Kelvarhin: What are your thoughts on superstring theory?

MrCere: Well, theoretical physics isn’t quite my area of specialty, mostly because math is my own personal Durin’s Bane. But like others, I am troubled by the five different string theories. However, I buy into some of the possible crazy, theoretical ramifications of the theory, especially when dealing with the eternal nature of intelligences.

Wait – that question was a joke, wasn’t it? (Kelvarhin: Paging Demosthenes )

Kelvarhin: Which is your preferred form of transport; Planes, Trains or Automobiles?

MrCere: The correct answer is, “It depends” but for purposes of getting to know me better, I will say that money makes all the difference when it comes to transportation and I don’t have much these days.  To really answer I need to know: Am I driving a Bugatti or riding in a crowded Pinto or driving through a hurricane with Quickbeam, Justin and Grimlock?  If I have top-notch rail accommodations, “train” is my answer. Windows and scenery and freedom to move or recline are pretty great and the point of the journey is not always to arrive.

Having said that, I never fly first class but due to the kindness of one person, one time, I have. And wow, that was a great experience. I have travelled a lot in the last three years and I enjoyed some of each but the more money a person can spend on transportation, the better it is.  There is nothing wrong with a bicycle or a bus.  Thinking a bit, I think in the last three years I have more miles behind me than the rest of my life combined.

Kelvarhin: Do you buy any of the movie related Collectibles?

MrCere: Is this another trick question? [Kelvarhin:  Now would *I* do anything like that? 3:) ]

Assuming that Middle-earth movies are what is being asked about, yes. I was a heavy collector during the LOTR days and I also did freelance writing for Sideshow Collectibles, which allowed me to pick up items way beyond my reach otherwise.

I find the high-end collectibles of Middle-earth monsters to be much more satisfying than the character figures.  I love, love, love the series of mini-helms that Sideshow made and Weta Workshop now releases. I have many, including some really rare ones (the crown of the Witch King and King Elessar’s crown) but I am missing a few in the line and they are all but impossible to get now. They are all displayed and look cool.

I also bought all the LOTR action figures, and family literally gave them to me as Christmas presents, but they are boxed and in storage and I should sell them. I display some LOTR things in my Man Cave other than just the helms. The most dramatic piece I have is a large armoured Sauron figure that is displayed with a different piece, his mace, and a large, heavy and metal helm that might be 1:4 scale so I guess it is a shrine to Sauron on one shelf. I have a sweet Lurtz and a few others.

Now I really only collect Middle-earth books, including Tolkien books, because I am a student instead of a working man and there is no disposable income. I haven’t picked up Weta’s Hobbit movie books yet but I saw them in the production phase and they are mind-alteringly good. How can everybody not want those?

Really crazy pop-culture stuff still entices me though. For example I have a two full sets of the Burger King FOTR toys; one set opened, one set still in individual plastic bags. I had to eat a lot of Whoppers to get those. When the LOTR Pez sets came out, they were a must-buy.

What I really collect are comic book character Daredevil items which has been a life-long effort, but nobody here wants to read about that.  I am a hopeless collector is so many ways.

Kelvarhin: How did you find TORn and why did you stick around?

MrCere: Well, the short version is Chris (Calisuri) adopted me. A couple of face-to-face exposures to him and he invited me to contribute, which changed my life. I love being part of a team that I feel is working for a good cause and I admired and still admire the TORn staff for doing what they do because of passion and not money. I also was really passionate about TORn Line Parties for the LOTR films.

But, before being asked to join the staff, I read the message boards from very early on but didn’t contribute for a long, long while and then contributed a lot. I am back to not contributing these days because my exposure to the Hobbit films is such that anything I type there can and will be used against me in a court of law and because I don’t quite feel like I fit in with all the speculating that goes on. I make it less fun for others I suspect.

Kelvarhin: And how is it to be invited by WB to attend the world premiere of The Hobbit? How much stress does it bring along? Can you do anything fun or is it just being ordered around where you have to be for the next press moment?

MrCere: Warner’s invitation brought zero stress with it. I was a journalist for much of my adult life and covering things like that event are pretty easy. I was very anxious before the invitation came because I felt strongly that TORn should be there and should be reporting and needed to not only regurgitate other news agencies but understand the fan’s viewpoint in our coverage.

This might be too much disclosure but that was shortly after the death of my father and so in real life perspective, covering a studio-generated event to generate press for its film is super easy, even relaxing and fun.

The real stress started when the logic board on my laptop died on the day of the premiere, which means I had no way to send news back to TORn. I had to beg and borrow time on others’ computers to even post what I managed to post. I hated that and felt that I let the site down and fans down. There was abundant coverage, but not doing all I could, as well as I could, left me heartsick. However, we had the live feed, so that was better than anything I could write.

