trilogy. Peace.
Linda Sims
*****
in reposnse to the news concerning the Montreal Triple Screening (even though I had no plans of attending).
First, I want to say that ANYONE who's been in and out of your site knows that ALL you do is for the fans. I don't think that anyone would consider that ANY of you let them down in any way. We are, as ever, appreciative of all you do for us.
Secondly, that man was cutting off his nose to spite his face. Whether they could or could not do what you asked, there was NO reason for him to be rude and condescending about it. I think he has a big head, unfortunately it houses very little, if any, brain matter.
After all the smoke clears and you all have a chance to breath again, perhaps you might want to let Peter Jackson know about this. I'm certain, given the amount of respect he has for the fans, and especially your site, that he would want to know.
Again, please know that the Canadian fans know that you truly did your best.
Nora in Chicago
*****
I'm a big fan of TORn, but have never written an email to you guys before. So pls excuse how childish or uneloquent (if that's even a word) I sound at my ripe age of 22. I read that letter from Jim Stupidhead, CEO of the anal retentive film whatever, and was SO RAGING. I just wanted to sympathize with you guys about his completely narrowminded and rude letter. Lines like not requiring any further correspondence, not knowing the organization, and threatening that he has "copies" of the emails as if he's ready to defend himself against some huge legal battle. Which he deserves. But I think the best way to deal with spineless wimps who brandish empty, pathetic threats is to laugh at him. And I and my friends will, even from all the way here in CA. So just wanted to support you guys in your cause. If you need anything, don't be shy to call on your neighbors.
Sincerely,
Jen Jen Chen
*****
I'm so sorry about idiocy you've encountered from Mr. Sherry. I wonder what New Line would think about "unknowns" from TheOneRing.Net trying to rent prints of their films? Who do you think you are, anyway??? ;-)
I'm sure it's no consolation, but Mr. Sherry has soulmates at National
Amusements down here in the U.S. who are just as "smart" as he and have even less PR acumen. National Amusements' corporate lawyers won't let us have a Line Party at Showcase Springdale because they're afraid it might encourage people to line up outside in the cold and they don't want to be liable for slip-and-fall accidents. (How do I break it to them that it's the general admission seating that encourages people to line up in the cold--and they could solve that issue by letting people wait inside? Oh yeah--I told them that and they ignored me.) And they're also afraid that spontaneous swordfights will break out in the lobby and people will be maimed. (As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.)
I worked for weeks to try to get our Line Party together, and I got sponsors lined up and even had preliminary plans for Cincinnati Clear Stage to participate. We were hoping to display costumes and props from their recent Return of the King stage play--and maybe even get some live performances in the lobby. Most of all, I was excited about our Second Breakfast food drive. We had a food pantry lined up and they were thrilled about getting donations from LOTR fans.
National Amusement's promotions department gave me permission--then their corporate lawyers yanked it. I was so angry (I'm still so angry) that I've sold the 2 Trilogy Tuesday tickets I bought from Showcase Springdale. I'm trying to find tickets to the Columbus, Ohio showing...but who knows. I may miss out on Trilogy Tuesday entirely, after spending 2 frantic hours on the phone to buy the tickets.
Are people like Jim Sherry evil, or just plain stupid? Or both?
I'm so sorry about what you've gone through. I can soooo relate. But in the end, there are more of us (kind, intelligent, generous fans) than there are of them (evil, stupid, scum-sucking worm-tongues). And what goes around comes around.
Kathleen Hanover
Former Line Party Leader
Showcase Cinemas Springdale
*****
One cinema owns the exclusive rights to the Lord of the Rings in all of Canada? Newline needs to be made aware of this guy's arrogance and how much he has offended so many fans. BTW, I think his E-mail address is jim.sherry@allianceatlantis.com Maybe we could all give him a piece of our minds. In doing so, we "couldn't possibly be discourteous" because we are "not familiar with" him. His logic mirrors his hubris.
*****
What an #*! that guy is! Such a *diplomatic* way to handle it! Hope you can work something else out~~~
Laurelin
*****
I'm one of the long time fans of The Lord of the Rings and I was eagerly awaiting for the event of the Triple Screening in Montreal. I have never been to a party like that and I was really looking forward to it. It was really very saddening to hear that it was cancelled and I was quite angered at the sheer disrespect Jim Sherry, C.E.O. of Alliance Film Canada has shown The One Ring.net organization! It is completely unbelievable!
I just want to let you know that whatever your decision ends up to be, we, fans of Lord of the Rings and of The One Ring.net will always be there to support it. You guys have worked very hard to keep us updated on the smallest details concerning our all time favorite Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books and movies, and frankly you deserve the best!!! Keep up the good work and don't hesitate to call on us for help!!!!
Sincerely,
Isabelle.
*****
He is unbelievable!!! And he's the only one on the planet that doesn't know TORN. Has this situation happened in other cities this year?
Can we get this guy's email address?
This is so sad, I will never understand how those people "think". But yes, we will be there on the 17.
Thanks for everything
Luthien
*****
I hardly post anything on the message board, but I check this site extremely often. When I read the post on Mr. Sherry I was honestly appalled by how rude and disrespectful he was not only to you guys, but the entire community. I couldn't find any messages on the different discussion boards about this topic, which I find ridiculous... I would have thought this would have caused an uproar... Anyways, I've also sent you here my message on the board at the end of this message if you haven't read it already. My point is that I've never actually felt this angry or cheated by a large company. I don't know how the legalities work around this kind of thing (I'm not sure what you guys were planning for Montreal), either way, Mr.Sherry's response was unprofessional - sorry, no, it was disgusting.
Sorry to waste your time with this message, but I've never felt this angry about something along these lines. And who should I email at Alliance to express my opinion?
