The Writers Guild of America awards were just announced tonight in LA. ROTK (Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson) was nominated for Best Adaped Screenplay. It lost out to AMERICAN SPLENDOR, Written by Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Based on the Comic Book Series by Harvey Pekar and the Novel by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner. [wga.org]
Month: February 2004
Howard Shore in Montreal
I have just returned from the Howard Shore book-signing event at the Archambault Bookstore in Montreal. Howard is in town for the ‘The Montreal Highlights Festival’ event and will be conducting some of his work from The Lord of the Rings on Monday, February 23rd. [More]
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I have just returned from the Howard Shore book-signing event at the Archambault Bookstore in Montreal. Howard is in town for the ‘The Montreal Highlights Festival’ event and will be conducting some of his work from The Lord of the Rings on Monday, February 23rd.
As we arrived at the bookstore we were greeted by a large group of fans that were patiently waiting outside the store to get their goods signed by Howard. Inside a small group of TV personalities were waiting for their chance to ask Howard a few questions after the signing was over. Howard specifically asked the media to wait until the singing was over in order to make the fans feel comfortable around him without the whole spectacle of lights and cameras in the way. His lovely wife Elizabeth watched patiently as Howard met countless fans and signed hundreds of autographs. Many people brought CD’s for him to sign, but there were copies of LOTR books, DVDs and other interesting things they carried with them. After about two hours the announcement was made that Howard would not be doing any more autographs. That didn’t stop a few eager fans from getting around the line and sneaking in to see him, Howard was gracious enough to sign every single one and speak with each fan individually.
While I waited for my chance to interview him on camera I was speaking with one of his personal assistants who told me Howard has been on a grueling schedule lately. He was recently in the UK for the BAFTA Awards, and in the States for Grammys. Of course next week he’s off to LA for the Academy Awards and after that it’s back to London to score the Extended Edition scenes of The Return of the King!
While speaking to Howard he told me he was eager to do this concert in Montreal, he said being a Canadian it is always nice to get back to his home country. Mind you, being back in familiar grounds can have its risks, while getting ready to pack up for the day a woman arrived and greeted Howard with a big hug. Howard called his wife over and introduced her to the mystery woman, who happed to be his girlfriend back when he was a teenager!
Howard is next working on Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Aviator’ and then Peter Jackson’s ‘King Kong’. I asked him if he would be heading back down to New Zealand while PJ is filming Kong, he told me that he would most likely be going down there again. He said that seeing the sets and the designs gives him a better feel for the film and almost always influences his work.
As for the Extended Edition of ROTK, Howard is STILL writing it at this moment. His work is never complete.
Howard invited me to his dress rehearsal the afternoon before the concert this Monday. I in turn invited him to the Return of the Oscar Party the night of the Oscars.
Thanks to the folks at Archambault for allowing us to film the event (check for a new episode of TORN Digital soon!). Thanks also to Miriam, Robbie, & Kathy!
Ringer Spies Craig, Dragongrrl and Taro have written in to reveal some excellently cool SPOILERS for the Bacchus Mardi Gras float — with photos from Craig! [More]
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Ringer Spy Craig Writes:
I see that you’ve posted the info about Elijah and Dominic riding in two of the Mardi Gras parades, so I wanted to send you the sketch of the “Hobbits of The Shire” float and a photo of how the actual float turned out.
The sketch is from the Bacchus website, and the float photos were taken by me yesterday.
Elijah will throwing red doubloons (coins) with his likeness on them and very special Bacchus “One” rings. For more info on them and about the hand signed lithographs, go here. And each float in the parade throws a medallion bead that represents that particular floats title. The “Hobbits of the Shire” float will be throwing a beautiful ceramic likeness of Gandalf smoking his pipe. I’ll try to get a photo of that to you later.
Also, Elijah informed the krewe yesterday that he will be bringing a few “special friends” with him to ride in the parade. : )
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Ringer Spies Dragongrrl and Taro told us about one of Elijah’s “special friends”! SPOILER, mouse-over to view!
We spoke to a Security Guard and he told us Sean Astin was here and slated to be a surprise rider in the Bacchus parade.
Bilbo Baggins is smoking his pipe and minding his own business when one day the wizard Gandalf arrives at his front door. Gandalf asks if Bilbo would be interested in going on an adventure, but Bilbo declines. He invites the wizard to come over for tea some time so as not to seem rude, but excuses himself not wanting anything to do with adventures. The next afternoon his doorbell rings and a Dwarf pushes past him and sits down to eat by Bilbos table. He’s followed promptly by 12 others of his kind and Gandalf. An unexpected party begins.[More]