The saving grace? I had a video camera and friend Dan who paid his own way to be there, to shoot it and edit it. So, there was things like this I could share later.

Also, the rest of the TORn staff killed it that day, so no readers suffered.

I did some other stories from the same trip.

The answer to the second part of the question: Nearly all my time was scheduled, which was absolutely fine with me. We visited and reported on a lot of the people who made the films, not just the one-day event.

Cremorne Orpheum Theatre, Sydney Australia – Wednesday 1st May, 2013
Introduced by: Chris Murray (Creative Director Popcorn Taxi)
Hosted by: Oscar Hillerstrom from Popcorn Taxi
by: Deleece Cook on behalf of theOneRing.net

The cheering began as soon as Popcorn Taxi’s Chris Murray walked out on stage to open the event. There wasn’t a spare seat to be had at The Orpheum Theatre at Cremorne for the exclusive screening of The Hobbit and the live on Stage Q&A appearance with Richard Armitage.

700 smiling excited Thorin Fans were in the audience – and they had come from all over Australia for the event – this is what they had been waiting for hours to see. And it didn’t disappoint. It was a wonderful night of entertainment and surprises – Richard was a talkative guest; relaxed, smiling and laughing through the interview and he tried as best as he could to answer every question put to him from the fans, and from the host Oscar Hillerstrom.

Here’s how the night went – plenty of laughter and cheering and just a great vibe all round!…

Chris Murray: “Good Evening! Do I need to ask how you’re doing? Um, I’ve never been to an underwear sale at David Jones but I suppose this is the closest thing. Ladies and Gentlemen my name is Chris Murray and I am the Creative Director of Popcorn Taxi. It gives me no greater pleasure and enormous privilege to have you here tonight to see on the big screen The Hobbit. But not only that I know why you’re here… Richard Armitage on that seat ladies and Gentlemen”

Mad applause.

Chris Murray:  “Yes, you get the chance to ask him questions – I get the chance to curl into a small ball and rock backwards and forwards in the corner.”

More laughter… Then Chris laid down some house rules regarding soft toys and portraits not coming anywhere near the stage, but he mentioned nicely that questions were welcomed from the audience.
Then the first surprise of the night was announced…

Chris Murray: We are celebrating a fantastic film, and that film is out on Blu-ray and DVD today (mad applause)… “Yes! You should buy it! Warner Bros will love me! But, what’s not on that Blu-ray and what’s not on that DVD is what I’m about to play for you now. We have 12 minutes of a little behind the scenes that you will not see anywhere else. (lots of gasps) After that, you’ll get to meet Mr Richard Armitage.

Mad cheering!

Chris Murray: So enjoy the 12 minutes and relax – get the wetness out of the seats – whatever works for you – and I’ll be back! Please enjoy this event.

The sound of the cheering audience was amazing! Then silence. The lights lowered and the huge screen lit up… and then there was Peter…

Peter Jackson: “You want the Hobbit to be a visual experience that goes several steps beyond Lord of The Rings”

And that familiar drone of singing Dwarves speaking of “Pines and Mountains cold” echoed through the theatre – every eye was glued to the screen… it was more than 12 minutes of magic!

The film covered races and character that we see in the An Unexpected Journey – with snippets of comments from the actors and crew members. It shortly gave a brief explanation of the storyline and highlighted some of the production values and costuming as well.

In no particular order – Here are just some of the presenters on the clip, and what they had to say…
____
Peter Jackson: “When we made Lord of the Rings I was absolutely sure that was going to be a once in a lifetime experience. I never realized that ten years later I’d be doing it all over again – and we actually shot the 266 days on The Hobbit which was exactly the same number of days we shot on Lord of The Rings, so I’ve sort of done the once in a lifetime experience twice now (laughs) not a third time – there won’t be a third time”

Peter Jackson: “10 years ago it was Ian playing the character of Gandalf and no one had seen any of the movies, and now that’s an iconic figure. That’s Gandalf.”

Peter Jackson: “The same creative talent. 20 or 30 of the most senior people were Lord of The Rings veterans”

Peter Jackson: “The thing that’s so incredible about Martin is that he’s always exploring, he’s experimenting, he’s always trying to figure out where Bilbo’s truth is”

Peter Jackson: “One of the scary things about adapting The Hobbit is the fact that there’s 13 dwarves – and differentiating those characters was important.”

Philippa Boyens: “I remember the day when I knew we were back in Middle-Earth. I walked over to the costume room and there was Gandalf. And I suddenly thought… We’re Back.”