Thank you very much, the website is incredible, and Mr. Sherry has made a HUGE mistake that will only come straight back to him.
And on a lighter note, enjoy RotK and close your eyes when the Alliance symbol drenches the screen!
-Ryan McDonald
*****
Although I am from San Antonio, Texas, US, rest assured that I will strive to avoid doing any business with you company if ever I return to Canada (and yes, I have been there twice before...to Vancouver and Toronto). I am a professional who holds a Master of Arts degree in English, and I am also a loyal Lord of the Rings fan. Let me say that I am sincerely disappointed with the curt, unprofessional, and extremely discourteous tone of the letter below (sent to Michael Regina and Sebastien Mineau. Although Mr. Sherry does not use excessive language in his reply, something any English student can tell you is that the tone of one's writing is often more telling than the plain black-and-white diction itself. Let me tell you Mr. Sherry's tone is egregiously ill-tempered. Also Mr. Sherry is quite mistaken in the following statement, "I'm not familiar with your organization and therefore couldn't possibly be discourteous of it." It is completely possible to disrespect an organization with which you are unfamiliar.....all one needs to do to be disrespectful is not to respond to another individual's correspondence.
I would urge your organization to research TheOneRing.net at www.theonering.net, and then provide all of its staff, creators, contributors, and readers with a formal apology, sent to Sebastien Mineau & Michael Regina, whose e-mail addresses you should already have in your possession. As all three of you will hopefully note, Mr. Sherry's reply, which I have cut-and-pasted below, fails even to contain a simple apology for not being able to help the fans of the movies in Montreal, Canada. A simple statement such as "We apologize / We are sorry for not being able to be of service to you or your fan-base" may sound trite, but it actually goes a long way to providing one's clients with a courteous response. You may find in your research of the aforementioned website that the number of individuals who check this site regularly is astronomical, and that Mr. Sherry's rude and discourteous tone has now been felt by many, many fans and probable clientele. I am not affiliated with TheOneRing.net, except as a fan and a devoted reader, but I promise you that I will defend the interests of like-minded fans as thoroughly as possible. All Lord of the Rings fans eagerly await your response to Mr. Regina and Mr. Mineau.
Thank you for your consideration and your time.
Regards,
Richard Farias
rfarias@satx.rr.com
*****
we probably haven't "talked" before, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm shaking my head in disbelief here in Germany after reading that letter from the Canadian distributor's CEO regarding the triple screening. Not only does the fact that that he hasn't heared of TORn not speak for him, the general tone of his letter is also ... well, rude. I hope someone at TORn has contacts at Warner in the US, and that you're forwarding this letter to them as well. I can't imagine that they'd be pleased.
Hope you'll still find a way to realize this. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I'm outraged, and that you have my sympathies.
Barbara
www.bschnell.de
*****
I just read your article on TORN about this... and I wanted to tell you I think that you have been treated very shabbily by Alliance and Jim Sherry.
The tone of "just go away and don't bother me" was just terribly
disrespectful. Also Unbecoming. Unwarranted. Unprofessional (how may other UN- adjectives can I use?)
Although we only met the one time, and briefly at that, we have been
e-mailing back and forth for close to three years... I cannot imagine that you would ever have said or done anything to warrant such a response.
You have my support and my sympathies. I hope your line party event is a huge success.
Sincerely,
Marea
(Maria Litynsky Foss)
*****
Thanks for the update, much appreciated. Of course this sucks and one would have thought that a movie trilogy that was so dependant on internet traffic and support for the initial hype would be more courteous to a site that had a major hand in that.
We could set up a form letter and a link on TORN that would all anyone to send a note to Jim outlining our thoughts on the matter (or we could just set it up for the 300+ people who were in our line party). Unless you are just fed up and don't want to pursue the matter further.
Regards,
Chuck (Ronin)
*****
It was with great sadness that I read your last email. For a moment I
identified with Nienel, who, distraught with horror and anguish, ran to the brink of Cabed-en-Aras and cast herself into the wild water of the Teiglin. Not to worry,though. The moment passed, and I quickly opted for plan B. To my wonder, the Cineplex Odeon at the World Exchange Centre in Ottawa (111 Albert St.) (phone 613-233-0209) still had tickets available for Trilogy Tuesday as of noon today. Hopefully, now, my two children will not be forever traumatised by the cancellation. We would still like to join you in Montreal, though, so keep in touch with details for the line party. Thanks, again, for all of your hard work. I am so sorry that things did not work out as planned.
Hoping to see you soon,
littlo
*****
Tolkien Experts at the Philadelphia Free Library
Xoanon @ 9:39 pm EST
The folks from Houghton Mifflin write: There are just 15 more days until the release of The Return of the King - the final chapter of J. R. R.Tolkien's legendary tale of the Lord of the Rings, and Peter Jackson's landmark epic film. Brush up on your Middle Earth History with leading Tolkien historian and critic, Oxford don, Tom Shippey, and Medievalist and Tolkien scholar, Joyce Lionarons. And before that, enjoy a FREE (albeit 3.7 hour) screening of Jackson's The Two Towers, extended edition starting at 10 a.m. Plus, we have some fabulous film posters from The Return of the King for early comers! Hope to see you there! Saturday, December 6th The Two Towers FREE screening of the extended version (10 a.m.) Tolkien Discussion With experts Tom Shippey & Joyce Lionarons (2 p.m.) Join us for a FREE screening of The Two Towers, extended version at 10 Tom Shippey is the author of J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century and The Road to Middle-Earth - widely considered two of the finest volumes on Tolkien and the magical world that he created in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Free Library of Philadelphia A FREE event! For more information (215) 567-4341. Books will be for sale at the event by Joseph Fox Book Shop. A book signing will follow the presentation. Free Library of Philadelphia Lectures Check out other author events at the Free Library on our website at
a.m., followed at 2 p.m. by a discussion with world-renowned Tolkien expert and biographer Tom Shippey and noted medievalist and Tolkien scholar Joyce Lionarons.
