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Much too hasty,

Quickbeam

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The Quest

The creative forces behind television’s “The Amazing Race” wants to put Tolkienites, including TheOneRing.net readers, in a competition based reality show with a fantasy flair. TheOneRing.net spoke with casting director Paul Gordon about the new series that is coming to a major television network this year. Expect an announcement and promotion soon.

“There is a potential for people to live out their dreams and we want to give them a platform,” Gordon said.

The concept of the show, called “The Quest,” is to put fans of genre entertainment in a competitive environment tailored to highlight participants’ love of fantasy and adventure.

“It is cool, it is “The Amazing Race” in Middle-earth.”

A “Lord of the Rings,” Executive Producer is also on board. The project has been on the drawing board for a while, but now all the pieces are together – except finding the cast.

“We don’t do profile shows – this is not ‘Jersey Shore.’ This is not ‘Honey Boo Boo.’ The drama here is not, ‘That B!#@% stole my milk!’ There is no contrived drama, we don’t need it.”

Instead, the show wants to find people willing dive in fully and accept the quest to be a hero.

“We want people who are willing to go there with us. We want people who love this stuff. We are definitely looking for personalities – competitive people – not people sitting in a house. You are competing. Where it is LARP or D&D or baseball or basketball, you are going to get revved up.”

TORn tried to find a lead on age or interest or demographic or type that would help land roles but Gordon insisted that on a big network, they were casting a wide net, looking for personality and especially one character trait: “We love people who are competitive – we want this to be important, we want to see them go for it. They might be quiet competitive, might be sneaky competitive, there are many different ways to be competitive.”

He also tried to stress that there are television shows around that poke fun at those invested in niche entertainment and that is not this show.

“Big networks go after everybody (for their audience) and we also look at it as a teaching show. People look at things like DragonCon as unusual – we want people to understand why people do this.

“People laugh at this and say that is not our thing and a lot of what we like to do is teach people.”

“It is so similar, it is shocking to me. It is more familiar than you realize. There are whole sections at Eagles games – people go there and pretend they are something else and think they affect this thing. If they only knew how similar they are!”

Those wishing to enter the selection process can do so by email or by showing up in select cities at early-season conventions to meet with the Emmy winning folks behind the camera. Anybody able to show up in person at the following events, he promised, will be considered.”If you show up to an event, we will look at every single person. ”

The production will be looking in the following cities:

This Thursday Gordon will be in Seattle to meet potential candidates, mail TheQuestCasting@gmail.com with the subject RSVP Seattle. They want your name, age, location, a photo, your interest and why you would be perfect for the show.

But anybody in fandom can send in an application to TheQuestCasting@gmail.com, Seattle or no. Include in that email:
Your name:
Your age:
Your email:
Current location:
Current photo:
Your hobby/fascination: (Tolkien, Game of Thrones, LARPing, Cosplay)
What makes you perfect for a show like this:

If they like what they see, they can schedule an interview or, worst case, they will Skype with candidates.

“We have 13 Emmy’s, nine with Amazing Race. No one (in reality shows) can say that. We are doing award-winning stuff and we never do a show that is fake.”

Profiles Television is behind the show.

So where will all this happen?

“I can’t tell you,” Gordon said, “But it is pretty freaking cool.”

Those fans chosen will be contacted by a casting director with exact audition time and exact address.If chosen, fans will need to come to casting session dressed in the costume and makeup (if makeup is used in their costume) that they submitted in their photo.

The email address to send your submission is hobbitfancasting@gmail.com

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is in theaters December 14, 2012.

Ever wonder who else could have been cast in LotR?  The recent article about Nicholas Cage being considered for the films got us thinking about it over on the Main Discussion Board.  This revealed a jewel of a list by regular poster Magpie.  Come and check out the rumors, near misses and comments here.

TORn is still in love with the LotR films!  The Movie Discussion Board takes a long look at various scenes from the trilogy every day!  Arwen’s daughter shared this one that was a particular favorite and inspired a lot of conversation.  Will we be seeing a similar shot in The Hobbit?  What do you think?

What would you do if you were cast in The Hobbit?  Well we’ve had another TORn member, Lissuin, and Moahunter tell us just that!!  So much excitement as we celebrate the fantastic news right here!

The casting call is on January 28 from 1pm to 4pm at The Belmont Hall in Hutt City.

Full details on Trademe.co.nz.

Hundreds of people of all ages, shapes and sizes came to Oamaru yesterday in a bid to be part of The Hobbit movie being filmed by Peter Jackson… to be one of about 200 extras needed for filming scenes in the Twizel-Lake Pukaki area during November and December.

The casting call was also for “towns people” – men and women aged 30 to 80 years with character faces and men with beards. All shapes, sizes and ethnicities were welcome. That brought out some real characters, especially men of all shapes, sizes and colours of beards, some unkempt through to others plaited and trimmed. Some women dressed in Victorian clothes to enhance their chances of being selected.

They were warned the work was intermittent and often last-minute, work days were “long, changeable” and “patience and flexibility” was essential.

Read the full report at odt.co.nz.

And if you haven’t already joined our message boards, now’s as good a time as any.

A steady flow of Wakatipu residents of all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds attended the open call for extras for The Hobbit at the Queenstown Events Centre yesterday.

Hundreds answered advertisements placed by talent agencies for “character faces” for an undisclosed shoot in late October, late November or early December.

[Read More]

From Oamaru Mail comes this update regarding the casting call times:

From Hobbit looking for local extras

A search to find extras for The Hobbit film will be held in Oamaru next weekend.

Organisers will be at the Oamaru Opera House’s Empire Room on Sunday, September 25 from 10am to 1pm for the  casting call.

Filming is expected to take place in the Twizel region in late November and December.

[Read More]

According to the article, the requirement for “townspeople” (by which we extrapolate to mean the people of Laketown and the surrounding area) is for men and women aged between 30 and 80 years with interesting character faces — men with beards. “All shapes, sizes and ethnicities welcome,” the studio said. For elves: people aged between 17 and 35 with a height of more than 168cm.

The casting calls will take place at the Wanaka St John training rooms on September 23; Twizel Events Centre and Tekapo Community Hall on September 24; and Oamaru Opera House Empire Room on September 25.