Philippa Boyens: (about Dwarves): “In the end Pete fell in love with each and every one of those characters. And as much as there is a little bit of Dwarf in Peter I think there’s a little bit of Peter in all those Dwarves.”

John Howe: “I imagine that Peter will do for Dwarves what he did for Elves because he is going to give them much more density, much more history.”

Martin Freeman: (talking about his character Bilbo) “… We join Bilbo as the book of The Hobbit does, as a home faring solitary Hobbit. …certain things struck me about him suggested a certain timidity and a lot of life…”

Elijah Wood: “You’ll get taken on an amazing ride”

Elijah Wood: “To have a chance to return, pop a wig on and feet it kind of feels like I’ve stepped into a time machine. And I get to meet all of these other actors who are coming along for the real long journey and sort of seeing in them a little bit of what we felt like when we started”

Elijah Wood: “A seed is being planted for what eventually comes the time period that we meet in Lord of The Rings”.

Christopher Lee: “Middle Earth seems to be just beginning to rumble and tumble”

Christopher Lee: “The White Council – they represent enormous power. There’s suspicion amongst all of them that there’s this building power of evil – getting stronger and stronger!”

Cate Blanchett: (on Gandalf in the film): “What makes Gandalf the most wonderful hero is the courage against popular opinion. He gets to move on into the darkness that no one else is prepared to go into.”

Hugo Weaving: “Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman, they play a role in eliminating those [forces?] from the political landscape.”

Ian McKellen: (on his character Gandalf regarding the appendices) “ Gandalf in The Hobbit; he is off and away doing other business and quite what that is, is not revealed in the novel. In the films we get to see what Gandalf was up to.”

Ian McKellen: “It’s magic. It’s pure magic. And you’ll believe it.”

The sound of the Dwarves was heard and the film ended with the audience cheering and clapping once more.

Then it was time for Richard Armitage to grace the Stage…

“It will get more dangerous and dark as Bilbo gets further away from home and in more jeopardy,” says Andy Serkis, who, in addition to playing Gollum in the films, is Second Unit Director on the trilogy.

Will we enjoy the departure from the more lighthearted nature of Unexpected Journey? Well Richard Armitage will, at least. He says, “Obviously I favor the dark.”

[Yahoo! Movies UK: Hobbit stars on 'dark' sequel]

This month we’re asking questions of our one and only greendragon.

Thanks so much Kirsten for agreeing to take part this month

Kelvarhin: Have you done anything through TORn or your LOTR fandom that you wouldn’t have got to do otherwise?

greendragon: Oh absolutely LOADS of things!!  Where to begin…?  Of course there are the really exciting things which my work for TORn has brought me: meeting celebs, doing interviews, going to fun events, writing articles, etc.  I’m very lucky to have had all those experience; but I have to say the greatest thing which TORn has brought me is friendship.  I have SO many wonderful friends whom I would never have met without TORn.  I’ve travelled to wonderful places, either with those friends, or to visit those friends. I couldn’t say for sure that I wouldn’t have been to various places without TORn; but I certainly wouldn’t have been there in the company of such excellent and admirable fellow fans.  And THAT is a great blessing.

Kelvarhin: Did you ever imagine when you came to TORn that you’d become so involved? Traveling to NZ (more than once!), interviewing cast members, singing onstage with Emerald Rose and Beecake? What’s it been like for you… this Tolkien/TORn journey?

greendragon: Actually I’ve only been to NZ once – but one day my path will lead me back there!  Did I ever imagine I would become so involved…?  Well, I tend to throw myself 100% into anything and everything I do, so I’m not really surprised to be so wrapped up in TORn – but I am of course thrilled to be part of such an amazing group, and being senior staff is an honour.  It’s been an incredible journey – mostly because of my fellow travellers, as mentioned above. TORnados/TORnsibs are amazing people – may our roads together go ever on and on!

Kelvarhin: How were you introduced to Tolkien, and did Tolkien have any influence on how/where you first met up with the inimitable L. Ron Halfelven?

greendragon: My Dad read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to my brothers when I was little. I was far too young really, but insisted on listening in anyway! Then I was mad about the Rankin Bass Hobbit film – or rather, an LP my brother had from the film; but the Bakshi Lord of the Rings scared me!

Tolkien – or more accurately, TORn – was of course what led me to meet L.Ron Halfelven, fellow TORnado! It was in the June after Fellowship of the Ring had come out, and I discovered it was still playing in a cinema near me. I posted on the message boards to see if anyone else was local and would care to join me for a viewing; L.Ron responded, and we’ve been great friends ever since.