19th & Vine Streets * Montgomery auditorium
1901 Vine Street * Philadelphia, PA 19103
telephone: (215) 567-4341 fax: (215) 567-7850
email: rtf@library.phila.gov
www.library.phila.gov
Trilogy Tuesday: Peru
Xoanon @ 9:16 pm EST
Morgoth writes; I want to let you know that we will also be part of the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Tuesday and the sceenings of the extended editions of the FOTR and TTT. The screenings will take just in 3 theaters: Cinemark from Jockey Plaza, Multicines UVK from Larcomar and Cineplanet from Ovalo Guitierrez. The ticket sale started today, here are the places and times: -Del Jueves 4 al Miercoles 11 de Diciembre: Versión extendida de "La Comunidad del Anillo". - Del Jueves 12 al Lunes 15 de Diciembre: Versión extendida de "Las Dos Torres". - Martes 16 de Diciembre: los tres multicines realizarán la "Maratón de El Señor de los Anillos", proyectando una por una las dos versiones especiales de "La Comunidad del Anillo", y "Las Dos Torres", seguidas inmediatamente por el estreno, en estas tres únicas salas, de "El Retorno del Rey" a las 11:00 PM (ver horarios exactos en el list'n de cada sala). - Miércoles 17 de Diciembre: Estreno mundial de "El Retorno del Rey"
Wood and Astin shared hobbits' bond
Xoanon @ 8:56 pm EST
By Mike Houlahan, of NZPA Wellington: The hobbits Frodo and Sam share a special bond in J.R.R.Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings , and the actors who play the roles in Peter Jackson's movie version of the story say they now feel a similar connection. Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Sean Astin (Sam) spent every day together for two years as they played their parts in telling the story in the trilogy, the final part of which has its world premiere in Wellington today. Their close bond comes from the fact that, as in the books, they split early from the Fellowship of the Ring. Just as Frodo, Sam and their untrustworthy guide Gollum made their own way to Mordor, Wood, Astin and Andy Serkis (Gollum) spent months together shooting their own scenes. "Sean was amazing. It was like having another brother," Wood said. "A lot of what you see on screen is the reality of our relationship. We relied on each other just as Frodo and Sam relied on each other, so bringing that to the screen was effortless." Despite the closeness of the characters, the friends are placed under more pressure than ever before as their nightmare walk to Mordor unfolds in Return Of The King . "There's a real threat to their relationship in this film and ultimately they come through the experience better friends than they have ever been," Wood said. "I think in this film you realise Frodo couldn't have done it without Sam, and he knows that." One of the most emotional moments in the film comes when Sam - realising he cannot bear the burden of the ring - says if he is unable do that he can at least carry the ring-bearer. "You can't look around and see the calibre of work being created by everybody and then you be the weak link," Astin said. "You've got Frodo cradled in your arms and you're not going to go there [emotionally]? Sure, you're going to go there. Peter sets this emotional crossbar . . . You keep at it until you find a level of emotional honesty and truth that resonates." The scene immediately after is one Woods recalled as one of the most powerful in the films. "Sam holds Frodo in his arms recalling the Shire, trying to make light of the situation . . . there's the sense Frodo is dying and these two hobbits . . . can barely carry on. It was a very sad sequence to film and very challenging. "For Sean and I, I think that was the most important scene in terms of our characters' journey. I remember we were all crying. Peter was crying."
Ticket Exchange: Washington D.C. and Palm Springs
Calisuri @ 7:01 pm EST
Tonight we have TWO Ticket Exchange offerings, both of which have special circumstances. Please read all the details carefully before replying. I will be double checking with the winners to be certain they are aware of the caveats involved. Tonight's first set of tickets are for a Fundraiser event on Dec. 5th in Palm Springs, CA. This is Not a Trilogy Tuesday event. It is an early showing of "Return of the King," with a speech beforehand by Sir Ian McKellen. Complete details may be found here: More. The winner MUST be available to meet with the seller Thursday in the Pasadena area to transfer the tickets. Here are the details: Tonight's ticket exchange offering is for FOUR tickets to the KCET fundraiser advance screening in Palm Springs, CA on December 5th. The first person to e-mail maegwen@theonering.net with the following subject line will be put into contact with the ticket seller. The price is $200 ($50 each). The subject line MUST read: "Please let me win Palm Springs Tickets." Here are the details: FIRST TICKET EXCHANGE* * *
Tonight's second set of tickets are for the Uptown Theater in Washington, DC. This theater experienced difficulties during the ticket-sales process, and consequently tickets were sold INDIVIDUALLY to each of the three films. People wishing to attend the full event MUST possess tickets to ALL THREE MOVIES. That being said, many people mistakenly thought that they needed to buy only one ticket, and therefore some purchased tickets only to Return of the King, or to Fellowship of the Ring. Read our full story HERE for complete details. Tonight we are offering one FULL SET of tickets and one PARTIAL set, with tickets to FOTR and TTT. Please be aware that having tickets to the first two films will NOT permit you to stay for ROTK unless you have tickets for the final movie. We are hoping these tickets will be helpful to persons who may possess only ROTK tickets.
