Hobbit Movie News and Rumors | TheOneRing.net™ | The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Movie News and Rumors

Tolkien Postcard Discovered at Demolition Site

Calisuri — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:32:09 +0000

A few weeks back, Stephen Malton of Prodem Demolition contacted TORn to inform us he was in the process of demolishing ‘Woodridings,’ a bungalow owned by J.R.R. Tolkien and his wife Edith. His company is planning on selling pieces of this historic location to Tolkien fans. During the demolition, Mr. Malton found three postcards, with one addressed to J.R.R. Tolkien himself from 1968. Obviously an amazing find! We were waiting to hear more about his discovery, but it looks like the news has hit internationally! Thanks to all the Ringers who sent in the links to the story. For the complete details please click on one of the link, and stay tuned to TORn for news on the auction and sale of items from ‘Woodridings.’ [Read More with Pics]

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GDT talks ‘Hellboy 2′ and another ‘H’ movie - with TORn!

MrCere — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:01:06 +0000

In its request for an interview with Guillermo del Toro about “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,” TORn promised there would be no questions about “The Hobbit.” After all, the man who was working on three hours of sleep, is on a media blitz for his second film about a red skinned demon-spawn-do-gooder that files his horns down to “help him fit in” with Jane and Joe Average.

But, the Mexican-born director, after a friendly round or two of phone tag, brought it up in his interview with TheOneRing.net; but more on that later, we’re here to talk Hellboy.

He makes no bones about it; he thinks its best to see the first Hellboy film to more fully enjoy the second one. The original screen adaptation of the Mike Mignola-created, small-press comic book broke even in its North American theatrical run and made some money with its DVD sales and international box office.

“Obviously you are much better prepared if you know more about Hellboy. Ideally, if you see the first movie you will have many surprises (watching the sequel) but you will not step in out of the blue.”

So what can viewers expect?

“This movie is made with the pop, wide-eyed gaze that you have at age 12 and you watch a monster movie. Any monster movie you would care to name, a Harryhausen movie (Ray Harryhausen and innovative stop-motion effects movies like “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” and “Jason and the Argonauts,”) or any kind of effects movie, it wants to capture creature magic and movie magic.”

But just monsters? No no no.

“It also captures against-the-grain movement. It has these massive set pieces with really, intimate, almost domestic moments and interactions between the cast. It is a big spectacle with minute character interaction.”

(Staying true to our word, TORn didn’t bring up in the interview that the above description is a pretty good recipe for a movie about a really mean dragon and Hobbits, Dwarves, were bears and five armies, but the description hung in the air, taunting us.)

Del Toro pointed out that while Hellboy comes from the comics, this movie is a director’s and writer’s vision, not a note-by-note translation from page to screen. The characters in the film interact on a level they don’t in the comic which is more mood-driven.

“The comics are fabulous, but the character interaction is kept to a minimum. It has a very efficient style but they don’t have as intricate a relationship; for a two hour movie you need to create threads of that.”

So how does the director of the 2006 Spanish-language film “El Laberinto del fauno,” (aka “Pan’s Labyrinth”) that had critics falling all over themselves to dish praise and earned the veteran director the most buzz and best acclaim of his career, go from that Oscar-winning film to a summer comic book blockbuster?

“There are a lot of people that first became aware of me with Blade 2; Therefore for many people I was just a perfectly interchangeable action director who created a revolting race of vampires. They completely ignored or were unaware that it was my fourth movie. Many people became aware of me as “The Blade 2 director.”

“It is difficult – but the fact is, a director is a creator of words and raider of stories and you have to design and create to serve a movie. You don’t want to force things and say, ‘I only do this kind of film,’ and I don’t want that forced upon me. You want to explore.

“I try not to be slavish to industrial Hollywood productions or only the small independents. I try to go back and forth.”

The director has explained on TORn’s own message boards (where he posts occasionally as “Guillermo”) that what viewers see him do in the Hellboy universe is not what they will see in “The Hobbit” and its sequel.