Kelvarhin: Have you got a favourite chapter (or paragraph etc.) from The Lord of the Rings, and why is it your favourite? If you haven’t got a favourite, why not?!

greendragon: Hmm – that’s a tricky one.  It’s very hard to pick a favourite part – there are so many wonderful lines, rich characters, moving moments…  In terms of a whole chapter, I think ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs’ is probably my favourite.  I’ve always enjoyed a good ghost story, and as a child, this chapter gave me delicious chills!  Wonderfully creepy.  Plus, I’m a big Tom Bombadil fan (and I adore Goldberry); so I like Tom coming to the rescue in that chapter.

Kelvarhin: What backstage gossip can you share from TORn events?

greendragon: You know, backstage is actually not all that exciting or glamorous!  Generally it’s just about work; being backstage means running around and trying to get things done!  Although, here’s a fun story from DragonCon one year: fellow staffer deej and I were meeting Sean Astin and Brad Dourif backstage before they went out for a panel. I was going to be fielding questions from the floor – so I told the gents that I would weed out anyone who wanted to ask the dreaded, ‘Can I have a hug??’ question.  Immediately, both Brad and Sean gave me a big hug.  ‘There you go,’ says Brad. ‘You’re our proxy hugger; we’ve hugged you, so now if anyone wants a hug you can pass it on to them!’

Kelvarhin: How did you come to be in the field of study you’re in, and what have been your educational experiences?

greendragon: Ah well – that’s both a direct route and a roundabout path – like all the best journeys!!  Basically I always wanted to work in theatre/performance.  When I was very young I was obsessed with ballet and started classes; this developed into my interests in dance, theatre and music . Meanwhile my love for literature grew; I just couldn’t get enough of reading and analysing text!  So I had to take a degree in English Lit, of course!  My undergrad and my first postgrad degrees were in English Lit and then English and Theatre; then I took further postgrad degrees in Voice (various different aspects of music/singing/performing!)  So it was a kind of varied background but which, in the end, all combined in what I currently do – which is directing/staging opera and theatre, performing as a singer myself, and coaching singers in areas such as successful auditioning and creating a character.

Kelvarhin: What inspires you, when it comes to singing?

greendragon: Generally the piece itself, whatever it may be, is inspiration enough. I’m a huge fan of text, as I wrote above; very little is as exciting to me as getting to grips with words, and trying to understand what the writer wanted to say. Add to that the composer’s interpretation of those words into music, and you have a pretty heady mix! It thrills me to try to communicate, in performance, something about life, about art, about being human; some emotion or an experience, whatever that may be. As a performer, you look for the message given by the writer and composer, and then reinterpret that to pass it along to an audience.

Kelvarhin: How did you find yourself working “across the Pond” in Boston, and would you be willing to recount for us your hair-pulling green card experience which culminated in your being proclaimed an “Alien of Extraordinary Ability”?

greendragon: I came to the US as a student (for my final postgrad degree) – Britain is home! I was planning on staying one year, but I was offered a job which tempted me, so I stayed – and I’m still here!

The greencard saga is too long winded (and tedious, believe me!) to go into here; suffice to say it ain’t easy, especially when one is ‘self-sponsoring’ (which requires proving that you are in the top percentage in your field). It’s also an expensive process! But it was all worth it; especially for the fun of receiving a letter from the United States government, officially declaring me an Alien of Extraordinary Ability! I was so excited when I got that letter – and amused, of course.. .Still not sure what my special alien skill is.

I always warn everyone that the questions we get can be a little on the crazy side, and the next two are probably the craziest I’ve ever seen! (I’m also a little confused, never heard of “Thrills chewing gum”)

Kelvarhin: The gown you wore to the One Party is the same colour as Thrills chewing gum… coincidence?

greendragon: Absolutely not! My appearance at the party was sponsored by Thrills gum, hence the careful choice of dress.

Kelvarhin: Have you ever tried Thrills chewing gum? If so, are you in the tastes like soap camp?

greendragon: I’ve actually never heard of Thrills gum; so my reply above might possibly be false.  Further, I have no idea what soap camp tastes like…

If anyone can help greendragon and I out on this one, reply below

Kelvarhin: Aunt Dora Baggins would like to know “When will you be making another visit to Colorado?”

greendragon: As soon as I can find the money and/or an excuse!  What a wonderful state Colorado is; L.Ron and I had a fantastic time there, enjoying the incredibly scenery AND catching up with great friends from TORn. If money and time were no object, I’d be back in a heartbeat!  This is the only drawback to all the dear friends TORn has brought me – they’re too scattered around the world!  We’ve often chatted about the fantasy of all living in a TORn commune; I think we could make it work…

Kelvarhin: Which would you rather have in your house for a week; a bunch of rowdy Dwarves, a pack of Hobbits who eat several times a day, or a group of Elves who won’t stop singing the entire time?

greendragon: Oh blimey I couldn’t stand the singing. I get enough of that at work!! And I cannot bear people being vulgar – I just hate anything like belching or farting. So the elves and the dwarves are out.  But I do LOVE to cook, especially when I have people for whom to do it – so it would have to be the hobbits, no contest.

