Many fans are eagerly anticipating a return to the fictional world of Middle-earth with next week’s general release of the first movie in “The Hobbit” trilogy. Director Peter Jackson and the film’s stars speak to The Associated Press about making “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”.
Jackson on shooting at 48 frames per second instead of the standard 24: “We’ve seen the arrival of iPhones and iPads and now there’s a generation of kids – the worry that I have is that they seem to think it’s OK to wait for the film to come out on DVD or be available for download. And I don’t want kids to see `The Hobbit’ on their iPads, really. Not for the first time. So as a filmmaker, I feel the responsibility to say, `This is the technology we have now, and it’s different … How can we raise the bar? Why do we have to stick with 24 frames? …'”
“The world has to move on and change. And I want to get people back into the cinema. I want to play my little tiny role in encouraging that beautiful, magical, mysterious experience of going into a dark room full of strangers, and being transported into a piece of escapism.”
Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) on shooting some scenes without other actors around: “I must admit I found the green screen and all that easier than I thought I would. … I found the technical aspect of it quite doable. Some of it’s difficult, but it’s quite enjoyable, actually. It taps into when I used to play `war’ as a 6-year-old. And the Germans were all imaginary. Because I was playing a British person. So yeah, I was on the right side. …”
On marrying his performance to that of Ian Holm, who played an older Bilbo Baggins in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy: “I knew I couldn’t be a slave to it. Because as truly fantastic as Ian Holm is in everything, and certainly as Bilbo, I can’t just go and do an impression of Ian Holm for a year and a half. Because it’s my turn. But it was very useful for me to watch and listen to stuff he did, vocal ticks or physical ticks, that I can use but not feel hamstrung by.”
