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”
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From TOR.com: “If you wanted the scoop on the upcoming Hobbit movies during Dragon*Con 2012 then you needed to get very good at waiting in line.”
For folks who were unable to make it, TOR has a handy list of what was discussed, both new and old, at the panels that TheOnering.net hosted at the convention. So, if you’re eager for spoilers and speculation, read on!
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“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”
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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”
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A bunch of Hobbit merch — mostly mugs right now — has popped up on play.com, and it seems as though there’s more to come.
One stand-out is the mug with a close-up of Gandalf’s g-rune scribed on the bright green door of Bag End (see image at right). Another shows Gandalf travelling somewhere in the dark with only his staff for light. I seem to recall the latter image was in the trailer.
Anyway, go check them all out. I guess you could consider the images minor spoilers.
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The Action Elite spent an evening chatting with John-Rhys Davies at Dragon*Con. In this long, four-part interview, he discusses his thoughts about The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Indiana Jones, Sliders and Shakespeare. Part two, where Rhys-Davies speaks about The Lord of the Rings is below, and you can watch all four parts here.
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