For now, he is granting interviews, returning phone calls, attending pressers for television, radio, print and the World Wide Web. He confesses that the blitz isn’t always easy but isn’t the hardest part of making a film either.

“I can get through it, and actually there is a part of it I really look forward to. I like interacting with people and those people and the movie, but there is a part of it too - it becomes a trial. It is fine, part of the job.”

The schedule has him sleeping immediately after the TORn interview and then more and more press for the rest of the week, up to the release of the film Friday at a theater (probably several) near you. It hits in 2,900 cinemas and faces competition from the Will Smith superhero flick “Hancock,” and lingering comic films like “Iron Man,” “The Hulk,” and the action-oriented Indiana Jones flick.

Even then it doesn’t end. The hardy director will still have a few “very very small trips” in places like France and Germany on consecutive days and visits to other non-North America markets.

And then it is finally time for earnest work on that little New Zealand two-movie package he is throwing together with Peter Jackson’s team called “The Hobbit” and “No Title Yet.”

Hey, he brought it up, he was only asked when he would tackle his “next project.”

“We are meant to re-engage in pre-production and work on the screenplay of “The Hobbit,” in a couple of weeks, (With Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens).

“I have agreed with my wife to take a week and a half vacation, I think this week and a half, it’s sensible.”

He also mentioned that contract work is still in process.

“We are ironing out some parts of the deal and the legal stuff; there is still some of that that is being wrangled. It is quite amazing. I have never seen something so elaborate legally. We get to iron out a lot of stuff. But I am anxious to start on it, I really am.”

He reiterated a previous message to readers of www.TheOneRing.net.

“As I said on the boards, there is no more news.”

The next stage, the stage that will eventually make fantastic extras on DVDs, will be that of unleashing his artistic and imaginative side, along with a few collaborators.

“I am really excited to start drawing and start the work with the conceptual artists. I have a list of dream-team conceptual guys and we will see who we can get. We will start conceptualizing very soon. We will get with Alan Lee and John Howe, have all the calendars match; it will be a house full of genius minds. It is so entertaining, that part of the process. It is so beautiful. We worry not about time-tables and budgets and we get together and just dream.”

While Howe, Lee and del Toro (and probably others) are dreaming, fans surely will be dreaming about what is being cooked up

So del Toro’s concept team will be fully mobilized in Los Angeles while the Jackson 5 (Jackson, del Toro, Boyens, Walsh and Weta master Richard Taylor) will be forging a script and a road map for the films’ visuals.

According to the director, that means that the director will be sitting on a lot of flights from Los Angeles to Auckland and then changing planes to Wellington to meet with Weta and Camp Jackson and then returning to California the same way.

In a lot of ways, the journey to the Lonely Mountain is about to begin. Coming this week: TORn gives you a sneak peek of “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

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Monsters are heaven for Hellboy director

MrCere — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:05:25 +0000

Dave Itzkoff at The New York Times has a clever feature on Guillermo del Toro’s love of monsters and his production of them from notebook to screen. The article also features interactive multi-media that isn’t to be missed. It retreads some previous comments in other stories about someday publishing his notebooks and hints slightly about how his ability to put visuals on the screen may impact “The Hobbit”. Read the whole thing at www.nytimes.com.

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Premiere Magazine Talks ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Hobbit’ with GDT

Calisuri — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:10:05 +0000

As predicted by GDT last week, a ton of interviews and buzz about the Hobbit will precede the release of ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ this coming Friday. To start off the week, Premiere magazine has just posted their interview with Guillermo del Toro for your reading pleasure. While the majority of the interview covers ‘Hellboy,’ GDT talks about his visual plan for ‘The Hobbit’ and the second film (F2), among other topics. Check it out! (adult language warning) [Check it out!]

