This just in – Samwise Gamgee, Sean Astin, has just been announced as a guest at this years DragonCon, and everyone on the D*Con Tolkien Track staff couldn’t be happier! Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US. It is held August 29th through September 1st in Atlanta, Georgia. TheOneRing.net will be in attendance at DragonCon 2008 and hopes to be presenting a panel on ‘The Hobbit.’ Schedule your hotel and flight plans now! [DragonCon.org] [Tolkien Track]
Category: LotR Cast News
Several clips of Elijah Wood’s appearance last week on Britain’s Friday Night Project are now available on YouTube. If you remember, the staff of the Friday Night Project contacted TORn early last week in search of Tolkien Fans for the audience. Elijah definitely has a good time as the show’s guest host, takes a lot of good natured ribbing, and talks at length about both The Lord of the Rings movies and one of his latest projects, The Oxford Murders, set to open this year. Check out the clips and see if *you* could pass the “who knows the most about the guest host” quiz! Thanks to Garfeimao for the link. Watch the clips
Sean Astin
Sean Astin, Giovanni Ribisi, Ron Perlman and Anjelica Huston are heading into the CGI-animated “Spirit of the Forest,” an eco-fairy tale for Fantastic Films International and Dygra Films. Astin and Ribisi play two gopher friends whose home is threatened when an evil businesswoman (Huston) plans to tear down their forest to build a highway. With the help of an old oak tree (Perlman), the animals and their friends fight back with a vengeance. “In ‘Lord of the Rings,’ my favorite element in the story was the Ents, these massive trees getting cut down that fought for their own survival; in ‘Spirit,’ the trees also come to life,” said Astin, noting the environmental message in both films. “It’s another way of telling a story that needs to continue to be told. Progress comes at a price.” Thanks to diedye for the link. Read More
Mary writes in that Marton Csokas can currently be seen in the off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” put on by the Theater for a New Audience in New York. From the New York Times review: “Marton Csokas, a New Zealander making his New York stage debut as Antony, is likewise a well-trained classical actor with a dexterous grasp of the language.” The production is set to run until May 2, 2008. Read the full review
Viggo Mortensen is among the actors featured in Part 2 of Entertainment Weekly’s “50 People We’d Watch in Anything” series: “The man romanced Diane Lane, took down Russian mobsters and saved Middle Earth. What more does it take to love this dude, really?” Well, we could have told them that! Thanks to Mary for the tip. Read More
Cate Blanchett and playwright husband Andrew Upton welcomed Ignatius Martin Upton into the world yesterday. Initial reports were that the Sydney-based mother and child were both well. The baby boy weighed in at just over eight pounds (3.6kg). Blanchett and her husband, who have shared co-artistic director responsibilities at the Sydney Theatre Company since January, already have two sons: Dashiell, 6, and Roman, 3. The NIDA graduate will next be seen alongside Harrison Ford as Agent Irina Spalko in the fourth film of the highly anticipated Indiana Jones franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film opens nationally on May 22. Read More