When Middle Earth comes to a stage in Toronto this week for the world premiere of a musical version of The Lord of the Rings, diehard fans of the trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien could be forgiven for feeling sceptical. It’s one thing to turn one of the most popular stories of our time into an epic film. It’s quite another to bring it to the stage as a musical – with actors on three storey-tall stilts, an Elvish chorus, a set that morphs from woods to battlements to a volcano and a Gollum who sings. [More]
Day: March 20, 2006
NEW YORK (AP) — He’s been in the “Matrix” and “Lord of the Rings” trilogies, which grossed a mere $4 billion-plus in worldwide box office. Lines he’s uttered infuse the pop-culture lexicon. Yet, he’s pulled off being a successful movie actor while remaining relatively anonymous. “Shhh. Shhh,” Hugo Weaving hushes, laughing conspiratorially. That’s the way he likes it. The 45-year-old Weaving has always maintained that becoming famous or making it big in Hollywood was never a goal. And his career choices bear that out, typically low-budget Australian films. [More]
