ianmckellen.jpgOn May 25th, 1939, in the town of Burnley in northern England, the talented and beloved Sir Ian McKellen was born. Here’s to an amazing life, an amazing career, and to hoping you had a wonderful birthday!!

Future “Hobbit” director Guillermo del Toro and former “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson sat down with a world-wide internet audience and answered a lot more than the announced “20 questions” this weekend.

Hosted by Weta, there were a lot of minor details and significant confirmations and revelations about the gigantic production that will yield two “Hobbit” related movies, one in 2011 and the second in 2012.

Peter Jackson said,

“2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back. Post productin follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released Dec(ember) 2011, and F2 (film two) release(d) Dec(ember) 2012.”

Continue reading “Hobbit chat with Peter Jackson and G. del Toro peppered with big news (and little details about both films)”

Liv Tyler IGN caught up with actress Liv Tyler yesterday in New York City to discuss her new horror film The Strangers, but while we had her pointy Elven ear we just had to ask her about whether or not she’ll be returning to the Lord of the Rings universe as Arwen for the upcoming pair of recently announced Hobbit films. “Somebody just said to me, ‘Has your agent called Peter Jackson yet?'” says the actress with a laugh. “And I was like, ‘Whoa. What are you talking about?’ Liv Tyler Talks The Hobbit

Dark Council DioramaCollectors can look forward to a pretty realistic looking diorama coming soon from Sideshow Collectibles titled “‘Dark Council’ – Theoden and Grima Wormtongue.” From the looks of the piece, the sculptors have perfectly captured the likeness of Brad Dourif as Grima and Bernard Hill as the possessed Theoden. If Sideshow follows their regular schedule, we can expect this item to pre-order next week around 6pm PT. And if you are a Cate Blanchett fan, check out the Sideshow/Weta Polystone Statue of Galadriel, now listed at 35% OFF. [Dark Council Diorama] [The Lady Galadriel Statue]

Liv Tyler Liv Tyler is slated to be a guest on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ on May 23rd. She will be there to promote her latest films ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and ‘The Strangers’. ‘The Tonight Show’ airs on CBS at 11:35PM. Set those TiVos!