ROTK UK Classification Changes
Xoanon @ 5:32 pm EST
Tiriel writes: I just had a mail from my local UCI cinema after I mailed about possible midnight showing, that also goes on to suggest that the classification could still be changed, in UK at least. Entire mail copied below. Have there been any other, similar reports? Details are as follows: Screen 5 371 seats Film Times 10.30am, 14.45, 19.00 Screen 6 296 seats Film Times 11.30am, 15.45, 20.00 The First show on Boxing Day and New Years Day is after 12.00pm The last show on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve will be 16.45. There will be 5 screens showing this film but we only have the times for two screens at the moment the others will be advised shortly. The other screens will be screen 4 and screen 8. At the moment the film is classified as a 12A but we receive confirmation on Thurs as it could change to 15 cert. Tickets are available from CBO, Internet and our box office but only the times shown above at the moment.
We now have tickets on sale from Wed 17th Dec only to Thurs
1st Jan 2004 there is no midnight show after the directors chair on Tuesday 16th Dec. I think there was a problem with the licence.
DVD Awards Report
Xoanon @ 5:20 pm EST
Kristina: I just wanted to give you guys a little report on what my sister's and I saw on the red carpet at the DVD Awards last night. Apparantly Billy, Dominic, John Rhyes, and Andy Serkis were supposed to be there but, only Dominic, John, and Andy showed. In any case, we met all three and were able to get our Fellowship Visual Companion autographed (It was already autographed by Viggo, Peter J, Fran Walsh, Philippa, Sean Astin, and Sir Ian McKellen). They were all verious gracious and ever willing to interact with their fans. I even got a kiss from John. He was very sweet.
There is one thing that we witnessed that I just had to let you guys in on: When Dom arrived he was really cool. He signed our Visual Companion and took some pictures with us before we were asked to step aside. We obediently did so and stepped around to the side of the velvet ropes were other Rings fans were standing. At that point we saw Dom talking on his cell beside a doorway (I believe it was a service entryway).
Well, as soon as he was done with his conversation he, he headed towards the red carpet. Then out of no were, a extremely large body guard stepped in front of him and refused to let him pass. We think that the man mistook him for your average joe just trying to get into the theatre and did not know who he was. We all stood back watching silently until we saw the man physically push Dom back towards us.
At that point I think everyone standing there knew what was going on because all of us who were standing there immediately became very angry and started screaming at the body guard. We were yelling things like "Do you know who that is!?" "That is Dominic Monaghan!" along with other phrases that I can not repeat. We all felt bad because we could see that Dom was very embarrased. Also we did not agree with how the man got rough with Dom. Immediately, however, the guy realized his mistake and eased off. We could see the look of foolishness on his face... it was great.
Afterwards Dom came over to us and signed more stuff for the people and stood there for a while with my sister's and I and conversed with us. We took more pictures with him, thanked him and then watched him take his walk down the red carpet. He was just so cool. They were all very cool. I don't think anyone loves there fans as much as the cast of the Lord of the Rings. They were the only celebrities that immediately came over to interact with us when they arrived. Thanks Dom, Andy, and John!
Andy Serkis GOLLUM Book Tour
Xoanon @ 4:53 pm EST
The frolks from Houghton Mifflin write: We will be sending Andy Serkis on a U.S. tour in mid-January to promote his new book, GOLLUM, available in bookstores now!
Here's the tour schedule:
January 12 @ 7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Union Square
33 East 17th Street
New York, NY 10003
212-253-0810
January 13 @ 7:00 p.m.
Borders
830 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
312-573-0564
January 14 @ 7:00 p.m.
Borders
50 S. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84144
801-355-6899
January 15 @ 7:00 p.m.
University of Washington
Kane Hall, Room 110
Seattle, WA 98105
Sponsored by the University Bookstore
206-633-6443
January 16 @ 4:00 p.m.
Vroman's
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101
626-449-5320
'Rings,' 'Alien' top DVD nods
Xoanon @ 4:35 pm EST
By SCOTT HETTRICK "The Alien Quadrilogy" matched "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended" with two of the top honors for special editions, and Dick Van Dyke was on hand to collect an award for best TV show on DVD, more than 40 years after the broadcast debut of "The Dick Van Dyke Show -- Season One." Disney's "101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure" and the star-studded indie film "Interstate 60" from "Back to the Future" writer-producer Bob Gale took top honors for animated and live-action DVD movies, respectively. Telecast set Jenny McCarthy, who faced the crowd of more than 700 at the Wiltern LG Theater wearing a dress made of DVDs, hosted the fast-paced evening, which will be televised on FX at 8 p.m. Dec. 9. Unique vehicles from the year's DVD movies rolled up to the red carpet, including the colorful Mystery Machine van with star Scooby-Doo, original and new Mini Coopers repping both DVD versions of "The Italian Job," the Animal House Death Mobile and street rods from "2 Fast 2 Furious." The program inside was filled with tributes to filmmakers Michael Bay and Ridley Scott, and to companies and franchises that offer innovative bonus features, from Pixar Animation Studios to franchises such as "American Pie," "Scooby-Doo" and "The Lion King." Following a clip package from DVDs featuring classic music from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby to the Beatles, the Who and Led Zeppelin, Roger Daltrey presented the award for original song in a DVD premiere movie to Jack Black's outrageous and profane "Golden Rule Song" from New Line Home Entertainment's "Run Ronnie Run." A handful of writers accepted the award, led by Bob Odenkirk, also nominated as director of "Melvin Goes to Dinner," the latter making its format debut Dec. 16. Fox's "Alien Quadrilogy" was named best overall DVD and classic movie, and also picked up an award for audio commentary by the cast and crew of "Alien" the same day the giant nine-disc set was released in stores. The 600 DVD Exclusive Academy members -- filmmakers and TV and DVD producers -- judge new DVDs all year, receiving advance copies of discs being released late in the year. Talent behind the toon The awards' 23 categories include animated character performance, honoring both a voice actor and an animator; it was one of five prizes presented to Disney's "101 Dalmatians 2," with Short and character design supervisor Dan Root sharing the prize for creating the character of fashion designer Lars. Disney's recently released "Finding Nemo" disc won awards for menu design; games and interactivities; and deleted scenes, outtakes and bloopers. Alba, Hoskins and Brenda Blethyn were named best actress, actor and supporting actor, respectively, for New Line Home Entertainment's British period drama "The Sleeping Dictionary." Pic also won for cinematography. The supporting actor award went to Jones for his perf in Lions Gate's psychological drama "Finder's Fee," written and directed by "Survivor" host Jeff Probst, who announced the category's nominees via video from the secret location of the next season of "Survivor." Gale accepted awards as producer of Screen Media's "Interstate 60" as well as screenplay. In one of the surprise awards, Michael Arrick's docu "West Side Memories" on MGM's "West Side Stories" beat other behind-the-scenes programs from "The Indiana Jones Trilogy," "Alien," "Finding Nemo" and "The Lord of the Rings."
