From: Phyoras Hullo, I was just at the theaters and I picked up a copy of “Famous”, a…
Continue ReadingFrom: Phyoras
Hullo, I was just at the theaters and I picked up a copy of “Famous”, a Canadian entertainment magazine which is given out free in most theaters. Inside there is a small article about the LOTR toys called “Product of Middle Earth”. [More]
Ringer Spy Liam sends along word of what some european Ringers can see if they happen to catch the FOTR trailer at a local cinema! A personal greeting from PJ!
I live in France and just saw the FOTR trailer at the movies… There’s a short message from PJ before it starts.
He’s filmed in a t-shirt and shorts (sounds like PJ to me) in front of some plants, the shot is pretty wide and looks like 35mm (i.e. not video) but I could be wrong. He basically says “Hello, I’m Peter Jackson and I’m talking to you from New Zealand where we’ve been doing LOTR. As you know LOTR is a trilogy and we’re making 3 movies…”
I can’t remember precisely what he said but it’s pretty short. At the end he says something like “I invite you to see some new images”, or whatever.
It’s short and I got distracted so I didn’t catch 100% of what was said, but I can assure you it’s VERY cool!
Ringer Spy Dauvit the Hobbit sends along word of an article from ‘The Scotland Daily Record’. They chat it up with Billy Boyd (Pippin). Dauvit also sends along word that he knew Billy way back when:
‘Its nice to see (Boyd) start to get recognition in his own country as there has been very little reported so far. All i can say about his college days is, that he was very quiet and unassuming most of the time, though like the rest of us liked a pint and the odd practical joke. His casting is a complete and very nice surprise (even if i am hugely jealous). I hope he does very well.’
Ringer Spy Kinch sends along word on the recent Book Expo that was attended by Houghton Mifflin and suits from New Line, Kinch also sends along word of not one but TWO TV specials coming this fall!!
I was at the BookExpo and had a front row seat for the LOTR presentation, and I can assure you it went over big. The trailers made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but the stuff they showed at the presentation was just . . . awesome.
Afterwards, New Line and Houghton-Mifflin took some of us to a very nice dinner over Harvest on Huron, where we talked about the films and film in general. I had a blast.
HM is really guarded with the amount of artwork they’ve let us see, it’s nothing you haven’t seen and posted already. For example, the new pix of Frodo in Rivendell you recently posted were things I saw at the BEA, but couldn’t get copies of. I do have a calendar that summarizes the promotion rollout.
Basically there are two rollout dates. In September new editions of all three books in the trilogy will be released in trade paperback and hardcover by HM, plus they’ll release posters. There will be a 1-hr TV special. Then, in November, the Visual Companion and Movie Guide will be released and TV ads for the movie will begin.
Ballantine will then exercise their option on the mass market paperbacks, but I don’t really know what they’re planning. Around Thanksgiving there will be a second TV special. Obviously New Line wants to make the uninitiated aware of the backstory and history of Middle Earth.
From: Annael
Caught a quick glimpse of Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, and John Rhys-Davies being interviewed at Cannes last night while watching the Independent Film Channel.
They have a regular feature they throw in between films called “IFC at Cannes” – this was a clip on “the paparazzi” and was a series of shots of actors and actresses talking about being interviewed interspersed with shots of the media hounding various stars. There were three quick shots of Our Heroes sitting in a row.
I think the point was to show Rhys-Davies being totally out of control as far as being interviewed; he was out of his seat, making jokes, saying something about “come on, give us your BEST question.” Sean Bean was laughing at him while Viggo had this tight little polite smile on and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world.
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
