Tomorrow morning actor James Nesbitt (Bofur in the Hobbit movies) will join Chris Evans on his Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. He’s busy promoting his new television drama, ‘Monroe’, but it may be worth a listen to see if he mentions The Hobbit. Plus, it’s always fun to hear what Nesbitt has to say! 6.30am GMT; and the show will be available to ‘listen again’ on BBC iplayer.
Category: Hobbit Cast News
Since the Hobbit film trilogy began shooting principal photography 18 months ago, the production has played its very cards close to its chest, and Stone Street Studios has proved more leak-proof than the White House.
In light of this, speculation on the films — whether pertaining to structure or content — has the hallmark of paleolithic archaeology: not only are large inferences having to be made from an extremely small amount of evidence, but the legitimacy and relevance of the evidence itself is by no means certain.
With all this in mind, I’ll try and draw some tentative conclusions about the trilogy’s plot and structure — with particular attention to any evidence of departures from the book — from what we understand to be official biographical notes that will accompany the character figurines from The Hobbit.
While it is impossible to confirm that the descriptive information released with these figurines accurately reflects the film-makers vision, they are detailed and idiosyncratic enough to suggest there is a high degree of alignment.
Note that some of the biographies (Kili, Fili, Gloin and Dwalin, for example) are left out here. Where this occurs this is because, in my view, they offered no insight on the trilogy plot, structure, or departures from the source material. And if spoilers and speculation aren’t your thing, best to stop reading now. Continue reading “Playing Sherlock: a few Hobbit plot deductions from the figurine character biographies”
“May the hair on his toes never fall off!”
-Thorin talking about their burglar Bilbo Baggins
Comic-Con 2012 brought us the first look at many things for this December’s release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was a chance for a company like Gentle Giant to show off just some of the items they will be bringing to collectors. The exclusive from Gentle Giant was the second mini-bust in the 1:6th range of busts from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The character chosen to represent the bust line at Comic-Con was the leader of the Dwarven party: Thorin Oakenshield.
Thorin was one of many dwarves of the Lonely Mountain driven into exile by the dragon Smaug in the year 2770 of the Third Age. During the Battle of Azanulbizar, Thorin had his shield shattered. He grabbed a large oak branch as a replacement — the source of the name “Oakenshield”. Later, a chance encounter in Bree with Gandalf The Grey eventually led to Thorin and his company visiting the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. There, they began a long, arduous quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. The mountain was ultimately reclaimed, but not without cost. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious: Gentle Giant Thorin Oakenshield mini-bust review”
Swedish movie site Moviezine has a new article about Mikael Persbrandt, who plays Beorn in The Hobbit films. TORn message board member DeadRabbits has translated the original article so we can all read the details.
When Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth approximately a decade after Lord of the Rings, our very own Mikael Persbrandt is onboard to play Beorn. Recently, the two movies became three and several of the actors are being called back for re-shoots. Persbrandt is among them.
“I’m going back to New Zealand to shoot more scenes, that’s already been decided,” he tells MovieZine.se. Continue reading “Mikael Persbrandt to return to New Zealand”
Some new images of Richard Armitage’s Thorin Oakenshield have popped up online over at RichardArmitageNet. The images come from newly released children’s movie tie-in book The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Annual 2013. It also provides a backstory of sorts to Thorin’s character, although it contains little that wasn’t already known from The Hobbit, or the part of the LoTR appendices about Durin’s folk.
More, including the pictures below the cut. So if you’re not keen on spoilers, best turn away now. You can pick up the Almanac/Annual at your favourite bookstore now. Continue reading “New Thorin images in Hobbit 2013 Annual!”
Rubbermonkey, an online audiovisual superstore and film production company based in Wellington, is currently auctioning a film clapperboard signed by the Hobbit crew to raise money for four local charities — the SPCA, SAFE, NICU, and Ronald McDonald House.
The IKAN clapperboard wasn’t used on the Hobbit, but has been signed by members of the Hobbit cast, including Martin Freeman and Ian McKellan.
The auction is running now on Trade Me, and closes on Monday September 10 at 3:51pm. (Some of you might also be interested in the twin charity auction of a filmclapper signed by the All Blacks.)