James Earl Jones, Jessica Alba, Bob Hoskins, Martin Short and Jack Black were among those honored Tuesday at the 2003 DVD Exclusive Awards with kudos for performances in pics that premiered exclusively on DVD this year.
Return of the One Party Details!
Calisuri @ 3:41 pm EST
Mark next Wednesday on your calendar! December 10th 2003 at Noon PST. Tickets will go on sale for $125 a piece at Noon PST, December 10th 2003. You will only be able to purchase tickets using PayPal. Please note, that PayPal accepts VISA, Mastercard, Discover, American Express and synchs directly with your personal bank account! Make sure you set up your PayPal account now and put the needed funds into it. [PayPal] We are changing the venue this year! This year's event will be held at the Hollywood American Legion, a historic venue known for its large concert hall, mixture of art-deco and military design, as well as convenient location to local hotels and downtown Hollywood. And the fact that it's a big White Tower helps too! Why the change you may ask? Well, we wanted more space for you! And to accomplish that, we have moved to a larger venue and are selling less tickets. Only 700 tickets will be sold to this year's party. We expect them to sell fast. When we asked you to take our Return of the One Party survey a month or so back, we learned that the location of hotels to the venue was important. How does 50 feet from the venue door sound? This year, three major hotels are within walking distance of the event, making it easier for you to attend! We will even have pre-registration on the Saturday before to make entering the party easier! The hotels are also only 2 blocks away from the famous Hollywood and Highland crossroads, where the Kodak Theater is located. We have secured DISCOUNT rates for the three hotels next to the venue. The Holiday is offering $99 per night, while the Comfort Inn and Best Western are offering $109. Both rates are great for downtown Hollywood. Use the code 'TORN' to book rooms. Holiday Inn - $99 Comfort Inn & Suites - $109 Best Western - $109 Our official website will also open shortly. It will showcase the return of Emerald Rose as our headliner and the amazing raffle auction items available at this year's event. (You'll be able to enter a raffle for the No. 6 Gandalf Bronze from Sideshow/Weta collectibles, a retail value of $6000!) Stay Tuned!
HOLLYWOOD-WALK OF FAME, CA
2005 N HIGHLAND AVE
HOLLYWOOD, CA 90068
Tel: 1-323-8768600
Fax: 1-323-8763272
Use Hotel Code: TORN
2010 N. Highland Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90068-3239
Phone: (323) 874-4300
Fax: (323) 874-2290
Use Hotel Code: TORN
Hollywood Plaza Inn
2011 N Highland Avenue
Hollywood, California 90068
Phone: 323-851-1800
Toll Free Reservations: 800-445-4353
Fax: 323-851-1836
Use Hotel Code: TORN
| 12-02-03 Latest News |
Complete World ROTK Premiere Coverage
Xoanon @ 11:46 pm EST
Here is it, our complete (until we get some more) collection of images and reports from the World Premiere of ROTK in Wellington!
'Return of the Ringers' Pre-Party Gallery 1
TheOneRing.net celebrated The release of The Return of the King and the success of The Lord of the Rings films at the Skyline restaurant in Wellington New Zealand on November 30th. These images were captured from the live webcam provided by http://www.r2.co.nz. A ton of LOTR stars arrived and partied the night away with TORN staffers and fans alike. Ian McKellen was quotes as saying 'TORN throws the best parties'.
'Return of the Ringers' Pre-Party Gallery 2
A selection of utterly fantastic photos of TheOneRing.net/Red Carpet Tour's Return of the Ringers party in Wellington on the eve of the RoTK World Premiere! Many thanks to Ringer Spy JPB for taking these.
'Return of the Ringers' Pre-Party Gallery 3
Another selection of utterly fantastic photos of TheOneRing.net/Red Carpet Tour's Return of the Ringers party in Wellington on the eve of the RoTK World Premiere! Many thanks to Ringer Spy JPB for taking these.
Pre-Party Press Confrence
Here are a collection of images from the press confrence held before the parade, red carpet arrivals and screening on December 1st. Most of the major players were there to answer media questions.
TORN's Red Carpet Images
More photos from the red carpet arrivals. Mostly from the TORN press pool that was given special permission to film and photograph the red carpet arrivals.
ROTK World Premiere Parade & Red Carpet Arrivals Gallery 1
The first gallery of images from the party. Including a ton of fan images and stars arriving!
ROTK World Premiere Parade & Red Carpet Arrivals Gallery 2
Even more images from the party. Including a ton of fan images and stars arriving!
ROTK World Premiere Parade & Red Carpet Arrivals Gallery 3
Even more images from the party. Including a ton of fan images and stars arriving!
