HSN, The Exclusive Television Retailer of LOTR, Offers Merchandise Developed By Film’s Special Effects Artisans Prior To Film’s Nationwide Release. [More]
Month: December 2001
ORCS, HOBBITS AND WIZARDS “RING” IN THE HOLIDAYS
FOR HSN SHOPPERS ON EVE OF NEW LINE CINEMA’S
THE LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIE DEBUT
HSN, The Exclusive Television Retailer of LOTR, Offers Merchandise Developed By Film’s Special Effects Artisans Prior To Film’s Nationwide Release
St. Petersburg, FL (December 12, 2001) – For more than half a century millions of readers have been captivated by author J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and the mythical world he created known as Middle Earth. On December 18 at 11:30 p.m. ET, fans will be able to own a piece of Middle Earth when HSN and hsn.com introduce movie-related merchandise on the eve of New Line Cinema’s nationwide release of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
One of the most anticipated films this holiday season, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring features spellbinding wizards, evil and sinister orcs and courageous young hobbits who are drawn together in a classic struggle between good and evil. Incredibly detailed, hand cast polystone collectibles of the film’s central characters developed by Sideshow Toy and special effects company Weta Workshop will now be available on HSN and hsn.com. The Sideshow / Weta partnership marks the first time that a toy company has partnered with a film’s special effects team to develop film-related merchandise.
HSN shoppers will have access to high-quality collectible characters including the courageous young hobbit Frodo Baggins, wise old wizard Gandalf The Grey, valiant warrior Aragorn and busts and helms of the evil and gruesome orcs. Prices for these signature pieces range from $59.95 to $99.95. Fabric scrolls featuring Frodo, the Fellowship, the minions of Saruman and a map of Middle Earth will also be available to fans for $17.95. HSN will give viewers a second chance to purchase movie merchandise on December 22 at 3 p.m.
Directed by Peter Jackson, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , features a strong international cast including Elijah Wood as hobbit Frodo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn and Cate Blanchett as elf queen Galadriel.
About HSN:
HSN, a division of USA Networks Inc’s (NASDAQ: USAI) Interactive Group, pioneered the industry in 1977 and has since grown into a global multichannel retailer with worldwide consolidated sales of $1.8 billion in 2000 and a growing customer base of over five million. Its 24-hour programming reaches more than 160 million households worldwide. The Company broadcasts into 13 countries including the United States, China, Japan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Last year, HSN received more than 75 million sales and customer service calls and shipped more than 41 million packages around the world.
This morning the crew at KLBJ-FM in Austin had a live phone interview with none other than Orlando Bloom (Legolas). [More]
This morning the crew at KLBJ-FM in Austin had a live phone interview with none other than Orlando Bloom (Legolas). It was sandwiched in between a bit by the late comedian Bill Hicks and some insipid listener phone calls, and if I hadn’t been driving to work I’d have taped it to get you a full transcript.
First of all, it was obvious Orlando is spreading the Gospel of the Ring. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such enthusiasm come from an actor before. He seemed in awe of the entire project. And he was in extremely good spirits too, gamely taking even the most ignorant, uninformed questions from the jocks. The interviews on KLBJ are usually pretty good, because the jocks either know the interview subject top to bottom, or they admit their ignorance outright and say “explain to us.” Well, this time they admitted ignorance early on, but then tried to ask “informed” questions which I guess they came up with by driving past Adventures In Crime and Space bookstore.
The jocks made the bold pronouncement that Orlando was reprising his role of Legolas from the TV version of LOTR. Orlando was utterly baffled by this until he figured out they were talking about “A Passage to Middle-earth” which aired on the Sci-Fi Channel. They asked if the sequal, Return of the King, was scheduled to go into production yet, and if he’d signed (of course, Orlando corrected them that The Two Towers was the sequal, and that all three films were done simultaneously). They asked him if he got a cut from the Burger King tie-ins (“I wish I did”) and called him “Orly” throughout. Funny stuff. Only it wasn’t.
Fortunately, Orlando took it all in stride. He explained the movie was “Packed full of all the right kinds of stuff — wizards, elves, goblins, Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett. You can’t go wrong with that.” People don’t need to read the books first, he said, that the movies are done in such a way to make them accessable to everyone while remaining true to the source material. He also expressed his awe for Peter Jackson’s final product: “Although it’s a fantasy, it’s based in reality. It’s a real world. That was Peter Jackson’s goal, to make people in the theater believe they’d actually been transported to a different land.” And he expressed awe of Tolkien, who made it “his life’s work to create this amazing fantasy land of Middle-earth.”
Orlando talked about how this was his first role straight out of drama school, and that he was extremely lucky to be part of the project. After a bit part in that Jude Law movie a few years ago, he got the opportunity to enroll in this prestigious British drama school — which meant he wouldn’t be working, aside from the odd television bit. His agent kept him on, however, and it was his agent that aggressively pursued LOTR while Orlando was still in school. Now, with Fellowship about to hit it big, and a role as an American Ranger in the upcoming Blackhawk Down, Orlando said he’s got one of the biggest career launches in history. I’d have to agree.
Liv Tyler (Arwen) will be on the David Letterman show on CBS at 11:35 Eastern.
Aelinwen writes: This Morning we were treated to another interview on the Big breakfast, once again featuring the ‘Board of the Rings’ game. [More]