What exactly is going on with the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit? The world seems to be holding its breath in anticipation, including us, but as the calendar turned to November, we turned to a trusted rock-solid inside source and found a dragon’s treasure of updates. Continue reading “Exclusive Hobbit update: Casting, monsters, costumes!”
Category: Production
From Total Film: Eighteen months ago, Guillermo del Toro had a 10-year-plan. His life was mapped out, and it had nothing to do with JRR Tolkien’s lovingly rendered cartography of Middle-earth. “I was calmly laying out the next decade of my life when The Hobbit appeared,” he laughs. “I was preparing all these things and all of a sudden The Hobbit shows up and takes over my life.” Make no mistake: The Hobbit is his precious. Del Toro knows more than anyone that this diptych could – should – define his career. And so the director has been busy building a world that not only honours JRR Tolkien’s book and Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy but will emerge assuredly, triumphantly, his own. More..
News is on the Associated Press wire today that the founder of the pop-culture showcase, the San Diego Comic-Con, Sheldon Dorf, has died at age 76. A spokesperson for Dorf’s family, friend Greg Koudoulian, says he died at a San Diego hospital as a result of kidney failure and problems caused by diabetes. At the official Comic-Con Website there is a message from the Board of Directors, Staff and volunteers of the Comic-Con organization as they “mourn the passing of our dear friend Shel”. Continue reading “Comic-Con founder dies”
The folks from Radio NZ write: Just letting you know that contrary to your article (‘Radio NZ Talks to ‘Queen of the Geeks’’) the audio for the interview with Philippa Boyens will available indefinitely from here. There are now download links on the page, but please note that this is for personal use only. Most of the audio on the Radio NZ site is now available on this basis. The best way to link to these persistent pages is via the date encoded URL which can be obtained from the archive box on the left side of those pages.
From the folks at WETA: John Howe’s incredibly dynamic and exquisitely detailed sculpture by Daniel Cockersell is now available for pre-order in faux bronze. The edition size for this fine art collectible is a mere 300, just like the first sculpture in the range, Smaug™ the Golden which opened for pre-order in August. Check it out here!
Barrie Osborne, part of the Oscar-winning team behind the Lord of the Rings films, says the new production ‘will educate people about the true meaning of Islam.’ Producer Barrie Osborne cast Keanu Reeves as the messiah in The Matrix and helped defeat the dark lord Sauron in his record-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now the Oscar-winning American film-maker is set to embark on his most perilous quest to date: making a big-screen biopic of the prophet Muhammad. [Read More]