![The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]](http://www.theonering.net/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/51x3aa9fknl_sl500_aa240_.jpg "The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]")
Jordy sends along word that Amazon.com has the Blu-ray LOTR DVD collection available for pre-Order. The pre-order page also has a great image of the box art!
Month: April 2009
The battle for Middle-earth has been lost after a bid to rename a small section of a scenic river that featured in a Lord of the Rings film was declined by the New Zealand Geographic Board. Fiordland motorcamp operator Aaron Nicholson had proposed that a two-kilometre stretch of the Waiau River between Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau be renamed Anduin Reach. The area doubled as the Anduin River in Fellowship of the Ring, with cast members floating downstream in elfin boats. Fight for Rings river name lost
The folks from The Mythopoeic Society sent this in: The Mythopoeic Society is holding its 40th annual conference, Mythcon, July 17-20 at UCLA, Los Angeles, California (www.mythsoc.org/mythcon40.html). The Mythopoeic Society is devoted to the study of the JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, and the Inklings; and myth and fantasy. Mythcon is a combination of serious scholarship (daytime) and fannish fun (evenings). Presentations on both JRR Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy would be welcome.
A recent CNN story about film tourism featured a woman who enjoyed two guided tours of LOTR film locations. Of course I was curious to know whether the woman, Michele Maro, had taken the Red Carpet tours that are advertised on TORN. A chat to RC tour director Vic James confirmed that indeed Michele had enjoyed her Red Carpet experience so much that she’d returned for a second tour – and she’s not the only one to have done that. “You’d be surprised how many people come back because they want to do the tour again to meet new LOTR friends or see New Zealand in a different season,” James says.
“The Hobbit,” has to be cast but that just leaves more time for fans to speculate, guess and suggest regarding the casting of the two-films planned by producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro.
There are a few givens. According to the decision makers, as many of the main characters that appear in both Jackson’s LOTR trilogy and GDT’s Hobbit films will be cast using existing actors from those roles as possible. And while media outlets trying to create news about the film have asked any actor they can find if they will appear, the list of sure crossovers are relatively small.
Ian Holm, approaching 80 years old, has stated that he is too old to play Bilbo because of the physical demands of the role and the required relocation to New Zealand. So the search for the main character is on. Most readers will be familiar with characters like Gandalf that belong to actors such as Ian McKellen so they will not be rehashed here because there is no debate about who will fill the role.
Read inside to find lists of names with links to help fans become familiar with many of the offered suggestions. Continue reading “Casting ‘The Hobbit,’ via TORn’s message boards”
The King Kong of the New Zealand film industry Peter Jackson caused more of a scene than the mid-air dogfighting when he turned up to the Classic Fighters Omaka 2009 Airshow in Marlborough, New Zealand, this weekend. The Lord of the Rings director is a World War One aircraft collector and some of his collection is included in the three-day show.