How do Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, the two titans of pop culture, collaborate on the new 3-D motion-capture version of “Tintin”? With lots of high-tech wizardry.
Spielberg, who’s directing the first installment, “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn,” recently wrapped 32 days of performance-capture shooting in Los Angeles. Producer Jackson traveled from his New Zealand home base to L.A. for rehearsals and the first week of shooting, and then appeared via an elaborate video-conferencing setup for the rest of the shoot, using a specially designed iChat-type system in which the Kiwi filmmaker can see everything on the set in real time and simultaneously talk with Spielberg. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in 2011. ‘Tintin’ project brings moguls together
In a trailer on the edge of a film set beneath an underpass in downtown Cape Town, Ian McKellen, 69, is musing about fame and death, and what the papers will say when he goes. “ ’GANDALF DIES,’ I expect,” he says. The thought tickles him. Not the dying part. The part about being a classical actor and having billions of fans, most of whom are 12. “When you spend as long as I have doing beautiful work which is only seen by a few thousand people, to be involved in popular entertainment without lessening one’s standards … that’s fairly appealing,” he says. “You become part of the culture.” It’s not that McKellen ever shied away from fame. On the contrary, he sought it out “to publicise myself to people who might employ me.” You might say he overachieved. “Now it’s … well, it’s gone well beyond that.” 
morten writes: I just saw the news that Christopher Lee is going to be at the LOTR in Concert in Copenhagen. I am looking forward to it – the people behind it are the Tolkien Ensemble, who has created some beautiful and moody music for LotR and the illustrations for the LotR created by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe the 2nd will be a part of the experience. Just thought I’d let you know since I haven’t heard a mention of it on theonering.net so far. Here is the link, in Danish (sorry!). 
If there is one thing the director of The Hobbit cannot be without while based in Wellington, it is plenty of graphic novels and books. Mexican Guillermo del Toro has been in Unity Books in Willis St buying large numbers of graphic novels and books as he settles in for pre-production on the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit at Peter Jackson’s Miramar studios. Shooting takes place next year. Del Toro was also a guest at Wellington Zoo on Sunday for the introduction of Weta Workshop’s new children’s television series The WotWots – the first time he has appeared before the media since arriving in Wellington. Del Toro, whose two recent Hellboy movies were based on a comic book series, is renowned for being a voracious reader.