The man in charge of communication between Hobbiton and the outside world wears many hats, but he promises none of them belong to a hobbit. Hobbiton Movie Set & Farm Tours media and communications manager Ian Brodie has read The Lord of the Rings 40 times, but he said his fan level had not crossed into the fanatical – he never dresses up in character. Mr Brodie, who moved to Matamata from Wanaka two years ago, was tight-lipped about when Waikato could expect to have movie stars in our midst again for the filming of The Hobbit.
“You know I can’t tell you that,” he said. “That information will come out of Wellington.”
Mr Brodie was just 14 years old when he first read The Lord of the Rings and, on a roadtrip with his family at the time, he decided New Zealand would make a perfect Middle Earth. More..
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Wellington food writer Delaney Mes, author of the blog Heartbreak Pie (www.heartbreakpie.com), cook on the Good Morning show and Fishhead Magazine restaurant reviewer is going on 17 dates and eating 17 of the 50 Burger Wellington burger entries, then writing about it. She writes this about James Nesbitt: James Nesbitt is an actor. He’s well known for playing testicular-cancer suffering Adam in the hit British series Cold Feet. I know about the cancer part because an older lady at the table along from us hit him up about it before he sat down. She got the testicle bit wrong though, and it was hilarious. He’s known for other hit roles on TV and theatre, and he’s currently living with his family in Wellington filming The Hobbit. We talked wine, charm and foreign accents over The Polly Burger at Cafe Polo yesterday. And ladies and gentlemen, we may just have a winner. More..
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Join in the fun with TORn Tuesday! This LIVE event is hosted by long-time staffer Clifford Broadway, aka Quickbeam, and will cover a variety of topics today: An in-depth look at Fantasy Flight Games The Lord of the Rings Card Game, discussion on Luke Evans aka Bard in The Hobbit, and the box office success of Harry Potter over that of The Return of the King. Cliff will also be interacting live with our Barliman’s chatroom during the show and taking questions about anything and everything related to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien. Check out the broadcast in our LIVE event section tonight at 5pm PST! [LIVE Event Area] (See All Times)
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Hollywood star Orlando Bloom has been seen out and about in Wellington, joining a growing number of Hobbit actors arriving in the city as production resumes after a three-month hiatus.
Wellingtonians Miranda Webster, Aggie Galloway, Kayla Carruthers, Sam Walton and Hannah Robson met Bloom yesterday when they saw him shopping in the central city.
Ms Carruthers, 19, said she and her friends were on Vivian St when they saw Bloom go into a photography store.
“We weren’t sure at first if it was him or not, so we waited around casually outside the stop, and then when he came out we saw it was definitely him.” [Read more]
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Fans of The Lord of the Rings films already know that Andy Serkis can act his face off and act without ever showing his face. He first proved it with his landmark performance of Gollum in The Two Towers. Film making and acting without a net, portions of the film hinged on Serkis’ performance of a creature and Weta Digital’s ability to put the emotion on screen digitally. It worked. Beyond all expectations, it soared.
When the screenwriters threw in some character twists of the twisted character for Return of the King (for good or for ill, but don’t blame the actor) Serkis did it again. And of course his return as the same character to The Hobbit is as essential a tie between the films as any character. He went from Middle-earth to Monster Island with King Kong and even got to die a horrible death in his own skin on screen.
Weta went on to create Pandora and its blue skinned inhabitants with James Cameron in Avatar then teamed up again on Tintin with Serkis playing a human in the hilarious Captain Haddock.
But his role as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, just about to open in theaters everywhere, is his greatest performance yet. He moves from being a central character in a big movie to being the center of the film and stealing the show from the actors who get flesh and blood on screen. Continue reading “Exclusive: Andy Serkis talks ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes,’ ‘Hobbit’ with TORn”
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Today, in the production blog from Sideshow Collectibles we get the full preview of the Snow Troll from this falls upcoming TheLord of the Rings: War in the North. That includes how awesome this collectible looks as well as the price of the statue. As we can see from these pictures the Snow Troll is massive in size and very detailed from skull mask he’s wearing all the way through the Dwarf he is crushing with his hand. The Snow Troll will cost $325 and only have a NRD if you decide to order two or more of this particular statue. Also as with many pieces from Sideshow Collectibles you will also have the option of using Flex Pay if you want to spread out your payments. Finally, no edition size and no exclusive announcement was made in this weeks production blog update. Make sure you’re around your computer or smart phone Thursday between 2-3pm PST so you don’t miss a chance to own this insanely cool The Lord of the Rings collectible. Check out all the pictures here in Sideshow Collectibles Production Blog.
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