After hitting so many different parts of popular culture, Martin Freeman, forever known around these parts as Bilbo…
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After hitting so many different parts of popular culture, Martin Freeman, forever known around these parts as Bilbo Baggins, will now invade the Marvel Universe, which also means Disney. Just in case he wasn’t popular enough for works in Middle-earth and in the world of Sherlock Holmes, he will jump into Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War.”
Marvel made the announcement on its website. Continue reading “Martin Freeman signs on for Marvel’s ‘Civil War’”
Mel is gone.
It has been weeks now and this isn’t news. I have felt the loss personally and thought about the loss for so many.
Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, is gone. In her real traditional obituary, it says she was of Lawrenceville, Georgia. Respectfully, I disagree, or I want to state on the record, that while that may be true, it isn’t the whole truth.
More of the truth would say that Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, a notable figure in the Tolkien Community, died March 8, 2015, after a long battle with ALS. She lived among us, the fan community, and was our neighbor and shared her life with us and is missed by us, as she is missed in Lawrenceville. You could write about more places she lived and is missed too.
I remember, fortunately a few conversations we shared that didn’t seem especially significant at the time, but feel pretty lucky now. We talked about an artist that visited Georgia. We talked about the Tolkien Community in Atlanta. We even talked about specific people she wanted good things for. We talked about fandom, that included her own early love for the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. We shared some moments and I value them, as part of the beautiful experience of our community and they are just a tiny sample of many such moments she shared with many people.
More memorable than the things she said were the people she influenced. The Georgia costuming community, I think it is fair to say, wouldn’t have been so organized or so unified if not for Mel. The Arms of Middle-earth might not have existed at all without Mel, but I don’t pretend to know the reality of that claim. We can safely and accurately say, she was at the heart of the community.
There is a photo, I am sure dozens of people have it, where a significant number of Tolkien costumers were all gathered together in an impressive array of characters from “The Lord of the Rings.” It was during Dragon Con in Atlanta, before the convention had matured to quite the level it has now. Groups of costumers were less frequent and large numbers of themed costumes were rare. There, in that spot, was organized and gathered an outstanding display of fans, living their passions and forming a genuine fellowship. It was a very fine cosplay effort but it was a transcendent community effort. Continue reading “Tolkien community loses Melissa Petrey Kern”
In the USA, from March 24th, the last in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies will be available for you to take home. (It’s been available in digital version in many countries since March 3rd; but from Tuesday you can get your hands on a ‘hard’ copy.)
Many fans, of course, like to wait for the Extended Edition release before purchasing a copy; but speaking personally, my collection isn’t complete unless I have the theatrical cut as well. I was thrilled to get my hands on a review copy of the Blu-ray Combo pack, which includes copies of the movie on Blu-ray, on DVD and a Digital HD copy – as well as various extras. Continue reading “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies DVD/Blu-ray review – RELEASE DATE MARCH 24”
Staffer Justin spots the Hobbit connections in yesterday’s Golden Globes awards ceremony:
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was not nominated in any categories at the 2015 Golden Globes, but it was still very present at the ceremony. From the outset of the first award, Benedict Cumberbatch raised his hand to present on stage with Jennifer Aniston. Smaug the prankster was just getting warmed up.
A few minutes later during a photo-op gag featuring Meryl Streep and Margaret Cho, Benedict repeated his famous #Cumberbomb in what was probably one of the most DVR-rewind moments of the night. (Click the image for the animated GIF!) 
Eddie Redmayne took home best dramatic actor for The Theory of Elvenking errr Every Ring errr Everything, but few knew about his Hobbit connection! Mr Redmayne originally auditioned for Bilbo way back when, and the audition did not go very well. Watch the video below to see him telling Graham Norton about it.
Fans on Twitter also spotted BOFUR himself James Nesbitt in the audience!
Several awards including Screenplay and Comedy Actor went to BIRDMAN. We are talking about the same bird man right?
Martin Freeman and the team in FARGO won for Best Miniseries. That makes Martin one of the most gilded TV actors between Sherlock and Fargo.
Even without any nods to The Hobbit, the fact that Middle-earth has touched the careers of so many wonderful actors makes for a fun awards watching experience. Awards season is just getting started – will you help us bring it to an eagle-soaring completion at #OneLastParty?
Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo is 80% funded and we’re pretty stoked!
If you’d like to join us as a Party of Special Magnificence in Hollywood in February — a toast to all SIX Middle-earth movies, then now is the time to throw in your support! Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood (or if you’ve already contributed), you can help out by retweeting or sharing our fundraiser across social media to get the word out.
We’ve just added a new perk to our One Last Party crowdfund campaign! For those of you who can’t join us in Los Angeles in February, you could have EXCLUSIVE access to watch the live stream from the event.
This will cover the ‘stage show’ at the party, as well as ‘behind the scenes’ footage with party goers – both cast and fellow fans. The live stream will ONLY be accessible to those who pledge to the Indiegogo campaign. Right now we have 200 ‘perks’ available, for a $50 pledge. Once these have sold out, we will try to make more available – but the price will go up! So snag them whilst you can, and join us to celebrate online, even if you can’t be there in person! TheOneLastParty.com
Martin Freeman has been invited to The One Last Party – and he loves the fans from TheOneRing.net! Here he is, chatting with staffer greendragon, at The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies World Premiere in London. They talk abut the influences of classic comedy on his portrayal of Bilbo, the fun of playing John Watson, and how much the support of the fans has meant to him. You could join him at the party – tickets available (until Jan 18th, NOT Dec 31st, in spite of what the video says) here.
We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit.
Over on AICN, Quint recently had a long chat with Martin Freeman about the conclusion to The Hobbit, and his own role as Bilbo within the three films.
As well as chatting about the effect of the three-film split, working with Peter Jackson and a his own acting process. As Quint points out, “he’s also pretty blunt about Bilbo taking a back seat at this point in the story.” Click the link at the bottom to head to AICN and read the whole interview. Continue reading “Martin Freeman chats about all things Bilbo”
