TheOneRing.net with Galatia Films offer this exclusive interview with the always phenomenal Richard Taylor, Daniel Falconer and Peter Lyon of Weta Workshop. If you watch the video you will learn about Weta’s first meeting with Peter Lyon and how “The Lord or the Rings,” behind-the-scenes videos were created, developed and even changed people’s lives. The original interview was done for Galatia’s Live Reclaiming the Blade Day. Check out its Kickstarter page for more details and the full interview. Tomorrow we will release another interview from the live broadcast, this with one of the stars from “The Lord of the Rings” film. Tune in tomorrow to find out which one! You can also support the Kickstarter campaign for a new film that will feature “The Hobbit” swords and Narnia actors Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian) and William Moseley (Chronicles of Narnia).

Weta Workshop has produced well over fifteen thousand museum quality weapons for projects within the creative industries of film, gaming and replica collectibles, including Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “King Kong,” Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander,” Edward Zwick’s “The Last Samurai,” Andrew Adamson’s “Chronicles of Narnia,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy,” Stephen Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the Microsoft Halo 3 short films and, more recently, James Cameron’s “Avatar” and Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9.”

We are happy to share with you our complete coverage of the happenings at Comic-Con 2013! Check out the video series below!

Meet The Hobbit Artists

Meet several of the artists who worked on The Hobbit and learn more about what they’re up to, along with several other talented folks at Weta, including Greg Broadmore and the comedic antics of Daniel Falconer! [Happy Hobbit Goes to SDCC: Meet the Hobbit Artists]

Continue reading “Happy Hobbit: Complete SDCC Coverage”

SDCC2013 TH WETAPreview night at San Diego Comic Con is just that, a 3 hour preview of the show, with the Exhibitor’s hall open, and several sneak peeks of upcoming network Pilot shows for the Fall Season of new television. There are no panels or major presentations going on, just the room screening the pilots (no guests) and the gigantic exhibit hall. Here you see an image of the side approach to the WETA booth from a bit of a distance, just look for Gandalf watching over everyone.  Continue reading “SDCC Wednesday Preview night Recap”

Fell Beast being hoistedOf the three trips I took to New Zealand in 2003 and 2004 to conduct interviews for my book, only the first happened before the release of The Return of the King. I didn’t go thinking that I would suddenly be privy to spoilers and secrets. Shooting was over, I assumed (wrongly), and I figured my interviewees would not tell or show me anything confidential.

But at times they did. In my previous installment of this series, “Places Full of Magic,” I wrote about the facilities I visited. Now it’s time to reveal a few things I learned there—and kept quiet about. Continue reading “Researching THE FRODO FRANCHISE: Part 4, Now It Can Be Told: Secrets and Spoilers”

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

Film Unit Oct 2003My 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”