ROTK World Premiere Parade & Red Carpet Arrivals Gallery 4
Even more images from the party. Including a ton of fan images and stars arriving!
ROTK World Premiere Parade & Red Carpet Arrivals Gallery 5
Even more images from the party. Including a ton of fan images and stars arriving!
Return of the Ringers Party Report
Demosthenes @ 9:58 pm EST
The Return of the Ringers - Nov 30, Wellington For the past three months or more, I’ve been peripherally involved in assisting with TORn’s party for the premiere of Return of the King in Wellington — Return of the Ringers. I say peripherally because I found it to be of much use all the way from Brisbane (Australia). However, TORn was blessed to have three incredibly talented and dedicated Kiwi organisers in Tehanu, Rochelle and Lyric — and pulled off what I believe was a truly exhilarating night at the Skyline Restaurant on December 30. One of the oddest things about Wellington (for me) is the long twilight each evening. Because I’m from a subtropical city, it feels decidedly strange to wander around at 8pm in bright sunlight. Hence I feel very odd rocking up to the Skyline Restaurant at 6.30pm in broad daylight – it’s like I’ve arrived too early. But I haven’t, and there’s already a good-sized queue forming. After a quick peek around the grounds (the views of Wellington and the bay are absolutely stunning and everything they were advertised to be), I head off in search of Tehanu. The fine art of registering 700 people I track her down pretty quickly and ask what needs to be done — I end up attaching red bracelets to peoples’ wrists at the registration desk. After doing that a few hundred times I’m still extraordinarily clumsy at it. I’m also absolutely stuffed and mildly worried I’ll have nightmares about bracelets that night. Thankfully, everyone is extraordinarily patient — shuffling 700-odd people into a venue does not happen in just five minutes — and for the most part everything proceeds very smoothly. Stunt knights from the medieval folklore festival down by the bay turn up to provide free entertainment for those waiting in line — the clash of sword on sword and sword on shield is punctuated by the occasional scream of a stolen maiden. Costumes, costumes everywhere Eventually, I’m released from duty and get a chance to wander. One of the things I’m most struck by is the sheer number of people in costume — many of them crafted in exquisite detail. As I wander about with Ben Wooten (Senior Designer for WETA Workshop) we marvel at the beauty of the outfits — dozens of Arwens, Eowyns, Boromirs and Legolases. I even spot a very cool Grima Wormtongue in court garb. Later on, I spot one lass dressed as a Balrog, having adapted fairy wings, made a pair of horns and procured a long black whip from somewhere. I find myself pondering the amusement value of staging a confrontation between her and one of the many Gandalfs wandering around. I’m so busy early on that I barely notice Lothlorien come and go from the main stage. I do stop for a few moments to listen to the Harp of Gondor playing Gollum’s Song from the Two Towers soundtrack — it’s exquisite. Shards of Narsil? Yours for $900! I wander into the auction room — many items have been laid out for a silent auction just like the one held at the Oscar Party back in March. There’s dozens of items, including books signed by Alan Lee, Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson. I also spot some Sideshow/WETA collectibles — a tower of Orthanc and a Gandalf statue among them. Someone has also donated the Shards of Narsil. The box they’re in is surprisingly large. Outside again, I spot a spectacular King Theoden in regal court attire. In fact, I initially mistake the outfit for Aragorn’s kingly outfit. The gent wearing it — a millionaire who owns a Silicon Valley software development company — corrects my mistake. He tells me his partner made it herself, as well as the Arwen (or was it Galadriel?) outfit she’s wearing. And now for Someone Important Not long afterwards, screaming and a rush of people from the large outside marquee toward the stage inside the Skyline alerts me that Someone Important has arrived. I wend my way through the crowd, but by the time I get close to the stage, it seems that Someone Important has already disappeared. Disappointing Times. I manage to sneak my way into the backroom — dragging my friend Altariel in with me. There I discover a host of people who have apparently materialised out of nowhere. Okay, they came in through a secret backdoor, but that doesn’t sound anywhere as cool. Someone Important turns out to be half a dozen (or more) cast and crew from Lord of the Rings. I’m delighted to catch up with Bruce Hopkins, who’s in town for the premiere. Ben introduces me to Gino Acevedo — WETA Workshop’s Senior Prosthetics Supervisor. Originally from Arizona, he’s one of at least a couple of WETA employees who’ve decided they’re staying on in New Zealand even though Rings is now done. Corsair Cameos I mention to Gino about his cameo as a dwarven lord at the very beginning of Fellowship, and he tells me he also has a cameo in Return of the King as a Corsair of Umbar. Look for a huge smiling man helping Richard Taylor load and fire a ballistae. Peter Jackson also has a brief cameo as a corsair. Initially, he filmed a longer sequence of about two minutes where he was battling one of the major characters, but eventually he cut it from the theatrical print. Perhaps we’ll see it next year for the EE release. Lawrence Makoare, Sean Astin and Ian McKellen are also there. I think it’s Bruce who introduces me to Sean, who grants me the ultimate compliment by saying I asked some of