Just a few days ago, we posted an opportunity for our friends in Canada to win tickets to see ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!‘ We are happy to announce the winners!
Darryl S – Winnipeg Jamie O – Vancouver Connor M – Toronto Marcel L – Ottawa Stéphane P – Montreal (French) Daniel G – Montreal (English) Peter M – Halifax Ivanna S – Edmonton Kathleen D – Calgary
Winners will contacted via email and receive their tickets in the mail. All screenings will start at 6pm on Dec 12th except for the Montreal (French) screening which will begin at 7pm. We’d like to thank our friends at Warner Bros. Pictures Canada for sponsoring this giveaway! And of course, if you weren’t one of the lucky winners, don’t miss ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘ in theaters December 14th! Visit the official website, The Hobbit facebook page, and Twitter: follow @wbpictures!
Richard Armitage listens to a question during a press conference before the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand.
Only hours before the stars walked the red carpet in front of 100,000 fans on the street of Wellington, nearly the entire cast gathered at Te Papa Museum for a pair of press conferences.
Peter Jackson and stars Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman attended both press events while most of the rest of the principal cast and screenwriter Philippa Boyens attended one event or the other.
Media was invited by Warner Bros., the studio that was handling press from around the world during the week. TheOneRing.net was included in the press invite, not the only online fan site to get the call, as our friends from herr-der-ringe were also there. MGM and New Line were also announced as presenting the press conferences.
John Callen sits with his “Team Oin” jacket on during the press conference at Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. Each actor choose a unique approach to wardrobe, just as in the movie, showing their personality when there was little dialog to go around.
Te Papa, a world-class museum, arranged a long table for the events and switched name cards in front of native Maori art. Called a Marae, translated as “big house” but serving as the symbolic center of Maori tradition, the event started with singing and then a forehead-to-forehead welcome to the participants. With the unique and beautiful colors behind, each of the question and answer sessions lasted about 40 minutes and was moderated.
Flash photography was not allowed, although clearly TheOneRing took quite a few stills. In the back of the room rows of cameras shot video, including for TORn. We audio recorded the event as well and hope to present a transcript of it in a day or two. Meanwhile enjoy some of the best handful of photos. The participants included: Cate Blanchette, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Mark Hadlow, Stephen Hunter, Peter Hambleton William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood.
John Callen sits with his “Team Oin” jacket on during the press conference at Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. Each actor choose a unique approach to wardrobe, just as in the movie, showing their personality when there was little dialog to go around.
Philippa Boyens (l to r) Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and Dean O’Gormann react to a question from the media. The reporter asked Freeman if he could eat dinner with anybody, living or dead, who it would be. Martin seemed a little stunted by the question.
Jed Brophy and William Kircher, fresh from playing Red Carpet Tours and TheOneRing.net’s combined party two nights before, speak earnestly about their experiences acting on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Martin Freeman, who plays the leading role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, tries on his Hobbit Halo next to Peter Jackson.
Richard Armitage listens to a question during a press conference before the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand.
TV spot no. 10 has now officially been made available on Warner Bros. facebook page. For those of you (like me) who may have lost track of which spot number 10 is, exactly, it has a bit of new footage of the Riddles in the Dark scene between Bilbo and Gollum in the middle, and new footage of Galadriel and Gandalf towards the end. The total length of this spot is 34 seconds. Enjoy!
Do you live in Canada and simply can’t wait until December 14th to see ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey?’ TheOneRing.net is privileged to team up with Warner Bros. Pictures Canada to giveaway 9 pair of tickets to screenings across Canadian taking place on Dec 12th! The screenings will take place in the following cities, and we have two tickets for each: Toronto, Montreal (English), Montreal (French), Vancouver, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax. All screenings will start at 6pm on Dec 12th except for the Montreal (French) screening which will begin at 7pm. How do you enter? Just fill out the form below and make sure to choose which screening you want to see. We will be choosing our winners on Dec 6th – yes, that is tomorrow!! Tickets will be mailed to you before the event. Good luck to all you Canadian Ringers out there! And of course, if you aren’t one of the lucky winners, don’t miss ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ in theaters December 14th! Visit the official website, The Hobbit facebook page, and Twitter: follow @wbpictures!
Join our *live* webcast today as host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway heads off to Burbank, where we will find the lovely Warner Bros. studio lot, on a special night where the show goes on the move across Hollywood! Quickbeam is headed to see tonight’s press screening of THE HOBBIT: AUJ, so he can write his official TORn review of the film! Experience our live chat show like never before (resembling the infamous TORn AFTER DARK series made famous at Dragon*Con), and join chatters live in Barliman’s Chat Room, built into our Live Event Page here. The show begins at 5pm Pacific Time! You can also turn on your camera and join video chat here at www.stickam.com/theoneringnet
Two years ago I wrote a story asking the question, “To be Hot or Not? That is the Dwarf Question.”
While essentially a joke — one which spread like wildfire – a real concern for some fans prior to casting “The Hobbit” was whether or not a film featuring a supporting cast of 13 short hairy men would be interesting to studios and audiences unless those short hairy men were transformed into attractive short-statured hunks, the likes of which would send diehards into fits of horror.
