With the release this week of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time on Blu-ray, Warner Bros. offered TheOneRing.net the chance to speak to with Richard Taylor, head of Weta Workshops. (Be sure to check out our very own Xoanon’s interview with him as well)
Taylor and partner Tania Rodger famously built the New Zealand special effects house first from their Wellington, New Zealand flat in in 1987 and expanded it dramatically in 1994 when bringing in Peter Jackson. Since then it has grown into one of the elite special effects houses in the world, producing the wonders seen in films like the LOTR trilogy, King Kong, and Avatar, just to name a very few, and all of this across the ocean from the U.S. Film Industry, building what director Guillermo del Toro called, “Hollywood the way God intended it.” Continue reading “Exclusive: TORn’s interview with Richard Taylor”
To promote the release of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-ray DVD Richard Taylor dropped us a line to talk all things ‘Rings’. Richard is hard at work on production of the The Hobbit, and during the chat we spoke a bit about blu-ray and 3D technology effecting the way the folks at his WETA Workshop go about creating sets and props. Our very own MrCere also had the chance to chat with Richard, be on the lookout for his report as well.
A Dutch Lord of the Rings enthusiast and her two Kiwi mates didn’t stick to the script and had to be rescued off the slopes of Mount Doom after setting out ill equipped and too late in the day. Six search and rescue teams were sent up Mt Ngauruhoe after the alarm was raised at a cost of $10,000. Ryan Hattle, Sam MacDonald and Violet Onderwater met on couchsurfing.com, a website where people offer up their couches to travellers for free. On Saturday the team set off on their quest. More..
For those paying attention Linuxelf has been building up quite a library on YouTube, all well worth attention. But one of the three newest ones is pretty near and dear to TheOneRing.net. Maybe some have seen this footage but certainly many of us have not.
There is also a haka for LOTR cast and crew here, and a report on Oscar buzz for “Fellowship of the Ring,” here. Thanks LE!
Linuxelf sends along the latest batch of vintage New Zealand LOTR news articles. Richard Taylor Interview on Weta, Peter Jackson BAFTA’s FOTR Interview & some rare WETA team footage. Take a look!
The New Zealand Herald ran a story recently, which we reported on, about prop collection that cast doubt on Troika Brodsky and his extensive LOTR collection.
Not only did the paper originally spell Brodsky’s name wrong, it seems the information in the story is suspicious, including the reported $50,000 he paid for a well-documented Sting.
Collector blog www.originalprop.com has published an extensive piece that gives Brodsky his say and also documents in detail the authenticity of the prop (among others) that is the focus of writer Joseph Barratt’s original story. They even reference a TORn article about Frodo’s sword. A complete read is pretty convincing and casts a lot of doubt about the original article and a possible attempt by Barratt to hook readers with a sensational headline.
To promote the release of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-ray DVD Richard Taylor dropped us a line to talk all things ‘Rings’. Richard is hard at work on production of the The Hobbit, and during the chat we spoke a bit about blu-ray and 3D technology effecting the way the folks at his WETA Workshop go about creating sets and props. Our very own MrCere also had the chance to chat with Richard, be on the lookout for his report as well.