From the folks at WETA: It’s official – Weta Fans are the most patient. Ever. We sincerely apologise for how long it’s been since the last episode. But we’re back! This time we “air” an interview we recorded late last year with Lord Of The Rings veterans Matt Appleton and Emily-Jane Sturrock who have been travelling. We also take a closer look at the new website and get Richard Taylor’s as well as Tim Launders views on what the new site is all about. Listen to Episode VI of the Weta Cast here!
Category: Production
Sean Astin told SCI FI Wire that he’d be thrilled to reprise his Lord of the Rings film trilogy role as Sam Gamgee in the upcoming big-screen adaptations of The Hobbit. However, because the Rings’ beloved quartet of Hobbits don’t actually appear in The Hobbit, Astin doubts that he’ll be asked to appear in the films. Astin’s comments run counter to those of his Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan, who told MTV News in January that he believes that he, Astin, Billy Boyd and Elijah Wood will play some role in the two Hobbit features. The films will be produced by Rings mastermind Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo del Toro. SCI FI Wire spoke to Astin today, while he was promoting ION Television’s upcoming miniseries The Color of Magic. Following are edited excerpts from that exclusive interview, in which he also talked about the 10th anniversary of filming The Lord of the Rings and his other upcoming genre projects. Astin up for Hobbit if Hobbit up for him
By Garth Franklin at DarkHorizons (via Variety): While fans who are aware of “Tintin” have been enthusiastic about the project, the single most common complaint from fanboys unfamiliar with Herge’s brilliant stories of the roving reporter has been that their ‘god’ Steven Spielberg shouldn’t be wasting his time with such nonsense.
This is despite the fact almost all of them are completely unfamiliar with the material, even though the twenty-four graphic novels have been in publication for over eight decades. Decades before the likes of “Watchmen” hit the shelves it was weaving stories of Middle Eastern tension, South American and Eastern European coup d’etats, opium smuggling, human trafficking, arms dealing and espionage. More…
When director Peter Jackson asked Howard Shore to compose the score for “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, Shore studied J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world before beginning four years of writing music. At a Master’s Tea Tuesday afternoon, Shore shared insights about composing, orchestrating, conducting and producing more than ten hours of music to accompany “The Lord of the Rings” films in front of more than 100 students in the Branford College common room. The Academy Award-winning composer, who also wrote the scores for “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Doubt,” among others, also told stories about working on other genres of music before his venture into cinema. Shore began the talk by describing his first encounters with music. From the beginning, his clarinet teacher felt it was important that he learn music composition techniques such as harmony and counterpoint, he said. By the time Shore was 11 years old, he was already writing small pieces. Shore shares insights on ‘Rings’ trilogy
Linuxelf writes: It looks like the guys at WETA are up for another award, this time they have been nominated for the 2009 Children’s and young adults book awards, for their book ‘The Crafting of Narnia’.
Or a Tale of Two Towers: Art and Archetypes in Middle-Earth
Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is conspicious in that it contains no places of worship. Few fantasy authors resist the urge to have temples and gods (usually malevolent ones with slimy and unappetizing minions, against which the hero uses guile, good sense or solid biceps in contests of thinly-disguised allegory). Tolkien limits himself to places of portent or places of wonder – places where the gods or great personages of the past have touched the earth, but have never consecrated. Continue reading “John Howe’s Journal: FROM BABEL TO BARAD-DÛR”