Thanks to a Random Hobbit we’ve got the scans from the new Entertainment Weekly, they have a small article and what they claim are ‘new’ pics from LOTR. I guess these guys don’t surf the net much…
When a trailer for Peter Jackson’s unfinished trilogy The Lord of the Rings popped up on the Net last year, fans of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy downloaded it more than 1.7 million times in 24 hours. The New Zealand director (Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners) knew his progress was being monitored not just by New Line Cinema, which bankrolled the $US270 million project, but by a global army of Tolkien aficionados. A 20-minute sneak peek of the first instalment screened at Cannes last month earned rapturous applause. “You can’t believe,” Jackson, 39, said later, “the weight off my shoulders.” For 14 months he has toiled in rural New Zealand, shooting the three films back-to-back with a cast including Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond). Part 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, opens in Australia on Boxing Day 2001, with Parts 2 and 3 at 12-month intervals. Recreating Tolkien’s enchanting Middle Earth and giving appearance to a legion of hobbits, elves, dwarves and orcs was made easier, says Jackson, by “having wonderful source material.” And just to make sure, his on-set mantra was “Make it real.” Craig Henderson