Kelvarhin: What was your favourite cartoon when you were growing up?

greendragon: Battle of the Planets.  My Dad made me a little cap with a plastic beak so I could pretend to be Keyop (who, by the way, I had assumed was actually ‘Cheops’ – I though his name had something to do with the Great Pyramid!!) I never wanted to be Princess – male characters are generally more interesting! But I was obsessed with that show.  When I was about seven I had a best mate with whom I used to act out scenes from Battle of the Planets – either that or scenes from Star Wars (when I always wanted to be Luke, but was usually made to be Leia!!)

The fortunate greendragon with Richard Armitage

Kelvarhin: Finally, a question that has nothing to do with gowns or chewing gum: what was it like meeting Richard Armitage?

greendragon: I’ve now had the great pleasure of meeting Mr Armitage twice. He is, as you would expect, a charming gent; warm, friendly, erudite and generous with his time, and I’m very lucky to have spent time chatting with him.

One thing I’d like to say on the topic of meeting celebs – sometimes I think fans tend to forget that they’re just people. Talented, generous people (most of them – certainly all the ones I’ve met through TORn!) it is true; but still just people. The only time I’ve ever been overwhelmed when meeting a celebrity was when I was sixteen and I met Kenneth Branagh for the first time – I was a bit of a babbling idiot then! Soon after that, I started working at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, and I quickly realised that these actors were really no different from anyone else. So, when people ask me, ‘How do you talk to Richard Armitage without being overcome?’ the simple answer is, as delightful as he is, Mr Armitage is, in the end, another human being. He works in the arts and so do I (though clearly he is rather more talented and successful!!) So I enjoy chatting with him as I would with anyone else who explores this fascinating business of creating characters.

Though it has to be said – he looks better in leather trousers than most people… *grin*
I’m sure many of us would agree with this

As always thanks to all our message board regulars, Ataahua, DanielLB, SirDennisC, ryouko, AuntDoraBaggins, grammaboodawg and dernwyn, for this months’ questions.

If you would like to ask any questions yourself, just head over to our Message Boards, the sign up process is pretty painless. A lead post for questions is made at the beginning of each month on the Main board. Or you can just check Main for this months interviewee and email me your questions at kelvarhin@theonering.net.

Till next time from TORn’s resident Tiger.

Kelvarhin.

There are a limited number of access passes from both websites, with The Warehouse ending this offer at 12pm on 22/03/13. There are  a limited number of 500, so pre-order soon.

The webcast will be held on Monday, March 25th at 8am! NZTime.

Meanwhile, to distract those who are still waiting, we’ve been sharing some interviews with various cast members.  You can see our chats with Richard Armitage here and with Andy Serkis here, while a conversation with Bilbo himself, Martin Freeman, can be found here.

Our final interview is with the man who brought Bofur to life, James Nesbitt. This charming fellow chatted with staffer greendragon about the delights of being made into an action figure, what he hopes to see in the Extended Edition, and why three movies just aren’t enough.  He even has a word to say about TORn’s own Oscar celebrations – and how he might party with us in future!

Special thanks to staffer MrCere for editing these video interviews.

Peter: Did you ever read the Hobbit before you auditioned for this movie?

Martin: No, I didn’t, no actually, especially to you, is the wrong answer! <laugh> I didn’t grow up a Tolkien fan. Obviously I knew of him. You certainly can’t be English and not know that name. No, it wasn’t part of my upbringing particularly but I obviously read it before I started the movie. <laugh> I came into it as an adult.

Peter: Do you recall the moment when you found out that you landed the role of Bilbo Baggins and what was your experience with that?

Martin: Well it was slightly staggered because I had found out that I had gotten the part early on. From the moment that I went on tape for Guillermo, when Guillermo was still director, all the way through for months and months there was no other traffic on the road, you know, it was me and I was being told by the artistic team “we want this to be you, there is nobody else we want it to be” but then it came to the point where I couldn’t do it due to my commitments to Sherlock which was a show I was doing in the UK and so I had to walk away, I had to turn it down, I had to not do The Hobbit anymore which was gutting and a very tedious statement of affairs. But, the real sort of changing call was that I was rehearsing a play in London at the time and my London agent Michael had called me and said that “Peter has rearranged the whole schedule around your availability on Sherlock and that you could do both” so I was delighted of course and very excited and very surprised, yeah.