the most incisive questions of the entire media roundtable earlier in the day. I am left momentarily speechless. We chat briefly, and I come away with the overwhelming sense that this guy is very clued up — he has a huge future ahead of him in acting and directing. (Not that he needs my approval, I’m sure). I also run into Royd Tolkien (who oddly reminds me of Hugh Grant) and Gordon Paddison (webmaster for lordoftherings.net) before I escape back into the anonymity of the crowd. From a safe distance, I spot Gino and Ben up on the stage with TORn Staffer Quickbeam. I can’t see who else the crowd is yelling for — it could be Ian McKellen. At any rate, everyone appears to be ecstatic with the unexpected cast and crew appearances. Signatures, photos and chats Later, Richard Taylor wanders through the restaurant protected by four stunt knights. The crowd is well behaved, though, and Richard seems perfectly happy to chat and pose for photographs, chat and sign a few (dozen) autographs. I’m chatting with some friends when Quickbeam taps me on the shoulder and whispers that John Noble is somewhere on the premises. We spot him outside having a smoke, and Quickbeam quickly guides him to the stage for a hello to everyone. John also helps out with the charity auction. All proceeds go to the Give Life organ donor awareness campaign — dedicated to raising awareness about organ donation throughout New Zealand. The Shards of Narsil go for $900, while a gorgeous copy of the Hobbit signed by Peter Jackson goes for around $600. Shortly afterwards, I spot Ben and Bruce wandering about, handing out spot prizes and goodies in leiu of an official costume contest (which we sadly ran out of time to hold properly. Sorry guys.) Pacy, celtic-influenced ... is that the Proclaimers!? Meanwhile, much dancing is going on at the other end of the Skyline as Ballyscully belts out pacy Celtic-influenced tunes. I don’t know whether to be horrified or amused when right at the end they strike up the Proclaimers’ “I would walk 500 miles”. Am I the only person in the world who doesn’t like this song? The crowd is delighted though, and many join in and sing the chorus line. Wandering across to the stage, I laugh to see three Black Riders dancing maniacally. And what do they have for steeds? Hobby horses. Watching them shake and wave them above their heads ranks as one of the most hysterical parts of the night. Huge thanks go to all the sponsors and supporters who helped make this event possible — Sideshow/WETA Collectibles, Dymocks, Wellywood, NZ Post, The Tin Shed, Te Papa, Red Carpet Tours, Te Mangai Paho, Wellywood, Craftwood Souvenirs, Citylink, Museam Hotel De Wheels, Whittakers, Citylink, Lothlorien Winery, Westplaza Hotel and the Skyline Restaurant. Despite a few hiccoughs here and there — some confusion around the auction and the lack of costume contest — the whole evening seems a resounding success in retrospect. Tehanu tells me the next day that we raised some $10,000 for Give Life out of the auction, drink sales and such and after paying for the huge marquee, decorations, bands and rent of the Skyline. And, no, TORn didn’t make a cent out of the event. I hope everyone who was there had a great time, and I may just see some of you at the Oscar Party in February.
| 12-01-03 Latest News |
LOTR Symphony in Six Movements
maegwen @ 9:51 pm EST
On April 16, 2004, the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent will present the continental European premiere of The Lord of the Rings concert in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp. Leading composer Howard Shore will personally conduct the Flemish Radio Orchestra and Choir. It was New Zealander Peter Jackson who took up the challenge of filming the myths, landscapes and creatures created by Tolkien. The adventure began in December 2001 with The Fellowship of the Ring and continued in December 2002 with The Two Towers. The last part, The Return of the King, will start showing in theatres on 17 December 2003. The peak will undoubtedly be the grand Lord of the Rings concert with composer Howard Shore on April 16, 2004. In absolute premiere, this concert is being brought to the European continent by the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent. Howard Shore won the Oscar for the best original score for part 1 of The Lord of the Rings. The music is spectacular, dark and mysterious, yet at the same time expansive and varied, combining instrumental and solo voices with the power of a choir. Howard Shore uses instruments as varied as a Norwegian flute, a North American reed pipe and specific percussion to typify the characters. Howard Shore has a great deal of film music to his name. Among others, he has written the scores for megahits such as The Game, The Silence of the Lambs, Gangs of New York, The Client, Seven and Philadelphia. This leading Canadian composer has also been behind the music in ten of David Cronenberg's films, including Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers and Mr Butterfly. In 2002, Howard Shore won the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year for Lord Of The Rings. The same year, he was awarded the Georges Delerue Prize for Best Music at the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent for his score in Spider. In other words, the concert on April 16, conducted by this internationally-lauded top composer, is certain to be a dramatically spectacular musical event. Tickets for this unique European premiere are available for ordering right now via www.teleticketservice.com. Don't delay, order today! The Lord of the Rings
Symphony in Six Movements - LIVE concert
April 16, 2004 - 8.30 p.m.
