You may think that this big business merger between AOL and Time Warner has little to do with Middle earth…think again. Time Warner is the parent company of New Line Cinema…you can work out the rest for yourself. Since this is a new breaking story I’ve heard nothing from my contacts at New Line regarding changes to the Official Website, if any. [More]
Month: January 2000
Resevoir Dog chimes in from Another Universe [More]
Super Ringer Spy Resevoir Dog Sends me this magazine article in the Aussie mag ‘NW’. It’s an interview with Ethan Hawke (Faramir) no mention of LOTR unfortunately.
Thanks to RD for the tip!
Check out the Spy Reports for a new image from The Wellington Dominion and a report from another Ringer Spy who’s been to the set!
The Wellington Dominion has posted another pic from the much scrutinized ‘Helms Deep’ set.
Click for Larger Version (146k)
The Text below the pic reads: Battle Station: A fortress believed to be a set for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, takes shape in a quarry on Haywards Hill, near Lower Hutt.
The set, visible from State Highway 2, could be for scenes involving a battle at Helm’s Deep. A minuature of the fortress has also been built for Peter Jackson’s $360 million trilogy.
Filming is being spread among Wellington, Queenstown, and other areas including Waikato.
Producer Tim Sanders said he could not confirm details about the sets and filming locations.
A multiple-crew setup allowed scenes to be shot in more than one place simultaneously. Filming was on schedule for completion by December.
Thanks to Kevin R for the tip!
This is a cool Spy Report from Rotunda:
I just had the opportunity to drive past the Helms Deep set.
Man, it’s come a long way from when I first scouted it out (way back in September). As far as I can tell there are 3 tiers of walls. The first one was kinda obscured by a hill, so I couldn’t really see much of it. The second one was the most impressive, you could see the entire thing from the motorway (and I’m sure many a driver has almost colided with another car due to staring at the set!).
It appears to look like a wall has been built into the rocky surface, and then the rocky surface gives way to about 5 “holes in the walls”, otherwise known as caves. This will probably be the holes that the “reserves” will appear out of. All of this is a rather dull black colour, not unlike the look of scorched rocks.
This tier is about 10 meters (30 feet) away and above the first tier, and is accessable via a dirt path (which
I think was created by vehicles going to and from the different levels). I don’t think this path will be shown in the movie, opting instead to show access via the afore mentioned “cave” route.
Above the second tier, the third tier, on angle to the first two, so that I could only see the side of it, with
the “rocky” side of it facing the rotunda.
The rotunda is a very large set piece.
The Official Ian McKellen Website has updated their ‘Grey Book’ page. The latest is a small note from Ian laying out his travel plans :)[More]