‘Halifirien’ Director Tom Robinson dropped me a line to tell me about his fan film. From the official site: Halifirien is a 30-minute independent film inspired by Lord of the Rings, made entirely by a group of teenage volunteers with a micro-budget of just a few hundred euro. The film was released for free viewing online on September 8, 2009. halifirienthemovie.com

Elijah WoodElijah Wood first broke into movies at the age of 7 as “Video Game Boy” in 1989’s ‘Back to the Future: Part II’ and quickly shot to stardom with leading roles in ‘Paradise,’ ‘Forever Young’ (with Mel Gibson) and ‘The Good Son’ (opposite fellow child star Macaulay Culkin).

But while the careers of so many young actors — including a certain ‘Son’ co-star — peter out as they hit that rocky patch known as puberty, Wood’s began to thrive. He bolstered his indie cred with Ang Lee’s ‘The Ice Storm,’ headlined one of the most successful franchises in movie history with his turn as Frodo Baggins in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and voiced the lead penguin in $197 mil-grossing 2006 animated flick ‘Happy Feet.’ More..

Ian McKellenCerce7 sends this in via: The Shakespeare Theatre website in Washington, D.C.: The Shakespeare Theatre Company invites you to join us for the Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala, Sunday, October 25, 2009. The 2009 Gala will feature performances in a myriad of artistic disciplines based on A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Gala will also feature the presentation of the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre to Sir Ian McKellen and the Sidney Harman Award for Philanthropy in the Arts followed by dinner and dancing. Continue reading “Sir Ian to Recieve Award in Washington, D.C.”

Viggo MortensenThe ridiculously talented Academy Award nominated actor Viggo Mortensen could be throwing in the towel with acting. According to Cinemablend, Mortensen recently did an interview with Men’s Journal and spoke about his future projects or lack there of. For the past ten years the actor’s career has been a critical success with no signs of stopping, but at this point he may want it to. Even though there has been talk of Mortensen making an appearance in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit as his Lord of the Rings character Aragorn, he presses that currently he doesn’t have any film projects on the horizon. More..

Elijah Wood and his DNAKatie from dna11.com sends this in: I wanted to let you be among the first people to hear this exciting new tip! DNA 11 is partnering with Elijah Wood to create a very unique piece of art. They are creating a portrait from an actual sample of his DNA, auctioning it off on eBay, and 100% of the proceeds are going to a charity that he is a great supporter of: The Art of Elysium. The main page with all the details is here. Continue reading “Elijah Wood’s DNA is Art”

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]From highdefdigest.com: New Line/Warner has delayed ‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ originally slated to hit Blu-ray this November. The 7-disc set scheduled for November 3 has been removed from the slate and will now be released sometime in 2010 (likely in the Spring). Warner has not provided any reasons for the delay, however there is some speculation that the studio doesn’t want the title to “get lost in the crowd” from their other high profile releases according to reports from The Digital Bits. You can find the latest specs for ‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it’s now indexed under PENDING. More..