EvangelineLilySDCC_QandA03Nerd HQ hosted a Q&A with Evangeline Lilly, where she talks about Lost, her new book – The Squickerwonkers, what’s on her bucket list, her humanitarian work and of course her character, Tauriel from The Hobbit.

You might want to fast forward to the 2:43 minute point when the Q&A actually begins.

Evangeline also talks about the new interactive version of Squickerwonkers that’s coming out, and about working with a Kiwi composer on it and having Sylvester McCoy narrate the story. “It contains animated elements, little easter eggs and things kids can touch and they come to life.”

She discusses her approach to Tauriel saying that she was super proud that she wasn’t just there as a kick-ass woman who can slay and kill. “Look what I can do is, I can protect, I can have compassion and I can care and be gentle and not be like “Urgh!”, but be feminine and graceful while slaughtering orcs.”

 

 

Luke Evans as Bard The Bowman and John Bell as his son Bain.
(Luke Evans as Bard The Bowman and John Bell as his son Bain.)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Ever wonder what you gave Luke Evans for his birthday?  Few realized it, but the staff and readers of TheOneRing.net gave him a present back in April of 2011.

Evans celebrated his 32nd year with a party at Gas Works, a bar and grill just walking distance from Stone Street Studios, the movie lot where Peter Jackson makes movies, including the forthcoming “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”

In the mess tent of that set, on the white refrigerator that holds cream and milk and sundry items, near the always playing iPod, there hung a solicitation for all eyes to see: An open invitation from Luke Evans to celebrate his birthday on a Saturday night.  (Regrettably I didn’t take a photo of the fridge.) The invitation was right there in perhaps the most trafficked spot on the lot, available for all, specified for none.

Are on-set reporters invited to cast and crew events?  Advised by somebody from costume that it was absolutely okay (Jasmine I think, a real favorite), I decided to go only if could find a suitable gift from all of us, readers and staff of TORn.  What would you buy an actor on behalf of the largest online Tolkien community?  What does a guy making a living acting in New Zealand and away from home really want or need anyway? Continue reading “Luke Evans talks Bard the Bowman and Bard the family man in ‘Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’”

It was an interesting journey the filmmaker and Hobbit actorTHE HOBBIT_ AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY-1 Jed Brophy took us on in one hour, we where guided along the stages and rooms of Park Road Post in Miramar, Wellington, to where we finally ended up in Peter Jackson’s’ home away from home the editing room in his traditional bare feet.

Jed was a great host along side Peter Jackson who explained certain things on the way to the editing room, we saw snippets of work in progress, Azog and an Orc in motion capture, some Pre-Viz of Smaug the Dragon, of whom we only saw snippets of in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is akin to the unfinished Gollum in his first but brief appearance in Fellowship of The Ring, before he was fully realized as a digital character in the Two Towers, he was a mere shadow of himself you could say..

Continue reading “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Sneak Peek – Full Transcript”


There are yet more ways to buy “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” including downloading it. In what is called the Xbox SmartGlass Exclusive, thanks to spy TheSilentSon we have a feature to share showcasing Thorin (Richard Armitage), Fili (Dean O’Gorman) and Kili (Aiden Turner) that talks about the relationship of the three in the subtext of the film. This is clearly behind-the-scenes content from the same people who are bringing us production diaries from Pellerin Multimedia. It spells out the Dwarven lineage as written by J.R.R. Tolkien and has some great making-of shots as well as snippets of interviews. And, if you haven’t put it together yet, these are likely the hottest of the hot dwarves. While the Xbox stuff obviously is tied in with HBO (I see you John Snow) and a commercial push, it isn’t completely clear how viewers could download the film. Feel free to alert Microsoft to send us further info (and, as an Xbox owner, I just might give it a whirl and report back.) In the meantime, fans will really enjoy all three minutes and six seconds of this feature.

Richard ArmitageTORn staffer Saystine found us another great interview video from Yahoo! Movies UK in which Hobbit cast members Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, and Andy Serkis discuss how the second film in the trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug, will differ from An Unexpected Journey.

“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]