On this mornings New Zealand’s TVNZ Breakfast Show they interviewed Barry Humphries (the voice of the The Goblin King) about his role in The Hobbit and about his farewell tour “Eat, Pray, Laugh!” for his iconic alter-ego Dame Edna Everage.
Category: Characters
Meredith Woerner of io9.com posted a video interview with Richard Armitage talking at Comic-Con 2012 about his role as Thorin Oakenshield. Asked if he had to update his character for modern audiences he said:
“I never really thought of updating it. I actually did the opposite. I thought of it as more kind of Greek tragedy. I looked at Shakespeare, a lot of my preparation I was looking at Henry V and bits of Richard III, just to find roots in British literature that were deeper. But I think making it feel contemporary the big themes of the story — loyalty and trust and camaraderie — I think those things are contemporary.”
I admit, when I first heard talk of “a third ‘Hobbit’ movie” from the floor of Comic-Con, I was skeptical. Reporters Quickbeam and Justin brought back footage from a press conference (that you can watch right here) breaking the story that additional shooting was a possibility, directly from Peter Jackson’s mouth. I downplayed it because from a five-week set visit I knew the team was going to return to shooting right after Comic-Con. I thought the media was being its usual bombastic self by calling a little more shooting “a third “Hobbit” movie. They absolutely had it posted first, breaking the story so kudos to them, but I dismissed it. How quickly things change.
Now it seems inevitable that this will happen. Jackson clearly has the will or he wouldn’t have spoken about it so fully. The studio clearly has the will because they are talking about it instead of dismissing it. So what would this mean besides another year of happy blood sweat and tears at TheOneRing.net? Lets look at all the facts and see if we can’t come to some conclusions educated guesses.
ON THE RECORD, WHAT WAS SAID:
Jackson spoke about this, very likely not by accident, from the television press line meet-and-greet at Comic-Con that took place before the famous Hall H event for fans. (Watch the first two or three minutes of Jackson’s own production diary #8 for the best account of Hall H.) Continue reading “Third ‘Hobbit’ movie: How? What? When? Why?”
Peter Jackson and company swooped into Comic-Con and unleashed some footage for the ravenous fans there but now he has unleashed Vlog #8 from his Facebook page full of spoilers, Comic-Con footage, John Howe, lots of actors saying hi and a little nostalgia from the crew. If you can stand a view of stone giants, Beorn’s house, Andy Serkis jamming on a sax and an absurd amount of “Hobbit” stuff, it is a must watch. The film hasn’t been released yet and already producer Michael Pellerin and his crew of behind-the-scenes people are making us nostalgic for it! And, sure sounded like Jackson reads TheOneRing. Find it on his Facebook page or watch it below:
Over at Elendilion.pl, the folks of Gwaith-i-Phethdain, (which means The Fellowship of the Word-smiths) have been doing some linguistic research based on the latest close-up pictures of Dwalin’s axes and Thorin Oakenshield’s Orcrist.
They report the runic (Angerthas Moria) inscriptions on Dwalin’s axes are Neo-Khuzdûl words that probably mean Grasper and Keeper. Apparently it’s a pun reference to the Bronte sisters’ pet dogs? The runes on Orcrist (scribed using Angerthas Daeron) translate as Tooth of Snake Orcrist.
Highlight the above to reveal some minor linguistic spoilers, then read on for some much bigger spy news! Continue reading “Spy news: Dwalin’s runes, Orcrist, Thranduil and wargs!”
Christopher Tolkien is the youngest son of J.R.R. Tolkien, and his literary executor. He recently gave a rare interview to French newspaper Le Monde. In it, he talks about his father’s works, reputation, and the slow evolution of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
The posterity of J.R.R. Tolkien is both the story of an extraordinary literary transmission from a father to a son, and the story of a misunderstanding. The most well-known works, the ones that have hidden the rest, were only an epiphenomenon in the eyes of their author…
[In French] | [English translation]