Welcome to the latest “Getting to know” – questions that need answering. It’s based on the old Getting to know you threads that I occasionally post on the message boards here on TORn, so those familiar with them will know that the questions can be a little crazy and the answers even crazier.
This month we’re asking questions of self-described Online guy at Weta Workshop and all round top bloke, Magnus Hjert.
Smaug Destroy Lake Town – John HoweLAS VEGAS – One year ago the first significant screening of footage from “The Hobbit,” made its debut in Las Vegas and at 48 fps. Warner Bros. hoped to wow media and convince cinema owners to upgrade technology. There was a significant mixed reaction from the media and screeners but $1 billion later, nobody seems at all worried and word out of Vegas is, those in the cinema business can’t wait to get another Jackson movie.
But, Warner Bros. has a lineup of loaded films for 2013 and “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” is only a part. Three big time directors were also on hand to introduce their films. Guillermo del Toro, co-writer on “The Hobbit” films was there to introduce “Pacific Rim,” the film he eventually made after historical and monumental delays on the Middle-earth production forced him to leave the project. Zach Snyder was at CinemaCon as director of “Man of Steel,” and Todd Philips for “Hangover 3.” Stockholders must be ecstatic. Snyder is hoping to do with WB’s Superman franchise what Christopher Nolan has done for the company with its Batman flagship. Nolan is a producer on the project.
Variety said the following about “The Hobbit.”
““The Hobbit” director Peter Jackson also appeared in a video with a few brief clips from the “Desolation of Smaug” with Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom appearing.
Jackson’s matter-of-fact presentation was in sharp contrast with last year’s CinemaCon event when WB’s presentation — including 10 minutes of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” — generated a mixed reaction over the pic’s 48 frames-per-second format.”
Philippa Boyens. Photo: KENT BLECHYNDEN/Fairfax NZ Wellington’s Philippa Boyens is one of the most successful screenwriters in the world. She’s won an Oscar, a Bafta and has been a nominee for many more, including a Writers Guild of America Award.
Boyens owes much of this to her screenwriting debut with Sir Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. She went on to co-write King Kong and The Lovely Bones with Jackson and Fran Walsh, as well as co-produce both films.
So with the fruits of her most recent labour, the US$500 million trilogy The Hobbit, soon to be revealed to the world with the release in December of An Unexpected Journey, we’d be forgiven for assuming Boyens was keen from the very beginning to return to Middle-earth.
When asked, there’s a long pause before she answers. “I loved the world. I loved [JRR] Tolkien’s writing. [But] I think there was a quality about myself where I felt like ‘I’d done it’,” she says while in Wellington.
Warner Brothers has kicked off their Awards Season website for many of their films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey among them. The page links to the Official Website and trailer, gives a brief synopsis of the story, and then lists all the names of the people who worked in eligible categories, from the Writers to the Sound Effects people, and a few of the actors. And just as a tease, there is a list of screenings, but those screenings are for Academy voters and members of the various Guilds (Screen Actors, Writers, Directors, etc) only. A full list of eligible names and categories below. Hopefully this means we will have a lot to celebrate at our own Oscar Party! [Website]
Thanks to our friend Ringer Pousette, we have a very special visual treat to start your weekend. Pousette has had a chance to get their hands on an early release of The Hobbit Playing Card Deck and was kind enough to send TheOneRing.net the first exclusive photos of the new imagery contained within the deck. While all of the images are impressive, check out specifically the Joker, Three of Hearts and Six of Hearts. The photos are after the break and feature spoilerish content – so proceed at your own risk! And of course, we will alert you as soon as we can on where to order your own copy! And of course, let your voice be heard in our comments and forum on what you think of this playing card deck. SPOILERS!
The latest edition of The Hollywood Reporter contains an article all about the upcoming Hobbit movie. Interestingly, the headline calls the films a ‘$1 Billion Gamble’ – though the coming success of the movies doesn’t seem to be a question in the minds of most fans! This latest article doesn’t tell us anything new, but it’s a pretty good summary of the journey so far; and of course, it mentions TORn. There’s no Hobbit’s Tale without a touch of TORn…. 🙂
UPDATE – and there are some pretty amazing images along with the article, including a photograph of Peter Jackson with a caption where he comments of Del Toro’s work on the movies, ‘Some of the things he did I certainly liked and took bits and pieces from it.’ Is this what we’re seeing in the ‘Del Toro-esque’ Dol Guldur orcs, such as Bolg and Yazneg, with their victims’ faces sewn into their clothing?? In another image, there’s a wonderful sketch of a dwarf seated beneath a tree, with runes below which read, ‘Supplies of pipeweed are running desperately low. If we do not find some very soon one of our few remaining pleasures will be a thing of the past.’ Could this be a note made by Ori, in the book we see him carrying around?