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MTV Reports GDT Planning on Giving Fans a Chance to be in Hobbit

Calisuri — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:31:06 +0000

So you want to be in the ‘Hobbit’ films? You want to be an extra? Well, besides the answers we provide for you in our Hobbit Movie FAQ, it looks like director Guillermo del Toro is planning some other way for fans to find themselves on the big screen next to Bilbo and company.

“We will set some rules and some contests and some fans will definitely get the chance of being extras. Go and apply for those roles!”

MTV has posted the transcript as well as the video on the topic - check it out! [MTV Movie Blog] [Video Link]

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June 29th-July 1st Flashback!

Diedye — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:56:11 +0000

1900
June - Mabel Suffield Tolkien converts to Catholicism, which shocks both the Unitarian Suffields and the Baptist Tolkiens. Despite being familially estranged and financially cut off due to this decision, she remains undeterred and begins her sons’ instruction in the Catholic faith, one that becomes especially deep-rooted in Ronald for his entire life.

1915
June 29 - At his army physical, Tolkien declares that he has never suffered from any serious illness or injury.

June 30 - Tolkien’s Army application is certified by an Oxford University Officers Training Corps captain and he is accepted into the Army.

1916
July 1 - The Battle of the Somme begins. Lieutenant Robert Quilter Gilson of the Cambridgeshire (11th) Battalion, Suffolk Brigade, close friend of Tolkien from King Edward’s and member of the “T.C.B.S.”, is killed by a bursting shell while leading his platoon into No Man’s Land.

1918
June 29 - While still recovering from the effects of Trench Fever he contracted two years earlier in France, Tolkien contracts gastritis at Brocton Camp and is subsequently hospitalized in Hull.

1944
June 29 - Letter to Stanley Unwin (#74) - While expressing his delight at the news that Unwin’s son, Rayner, will return from his leave and will be able to meet with Tolkien, the mention that Rayner is now a naval cadet brings out some bittersweet feelings in Tolkien: his son Christopher, having been called up into the Royal Air Force in July of the previous year, is now stationed in an air training school in Kroonstaad, in his father’s homeland, the “Oranje Vrystaat” (Orange Free State), South Africa. “… the fact that it was my native land does not seem to recommend it to him.” He informs Unwin that his other son, Michael, “a much damaged soldier”, is currently at Trinity “trying to do some work and recover a shadow of his old health.” (Michael was no longer fit for military service due to a “severe shock to nervous system due to prolonged exposure to enemy action”.

As for the status of LOTR: “Not a line on it was possible for a year. One of the results [...], was that I managed to bring this (great) work to within sight of conclusion and am now about to conclude it, disregarding all other calls, as far as is possible.” He hopes that Unwin is still has “some mild interest n it, in spite of paper shortage - at any rate as a possible future. [...] I have still only one copy, and that needs revision as the thing nears its end. [...] In any case, I fear, the story has grown too long and unjuvenile.” He is grateful for the cheque Unwin sent him, as he is still laboring “under debts, mainly due to trying to complete a family’s education after war had taken most of one’s means: not an uncommon experience.”

1947
June 30 - Tolkien writes to Warren Hamilton Lewis (Jack’s brother) to say that he is praying for his recovery (Warnie is in Convent Hospital of Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda, Ireland) and that he is sending him typescripts of Book IV of LOTR.

1952
July 1 - Rayner Unwin writes to Tolkien, asking him to send one of his copies of the transcript of LOTR so that the publishing house can “refresh our memories and get a definite idea of the best treatment for it.” He assures Tolkien that “we do want to publish for you, it’s only ways and means that have held us up. So please let us have the Ring now and when you are able the Silmarillion too (I’ve never read it at all you see) and by the time you are freer we shall be ready to discuss it” (HarperCollins archives).

Margery Kathleen Mary (aka Susan) Dagnall, one of the two women responsible for getting The Hobbit on its way to being published, dies in a car accident at Weybridge, England.

