I’m fairly obsessed with The Hobbit’s Benedict Cumberbatch, I have been since I first saw him take on the role of Sherlock Holmes in BBC’s ‘Sherlock’. This is why it’s great to hear that Benedict will be awarded for his talent at the upcoming Britannia awards.

Benedict whose credits include ‘The Fifth Estate’, ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ and ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, as well as obviously ‘Sherlock’ and the upcoming ‘Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’, where he’ll be playing the titular dragon antagonist Smaug, will be receiving the award for British Artist of the Year at the Britannia Awards in Beverley Hills.

The award itself is dedicated to paying tribute to the British artist who represents the best of UK talent, and looking at the year that Cumberbatch has had I’m hard pressed to think of someone more deserving. Previous winners of the prestigious award are Kate Winslet, Michael Sheen, Rachel Weisz, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Blunt and Tilda Swinton, which as you can see is a fairly impressive selection of names to be joining. It’s also nice to get another male winner to go with the fantastic actresses that have been honoured.

Also winning at the Britannia awards are George Clooney, who will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film, Kathryn Bigelow, who will receive the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing and Sir Ben Kingsley will receive the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment.

[Read More]

What Smaug might look like: A concept

By: Manuel Ferreira

I wanted to make an animation starring Smaug which harmonises between Peter Jackson’s films and my own imagination. But for that I needed references. Right now, we don’t have many, but the ones we have are enough for a concept – a concept that I wanted to share with you!

With The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer, we got a clear picture of Smaug’s muzzle and eyes. In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we saw Smaug diving into Erebor’s treasure, and although we cannot see Smaug himself, we do see his horns covered in gold. Assuming that Smaug’s look won’t change between the films, we know that he has four horns in each side of his head and one spike in the middle. Joining the horns to the muzzle we saw in the trailer gives us an idea of what his entire head would be like. I drew them together but took some precautions: Smaug was diving so his horns got ‘’stretched’’ and blurry during the picture (after all, he was at movement) so I gave them a shape. For his neck, I simply followed the spikes assuming they’re in some sort of sequence.

For the side of his face, I did the same thing, only picturing the horns side on.

Another body part of Smaug that we clearly see is his tail. It’s visible when he breaks the gates of Erebor, and one feature that caught my attention was that the tail is forked.

There are almost no images of Smaug’s body, but we can (just) see the proportions of his wings, neck and tail with his head. Mixing that with elements of the common adaptations of Smaug with a realistic tone gives us a really cool dragon. As for the color, I personally think that he is a really dark red with purple/dark tone, and exposing the color of the trailer’s Smaug to daylight, my thoughts were confirmed. This is a concept of what we can expect for the next films, but I honestly hope that PJ’s Smaug, is way cooler than mine!

For my animation I added Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice to this Smaug. You can see it here:

About the Author

Hi, my name is Manuel Ferreira, I’m 13 years old and live in Portugal. I’m a recent Tolkien fan, and discovered Middle-Earth trough Peter Jackson last year. Since then, I’ve started to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy and basically became a die-hard fan. Middle-Earth is currently my inspiration for my draws and videos.

German cinema magazine.

Friends at thorinoakenshield.net have a full online translation of the print publication and since we aren’t German speakers, we can’t say if anything is lost in translation, but it reads pretty clearly.

Here are some highlights but if you read beyond this point, expect full-on potential spoilers! (We can’t say if they are true or not, but the writer surely dishes the info matter-of-factly.)

****Seriously, last chance, major potential spoilers!****

“A greedy dragon, a rather testy skinchanger, a river ride full of action and the battle of the White Council against the Necromancer of Dol Guldur: Middle-earth fans should be prepared for something big; because with “The Hobbit – Desolation of Smaug” (starting December 12th) Peter Jackson will (once again) show all he’s got.”

“A lot of the appendices will also be used in part 2.”

“Hardcore fans will find the revelation of the Necromancer (Benedict Cumberbatch as CGI shadow) as witch master Sauron just in a couple of sentences in the book. And according to Tolkien the pale orc Azog doesn’t survive the Battle of Azanulbizar (in the beginning of “The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey”), while Jackson definitively turns him into Thorin Oakenshield’s arch enemy now. Orcs invading Esgaroth on the other hand was completely invented by Peter Jackson. Just like Tauriel – this young, only 300 years old elf which will add a bit of femininity to the male dominated story.”

“This story needs estrogens”, Evangeline Lilly jokes. And Peter Jackson adds: “Thanks to characters like Tauriel we will discover more about the life in Mirkwood, which is completely different from Rivendell.” But the Silvan pointy-eared beauty is not supposed to be a mere copy of Arwen from the old trilogy. After all the people of the wood elves is a lot more dangerous and suspicious than Elrond and his companions. “We are like ninjas from the undergrowth.” (Lilly)”

“Peter Jackson not only uses additions like this to narrate a coherent chronicle of Middle-earth, he also uses them to sprinkle a little treat for spare time hobbits here and there. For example fanboys will anticipate the first encounter of Legolas and Gloin, father of grumpy dwarf Gimli from the “Rings” films. Other than “An unexpected Journey” the sequel is going to be distinctly darker though, stresses Jackson.

“One climax of the new trilogy, which over 2000 actors and extras worked on, is the death of the dragon. Whether Smaug’s fall will end part 2 however is yet unknown. Certain is that the Battle of the Five Armies will play the center role in “The Hobbit – There and Back Again”.