The question was, would the filmmakers be forced to go that route, and also – did we want them to? Should there be Hot Dwarves?
(From here on this will contain minor spoilers, so those of you who wish to remain “pure,” turn back now.)
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With the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, we couldn’t help but admit that we were conflicted. Supremely talented actor. But could he look dwarflike? Did he have to? Wait, yes, he has to. But should he? Head said yes, hormones said no. Shut up hormones.
As the other actors were added, fans’ questions grew. And as stills of costumed dwarves began rolling out, the discussions raged on in fandom – Were the dwarves too cute? Too bad-assed? Too dwarvish? Not dwarvish enough? Too KLINGON? Second guessing gave way to infinity-guessing.
The movie a year or more off, poring over images and studying production diaries provided much fodder for speculators. Beyond Thorin, beyond Aidan Turner’s Kili and Dean O’Gorman’s Fili, the whole company was under intense scrutiny.
With the exception of Thorin, dwarves aren’t the leading characters in “The Hobbit” and yet the film would live or die on them. Too comical and audiences wouldn’t buy into the story. Too Hollywood-handsome and audiences wouldn’t buy into the story. Should they fade into the background entirely then it simply wouldn’t be “The Hobbit.” Nor if they became Robo-Dwarves-of-Doom, chewing on the scenery.
So, with the “Unexpected Journey” finally here, how did it all turn out?
Fabulous.
No, Thorin does not harken back to the droopy-eyed Rankin Bass incarnation, nor does he resemble Tolkien’s description of a blue-hooded, silver-tasseled grump. But neither is he a Chippen-dwarf. He embodies the essence of the character – the haughty nobility, the impatience and simmering anger. The sadness. This is not the hot dwarf you were looking for, but so much more.
Voice, body language, costume, prosthetics – all combine to transform Armitage into the strong, surly Thorin Oakenshield. One dimensional images fade from mind and the focus shifts to the character in action, as it should.
It will be interesting to see where the second and third films take Thorin. At the conclusion of “Unexpected Journey” he has an emotional encounter with Bilbo – much, much earlier in the action than what occurs in the text. And that exchange adds another layer to a complexity that outweighs looks.
And what about the rest of the company?
While “The Hobbit” on page is essentially a child’s tale, Peter Jackson hasn’t filmed a child’s tale. There is a vein of darkness running through the movie, brought by material added from the appendices and the established “Lord of the Rings” visual style.
For the action scenes to be believable – particularly in the higher frame-rate and in 3D – the dwarves must be warrior-like, to appear capable of fighting with the agility and intensity required. In the company of these dwarves, Gimli would appear soft.
And yet, the dwarves retain a whimsicality that makes them distinct. Like Thorin, their appearance is an expression of personality. With less time at the forefront, how they look is a large part of how we get to “know” them.
Balin with his luxurious white beard, the elder of the company. Bofur’s quirky cap and quick wit. The soft-spoken Ori in his cowled hood. But the things that seemed over the top in stills – Bifur with the axe-impaled forehead – aren’t in your face. Remarkably, at least in “Unexpected Journey,” we’re spared Bombur sight-gags.
Which brings us to Kili and Fili.
No, they do not look like dwarves. Kili even less so than Fili. Even in the company of dwarves, they do not look like dwarves. And yet, they look as if they belong with the dwarves. And while I’m pretty sure that might not make sense, I think once people see the film, you’ll understand what I mean. In the context of their behavior and actions – they work as dwarves. They fight like dwarves. It helps that Peter has not indulged in long, lingering, soft-focused glamor shots of Aidan Turner or Dean O’Gorman. Thank you, Peter.
While looks are possibly one of the more trivial aspects of the film – seriously, I do recognize the ridiculousness in all of this – a noticeable amount of effort has been put into crafting each dwarf’s appearance and then stepping back from focusing on it. It’s a measure of subtlety we didn’t expect.
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In the meantime, the phrase “Hot Dwarves” has spread across the globe since my story was first published.
At San Diego Comic-Con this summer, Carrie Fisher fell for our “I <3 Hot Dwarves” t-shirt. In Wellington, Aidan Turner, who wanted a shirt for his own, was gifted with a “Hot Dwarves” button.
The phrase crops up in most stories I’ve read, is at alluded to in many interviews, raises its head in pop-culture memes and … well, last week showed up on the red carpet of the world premiere itself. [Watch]
“How do you feel about being one of the pin-ups in the The Hobbit,” said an interviewer to Richard Armitage.
”I thought you were going to say ‘hot dwarf.’” he graciously responded with some humor.
As I said at TheOneRing.net’s Comic-Con panel: Thank you, Richard, for being such a good sport. Bravo!
With the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, we couldn’t help but admit that we were conflicted. Supremely talented actor. But could he look dwarflike? Did he have to? Wait, yes, he has to. But should he? Head said yes, hormones said no. Shut up hormones. 
Which brings us to Kili and Fili. 
In the meantime, the phrase “Hot Dwarves” has spread across the globe since my story was first published.