Sportpaleis Antwerp
Flemish Radio Orchestra & Choir, conducted by Howard Shore
101 Things Overheard at the ROTK World Premiere
Xoanon @ 1:56 pm EST
Ataahua writes: These snippets come from the live coverage of two television news channels in New Zealand: The tickertape parade was huge, with perhaps 100,000 people lining the route. Liv and Orlando were in one car, and kept getting swamped in tickertape. Orland wore a red shirt that said ' I(heart)NZ'. Liv took her shoes off for the red carpet so that she could run from fan to fan and not miss anyone out. Quote from an entertainment reporter who had interviewed the stars on the red carpet: "They honestly seem blown away by this." She also said that the biggest cheers from the crowd were reserved for Peter Jackson. Royd (sp?) Tolkien turned up to the premier and was interviewed, saying the premier was a great excuse to visit New Zealand. Helen Clark, New Zealand Prime Minister, wore a chain-mail cape designed by WETA head Richard Taylor. In another warrior-inspired piece of clothing, Ian McKellan wore a chain-mail tie. During the parade, Peter Jackson was filming the crowd with a small hand-held video camera, and during the speeches he was taking still photos of the people on the stage. Orlando Bloom said of the parade: "This is like the most exciting thing ever to happen in my entire life." Elijah Wood: "Oh my god! I think there are 100,000 people here today, which is extraordinary. I don't think I will be at a premier again that's anything like this. I expected it to be massive but I don't think anything could prepare you for something like this." Quotes from the official speeches: Prime Minister Helen Clark: "To Peter and all of the talent of LOTR, the movie has done New Zealand very proud and we're really proud of you. May this premier and this film launch you to more fame and more rewards." Barry Osborne: "I think New Zealand should reinstate knighthoods and give Peter one, then cancel them again." Peter Jackson: "We made the movie but you guys (the public) have given us the party. These movies are made for people to enjoy them and it makes us incredibly humble and proud that so many of you have turned up today, so thank you very much." He mentioned that 23,000 New Zealanders were employed on the films, then went on to say: "I'd like to thank Mark Ordesky for the promise he made a year ago to get this premier here, so thank you very much Mark." He gave his biggest 'thank you' to his wife, Fran Walsh. "(She's my) absolute collaborator, my support - she's directed, she's written songs, she's edited ... she's my other half. Fran, thank you so much." He then invited the stars onto the stage to say a few words: "We had a group of actors who came here and fell in love with the city: they enjoyed the bars, they enjoyed the café's, they enjoyed the women...." First up was Elijah: "I think there are 100,000 people here - it warms my very heart." Ian McKellen: "Yes we enjoyed the bars of Wellington, the café's of Wellington, the women of Wellington, and also the MEN!" (That met a round of appreciative laughter from the crowd.) "Tolkien put many creatures into Middle-earth - the ents, the elves, the hobbits, the wizards - but he missed out on one creature: the Kiwi! Peter Jackson has put the kiwis into Middle-earth." Liv Tyler said "Hello Wellington" in her lower Arwen voice. Viggo Mortensen (who received a HUGE cheer from the crowd): "Kia ora! Thank you for not only making us feel welcome (during the filming) but for making us feel encouraged, for making us feel that Peter could pull this off. Kia ora, tena koutou, tena koutou." (The Maori phrases are 'hello', both informal and formal, and he nailed the pronunciation.) Sean Astin came on stage with his daughter Alley, who he introduced as being Elanor at the end of the third film, saying she was 2 years old when filming started and she's just turned 7 now. John Rhys-Davies: "I based my character on my distinguished director here. Don't forget us! We go home with great sadness in our hearts because we will miss you so much." Bernard Hill: "Nobody could have done it like they did in New Zealand, and nobody could have given us the reception that you did today." Then the TV coverage cut away, just as Billy Boyd was coming on stage, but TV3 then interviewed, live, our own Tehanu. Reporter John Campbell asked her if she was the biggest fan of the films, and she had a great response: "I'm the biggest fan of the Lord of the Rings fans. I love communicating with them on the net." She expected the chatroom and discussion boards to be bulging after this premier, and also kindly refuted Campbell's idea that there would be more men on TORN than women - although Tehanu did say that there were more men before the films were released, and more women after the films came out. John also asked Tehanu for the web address - so expect an influx, ladies and gentlemen.
| 11-30-03 Latest News |
Live Webcams From New Zealand
Xoanon @ 1:44 pm EST
New: Another Wellington based radio station is occasionally reporting from the red-carpet premiere. [newstalkzb.co.nz Live Audio a NZ radio station (streaming real audio) is covering the events in Wellington. They're still playing a lot of music, but there's been some good segments so far (talking to crowds) [audionet.co.nz] Richard has setup webcams all over the Wellington Premiere site near the embassy theatre to capture all things Rings for the ROTK Premiere set for later today (December 1st in NZ). Follow all the links according to your connection speed. Special thanks goes out to Positively Wellington for the connections, bandwidth, doughnuts and coffee, the kitchen sink and everything else they helped Richard out with! [Positively Wellington] The live video from the event can be viewed by clicking on the links below. 5 bit rates are available to suit connections speeds. The exact URL of each stream is also provided in case of difficulty. Paste these URLs into your windows Mediaplayer, if you have difficulty making the connection. Embassy Cams:
NOTE: There will be two new webcams going in shortly. There will only be test patterns on them as they are powered from the van and so will only be live when we are there. BUT they have cool images. The images will only be available when staff are "on site"
Cam 1 It will be pointing at the "stage" and be about 10 meters away.
Cam 2 Will be the other and will be looking up the carpet from the Embassy to Readings. So you will get "full frontal" shots of the stars as they walk to the theatre. Maybe thats a poor choice of words......
Other webcams brought to our attention:
citylink.co.nz Overlooks the red carpet and the embassy, updates every 15 minutes.
palantir.citylink.co.nz Looking northwest up Courtenay Place towards Taranaki St. updates every 5 seconds.
ROTK TV Roundup
Xoanon @ 1:24 pm EST
With The Return of the King just around the corner the LOTR castmembers are once again all over the small screen doing interviews on chatshows and entertainment news shows all over the dial. Here is a rundown on who, what, where and when you can catch them all. December 1st: Viggo Mortensen is set to be interviewed in a segment on Entertainment Tonight. ET airs at different times all across North America, check your local listings. [ETonline.com] December 3rd: Elijah Wood is scheduled to be a special guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The Tonight Show airs on NBC at 11:35PM ET. [NBC.com] December 4th: PrimeTime Thursday on ABC will air a 'Making of ROTK' special at 10:00 PM on ABC. [More] December 5th: Orlando Bloom is scheduled to be a special guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The Tonight Show airs on NBC at 11:35PM ET. [NBC.com] December 6th: Elijah Wood will be one of the guest stars in the Germany's most popular saturday evening show "Wetten dass...". [More] December 13th: Elijah Wood will be the special host on Saturday Night Live. SNL airs on NBC at 11:30 PM. [NBC.com] December 14th: Several LOTR related shows will air Bravo: Inside the Actors Studio - Sir Ian McKellen, Profiles - Cate Blanchett & Page to Screen - Lord of The Rings. [bravotv.com]