Pandemic Studios, the geeks behind Star Wars: Battlefront I & II, Mercenaries, Destroy All Humans, and other titles contacted us a while back giddy with excitement over their new project ‘Lord of the Rings: Conquest’. This is setting up to be the battle game to end all battle games, I sat with game director Eric “Giz” Gewirtz to talk about it. Take a look! Read the rest of this entry »
BBC Drama Production today announced the key cast for Little Dorrit, Andrew Davies’ major adaptation of Dickens’ novel to be broadcast on BBC One this autumn. Recent newcomer Claire Foy (Being Human) will star as Amy Dorrit, also known as Little Dorrit, the kind sweet girl at the centre of the story. Andy Serkis (Lord Of The Rings, King Kong) plays the dastardly French villain Rigaud. The 15-part drama series began filming last week and will film throughout the summer in locations in and around London, Buckinghamshire, Kent and Herefordshire. Little Dorrit will play out in soap opera format with 14 half-hour episodes following an initial hour-long episode. Read More
According to the Times Online, Christopher Lee will make British History next month when he becomes one of the first living non-royals to be portrayed on a British stamp:
“The 85-year-old actor will appear as Dracula on a set of commemorative stamps next month marking the 50th anniversary of the Hammer horror and Carry On films. The stamps, which break more than 80 years of convention, will be released on June 10. Buckingham Palace said new designs were personally approved by the Queen.”
Thanks to message board member diedye for the scoop. Read More
Stories of dragons are as old as the written word and probably a lot older. To keep things inside the J.R.R. Tolkien realm, “Beowulf”, one of the oldest written stories of Europe features not only the monstrous Grendel but his serpentine Mother. Ancient biblical writings allude to the great serpent or dragon while global mythology has oversized lizard creatures popping up so consistently that some have suggested there must be some common shared memory or primitive survival instinct built into humanity to cause us to tell our tribal stories about such a monstrosity. Read the rest of this entry »
Ringer Spy Elven was kind enough to transcribe the ‘To be Continued’ interview from last week where I discussed our exclusive chat with ‘Hobbit’ director Guillermo del Toro. Take a look! Read the rest of this entry »
Steve writes: This may or may not be of interest to you. Currently there is a resource consent application for two massive dwellings up at the Poolburn Dam – Central Otago, site of some scenes from Rohan. Locals are very unhappy about this because the developments are completely out of character with the surrounds and the developer is intending to fence off and restrict access to this part of the Dam which to this point has been open to all public. There have been articles about this in the Otago Daily Times and details of the consent application can be found here (reference RCO80072). Given that the developers are from Auckland you could say that Rohan is now under attack from the Aucks.
Empire Magazine caught up with Sir Ian McKellen at the UK Premiere of Speed Racer at which he had this to say:
“Yes, it’s true,” he said. “I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it’s not a part that you turn down, I loved playing Gandalf.”
The other great tidbit of news is that we have a timeline for the script development - about 6 weeks. Make sure to read the full story and intereview at EMPIRE! (Thanks to Mr. Platt for the heads up!) [Read More]
The Grey Pilgrim sent MTV’s interview with Guillermo del Toro our way where the communicative director had yet more to say about some “Hobbit” movies he is working on. The MTV writer Shawn Adler (with reporting by Josh Horowitz) is one of the few mainstream writers that knows that Middle-earth has a lowercase “earth” and like our own Xoanon asks some questions with real background knowledge. I think I detect a Tolkien fan. Anyway, addressing several of the same issues that have been discussed on our own forums such as GDT’s feelings about high fantasy and casting, we give you MTV. Click Here.
EW.com has published a ‘top’ list in honor of Arbor Day (April 25th). The new list is titled ‘Life and Limb: 12 Mighty Pop-Culture Trees,’ and guess who show up first? None other than the Ents!
Sure, these giant walking-and-talking trees take too friggin’ long to make any sort of decision — it’s a good thing they don’t wear clothes, or millennia could pass before they left the grove — but once they do get off their stumps, they’re a force to be reckoned with. Just ask Saruman (Christopher Lee).
Check out the full list and plant a tree! [Full List]
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BBC Drama Production today announced the key cast for Little Dorrit, Andrew Davies’ major adaptation of Dickens’ novel to be broadcast on BBC One this autumn. Recent newcomer Claire Foy (Being Human) will star as Amy Dorrit, also known as Little Dorrit, the kind sweet girl at the centre of the story. Andy Serkis (Lord Of The Rings, King Kong) plays the dastardly French villain Rigaud. The 15-part drama series began filming last week and will film throughout the summer in locations in and around London, Buckinghamshire, Kent and Herefordshire. Little Dorrit will play out in soap opera format with 14 half-hour episodes following an initial hour-long episode. 
Ringer Spy Elven was kind enough to transcribe the ‘To be Continued’ interview from last week where I discussed our exclusive chat with ‘Hobbit’ director Guillermo del Toro. Take a look! 
