Dion writes: I attended the Festival In The Shire this weekend as roving reporters for Scrolls, the podcast for literary geekdom. Whilst there I recorded interviews with Mark Faith (the creator of the festival), Rodney Matthews (artist), and Tom Shippey (author of JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century). If you and your readership are interested in hearing them you can do so at geeksyndicate.co.uk/podcasts. Click on the Scrolls link in the left hand column if it’s dropped off the main page.
Chapter 8: The Middle Earth Special, Part 1 contains the interviews. Part 2 will be recorded tonight and will be a discussion about LOTR with reference to the Festival, the book, movies and various other adaptations and – well, the conversation could take us in all kinds of directions so I suppose we’ll see how it goes.
Though unlikely to overtake Avatar as number one in the all-time UK box-office rankings, Pixar’s animated film is expected to make an assault on second place in the next few weeks. A week ago, this column reported that Toy Story 3 stood at 12th place in the all-time UK box-office rankings, after just 21 days of play. Seven days later, and it’s now moved up to seventh position, overtaking The Full Monty, the second Pirates Of The Caribbean, the second Harry Potter, Casino Royale and the second Lord Of The Rings. In just 28 days, Toy Story 3 has grossed £58.91m. Next in the Pixar animation’s sights are Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (£61.06m) and Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring (£63.01m). It should overtake both during the next seven days, earning fifth place in the all-time rankings. More..
The L.A. Times blog recently did a big story on Gary Kurtz who was a guiding hand in the Star Wars galaxy until he left after “The Empire Strikes Back.” He talks a lot about those films and his split from George Lucas over creative differences but he drops a little nugget about what Weta will be up to as well. It says,
He’s now working on a ramping feature-film project called “Panzer 88” that he says will begin filming later this year and will feature visual effects by Weta, the same New Zealand outfit that populated Middle-earth in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
It isn’t thought that this should have any effect on the pair of movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” but people in New Zealand are certainly staying busy. Read the whole story here.
In an article by Australia’s Herald Sun about the re-release of James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D later this month and his upcoming producing role on GDT’s next directorial project At The Mountains Of Madness, there’s some very interesting information on James Cameron’s thoughts on GDT directing The Hobbit.
“I was telling him for a long time to get out of that thing because there is only room for one captain on the ship,” Cameron says. “Instinctively I knew that Peter was going to take over and do the movie. Guillermo, to his credit, didn’t listen to me and wanted to do continue and had some great designs – and I have seen all the designs. Of course he would have done a spectacular job, but don’t we want to see Peter do it? He should do it and Guillermo should do his thing. That’s what I told both of them – you should just stay in your corners.“
Speaking of the designs for The Hobbit, it might be good to recall that in an interview with James Cameron by Ain’t It Cool Newslast August on the then to-be-released Avatar, there was mention of James Cameron having seen WETA’s designs for The Hobbit. A snippet from that article reads:
Cameron mentioned that he’d seen some of their [WETA’s] design work on THE HOBBIT and that it really is the original trilogy world created by Weta and Peter Jackson, but with a slight influence of Guillermo del Toro’s style. Cameron said the two styles mix perfectly together.
For what is worth: Jim and I have been dear friends for over 17 years now. But that has not prevented us being very critical of each other’s work through the years. Just so you know- he would NEVER declare anything like this if he didn’t feel that way. What he saw were very strong designs and maquettes: GOBLINS and their environment, SMAUG (fully designed but without final color / texture), SPIDERS OF MIRKWOOD, MIRKWOOD, STONE TROLLS, WARGS, IRON HILL DWARVES, GUNDABAD ARMY, THRANDUILL’S THRONE ROOM etc, etc and he was delighted. This for me, as his friend, and as a filmmaker, meant a whole lot. You will / may disagree at the end of the process but, I assure you, this IS his opinion.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today reveals a new trailer for the upcoming Action/RPG The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.
The Hand of Sauron stretches far. No land is safe from the shadow. But there are still those with the strength and the will to resist. In the trailer, a human, dwarf and elf join in Fellowship, to combat the orc hordes that plague Middle-earth.
Developed by Snowblind Studios, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North introduces players to the brutal, northern reaches of Middle-earth, in a realm where survival depends on Fellowship. Featuring online, interdependent co-op play for up to three players, gamers join forces to do battle with the creatures of this world, while developing and upgrading weapons, skills and abilities. For more information please visit the official site at: www.warinthenorth.com
The New Zealand farmland that was transformed into Middle Earth for the Lord of the Rings film series has been recolonised by sheep, some of whom have set up home in the deserted hobbit holes. The rolling green pastures that provided the backdrop for director Peter Jackson’s trilogy were originally going to be converted into hobbit theme park, to attract tourists to the town of Matamata on the country’s North Island. But the plans were shelved, and the land is now home to 12,000 sheep and 250 cattle. They are allowed to roam around the 17 hobbit holes left behind after the production team departed. More..
