The actor Andy Serkis, who so memorably played Gollum and King Kong using performance capture, has announced the UK’s first studio specialising in the technique. As he told a recent British Screen Advisory Council discussion on working with digital film technology, Serkis caught the bug of “cyber-thespianism” working with Peter Jackson at his Weta studios in New Zealand, first on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and then on King Kong. He has since directed performance capture for two video games, one in America and one in New Zealand. That made him wonder why the same facility wasn’t available in Britain, when so much of the original technology was developed out of Oxford and Cambridge. More..
Month: April 2010
The 2010 American Quilt Society quilt show officially begins tomorrow, but unofficially, the party got started tonight. Hundreds of people showed up to get a sneak peek at this year’s winners. Judges presented the awards earlier this evening at the Carson Center in Downtown Paducah. The event culminated with the award for “Best of Show” More..
Thanks to Ringers Rory and Kelgalad for the heads up on this:
“Tonight’s episode of ‘The Marriage Ref’ will include a couple who are arguing over the husband’s Lord of the Rings collection. Should be funny, even if you’re not a fan of the show. NBC, 10 EST”
Check out the official website for more details and your local listings! [NBC]
Vincent writes: I attended the annual Elf Fantasy Fair in the Netherlands, which finished today. One of the guests was Shane Rangi, well know to fans of the LOTR movies. He was pretty active at the event, and at one point demonstrated the new ‘WETA Legs’.
Tom writes: Have you noticed the “newest news” on Weta Workshop site, about their new display at Wellington airport. The picture shows one of the two trolls holding the shelves. They don’t look like the ones from the FOTR. A “Hobbit” stone Trolls sneak peak perhaps? (I doubt it, but they’re awfully cute -Xo) More..
Our pal Michael Pellerin sends this in: The Digital Bits just posted a new article with me about the Theatrical LOTR BDs. This one is far more detailed than the interview I did before for HollywoodNews. I was able to go into more details about the potential future Box Set and what we have planned for it. More..
Keep an eye out for Michael to join us on TheOneRing.net Radio Show next month!