From odt.co.nz: One of the stars of Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit was spotted in Queenstown yesterday. The Otago Daily Times understands Orlando Bloom lunched at Amisfield, near Arrowtown, before being spotted at Reading Cinemas in Queenstown. Bloom is reprising his role as Legolas, an elf, in the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings. Filming will be done in several places in Otago, including the Wakatipu.
Category: Hobbit Cast News
Stephen Colbert is an unabashed popular-culture geek and frequently drops his Middle-earth knowledge and displays various swords, rings and LOTR stuff on his show The Colbert Report. So when he had Elijah Wood on to chat about Happy Feet 2 he “unexpectedly” dropped into a conversation about the currently filming Hobbit movies and made it clear that he has visited the set and been privy to secrets and then “duels” with Wood. Is he steeped enough in Tolkien pop-culture to someday drop a TORn reference? We wish he would but in the meantime, enjoy the clip! Thanks to spy Esme, the first of many to drop that little gem to us at Spymaster@theonering.net.
Luke Evans, who’s been cast in THE HOBBIT in the key role of Bard the Bowman and currently stars as Zeus in the mythical actioner IMMORTALS, recently spoke with Fresno Bee on being part of possibly the biggest film of his career.
“It’s keeping life real, that’s what’s important, and not losing yourself in the fact that you’re in ‘The Hobbit’.
I had a little bit of a heart flutter the first day I got there [New Zealand] because they have this thing where they show the new actors around all the sets and I saw Bilbo’s house, and I was like, “I actually walked into Bilbo’s house!” It was the most amazing thing.”
Read the full story over at Fresno Bee.
Thanks to message board member gaer_carreg for the heads-up.
Rebecca Keegan writes: Oscar’s supporting actor race will be a hairy one this year — and something of a digital proving ground. Andy Serkis, who played Caesar, the hyper-intelligent chimp in this summer’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” is getting an awards push courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Serkis’ performance — which tracks Caesar from his childhood raised by a human scientist (James Franco) through his political awakening as an adult chimp in a cruelly run primate sanctuary — was delivered via the same computer-graphics techniques used in “Avatar.” More..
It’s hard to imagine any movies making as much box-office bank as Peter Jackson’s blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The three films grossed almost $3 billion worldwide!
But now that production is well underway on Jackson’s upcoming Rings prequels, does series star Elijah Wood think The Hobbit films have what it takes to outshine LOTR’s moneymaking glory?
“I don’t even know if they’re meaning to outdo them,” Wood told us at Sunday’s Happy Feet Two premiere in Hollywood of the upcoming two Hobbit flicks. “They’re gonna be big. The audience is huge. The anticipation for The Hobbit has been so massive for so long.” More..
IGN caught up with Andy Serkis and, among other things, asked him when fans can expect the first trailer for The Hobbit. Here’s what Andy had to say:
“There will be a trailer fairly soon, actually. Around Christmas time, I believe.”
Besides reprising his role as Gollum, Serkis has also taken up duties as Second Unit Director on the films, concerning which he says:
“It’s quite fascinating, I’m having a ball. It’s a huge operation, really. We’re on the road at the moment, at various different locations on South Island in New Zealand. There are some truly remarkable landscapes that we’re filming in. It’s just stunning.”
Andy also spoke a bit about shooting in 5K at 48 fps. To read the entire interview, head over to IGN.
So which December film will have The Hobbit trailer playing in front of it? Join the speculation on our boards.