Those are the highlights and you can read the full translation right here, from ThorinOakenshield.net along with scans of the magazine’s pages while the German publication can be found online here, but we didn’t find a link directly to the article.

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking (2004); William Pitt in the historical filmAmazing Grace (2006); protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy (2008); Paul Marshall in Atonement (2007); Bernard in Small Island (2009); and Sherlock Holmes in the modern BBC adaptation series Sherlock (2010–12).

In February 2011, he starred in Danny Boyle‘s stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at the Royal National Theatre. In late 2011, he played Major Stewart in Steven Spielberg‘s War Horse (2011). He also played Peter Guillam, one of the pivotal roles in Tomas Alfredson‘s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).

He also starred as Christopher Tietjens in the BBC/HBO co-produced miniseries, Parade’s End, which first aired August 2012. He portrayed Smaug the dragon through voice and motion capture and also provided the motion capture for the Necromancer in Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit trilogy (2012).

Cumberbatch portrayed the main antagonist, Khan Noonien Singh, in J. J. Abrams‘ Star Trek Into Darkness, released in May 2013, and will play WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate.

Martin Freeman waves goodbye on his last day as Bilbo Baggins.

Jackson, who shares photos and videos on his Facebook page, captioned a photo of Bilbo waving goodbye:

“Tonight Martin Freeman finished his last shot as Bilbo Baggins. The end of an incredible two and a half years. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role – a character that Martin has nurtured and crafted with love and great skill.

We have said goodbye to our elves, humans, wizards and now the hobbit. We now enter our final 2 weeks of pick-ups, and it’s wall to wall dwarves. These pick-ups have been gruelling and intense, but I’m so happy with what we’ve been shooting. These next two movies are going to be pretty great!”

Martin Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch.

All reports and word from Jackson indicates there will not be pickup shooting next year but Jackson had a period of these after ever LOTR film and it is tempting to suggest there will be more next year. But with such a large principal cast, such an effort might be impossible because of scheduling.

Still in Wellington are the Company of Dwarves which could mean a heavy dose of battle scenes as audiences will want to follow each of them in battle. The book plotting calls for ferocious and deadly action.

Luke Evans, playing the enigmatic Bard the Bowman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” also tweeted that his last day on the film is over. Evans’ Tweet suggests he is off to work as Dracula after a summer where his “Fast & Furious 6″ did big business at the box office.

Graham McTavish also tweeted his farewells to Freeman.

Smuag as first viewed in the June 2013 trailer.

One of the single most anticipated characters or creatures in 2013 cinema, (honestly it is difficult to think of anything close) is the marriage of the voice and performance of Benedict Cumberbatch and the digital artistry of Weta Digital together in Tolkien’s dragon Smaug the Magnificent.

We all saw the creature’s head move in the latest “Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” trailer, but it is still a good bit removed from the total performance. But for now, you can listen to the voice, or at least the voice originating from the same human, doing a reading of “Ode To A Nightingale.”

Nobody (outside of the team making the movie) knows how his performance will change as a dragon, nor how the sound team will change or enhance or filter the original performance. But this is a great chance to hear the raw voice in a short, satisfying reading. Thanks to staffer Justin for the find. Enjoy.

Smaug, “a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm” of Tolkien lore, is for many children their first encounter with fire-breathing, scaly dragons. “First one for me,” Cumberbatch is quick to add. “My dad read the book to me and it was a bedtime treat if I had done well. If I had been a good boy, I’d get two chapters as opposed to maybe one or none if I had been really bad.”

As his father, actor Timothy Carlton, brought the colorful characters of “The Hobbit” to life, a film played out in young Cumberbatch’s mind – decades before he would be cast as Smaug in Peter Jackson’s own film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” [Read More]

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…

This week on the LOTR Movie board this week, Mciliel is leading us in a discussion on the many faces of Jed Brophy.

On The Hobbit board boldog wants to know which is the more fitting villain of the Hobbit movies, Azog or Smaug?  Which do you think?  Share your views here.

Fiesta Friday was especially busy this week, with Message boarders catching up with fellow TORnFolk caught up in last weeks’ madness, natural disasters, wild weather, factories exploding and the Boston Marathon. Here’s to a much quieter week this week!

Meanwhile on The Pollantir, sam90 would like to know how do you like your reading material; e-book or paper book?

We’ll share more topics next week and we hope you will come and join in the conversations!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have over 9,600 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

On the script: “[Jackson] knows this world — as far as a filmmaker is concerned — better than anybody else in the world. I knew it would be good… and then I got the script and it was good. But we didn’t get the second script until way into shooting. Because they like to work on it and work on it. There’s no way they’re going to show you anything… I mean Like most writers, actually, they don’t want to show you their baby until they’re really, really happy with it. They’re no exception.”

On the original final scene of An Unexpected Journey: “The ending visual was the same. Smaug’s eye opening — it was the same. I loved that ending as a visual thing. But more had happened up to that point.”

On the casting of “Sherlock” co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch: “I saw his picture in the production office, and was, like ” yeah, that would really, really work”. And I knew he really wanted to do it. Because when we went up for it, we both went on tape for The Hobbit at the same time while we were shooting the first series of Sherlock. He read for Smaug. and that was Benedict’s childhood book, so he was delighted.”

[Watch Video]