(The outdoor Lake-Town wet set with extras and crew assembled for a night shoot on “The Hobbit.”)
WELLINGTON — The great cities of history have risen up around rivers, lakes and on coasts. Water holds vast and replenishing stores of food, improves transportation of people and goods, encourages trade, and of course keeps a population hydrated. Paris. London. Hong Kong. New York. Tokyo. Moscow. Boston. On and on.
Lake-town benefitted from excellent transportation and presumably a wealth of fish and food and clean, fresh water but it was built on water for a different reason.
Dragons.
One dragon in particular: Smaug The Terrible.
Tolkien’s Lake-town, like real-world Venice, was built on wooden pillars sunk into water. The lake men — with the destruction of Dale seared forever into their memory — built on water for safety. We watched it in the prolog of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” while they had to live with the fear of dragon every day. Water-based living provided at least a chance against the great and terrible worm if he ever attacked again.
We all like to keep some things secret (and keep them safe); movie studios are no different. As we get closer to the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Warner Bros. are finally lifting embargos and allowing interviews and content to be posted, which reveal spoilers, and drop hints, about what we can expect when the next film hits the big screen in December.
Our own staffer MrCere spent three months on set last year; stay tuned for some exclusive reports from him, coming soon. Meanwhile, here are several interviews on which the press embargo has just lifted, covering a two-day set visit for members of the press early last year.
Please note, there are movie spoilers to be found within. You have been warned!
You may recall a week or so ago, Empire Magazine teased a low-resolution image of Bilbo wrapped in blankets in Lake-town. Now, courtesy of our German friends at Herr-de-ringe-film.de we have this rather fine high-resolution version for your viewing pleasure! (Word of warning, this is a largish (approx 5mb) file that is 4896 x 3264 pixels. So it may take a little while to load on slower connections.)
…the dwarves’ good feeling towards the little hobbit grew stronger every day. There were no more groans or grumbles. They drank his health, and they patted him on the back, and they made a great fuss of him; which was just as well, for he was not feeling particularly cheerful. He had not forgotten the look of the Mountain, nor the thought of the dragon, and he had besides a shocking cold. For three days he sneezed and coughed, and he could not go out, and even after that his speeches at banquets were limited to “Thag you very buch.”
It’s one of the things that we’ve been waiting for and waiting for — the opportunity to see what Peter Jackson’s Beorn looks like in human form. From the front.
Just a couple of days ago, we exclusively revealed a description of the human face of Beorn via The Eagles of Manwe.
If you missed it, go check it (warning: spoilers!) out right here!
A couple of artistic Ringers were inspired pick up pencil (or maybe their Wacom tablet) and see if they could turn the words of The Eagles of Manwe into an image of Beorn’s human likeness as it might appear on cinema screens in December.
After copious amounts of viewing of the latest Vlog (see the embedded video at the bottom), I’m just wondering what are the two individuals (clearly citizens) from Lake-town, doing in the “desolate” Dale?
What could possibly occur that drives both men and women to the destroyed city? Surely it isn’t a flashback as the snow settling on the burnt stonework is clearly visible — and hence during the time the Company passes through Dale. Continue reading “Why are these Lake-town folk in ruined Dale?”
Dragons.
It’s one of the things that we’ve been waiting for and waiting for — the opportunity to see what Peter Jackson’s Beorn looks like in human form. From the front.