It is a little difficult to imagine what event might have had more geek credibility on Oscar night than our own One Expected Party. GeekExchange.com certainly managed a solid report complete with the YouTube video above that shows highlights from many of the events that took the stage. They also managed a photo gallery that is definitely worth a look. You can read the entire report if you click this simple link.
Category: Production
Dan Hennah talked Oscars with the Nelson Mail (part of the Stuff.co.nz network) after the awards ceremony and the One Expected Party where he rated the official ceremony as the best of the five he has attended. He visited the Governor’s Ball and along with his wife Chris (who managed the production team on set (and was kind to TheOneRing.net embedded reporter) attended our own celebratory events afterwards. Along with the Hennahs at the party were production nominees Ra Vincent and Simon Bright (both for set decoration) and the article mentions them as well. Nelson, in New Zealand, is where the Hennahs are from, making the Academy Award winners part of the native Kiwi population, along with Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor that sprung from New Zealand soil and stand among the best in the world at their craft.
The article starts, ” Dan Hennah may not have picked up another Oscar to add to the one in the dining room in his Orinoco home but he still had a great time at yesterday’s Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles.
The Hobbit, for which Hennah was nominated for production design, lost to Lincoln in that category. Hennah said Lincoln was “a beautiful movie and it was well executed. It got what it deserved”. ”
You can read the rest right here.
The Comic-Con six are now complete. At last years Comic-Con Weta Workshop had displayed six statues for what is wave 1 of statues for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Last but certainly not least of the six and the first statue of the regular line to be numbered is Bombur. Bombur is limited to just 1000 pieces world wide, priced at $250, and in-stock. Also, if you order Bombur soon you can save $50 on the Bilbo Baggins statue at the time of purchase. That’s not the only surprise Weta had worked for today! Fans for not much longer can order a signed Dwalin statue by actor Graham McTavish! There is only 10 of this statue left and he comes with a price tag of $259.
Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
is leading this years Saturn Awards with nine nominations announced overnight. Nominees include Peter Jackson up for Best Director, Martin Freeman for Best Actor and Ian Mckellen for Best Supporting Actor.
Complete list of nominees:
Best fantasy film:
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LIFE OF PI
RUBY SPARKS
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
TED
Best actor:
CHRISTIAN BALE, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DANIEL CRAIG, SKYFALL
MARTIN FREEMAN, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
HUGH JACKMAN, LES MISERABLES
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, LOOPER
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, KILLER JOE
Best supporting actor:
JAVIER BARDEM, SKYFALL
MICHAEL FASSBENDER, PROMETHEUS
CLARK GREGG, THE AVENGERS
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
SIR IAN MCKELLEN, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Best Director:
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, KILLER JOE
PETER JACKSON, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
RIAN JOHNSON, LOOPER
ANG LEE, LIFE OF PI
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
JOSS WHEDON, THE AVENGERS
Best Production Design:
CLOUD ATLAS
ANNA KARENINA
LIFE OF PI
DARK SHADOWS
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LES MISERABLES
Best Music:
LIFE OF PI
FRANKENWEENIE
ANNA KARENINA
SKYFALL
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Best Costume Design:
ANNA KARENINA
CLOUD ATLAS
DJANGO UNCHAINED
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LES MISERABLES
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Best Makeup:
CLOUD ATLAS
HITCHCOCK
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
THE IMPOSSIBLE
SKYFALL
TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, PART 2
Best Visual Effects:
THE AVENGERS
BATTLESHIP
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
JOHN CARTER
LIFE OF PI
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
The Saturn Awards, is compiled by officials from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, winners will be announced at a Hollywood ceremony in June (13).
Weta Digital is nominated for Visual Effects for its work on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” That means co-founder Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White could all be walking away from the Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday with golden statues. And the competition comes in the form of more folks at Weta Digital for work on “The Avengers,” and “Prometheus.” “The Life of Pi,” and “Snow White and The Huntsman,” are in the mix as well. Pundits say it comes down to Hobbit vs. Pi. Whatever the outcome, Weta Digital has had a pretty astounding year and with the warm glow of Smaug on the horizon, 2013 looks promising as well. You probably knew all that but what you may have missed are the terrific reels Weta Digital has available to help viewers (and maybe voters) understand what went into the creatures, environments and characters it created for the first of three Hobbit films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s 75-year-old children’s book.
One of the six showcases on YouTube, “VFX of The Hobbit: Fantastical Creatures & Lands of Epic Beauty & Darkness,” something of a highlight of all the videos, has been watched more than the rest but for anybody who loves cinema, loves the Hobbit film, technology or visual effects, the whole collection is outstanding. And so, we present them all below, embedded in one place for your viewing pleasure.
VFX OF THE HOBBIT: FANTASTICAL CREATURES & LANDS OF EPIC BEAUTY & DARKNESS
WETA DIGITAL’S ARTISTRY BEHIND GOLLUM
WETA DIGITAL’S ARTISTRY BEHIND THE GOBLIN CAVERNS
WETA DIGITAL’S ARTISTRY BEHIND RIVENDELL
WETA DIGITAL’S ARTISTRY BEHIND THE GOBLIN KING
WETA DIGITAL’S ARTISTRY BEHIND AZOG
Once again it has been a long time since I posted in this series, but what with the run-up to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure and the reaction to it, TheOneRing.net has been a busy place, and now we’re coming up on The One Expected Party on Oscar night! But I’ll delay no longer.
In the first entry I recalled getting the permission to interview the filmmakers and going down to start my work, back in September-October of 2003. The second one dealt with my first interview and tours of the Three Foot Six office building and the Stone Street Studios. Now, more of the facilities I visited.
The Film Unit
My third full day in Wellington was Wednesday, October 1. Melissa Booth called and said I could come to the new Film Unit building to meet Barrie Osborne. He, as I cannot stress often enough, was the one responsible for getting me New Line’s permission to interview the filmmakers for my book. This meeting, though, wouldn’t be for an interview. (I interviewed Barrie twice for the book, first a couple of weeks later and again during my third Wellington visit in December, 2004.) He was driving out to the old Film Unit facility that afternoon to give the people working there, sound mixers, editors, and other post-production crew members, a pep talk.
As most readers know, the race to finish The Return of the King was on by that point, and a lot of people were working long hours. I was told that Barrie often gave these pep talks, and the filmmakers really appreciated them; it was part of what gave the production that feeling of being one big family. I could at least introduce myself to Barrie and ride with him to the Film Unit; the half-hour drives there and back would allow us time to talk about my project. Continue reading “Researching The Frodo Franchise: Part 3, Places Full of Magic”