Say whatever you wish about James Cameron or his movies (“Terminator 2,” “Aliens,” “Titanic” “The Abyss”) but he doesn’t play things safe. He showcased some 3-D footage of the upcoming “Avatar” (December 18) at this summer’s Comic-Con and then in one of the convention’s all-time highlights, took the stage with Peter Jackson to talk about technology, film and the future. Our friends at Weta have been heavily involved and will share some credit or blame for the success or failure of his latest, risky $230 million film. Dana Goodyear at The New Yorker has an excellent profile of the film director with a dose of Weta thrown in. Read it here
Day: October 20, 2009
Sir Ian Mckellen is enjoying a relaxing holiday before throwing himself into filming The Hobbit – because it’s the first time he’s taken a break in his entire career. The veteran actor celebrated his 70th birthday in May and admits reaching the landmark age prompted him to slow down his hectic filming schedule and take some time to himself.
He says, “I’m in the middle of a holiday. I’m not working at the moment and it means I can do lovely things. It’s a change for me because, for the first 50 years of my life, I just worked and worked and worked and I didn’t feel happy unless I knew what the next job was going to be. And then I hit 70 this year and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to have a little bit of downtime for myself.'” More..
From telegraph.co.uk: Tolkien’s books have been irresistible to generations of teenage boys, but until Jackson’s triumphant trilogy of films, all attempts to bring Middle Earth and its hairy denizens off the printed page had fallen flat. While owing much to advances in CGI, it is Jackson’s skill as a visual storyteller that gives the films their pulling power. More..
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer, and painter. His film roles include Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Frank T. Hopkins in Hidalgo, David Shaw in A Perfect Murder, Tom Stall in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, and his Academy and Golden Globe Award-nominated role as Nikolai Luzhin in Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. He is to star in the upcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road as “The Man”. Visit: percevalpress.com