Film director Guillermo del Toro is to take time out from making The Hobbit to help out some other little movie guys in Wellington. Mexico-born del Toro has given up his valuable time to help independent New Zealander Sam Kelly raise money to make a musical feature film. One For The Road, directed by Kelly, is due to begin filming in January, with just $60,000 of its $1.5 million budget raised so far. In a bid to close the gap, the film’s makers are hoping to sell out Wellington’s Paramount Theatre tonight. More..
Category: New Zealand
What exactly is going on with the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit? The world seems to be holding its breath in anticipation, including us, but as the calendar turned to November, we turned to a trusted rock-solid inside source and found a dragon’s treasure of updates. Continue reading “Exclusive Hobbit update: Casting, monsters, costumes!”
Oscar-winner Guillermo Del Toro may be a big guy in Hollywood circles but the director of The Hobbit is only too happy to help some of the local film industry’s “little guys”. He has pledged his name and support to a Q&A fundraising event for Wellington producer Bonnie Slater and director Sam Kelly’s first feature film, One for the Road. Billed as New Zealand’s first musical drama, it’s slated to shoot early next year and follows the fortunes of a struggling, small town band.
“We’re thrilled to have Guillermo’s support,” Slater says. “He has not done any event of this kind in New Zealand before and it’s a coup to have attracted him to headline our fundraiser and help promote our cause. More..
Say whatever you wish about James Cameron or his movies (“Terminator 2,” “Aliens,” “Titanic” “The Abyss”) but he doesn’t play things safe. He showcased some 3-D footage of the upcoming “Avatar” (December 18) at this summer’s Comic-Con and then in one of the convention’s all-time highlights, took the stage with Peter Jackson to talk about technology, film and the future. Our friends at Weta have been heavily involved and will share some credit or blame for the success or failure of his latest, risky $230 million film. Dana Goodyear at The New Yorker has an excellent profile of the film director with a dose of Weta thrown in. Read it here
Ataahua sends along this article from a New Zealand paper: Oscar-winning director James Cameron is so taken with Wellington’s film industry that “it is the one place in the world” where he wanted to make his next movie. More..
There’s a fair bit of news over at the Noldor Blog, including booksignings at the Weta Cave by Alan Lee and Ian Brodie as well as a new kids’ book with Richard Taylor and possibly Dr Grordbort himself, Greg Broadmore. There’s news about the Capitol Court Cinema co-owned by PJ, Richard Taylor and PJ’s editor Jamie Selkirk. Apparently it’s being fixed up -hope their sense of fantasy runs wild with it! (Read More) The Chocolate Fish cafe beloved by LOTR cast and crew is opening in a new beachside location not far from the original. And finally Jack asks who’ll join him in celebrating the 10th anniversary of first day of LOTR filming?