Earlier today, IGN and a bunch of Hobbit and Doctor Who fans hosted Sylvester McCoy in a 30-minute Google Hangout hook-up and asked him all sorts of questions. If you missed the livecast (like I did — I was asleep), you can still catch the video replay. Just click the link below! Continue reading “Watch Sylvester McCoy in IGN’s Google Hangout”
Category: Characters
So, we knew that Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield) would be answering your Hobbity questions over on Twitter today at https://twitter.com/TheHobbitMovie, but now Andy Serkis (Smeagol/Gollum) and James Nesbitt (Bofur) are joining him as well. Continue reading “Send Serkis, Armitage and Nesbitt your question now!”
The new tech makes Gollum appear more lifelike in an approach the team calls “Tissue: A Physically-Based Character Simulation Framework.”
“The framework is used to construct and simulate the anatomical components of our digital creatures and characters,” Jacobs, a supervisor for creature special-effects told NBC. (Read the whole article right here.)
Reuters also has a story with details about the Weta Digital winners and others recognized Sunday night.
Congrats to those gentlemen and all of Weta Digital for its mastery of converting Andy Serkis’ performance to screen. TheOneRing.net will celebrate the Oscars, including other nominees for work on The Hobbit, in two weeks featuring on stage Beecake with Billy Boyd. Details to buy tickets are right here.

This week, Vanity fair is looking at Oscar nominated films in a recurring feature called “Sketch to Still.” The series focuses on the creative process of making movies. This week they are talking to Oscar nominee Peter Swords King about his work in makeup and hair design for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit movies.
The dwarves’ look is also influenced by their lifestyle. “They drink a lot—their manners are really bad at the table. Any person who’s drunk all their lives, their nose is going to get quite red. All they do is eat meat. It’s not a very good diet. They live outside, so they’re beaten, battered, and bruised,” says King.Once the sketches were perfected, the filmmakers began casting. At this point, the hair-and-makeup team fit the actors for wigs, as well as prosthetics.
Read the rest of the article [here]
Emil Johannson of the LOTRProject assembled this simple flowchart analysing how Gandalf solves problems. He says that when there is no hope left, Gandalf will simply call the eagles. Which is probably a neat demonstration of why the eagles are such a dangerous literary device — something Tolkien himself recognised.
Probably one of the most controversial inclusions to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was Radagast the Browns bunny sled. Fans are pretty divided over whether they love its fantastical portrayal or absolutely hate it. One of our Message Board members, swordwhale, who’s a Recreational Musher, shares her views on Radagast’s Rhosgobel Rabbits Sled.
Radagast’s Racing Rhosgobel Rabbits:
A Recreational Musher Looks at the Realities of Bunny Sledding
A TORn Library Feature by Teanne Byerts aka swordwhale
Recreational Musher and Member of TORns Message Boards Continue reading “Radagast’s Racing Rhosgobel Rabbits: A Recreational Musher Looks at the Realities of Bunny Sledding”