Gollum / SmeagolJan writes: Andy Serkis is scheduled to take part in the Academy’s symposium “Acting in the Digital Age” at Samuel Goldwyn Theatre. From the website: Revolutionary developments in digital technology are impacting every aspect of filmmaking, including the discipline of acting. Today’s actors are performing in ways their predecessors couldn’t have imagined.
Short Films and Feature Animation Branch governor Bill Kroyer will lead an evening focused on two Oscar-winning films – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008) and “Avatar” (2009) – to demonstrate how innovations in performance-capture technology, digital doubles, digital makeup, photorealism and image manipulation are affecting actors. “Acting in the Digital Age” will feature a panel of cast and crew members from both films who will discuss the challenges and opportunities that come with these changing technologies. The program includes film clips and behind-the-scenes footage of the actors at work. More..
(CNN) — Before “The Lovely Bones,” the aughts had been a charmed decade for Peter Jackson.
It began with the one-two-three punch of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, a juggernaut that grossed almost $4 billion worldwide at the box office and won 17 Oscars — 11 of those, including best picture and best director, for the final chapter, “The Return of the King.”
Jackson followed “Rings” with his 2005 remake of “King Kong,” which was another huge success both at the box office and with critics. He donned his producer’s hat for 2009’s “District 9,” a low-budget South African film that made $200 million worldwide and was nominated for best picture. [Read Full Story]
In an interview withThe Wall Street Journal, Peter Jackson, Executive Producer of the upcoming Hobbit films says of the films’ behind-the-scenes footage that “We’ve been filming DVD material for about a year. Guillermo has been doing location scouts and design work, with the DVD people following him around, so we’ve shot 20 or 30 hours of DVD material so far and we’re still a few months away from the first day of shooting.”
Asked about converting the LOTR films to 3D, he says, “You can do [2D to 3D] conversions well if you take time. If you do it quickly, fast and cheap, it’s not going to turn out well. If we were going to convert LOTR, I’d want to do it properly, which would be a very long, time-consuming, and expensive process.”
Lastly, his opinion on the not-so-positive fan reaction to the recently released Theatrical BluRay version seems to jibe with the majority of the fans. “I agree with the fans”, he says. “I was heavily involved in the DVD process when the films were being released through New Line, but now that Warner Brothers has taken control over the releasing of the films, they just tell me what they’re doing and don’t involve me in the process. [With New Line,] the one thing we never did with the fans was make them feel cheated. Back in the original release, we always put extra material in, extra documentaries — a lot of added value. I so totally understand why the fans would be upset; I don’t disagree with them.”
The Matamata Chronicle got a tour of Hobbiton; the report on Stuff.co.nz has details of the new construction, saying it will look exactly as it did in “The Lord of the Rings.” The bridge and mill are being rebuilt! Take the last line, which talks about shooting dates and 3D, with a grain of salt: It sounds like a wrap-up of previous reports, not all confirmed, rather than fresh news. Read More
Moviefone scored an interview with Peter Jackson about the pair of ‘Hobbit’ movies that have been burning up internet bandwidth as every site remotely related to popular culture has been scrambling to get the lowdown on what in the devil has been going on. Director Guillermo del Toro has feed us information on our message boards and we have some reliable sources, but producer Jackson set the record strait on a couple of important facts:
* He says the 2nd script is now finished. “So the studio’s got both scripts now, which is a milestone,” said Jackson.
* The two movies haven’t been “delayed” because they never had a schedule
* No actors have been cast because the film hasn’t received a greenlight from the studios
* He confirmed our report about the MGM situation slowing up the start of production
You can read the whole story right here. Thanks to Magpie on our message boards and the blog of TORn friend Doug Adams on his LOTR music blog.