1955
June 29 - Letter to Naomi Mitchison (#164) - Tolkien updates her on the status of LOTR: “I have had a very grueling time, with far more work than I could really cope with, plus Vol.III. I am feeling as flat as a burst tyre; but may revive when (or if, as promised) the final proofs of Vol.III arrive tomorrow.”

1958
June - In an lengthy undated letter to Forrest J. Ackerman (#210), Tolkien picks apart Morton Grady Zimmerman’s storyline for the animated film of LOTR. Some excerpts:

Quote

19. Why does Z put beaks and feathers on Orcs!? (Orcs is not a form of Auks). The Orcs are definitely stated to be corruptions of the ‘human’ form seen in Elves and Men…

31 to 32. “Why do not Theoden and Gandalf go into the open before the doors, as I have told? Though I have somewhat enriched the culture of the ‘heroic’ Rohirrim, it did not run to glass windows that could be thrown open!! We might be in a hotel…

Z has cut out the end of the book, including Saruman’s proper death. In that case I can see not reason for making him die. Saruman would never have committed suicide: to cling to life to its basest dregs is the way of the son of person he had become. If Z wants Saruman tidied up (I cannot see why, where so many threads are left loose) Gandalf should say something to this effect: as Saruman collapses under the excommunication: ‘Since you will not come out and aid us, here in Orthanc you shall stay till you rot, Saruman. Let the Ents look to it!”

(I guess someone forgot to show this to Peter Jackson. *cough*)

1968
July 1 - Phyllis Jenkinson writes to Rayner Unwin, informing him that Tolkien will remain in hospital until at least July 10, where he is still recovering from a fall at his home in Sandfield Road).

Early (?) July - While Tolkien is in hospital, Edith moves into the Hotel Miramar. The movers take advantage of her inability to supervise the move from Sandfield Road to their new home in Poole due to her ill health, and they leave things in a disorganized mess.

1969
June 30 - In reply to a letter by Paul Bibire asking him if the River Glanduin is the same as the Swanfleet, Tolkien not only confirms this, but he also provides further information on the etymology and history of the region. He also provides an update on his health, having recovered sufficiently enough from his accident a year before to ‘walk about fairly normally now, up to two miles or so (occasionally), and have some energy. But not enough to cope with both continued composition and the endless “escalation” of my business’. (Vinyar Tenwar 42)

1977
July 1 - Liv Tyler, who portrays Arwen in Peter Jackson’s LOTR, is born on this day in New York, NY.

1999
June 29 - Corona posts a potential cast list for voice casting for video games and preliminary facial modeling. Names include Al Pacino for Gandalf, Daniel Day-Lewis for Strider, Rupert Everett (character as yet unnamed), Bruce Willis and Liam Neeson for Boromir (Thank Eru that didn’t pan out!, Jude Law for Legolas, Sean Connery for Saruman (That’s the first time I’ve read his name not associated with the role of Gandalf), Harvey Keitel or Patrick Stewart for Denethor, Patrick Stewart or Harvey Keitel for Theoden (apparently the source got a little confused on these two characters), and the only one that turned out to be the real deal… Elijah Wood as Frodo.

June 30 - Der Herr der Ringe posts a pic of Peter Jackson with a copy of Tolkien’s masterpiece illustrated by Alan Lee.

2000
June 30 - CounterAction Magazine posts an article from its June issue on-line about the impact of LOTR filming on the Mount Ruapehu area, with a photo of Peter Jackson on location in Whakapapa.

July 1 - The French website of Premiere magazine posts two pics of LOTR movie posters…

Also a small article from TotalFilm on the official LOTR website with a screen grab of the website (it looks mighty different from the current version).

Der Herr der Ringe posts a transcript (with pictures) of the July issue of New Zealand Horse and Pony, featuring the horses of LOTR - Florian (Asfaloth), Uraeus (Brego), Demero & Blanco (both Shadowfax), Rastus & Shane (both Bill the Pony)… as well as their trainers and riders - Basil Clapham, Jason Hill, Don Reynolds, Chris Rutten, Steve Old, Jane Abbot, Carl Tyler, Len Baynes, Jay Frost-Evans, among others.

