Welcome, welcome to the fourth set report from the set of The Hobbit and the very first from a brand spankin’ new location! We started in Matamata (Hobbiton) and the plan was to work our way down the North Island of New Zealand, zig-zagging south until we hit Wellington again where the 450 strong main unit would board planes and ferries bound for the South Island and the bulk of location photography. Upon departing Hobbiton I made my way to a small town called Te Kuiti. This lovely little farm town is famous for being home to (Colin Meads), one of the most revered All Blacks of all time. The dude is so famous that my place was on Meads St. More..

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Bret McKenzie, half of the New Zealand musical comedy duo, Flight of the Conchords, says his character Lindir in The Hobbit is looking pretty good but doesn’t sing, although he is holding out hope for doing the theme song with Anne Lennox. He told Empire Mazine:

I look much more like a girl in The Hobbit. I look like a hot girl.

The name Figwit of course, is believed to have originated right here at TheOneRing.net when sharp eyed fans noticed him at the film version of The Council of Elrond and asked, “Frodo Is Great Who Is That?” Whatever the source, the character created such an internet stir that it is rumored to have caused Peter Jackson to give him a line with Arwen in the Return of the King film in a pick-up shot.

McKenzie is his usual entertaining self and you can read the whole article and catch McKenzie in his LOTR glory atEmpire Magazine.

Elijah Wood has good reason to praise 3D, seeing as his old pal Peter Jackson has taken the stereoscopic route in his The Hobbit films. On the publicity circuit for Happy Feet Two, we asked Wood what he’d make of the mooted 3D conversion for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

“I think it would be cool to see. There’s talk of releasing a dimensionalised trilogy eventually. I’m okay with doing post-process 3D, as long as someone takes the time.

He also had this to say about the oft-mentioned future release of the LOTR films to home audiences:

I think there will be a DVD edition in which there are deleted scenes. There are deleted scenes, I don’t know how many there are, it’s been a long time. A lot made it back into the cuts for those extended versions, but there are some scenes that never made it. There are also hours… there has to be at least a couple of hours of blooper reel stuff, because we were having a blast.

You can read the entire article at Den of Geek.

The American Cinematheque will be screening the LOTR Trilogy at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica this coming Saturday. The original printed calendar for November showed the start time at 7:30pm, which would be accurate if they were just showing one film. But with this being three very long films, the updated start time is actually 1pm on Saturday afternoon (so you may miss the UCLA/USC game).

TORn will be there all day long, and we’ll be previewing some of the exciting activities we’ve got coming up for next year, as well as giving away a few prizes.

For tickets and directions to the Aero Theater, please visit: http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/lord-of-the-rings-trilogy .

 

Sir Peter Jackson says the sunshine, mountains and fresh air of Arcadia Station, near Queenstown, have raised both his spirits and those of his 450 cast and crew.

Sir Peter spoke in between scenes where Sir Ian McKellan (SIC) as Gandalf the Grey, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and dwarves arrive at the house of Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt).

Tuesday was their third and final day of shooting on a giant set, which took eight weeks to build and was based on more than eight months of design – all for one scene of about three minutes of screen time. More..

Marilynn writes: Tickets are now on sale for the Riverview Theater’s 6th Annual LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy Event on Sunday, December 18th. This year they will screen the Extended Version/Directors Cut of both the FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING and THE TWO TOWERS and the Theatrical Version of THE RETURN OF THE KING will be shown. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Most years, the event sells out so don’t delay in getting your tickets.

The Riverview Theater is a lovely vintage theater that looks much the same as it did in the 1950s with comfortable seats, state-of-the-art projection and sound systems, and popcorn topped with real butter. In addition to their regular concession menu featuring popcorn, nachos, soft drinks and coffee, they will also have pizza available during the two breaks. More..