I’ve seen Bilbo — in three dimensions. I was visiting old friends in the Stone Street offices and heard Martin Freeman was just round the corner by the permanent greenscreen, done up as Bilbo, testing his costume in front of the 3D cameras. Indeed, there he was in the open air, mostly oblivious to the camera, though turning this way and that as required. Martin improvised a hobbity gait, padding back and forth, testing his big hairy Hobbit feet, pointy ears and little tum. More..
Category: LotR Movies
Cricket Wellington boss Gavin Larsen believes the Basin Reserve could be sold out within the next 24 hours after “stunning” opening day sales for Sunday’s earthquake charity game featuring Shane Warne. The spectator-friendly ground has a capacity of 8000 and nearly half those tickets were snapped up for the Twenty20 game before Larsen went home last night.
“We’ve been blown away by the level of interest and I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t a sellout,” Larsen said. “The ground was recalibrated three years ago and the capacity is 8000, which I get the feeling we are going to reach a lot quicker than we thought.”
The big names continue to be unveiled by organiser Stephen Fleming. All Blacks Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith are the latest to lend their support, the pair confirmed as umpires for the match between the Canterbury Legends XI and Wellington Legends XI. Fleming said the All Blacks pair would rotate umpiring stints with actors Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) and Mark Hadlow (Harry in King Kong)…British actor James Nesbitt has been attached to the Wellington lineup as coach, pitting him against Russell Crowe, who Fleming snapped up as Canterbury coach. More
Fans of Blu-ray have been waiting a long time for this day! TheOneRing.net is excited to help announce the pre-order for The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition Blu-ray! Following on the heels of the wildly successful Blu-ray premier of the Original Theatrical Trilogy comes the long awaited comprehensive Extended Edition Blu-ray Trilogy. Over 26 hours of Bonus Content including the rare Costa Botes documentaries that was never released before on the Extended Edition Trilogy. Nearly 5 hours of additional content. Each set includes the fan beloved Extended Editions of each film on Blu-ray plus a bonus Digital Copy of the film available online. Guess who already pre-ordered a few copies?! [Click here]
On this week’s episode of Hobbit in 5 we look at more ways to help New Zealand earthquake victims, Mikael Persbrandt wins and Oscar, more character studies, and Ringer Spy HobbitWatch gives us a glimpse of a very special Hobbit action sequence with Bilbo and the Dwarves. Hobbit in 5
The Telegraph reports today that Sir Ian Holm, who portrayed Bilbo to perfection in the Lord of the Rings, was contacted previously to reprise his role as an “older Bilbo” in the upcoming Hobbit films, but he hasn’t heard back from the producers since. Excerpts from the Telegraph’s article follow:
“I don’t know what’s happening,” the 79-year-old actor admitted to me at the Saatchi Gallery. “I haven’t heard anything for weeks.”
“I had great fun playing Baggins in the first two films and the plan had been, with Martin Freeman playing Young Baggins, I would be the Old Baggins,” he adds. “I suppose the earthquake in Christchurch couldn’t have helped with communications.”
Sophie de Stempel, Sir Ian’s wife, tells me: “I worry that the film has run into so much bad luck that they might have missed their chance altogether.”
Here’s hoping we get to see Sir Ian Holm in the character of the memorable old Bilbo once again. In case you’re interested, the topic is already being discussed over at our message boards.
From the folks at WETA: At Weta Collectibles, we of course follow the developments after the devastating earthquake in New Zealand’s second largest city Christchurch with a lump in our throats.
As a way to contribute and support where we can, we are auctioning three unique items on our eBay page and donating all proceeds to the New Zealand Red Cross Earthquake Appeal:
1. A Bag End Collector’s Edition miniature environment, signed by Peter Jackson
2. A Prancing Pony miniature environment, signed by Richard Taylor
3. A custom Dr Grordbort’s Raygun, signed by Greg Broadmore
Please join in the bidding in confidence that the proceeds will be well spent. Every last cent from these auctions will go straight to the New Zealand Red Cross Earthquake appeal. Find out about other ways to contribute to this appeal by going to their website: www.redcross.org.nz