We’ve updated our cast page with pics and bios (all works in progress) from 3 new actors we discovered. As earlier reported, Peter MacKenzie will play Elendil, Martyn Sanderson is Harry Goatleaf, and Cameron Rhodes is playing Farmer Maggot.
Month: September 2001
Hello, and first off a HUGE thank you to you folks for posting the link about the second show being added. I was lucky enough to catch it right away and get tickets online. !MAJOR SPOILERS! [More]
Hello, and first off a HUGE thank you to you folks for posting the link about the second show being added. I was lucky enough to catch it right away and get tickets online.
I won’t go into what has been already covered in previous posts. GB covered most details thoroughly and completely, although I must have missed any shot of the BALROG(?!) in the PJ promotion snippet. The main creature I saw featured was the cave troll as it went from skeleton (seen in the Internet trailer) to finished model (also seen in close-up in the Internet trailer being laser-scanned for CG modeling).
Then of course the five minute clip from Moria. I want to make a point which I hope won’t be seen as quibbling, but I feel is an important one: The main impact that struck home with me was that this is first and foremost, a movie. Not a religious experience, not a mind/life-altering event. But from what little I have seen, a sharp, well-crafted movie. Spy reports such as those from A.I.C.N. (which admittedly was shown much more footage than we saw last night) can, I feel, almost be a disservice to the project that Peter Jackson has undertaken. It is possible for expectations to be built to such a level that you can’t help but be disappointed.
The clip shown presented a range from laugh-out-loud humor (Pippin’s mistake, expanded from the book to good effect), a false sense of relief, immediately shifting to anxiety (hearing the distant sounds of orc cries), then finally erupting in full out gut churning action which had us all jumping in our seats. All in the space of five minutes. What more can you ask of a movie? Not much I think (though I could wish Gimli’s makeup wasn’t quite so heavy; I forgot that as I was quickly swept into the drama of the scene). The troll itself was state-of-the-art animation (much more menacing than you can see in the recent TV spot) but the camerawork is what will set this apart in people’s mind as breakthrough work: constantly in motion, visceral, jolting and gripping.
My own sense of excitement at having seen this brief preview, not to mention sitting about ten feet away from three of its stars make it admittedly hard to talk about all this without starting to over hype it. Will this film be worth the wait? Again, judging from what we were shown last night, I have almost no doubt in my mind. Clearly people (myself included) came away from the material shown with excitement and enthusiasm. Will it forever become the be-all and end-all of filmaking as we know it. Who can say at this point? It’s unfair to expect that it would. I do think the herculean efforts of Peter Jackson and the entire company will be evident in every scene. And I think its safe to say that if you enter this movie with a realistic set of expectations, you are sure to be entertained and delighted.
Thanks for reading and once again for your great coverage.
Best,
Laird Ogden
The eight-week promotion celebrating the classic Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien and the soon-to-be released film from New Line Cinema, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, begins this month with an extensive number of bookstores participating. The promotion is the result of a cooperative effort involving Houghton Mifflin, New Line Cinema, Book Sense, and BookSense.com. [More]
Thanks to David M for the tip!
Ringer Spy I’ve got Male sends along this news on just WHO is playing Lurtz…and why:
Just checked out some of the cast pages. Sala Baker also played Lurtz. After a break in the shooting of Lurtz, Lawrence Makoare wasn’t available (shooting The Broken Earth, I think) so Sala took over the role.
(Interesting, I wonder if Sala played Arwen and Pippin as well..I heard he also plays 3rd Orc on the left… 🙂 -Xo)
Recently, we have been getting a lot of positive reports on the Cannes footage from reviewers and the Hollywood/NY crowd. But what about the average Joe? Well, a new spy, who we’ll call ‘Average Joe’ just sent us a small tidbit of feedback. It seems Average Joe was lucky enough to see both the completed film and hear the final music! NOT the Cannes footage but in fact the entire movie! (before you dismiss the report, we have confirmed he has done both) What does he say?
I know nothing about LOTR and the hype surrounding it but I was completely blown away with the sequences that I saw and with the music. It was fantastic…
Thats a pretty good endorsement from a non-LOTR fan.