From Cinematical: What do you do when your geek base demands a prequel to one of their biggest fantasy trilogies, and that it be done right? You hire Guillermo bleepin’ del Toro to get around to it, as soon as he’s done with eighteen other projects. Two things are sure: he’ll find a place for Doug Jones, which is always welcome, and the thing can’t help but end less times than Return of the King did.
Category: Hobbit Movie
From independent.co.uk: At first, I don’t notice the figure hunched over the computer in the corner. It’s only when I hear the voice – resonant, commanding, with a trace of a Lancashire accent – that I realise that this grey-haired creature, unprepossessing, at least from behind, is Lear and Gandalf and Vanya and Magneto. Is, in other words, Sir Ian McKellen. And when he turns round, he’s not unprepossessing at all. His face is lined, but amazingly handsome. His body, in super-hip jeans, turquoise T-shirt and chic little jacket, is athletic and lithe. Mature but modern is the overall impression. Gravitas with a funky twist. Sir Ian McKellen: The Bard and me
Rumors are hitting the web today that the release of The Hobbit will not be until 2012. We are trying to independently confirm/deny this rumor so look for an update shortly! Thanks to the Ringers who are sending in the links to various news stories on the topic. Here’s a link to Yahoo! UK. [Click here]
UPDATE
We have received confirmation from the source of all sources, GDT himself stating that this rumor is NOT TRUE. Rest easy folks, it’s not happening.
Heidi from Bloomberg Television sends this in: Friday on the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION® program “Night Talk,” host Mike Schneider talks to Actor Viggo Mortensen about his latest film “Good.”
He talks about the success of The Lord of the Rings. “I think that anybody that was involved in that project, or any fan even, that says ‘I knew it was going to be huge box office success,’ I don’t think they’re being honest. I think its revisionist thinking. Because when we were shooting that movie…it just wasn’t a known thing, and it wasn’t really noticed that we were down there shooting this all that time. It wasn’t in the papers here. It was only when they showed 20 minutes of it at the Cannes film festival in 2001 that the journalist started talking.” Continue reading “TV Watch: Viggo Mortensen on ‘Night Talk’”
From The Sunday Times: He has portrayed some of the most extraordinary characters on screen, from King Kong to Gollum. Now Andy Serkis is emerging from behind the disguises and gaining recognition as a fine actor. Andy Serkis with one of his film characters Gollum on his shoulder. Andy Serkis has made a living out of playing nutters, freaks and psychopaths. So it is more than a little worrying when he tells me that “It’s really hard to come out of character.” He is the Boris Karloff of the 21st century, the actor the top casting directors call for when they want a monster to scare the audience witless. He played the titular 25ft-tall gorilla in the 2005 remake of King Kong, and the loathsome Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the television play Longford, last year, he became the Moors murderer Ian Brady. And we have just seen him in BBC1’s Little Dorrit as the murderous Rigaud, a character he himself has called “a thoroughly nasty piece of work”. Even when Serkis played Einstein — in the BBC film Einstein and Eddington — he brought out the darkness in the Nobel laureate. “It was a dream role,” he says, eyes blazing, hands clasped. “Apart from the great things we know about him, Einstein could be pretty ruthless, manipulative and dark. Ninety per cent of his time and energy was focused on work, and this was one of the biggest regrets of his life He just felt really guilty for screwing up his children, who were part of the sacrifice.” Andy Serkis comes out from behind Gollum and King Kong