Peter: With respect to mentally getting into character, did you do anything to make yourself feel smaller with respect to the size of a Hobbit, to get into a smaller frame of mind for the character?

Martin: No, because he (Bilbo) doesn’t think he’s small, of course. He is normal sized. You feel smaller when your house is inundated with Dwarves and bigger people and more imposing warrior figures so that makes you feel small but Bilbo is a very reactive character. Part of the pleasure of Bilbo and part of the comedy of it is in the reaction. I do what I do which probably doesn’t really bare a lot of talking about because it would be very boring but one does what you need to do to kind of feel that you’re something else. A lot of that is physical and a lot of that is just the doing of it. There wasn’t particularly a psychological thing, I just felt a way, I knew the way I wanted him to move and I knew that I wanted him to be slightly tentative and slightly cautious and if you walk around tentative and cautious, after a while, you mentally feel tentative and cautious so that was my way.

Peter: Many years from now when you think back on the experiences of making the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the upcoming two movies, was there anything that really stuck out with the whole experience that you’ll cherish, whether it be the wonderful cast that you worked with or even just the locations/scenery that you got to experience working at?

Martin: All of the above, really. I saw some beautiful geography in New Zealand, met some delightful people who I hope will stay friends with and got to work with one of the main directors of my time on one of the main books of our time. I’m kind of spoiled, really. And then there’s the films that are coming out, you know, that whole experience of going around the world and opening the films and doing the premieres was on a scale that few people get to see with the sort of madness of that, enjoyable madness, but it is still a kind of madness. All of that is so memorable and I’ll never forget any of that. I’m a very lucky man.

Make sure to get your copy of  “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey “ available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and 2-disc DVD Special Edition on TODAY! [Official Site] [Full Listing of Available Versions]

Also, don’t forget to submit your questions to Peter Jackson by today. Here’s more info:

Q&A with Peter Jackson 

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson will host a live first look at “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the second film in “The Hobbit” Trilogy, on Sunday, March 24 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern/12pm Pacific at www.hobbit.com/sneak.   Just added: The live event will now include a Q&A with Jackson and fans! Video questions can be submitted beginning March 12 through March 19 on “The Hobbit” Facebook page, or through the Vine mobile app using the hashtag #askPeterJackson. Fans can also Tweet links to video questions using the hashtag #askPeterJackson.  The live event will be limited to holders of an UltraViolet™ code, available by purchasing “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” which arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and 2-disc DVD Special Edition on March 19.  Visit thehobbit.com/sneak for more information.

James Nesbitt video coming tomorrow!

Staffer greendragon was fortunate enough to meet recently with Thorin, Bofur and Gollum – also known as those charming gents Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt and Andy Serkis.  They discussed topics such as how it feels to be part of a billion dollar grossing movie, what they hope to see in the Extended Editions, and what went into creating the roles they play.  In the first of three videos, here’s what Richard Armitage had to say.

On casting Martin Freeman:

Peter Jackson: Martin was the only person we ever wanted for that role. And that was before we ever really met Martin – we knew him from “The Office” and “Hitchhikers Guide” and we just felt he had qualities that would be perfect for Bilbo. That essential kind of fussy, English, slightly repressed quality. He’s a dramatic actor, he’s not a comedian, but he’s a dramatic actor who has a very rare comedic skill.

… With the delays that happened, we couldn’t offer the role to anybody contractually. And by the time we were able to offer Martin the role, he had committed to the “Sherlock” TV series. And he shot the first season, but the second season of “Sherlock” was going to fall right into the middle of our shoot so he said “Listen, I can’t do it.” So we were in trouble. I was really panicking, we all were. … We literally couldn’t think of anyone else we thought would be as good as Martin.

I was having sleepless nights. We were probably about six weeks away from the beginning of the shoot and still hadn’t settled on anyone else. I was tormenting myself by watching “Sherlock” on an iPad at 4 o’clock in the morning. The second episode of the first season had just come out in iTunes and I downloaded it – because I love the show – and I was sitting there looking at Martin and thinking “there is nobody better, this is insane.” When I got up that morning I called Martin’s agent in London and I asked if we could find a way to accommodate Martin’s schedule would Martin be prepared to still come down to New Zealand to do Bilbo? And fortunately the answer was yes, he’d love that.

On the reasoning behind three movies:

Philippa: If we hadn’t made the “Lord of the Rings first, if this wasn’t set against that, this probably would have been a very different story. But we had. The Gandalf turning up in these films was the Gandalf portrayed in “Lord of the Rings,” but if we wanted to tell that part of Gandalf’s story, we got to bring in people as Saruman and the brilliant Cate Blanchett coming back as Galadriel.

