Kris writes: I saw the Montreal based entertainment show ‘Entertainment Forum’. They had interviews with Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Elijah wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando bloom and others. They also showed clips of when Gandalf throws the ring in the fire and the chase to the ferry at Brandywine river.
Month: December 2001
BBC Online has created it’s own Lord of the Rings section building up to the movies, with a who’s-who guide to Middle-Earth, interviews with PJ and the cast, daily quiz and trivia and a LOTR message board. [More]
Unnamed writes: I live in New York City and have had the opportunity to see a screening of the finished Lord of the Rings last Thursday. [More]
From: Unnamed
I live in New York City and have had the opportunity to see a screening of the finished Lord of the Rings last Thursday.I have to say (being a complete fan of the books, and having read them all at least 3 times), that I was BLOWN AWAY at the accuracy and overall dedication to the integrity of the books. MUCH more than I was expecting from Hollywood.They created Middle Earth exactly the way I’ve envisioned it. The battles are gruesomely realistic, Orcs are horrific, all the characters are so nobly portrayed. I heard someone say outside, after the screening, how LOTR was everything Harry Potter wasn’t.
The greatest part for me was having it all the nuances of the stories come back to me as the movie happened. I had worried that since it had been about 12 years since I’d read any of the books that I may be too foggy. No way. I was all as clear as a bell. And such a classic, serious approach to the story. No gratuitous one liners or watered down kiddy simplicity. After the heartbreak of Planet of the Apes I was SO expecting an abomination of the original story.
I don’t know if this is exactly what you want as far as a “spy report”, I just wanted to share my enthusiasm. I totally dont work for any movie company, I just have a friend who does and he got me into the screening.
Anyhow, just wanted to rid any doubt anyone may have on the possibility of yet another Hollywood destruction of a masterpiece, and further the anticipation for the “RingHeads”.
Sebastian writes: Today the Christchurch Press has a feature about the South Island’s involvement in LOTR, here’s an article about the making of the One Ring prop. [More]
Sebastian writes: Today the Christchurch Press has a feature about the South Island’s involvement in LOTR, here’s an article about the making of the One Ring prop:
RINGMAKER
The ring is the thing that all the excitement is about, on screen at least, and when it’s flashed around the world’s movie screens from next week, audiences will be seeing the results of craftsmanship practised in a small jewellery studio near the cathedral in central Nelson.
But Thorkild Hansen, who runs Jens Hansen Jeweller, is unmoved by the fuss surrounding this particular piece of work.
It may be about to become the movie world’s most famous piece of jewellery, but “at the end of the day, it’s just another ring”, he argues.
Hansen and his father, Jens (who died in 1999), were approached by a member of the Rings production team and asked if they could make the movie’s centrepioece.
They knew the story – father had read it to son years earlier – and they produced 15 prototypes for the movie makers to choose from, all variations of a simple, plain gold band (the engraving which features on it in the film was added digitally).
About 35 versions of the rinal ring were created. With a large number of different actors wearing it throughout the three movies, different sized copies were needed to fit different sized fingers, and spares produced in case of losses.
Hansen has kept the original and it sits on his workshop bench, “like a paperweight”.