Peter Jackson’s whereabouts of late could provide crew clues for The Lord Of The Rings. He returned to New Zealand last month after spending three weeks in Europe, where he is believed to have interviewed possible DP’s for his three-picture adaptation of the JRR Tolkien classic. Production is tipped to start on September 18. The only casting detail confirmed to date has been the recruitment of NZ armed forces as extras.
Category: LotR Movies
The Wellington producer-director Peter Jackson is the new owner of The Film Unit, which is the only one-stop post-production facility in New Zealand. Based in Lower Hutt, across the harbor from Wellington, it offers 16mm and 35mm laboratory and sound facilities, including a state-of-the-art Dolby mixing suite. Peter Jackson told the Press Association: “Would I have bought the Unit if it wasn’t for Lord of the Rings (which is to start shooting in New Zealand this year for New Line Cinema)? “I probably would have thought seriously about it, because if I wasn’t doing Lord of the Rings I would have been doing some other films, and I’d still want to have the facilities in New Zealand.” The first of the three Lord of the Rings features is due to start shooting in September.
The world’s best animators focus on Weta A top American software developer calls working on The Lord Of The Rings “the plum job on the whole of the planet” for computer graphics gurus. “It’s the absolute talk of animation news groups on the Internet,” says Mark Sylvester of Alias leading provider of open solutions for film & video. “There’s a cult following around The Lord Of The Rings, around computer animation, ” he told Onfilm after visiting Peter Jackson’s Weta animation & graphics factory in Wellington. “I think people feel they have no chance of working on Star Wars – that’s the dream – but they have a chance of working at Weta on The Lord Of The Rings, and The Lord Of The Rings will make the facility internationally famous.” Sylvester says Weta is challenging Alias involved in the new Star Wars trilogy, to “make sure we can deliver the level of realism they’ll require” for The Lord Of The Rings. “We’ve had to show them, and they’ve had to be able to prove to themselves, that they can do what they want to do with the software we have available today. “Quality is very important to them. They want to do this right – they don’t want to be known for having mucked up an amazing book. “It’s a tall order but I walked away with a sense of confidence that the amount of work I’m going to put into this personally É is going to be worth the energy.” Sylvester reckons the environment that Weta is providing computer animators could only be match by four other places in the world. “Guys who run animation production companies in the United States are at Weta for The Lord Of The Rings,” he points out. “Animators aren’t driven by the money, although it is good money, as they are by an environment that is technically challenging, and has interesting projects to work on and people savvy to their tools. “Weta is gearing up infrastructure-wise and talent-wise to realize a great vision.” Sylvester says when he re-read The Lord Of The Rings, “I asked myself, ‘How the heck are they going to do these various pieces?’ “I have to say they have not shared that with us. “They feel that’s going to detract from the film; that what’s important is the film – not how the film was made. “They really want to keep the movie magic.”
Well, today I’ve heard from 3 different sources that an offer has been made to ELIJAH WOOD to play Frodo in the three LORD OF THE RINGS movies that Peter Jackson will begin shooting at the end of the summer. Now, I know for a fact that Elijah read for the part, and before that I knew he was looking at the 3 scripts, and before that… Back when Elijah was working on THE FACULTY and we were talking geeky stuff, he expressed that his favorite book was THE LORD OF THE RINGS. So… Where is this? Between this and to story over at Cinescape it sounds like the casting process might be at that point where final decisions are being made. Cinescape is reporting that Timothy Spall (the photographer in “Secrets and Lies”, a film everybody should rush out and rent immediately) has been cast as Gimli in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings”! Warwick Davis apparently spilled the beans on this story at the Star Wars Celebration when he admitted that he had auditioned for the part and lost it to Spall. I think this is a brilliant casting move, and it gives me great confidence in Jackson. Spall has the stature and the voice for Gimli. He’ll be great. (He also played Rosencrantz in the Branagh version of “Hamlet”.) I have long been absent, but still I lurk. Wood: Frodo? Call me, Overstreet. So far, I think these are a pair of wonderful choices if this pans out. I’m looking into confirming these right now with folks on LORD OF THE RINGS. But these are the first serious casting choices we’ve received. What with all the Connery stuff and McGoohan, etc… Seems like exciting things are a coming up!
Fine Line prez Mark Ordesky, who is supervising the production of Peter Jackson”s Lord of the Rings trilogy with New Line”s Mike DeLuca, took some time to talk up the project. While talking to columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith, Ordesky explained that the film “will push the envelope of computer special effects to a new degree.” Ordesky also talked about the casting for the film and the commitment that will have to be made by the actors involved revealing, “With the exception of a few leads, the cast will be working a few weeks on, a few weeks off for what will be a long-term production.” Those long term plans mean the previously reported shooting schedule for the three films as back-to-back for a year”s time with “three times that long with pre- to post-production.” Ordesky also shoots down the rumors suggesting Sean Connery is involved. Ordesky reveals, “Actors who love the story have been phoning, wanting to be part of the film, but no one has been cast — we hope to start the process in May.” Still, there may be reason to doubt Ordesky”s word on casting with word from Warwick Davis (Willow) last weekend at the Star Wars Celebration that Timothy Spall has already been cast as Gimli.
Taking time out from canvassing for the Scottish National Party and a break from offers to advertise Japanese whisky, Sean Connery is in advanced talks with a US studio to star in what will be one of the biggest films ever embarked on. He is the front-runner to take the lead role in the Tinseltown-backed adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s trilogy, *Lord of the Rings*. The film version is being backed by New Line Cinema, the studio behind such blockbusters as *Mortal Combat*, with New Zealand director Peter Jackson taking the chair. Connery would play Gandalf, the wizard who leads the Hobbits in their battle against Dark Lord Sauron. The three Tolkien films, which will shoot back-to-back starting this September, were originally budgeted at a collective $130m when New Line agreed to take over the financing of the project from Miramax Films in return for worldwide distribution and merchandising rights. But now figures being bandied about are much higher with all three costing more than even *Titanic*, which included the world’s most expensive ice cube. Like the upcoming *Star Wars* trilogy, Jackson’s heavily-shrouded project has provoked endless Internet discussion as it nears the projected September 19 start date. Jackson, like George Lucas before him, is no stranger to the use of digital effects and is expected to draw on his state-of-the-art digital effects facility he had built in New Zealand. The ambitious Kiwi director is expected to create the legions of hobbits, orcs, elves and goblins that make up Tolkien’s mythical world of Middle Earth in his backyard. A portion of the year-long production schedule for the first film may even be shot in Europe with a Christmas 2000 release date penciled in for the first episode, *The Fellowship Of The Ring*. But it still remains to be seen whether Jackson will follow the example of George Lucas and shoot the entire film digitally. Whether Connery decides to pick up Gandalf’s staff or not, the film adaptation is likely to be one of the most talked about movie projects of next year. With its expansive story, intricate fantasy world settings, big production costs and the lure of Tolkien’s original brilliance, actors will be queuing up to play a part.