Sir Peter Jackson’s second instalment of The Hobbit movie has become music to the ears of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The NZSO will record the soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Wellington Town Hall, most probably in September, before the century-old venue undergoes $43.7 million of earthquake strengthening.
The orchestra will work with Oscar-winning Canadian composer Howard Shore.
“The very first music ever recorded for Howard Shore’s magnificent score for The Lord of the Rings was done here, in Wellington, back in 2001 in the town hall,” said Sir Peter. “The piece, written for the Fellowship’s journey into the Mines of Moria, was beautifully performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and showcased the exceptional acoustics of this over 100-year-old building.” Continue reading “NZSO to record Desolation of Smaug soundtrack”
The Fifth International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Invented Languages, Omentielva Lempea, is inviting participation in an Elvish Haiku Contest open to entries in either Quenya or Sindarin. The deadline for entries is July 31, 2013. So if Elvish linguistics are your thing, you have a couple of weeks to come up with a masterpiece worthy of Matsuo Basho! Continue reading “Omentielva Lempea elvish haiku contest”
A couple of weekends back in the Hall of Fire, we discussed the events of the Two Towers chapter Flotsam and Jetsam, and the reunion of five of the Fellowship’s members. For those who couldn’t attend, here’s a log.
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This weekend, Hall of Fire returns to The Lord of the Rings as we continue our chapter discussions of The Two Towers and journey with Gandalf, Aragorn, Theoden and his riders to the very door of Orthanc.
‘I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed. I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council.’ He raised his hand and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. ‘Saruman, your staff is broken.’ There was a crack and the staff split asunder in Saruman’s hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf’s feet.
Martin Freeman waves goodbye on his last day as Bilbo Baggins.Peter Jackson has shared on his Facebook page that Martin Freeman has finished his last shot as the film’s titular character Bilbo Baggins. The filming segment currently underway is a 10-week period that was always scheduled for pickups (shots that fill in the cracks once a rough edit of the film is assembled) and scenes for the massive Battle of Five Armies. Bilbo, as written in the book, has a relatively small part to play in the actual battle with his more significant role happening in the lead up to the massive conflict. (Knowing Peter Jackson, this will really be a spectacle!)
Jackson, who shares photos and videos on his Facebook page, captioned a photo of Bilbo waving goodbye:
“Tonight Martin Freeman finished his last shot as Bilbo Baggins. The end of an incredible two and a half years. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role – a character that Martin has nurtured and crafted with love and great skill.
We have said goodbye to our elves, humans, wizards and now the hobbit. We now enter our final 2 weeks of pick-ups, and it’s wall to wall dwarves. These pick-ups have been gruelling and intense, but I’m so happy with what we’ve been shooting. These next two movies are going to be pretty great!”
Martin Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch.Soon after, Jackson followed up that post with a somewhat historical shot of Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch, famously his partner in their Sherlock Holmes television series. The two also figure prominently together in the next Hobbit film as Cumberbatch performs the massive dragon Smaug from his performance capture suit and has a key exchange with Bilbo. When behind-the-scenes content rolls out after the film, there may be more of them together on the Hobbit films but little has been seen so far. With the performance capture role, there could be precious little of the two actors together in New Zealand.
All reports and word from Jackson indicates there will not be pickup shooting next year but Jackson had a period of these after ever LOTR film and it is tempting to suggest there will be more next year. But with such a large principal cast, such an effort might be impossible because of scheduling.
Still in Wellington are the Company of Dwarves which could mean a heavy dose of battle scenes as audiences will want to follow each of them in battle. The book plotting calls for ferocious and deadly action.
Luke Evans, playing the enigmatic Bard the Bowman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” also tweeted that his last day on the film is over. Evans’ Tweet suggests he is off to work as Dracula after a summer where his “Fast & Furious 6” did big business at the box office.
Graham McTavish also tweeted his farewells to Freeman.
The Illuminated SilmarillionHow beautiful can a J.R.R. Tolkien book be? There are some fantastic illustrated versions of “The Hobbit,” “The Lord of the Rings,” and “The Silmarillion,” and each is beautiful and can be an impressive part of any library. There have been some deluxe versions of LOTR printed over the years which are expensive and impressive. But Benjamin Harff has done something on a whole new level. Following the tradition of ancient forms of book making, often by monks or priests working before the printing press, Harff has used the old style to make a simply amazing version of Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion.”
He produced the book as part of his schooling and says, “…but the main problem was my strict limitation in time and money. Looking back I cannot understand how it worked! For my exam it would have been enough to do calligraphy for only one or two chapters. But I didn´t want to have a book with maybe twenty printed and 380 empty pages! That would not have been worthy for a Tolkien-work and I had better done a short story or so. But I thought: „This is your exam and maybe the last time that you can do what you want as an illustrator!“ So I did it, and couldn´t have done it with that fire, wouldn´t it have been a Tolkien-work. And although this was extremely hard, the fire did not cease.”
The Tolkien Library has an interview with excellent images. You can read the whole story right here.
Sir Peter Jackson’s second instalment of The Hobbit movie has become music to the ears of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The Fifth International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Invented Languages, 
