Just as cameras are about to roll on two Peter Jackson movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” the official blog has gone live online. Brought to us by “The Hobbit Team”, it features a photo of the cast including Martin Freeman which will probably help the world become familiar with its new heroes of Middle-earth.
The site was kind enough to include TOR’s latest “Hobbit In 5,” on the site as well and we will watch it carefully leading up to the production of the two films, scheduled for release in 2012 and 2013. You can find it right here. For fans, the production signals an end to long years of waiting and anticipation filled with highs and lows. The fate of the films seemed in doubt during lawsuits, studio financial troubles and the search for and the loss of a director. The story of how the movie got to this point is high drama all on its own. And of course, TheOneRing will follow the every detail of the production and beyond.
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The shire is built, the Hobbits have arrived, and production of one of the biggest films ever to be made in New Zealand is set to begin tomorrow.
After a torrid few weeks at the end of last year when a spat between director Sir Peter Jackson and the New Zealand actors’ union threatened to drive the film overseas, filming will now start on The Hobbit – the two-part prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The stoush last year resulted in Prime Minister John Key announcing that the government would make concessions to filmmakers Warner Bros, including a change to labour laws clarifying the status of film workers as contractors.
[Read more]
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Sir Ian McKellen has updated his Hobbit blog and describes the process of preparing to roll film (or digital memory) on Peter Jackson’s pair of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” It sounds like an ideal day. Check out the whole entry but this is a good taste:
“And I was there too, in Hobbiton, with a semi-circle of dwarves and Bilbo, their reluctant host. I was at the cast’s first joint rehearsal where Peter Jackson, with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, invited our comments on their script so far.”
Did we just get a hint that the screenplay is in a state of constant revision as it was with Jackson’s LOTR films? Sounds like it. For film fans, catch your breath, these are the moments before the starting gun goes off. Time to party likes its 1999! (Thanks to the many who sent in links.)
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In the service of the launch of the excellent Doctor Who audio spin-off The Minister Of Chance (check back here for a review on the 17th of March), the seventh Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy, was kind enough to have a chat with us today, which will be up on the site very shortly. The Scottish actor also talked at some length about his pending role as the wizard Radagast in Peter Jackson’s much-delayed New Zealand production of The Hobbit – and clears up fairly definitively whether the character is just making a brief cameo, referring to his involvement in ‘two films’ for the project and responding to a question about the duration of his stay down under. More..
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From DigitalSpy.com: It’s been a turbulent few years for The Hobbit (director changes, studio implosions, Peter Jackson’s hospital visits), but any day now the long-awaited Lord Of The Rings prequel will go in front of cameras in New Zealand. James Nesbitt, who can soon be seen in medical drama Monroe, will be one of many recognisable faces in the cast as dwarf Bofur. We got on the phone to James to chat about his ‘dwarf training’, group bonding and immersing himself in J.R.R. Toklien’s Middle Earth. More..
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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2011- 2012 theatre season March 8. The season will feature a Kennedy Center-produced revival of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey, directed by Christopher Ashley and featuring a revised book by Terrence McNally; Sydney Theatre Company’s exclusive American premiere engagement of Uncle Vanya, adapted by Andrew Upton, directed by Tamás Ascher and starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving; the Mabou Mines production of Dollhouse, adapted by Lee Breuer and Maude Mitchell from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; the fifth season of Barbara Cook’s Spotlight series, featuring Broadway performers in an intimate cabaret setting; an all-star Stephen Sondheim concert celebration; and touring musical productions of Memphis, Les Misérables, Billy Elliot the Musical, La Cage aux Folles, Come Fly With Me and The Addams Family. More..
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