So, as soon as we knew we would tell that part of the tale, what happens when Gandalf disappears – because we know what happens when Gandalf disappears because Professor Tolkien kept writing the Hobbit – and we made that decision to tell that part of the tale, you start to draw in that bigger mythology that this is set against.

Also, when we began to go in there… it’s so easy to forget the depth that is in the story telling and how dark this children’s book turns at the end. It doesn’t end with Smaug, when it should end, when any normal children’s story ends, and kids love it. I know I loved it when I read it, because it was unusual, it took you further.

There were strong elements of tragedy in there, revolving around a particular character, Thorin. They’re extraordinary and when you go into the appendices you realize how extraordinary and what has been placed on him.

It wasn’t hard to see what’s in there. One of the things that’s in there is greed. So as soon as you start taking on the notion of “how much wealth is too much wealth?” and “how much gold is too much gold? “ Something that is literally a sickness of the mind, a sickness of too much wealth.

The other thing is, you start to work with great actors, and great actors come to you because of the material. If you give them slight material you’re just not going to get them and we wanted to write for some of these incredible actors that we had.

On the lack of female characters in “The Hobbit”:

Philippa: You do feel the weight of it, the lack of feminine energy. And it’s interesting because Professor Tolkien actually wrote brilliantly for women. He had a real respect for women. The most powerful being in Middle Earth at this time as he wrote was Galadriel. And so, we have her story as it develops, as he wrote it. It informs “The Hobbit” – it’s actually quite powerful and it’s going to get good for the girls, I think.

On the addition of Galadriel and material from the appendices:

Peter: It goes back to the appendices. We can adapt “The Hobbit” and we can take these appendices, which appear in “Return of the King,” which has material I think he was developing as an expanded version of “The Hobbit.”

He wrote “The Hobbit” in 1937 and then the “Lord of the Rings” came out in the 1950s – which was supposedly supposed to be a sequel to “The Hobbit” but obviously developed and expanded into something much much more apocalyptic and the tone was different.

So I think he was intending to go back and revise “The Hobbit” or write a companion novel that was going to sort of tie it all together. He never did publish that book or even finish it, but a lot of the material his son published in the back of “Return of the King.”

So they talk about the White Council and the Necromancer, and she’s part of the White Council and they refer to the attack on Dol Guldur, and it’s that type of plot that we’re developing. So, it’s still part of the Tolkien myth.

On reality and fantasy films:

Peter: The levels of detail in the movie are similar to “Lord of the Rings.” With the high definition cameras you see more, so you may have the sense of more detail but fortunately the team that we have in New Zealand, WETA Workshop, who design a lot of the makeup and effects, and our wardrobe department, our art department – we’ve always wanted to put a lot of detail, and a lot of details that never get seen by the cameras.

To me, fantasy should be as real as possible. I don’t subscribe to the notion that because it’s fantastical it should be unrealistic. I think you have to have a sense of belief in the world that you’re going into, and the levels of detail are very important.

On why he originally chose not to direct, but then stepping back into role:

Peter: I guess I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it is the truth, because I thought I would be competing against myself to some degree ,and that it would be interesting to have another director. …. Guillermo Del Toro was involved for a while, for over a year probably, but after he left because of the delays, it was still another six months or so before we had a green light and during that length of time I just thought, well I am actually enjoying this a lot more.

I came to realize there’s a lot of charm and humor in “The Hobbit” that the “Lord of the Rings” didn’t have. And I thought that returning to Middle Earth with a entirely different story and a different tone – I thought “this is not the Lord of the Rings” and I’m not going to try to make another film that’s exactly like that. This gives me an opportunity to do something a little different. … and the first day of shooting I was incredibly happy I was there. It was a great deal of fun to shoot.

On added or expanded scenes:

Peter: Well, one expanded, the stone giants – that’s like a paragraph in the book when they’re going through the Misty Mountains and Tolkien refers to a thunderstorm created by this fight between giants. He doesn’t really dwell on it particularly, so those sorts of things were fun, a visual scene out of the book that we could develop and expand on. So, we did sort of expand it … the Goblin tunnels?

Philippa: I love Azog, Azog the Defiler. Because we just loved that name and he is a character that we just loved that back story and thought we can’t have him be dead, we’re going to keep him alive. So we enjoyed that… bringing him back. And I think we do that quite powerfully, he’s got a good journey to go on.

