More news of Figwit, the Elf Who Finally Got a Line Due to Fan Pressure (we think). He’s in a new film called The Tale of the Tongan Ninja. [More]
Day: January 25, 2004
Aniva writes, “I was fortunate enough to see the first New Zealand screening of “The Tale of the Tongan Ninja” last night, and was plesantly surprised at the number of connections to Lord of the Rings there was. For one, everyone’s favourite elf – no, not Leoglas, but Figwit, contributes to one of the film’s more questionable dance sequences. His name is credited to the coreography of the film’s most random musical break-outs.
“I also noticed that in the credits, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Barrie Osbourne are included in rather a long list of thank you’s. I suppose “Tongan Ninja” being predominantly filmed in Wellington was the reason for this.
“The movie was hilarious – a stand-out being (Flight of the Concord duo) Bret McKenzie & Jemaine Clement’s lyrics in the many songs that seemed to be thrown into the mix. The Australian Empire magazine gave the film an atrocious review, but I thought it was a very enjoyable, funny film.
“….I just thought I’d e-mail you to let you know Figwit’s progress in life after Lotr…..”
Hengist sends news of an interesting snippet he found out about Liv Tyler’s sword training. [More]
Hengist writes: In a new book by Richard Cohen called “By the Sword” the author describes (amongst other things) the history of screen swordplay. He obviously devotes some time to Bob Anderson and includes the following snipet about Liv Tyler, which says a lot about Bob Andersons techniques and about Liv Tyler.
“He [Bob Anderson] was laughing at the fate of Liv Tyler in The Lord of the Rings. Cast as the young heroine, Arwen, she had bridled at the notion of rehearsing for a fencing scene. An angry Anderson told her he was going away for a while, leaving her with his assistant. He told her he’d give her one chance to shoot the scene on his return before giving it to the director for his approval. “When I came back I could see a gleam in my assistant’s eye: she did the best fight sequence I’ve seen a girl do!”
Greg Wright’s latest feature is up, and there are some new monthly items that will be regular: Email of the Month, a guest article, and this month an interview with John Rhys Davies. [More]
Greg Wright’s January column has been posted on Hollywood Jesus, available at the URL below. It begins, “Go back and re-read the sequences related to Pippin and the palantir, and I think you’ll find something pretty striking: that Jackson does a better job of dramatizing Pippin and his relationship with Merry than does Tolkien… But finally, the big lesson for Tolkien is that there simply are things bigger than us that we can’t grasp, that we can’t control; and that, if we meddle with them, we may be placing ourselves in grave danger… The point is not that these things are necessarily evil in themselves; but that, like the palantir, we can’t always be sure of the powers behind such things, whether good or ill –” [More]
Also, coverage of “The Lord of the Rings” at Hollywood Jesus is expanding for 2004!
In addition to Greg Wright’s usual ongoing series of monthly features, HJ will be adding three new monthly features as well — something new every week!
First, Greg will be presenting a series of guest features from writers and ministers who have followed the work at Hollywood Jesus. The guest list includes Jeffrey Overstreet (Looking Closer), Cliff Vaughan (Ethics Daily) and Regina Doman (Caelum et Terra) among others. This month’s debut column: The Voice of Saruman is a look at the significantly missing episide in Jackson’s movies — is contribued by Brian Overland, a prolific writer of technical books and movie reviewer (The Door).
Also debuting today is the E-mail of the Month feature, highlighting some of the more interesting (and controversial) correspondence that courses through Greg’s PC.
Debuting next Wednesday is a series of interviews with cast and crew of Jackson’s epic film series. The first of Greg’s entries in this series is The Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing: An Interview with John Rhys-Davies. The ever-colorful creator of Gimli for the screen is his irrepressible self in this discussion of our generation’s “supreme challenge.”