Peter Jackson has just a few hours ago posted the following on his Facebook wall:

Hi everyone! This year is the tenth anniversary of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, and we wanted to give the fans a Christmas treat ahead of the release of the two Hobbit movies in Dec 2012 and 2013. Stay tuned for more. Cheers!

Those who don’t have a Facebook account need not worry. Peter Jackson’s wall is public and can be accessed even by those without a Facebook account.

Be sure to tune in to TORn for detailed analysis on everything Hobbit-related that’s coming our way.

10 years have passed since the release of the first of the films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and fans will surely recall Frodo’s “chicken dance” at Bilbo’s Birthday party, Merry and Pippin singing in the Green Dragon Inn, Frodo and Sam watching the Wood-elves leaving Middle-earth, and Éowyn singing a dirge at the burial of her cousin Théodred.

The songs and the music for all these scenes, termed “diegetic” or “cultural” music, were composed and performed by Plan 9 (consisting of David Donaldson, Stephen Roche, and Janet Roddick) together with David Long, who also collaborated with them on certain aspects of the sound design for the Dead Marshes, the Ents, and the One Ring.

In celebration of the The Fellowship of the Ring’s 10th Anniversary, TheOneRing.net brings you an exclusive interview with Plan 9.

"The Elvish Impersonators" (from L to R: David Long, Steve Roche, Janet Roddick, David Donaldson) working on The Lord of the Rings in December 2002

Join us as we talk to them about how they came on board Peter Jackson’s crew working on the three films, and how they approached composing, performing, and selecting instruments that would lend credibility to the fictional cultures that inhabited Tolkien’s Middle-earth. All this, and also some talk of their as-yet-unreleased music for the films.

Continue reading “FOTR 10th Anniversary Exclusive: An interview with Plan 9”

Digitalspy.co.uk has just this morning put up a video interview with Stephen Fry discussing his role as the Master of Laketown in The Hobbit.

Besides descriptions of the look of the Master, there’s also mention of Bard the Bowman being a horserider, and hints to the design of Laketown itself, a “smelly city that’s on stilts in the lake below the mountain where Smaug the Dragon lives”.

We wonder if the geography has been changed for dramatic effect. What do you make of that!?

Watch the video HERE.

By the way, our message board members are discussing this video even as you watch it. Feel free to join in!

Thanks to Ringer Duff Man for sending in this exclusive summary of what we can expect to see in the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ trailer. Read on for his report. Warning: Spoilers lie ahead.

UpdateAt the request of the Peter Jackson and the production, we’ve been asked to remove the trailer description. Look for the trailer in theaters and online soon!

An official WB press release came out today that includes some Plot detail. One new Cast member is in the list, a John Bell, who appears to be about 10 years old or so. No official listing on IMDB yet for this casting, so no idea if he is Bain or Estel, or some other youngster. I’m including a link to an interview with the young actor under the press release.

Continue reading “New WB press release and a mystery bit of casting”

What we know: Peter Jackson began rolling film on The Hobbit back in April, 2011 and will be adapting this story as a Duology, two films instead of just the one like the book. They’ve had periods of shooting in the studio, a hiatus on filming while post production was being done, and now they are in the midst of Location shooting, with another hiatus and more studio shooting scheduled through June of 2012. The existence of the first Teaser was mentioned by both Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood several weeks ago, and it had its world debut at BNAT13 this past weekend. The mass release of the Teaser has not yet happened, and that is where we pick up our story.

Continue reading “The Hobbit Teaser is coming, soon”