On making connections between “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings”

Peter: This is what made the film enjoyable for me, being able to connect little pieces from “Lord of the Rings” to “The Hobbit.” There was a scene in the “Fellowship of the Ring” when they’re stuck in the crossroads in Moria, and there’s a quiet moment between Gandalf and Frodo… and he’s talking about the events in “The Hobbit,” that the pity of Bilbo rules the fate of us all. Meaning that Bilbo had a chance to kill Gollum but he didn’t. And the fact that he didn’t is now directing the story, it’s now created the story of the “Lord of the Rings” – for good or for bad. So it was really interesting to twelve years after we shot that scene originally to come back and actually show the moment where Bilbo stays his hand.

And also, the reason why he doesn’t kill Gollum at that stage when he’s got the opportunity, when he’s invisible and standing over Gollum … and Gandalf had said to him that true courage is deciding when not to kill rather than to kill.

So, completing those little loops and circles was one of the really interesting things whilst you’re dealing with a different story, a different tone. And if we had shot the films in a different order, we might not have been able to do that as effectively. Because really, once these movies are done and have had their theatrical life, we’re really looking at a six movie set – which is the way it will exist from that point on. And so I’m very conscious and wanting to make it feel like an organic story with synergy.

It wouldn’t have been that easy if we’d shot “The Hobbit” first, because it is such a different tone of a book. We might have just leapt into that much more fairy-tale tone, which would have made the “Lord of the Rings” a much more difficult adaptation in a way, because it would have been hard for the two to talk to each other.

On the shift in Thorin’s character from bombastic to warrior, and the casting of Richard Armitage:

Philippa: That’s really simple actually. When we were writing it we understood – writing backwards – how much the audience needs to care about this character. In a way it’s almost his story – a lot of it is his story. When we were tackling this character – because he’s much older in the book – it becomes very hard to invest in a character that you want to reclaim a homeland and rebuild a city when he’s in his eighties.

So when we were looking, when we began the casting process, we were looking between 45, 55. Someone who had life left in him, who could be that heroic character, who could be a great fighter. Again, harder to do with a character who, as Professor Tolkien wrote him, was an old warrior.

So we made that decision that we were going to go younger, and then from that point in terms of Richard Armitage, he was the youngest actor to audition for that role. It had nothing to do with the fact that he is gorgeous (laughs), it had to do with the fact that he did a phenomenal audition and the notion that you had this dark conflicted character, but was also quite grunty, Northern, English – like a dwarf. Strangely enough, he’s six foot four, but he’s still a dwarf. He had that whole thing of being miner, of that grittiness, gruntiness, but who probably plays a good game of rugby, which felt as Professor Tolkien described the dwarves.

On 3D and the approach to visual effects and directing

Peter: It didn’t change my style of directing, I didn’t want it to. And that was the beauty. I didn’t want to convert it, we wanted to shoot it in 3D. I think that is much more realistic. Fortunately we had great support from the companies who worked with us (on the cameras and rigs) and they made the equipment as light and as small as they possibly could. The rigs were originally made in steel, yet they made them for us out of carbon fiber so that we could put them on steady cams and use hand held cameras. Because I really wanted to be the same filmmaker going back into Middle Earth. I didn’t want to, because it was 3D, to shoot it in a different style.

I don’t believe in the concept that 3D should be shot differently. Every director has his own style, sure, but I don’t think that any of that is an issue with 3D. For me it was important to not even worry about 3D and I didn’t, I didn’t even think about it half the time. I was just directing as I would normally do and the cameras could do what they normally do. For me it was a comfortable experience.

Joe: There’s one case where it did matter, though. Back with the “Lord of the Rings,” we could do force-perspective tricks – bring Gandalf closer to the camera and put Frodo farther away, and one could look bigger and one could look smaller. When you put the glasses on you realize how far apart they are, that trick no longer works.

So we came up with this idea – especially because we wanted to keep the cameras moving – to actually synchronize two cameras together on two separate stages. So Gandalf was on one stage, the dwarves on another stage and Peter can see them both in his monitor together and direct both of them. But they both had to keep in their heads where the other virtual person was going to be that was wandering through Bag End.

You’ll see in the film, if you haven’t seen already, that there’s a minute-long shot of them walking through each other and handing things off – that was all done by the actors for the large part, just having to keep in their heads where each other was in this very cool space.

On converting “Lord of the Rings” to 3D

Peter: It’s not really a question for me because it’s a studio issue because they would have to pay for it and it’s expensive. So, I’d be happy to do it if they decide, but that’s really a marketplace thing. I think the whole idea of dimensioning older films is something that the studios are still unsure of. I know that Jim did it on “Titanic’ and it was very successful, and then George Lucas did it with “Star Wars” and it was not so successful financially.

So, I think the studios are not quite sure at the moment where that market is going to finally land. I guess as time goes on and 3D establishes itself more in people’s homes and the cost of conversion comes down, I think things have to move on but at the moment it’s not being discussed.