E! Online posts its latest installment of “Force of Hobbit”, including an on-set visit during the filming of the Mirror of Galadriel, and a hint at how Shelob will be created. (E! Online no longer has this on their website, but I found it at Der Herr der Ringe.

2001
June 30 - Heart of the City has a LOTR mention.

2002
July 1 - Xoanan invites Ringers to “Blame Canada“…

…and singles out a couple of Canucks who helped make LOTR such a success.

(The link to the photo of Xo with Howard Shore’s Oscar doesn’t work, but I found it here.

2005
July 1 - Sideshow announces that it is ending the Sideshow/Weta LOTR line after the last three pieces are released: Mumak of Harad, Amon Hen and Peter Jackson as Corsair.

All info has been collected from Hammond & Scull’s “J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide”; “The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien”, TORn and various sites on the web.

NOTE: The reason there aren’t any juicy tidbits or lots of spy reports is because most of July and August were downtimes in LOTRverse. Speaking of downtime, if some links that are linked through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine don’t work, keep checking back… their website is down sometimes

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Sneak Peek of LOTR Soundtrack Book

Magpie — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:56:49 +0000

Doug Adams has offered fans a sneak peek of his upcoming book, “The Music of the Lord of the Rings Film”. This is a visual assembly of Adams’ own mock up layout of the book. It’s not the final edit nor design but it does supply tantalizing hints at the basic structure of the material.

After meeting with the publishers last week, Adams’ was able to report that they are looking at a finished book length of 200 or fewer pages combined with a double sided DVD containing multimedia content. The book is on schedule for a fourth quarter 2008 release. [Doug Adams]

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GDT: Patience on real Hobbit News

Calisuri — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:57:46 +0000

Guillermo Del Toro has taken a break from his super busy schedule promoting ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army‘ (in Theaters July 11th) to post on TheOneRing.net forum with a message of patience on Hobbit News:

With rare exceptions, expect a lot of “no news” news to pop up everywhere “about the Hobbit”.

Some may try and be controversial with headings, some may try to spin old news into looking a little more recent. Some may even create a “scoop” feeling. But the bottom line is simple: There are no more news to report.

That said, being on the HBII junket tour, many a question will have to do with “The Hobbit” and the answer that will be given will be pallid variations on themes already familiar to TORN readers.

Please be patient. In just a few weeks, progress will actually occur and we will have some tidbits to gear up-

Yours Truly

GDT

If you would like to respond to GDT’s post, jump on over to our forums. [Read the Post]

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Fictional Frontiers Talks to Doug Jones

Calisuri — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:50:54 +0000

While ‘Fictional Frontiers’ will not have a Tolkien segment from TORn this week, they will be featuring an interview with Doug Jones, the actor who is all but confirmed to have a role in the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films. Sohaib will also be interviewing Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. It is sure to be a great show, so check it out this Sunday from 11-Noon ET WNJC 1360 AM, Philadelphia. And don’t forget to tune in next week as well as TORn returns with a new segment. [Fictional Frontiers] [Netcast]

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Sideshow Collectibles Updates: Dark Counsel Video, Aragorn pics, more

Calisuri — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:01:57 +0000

Sideshow collectibles has posted a Backstage Pass video of the latest LOTR diorama, ‘Dark Counsel,’ featuring Grima Wormtongue and Theoden. To view the video follow the link below. Other Sideshow Collectible LOTR headlines: The Aragorn Premium Format figure page has been updated with production imagery (Image of the final piece as it will ship to customers); The Moria Orc Premium Format Figure exclusive is sold out, but you can get the regular edition here; The Sam and Frodo 12-inch figure exclusives are still instock and available for shipping. [Dark Counsel Video] [Aragorn Pics] [Moria Orc] [Sam and Frodo Figures]

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