Our good friend and staff member Balin will be laid to rest today – we will greatly miss…
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From MSN: Have you seen every “Lord of the Rings” episode ten times? Were you in line at midnight to go see “King KongR21;? What would you do to win a phone call from Academy Award winning director, Peter Jackson? To celebrate the release of the King Kong DVD, one lucky fan will win a 15 minute phone call with Peter Jackson! [More]
Peter Jackson, taking a vacation? Hard to imagine, but the director — who bounced from one F/X-heavy project (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) to another (King Kong) — recently spent some time tooling down the West Coast with his family. Still, it’s no surprise the workhorse is already gearing up for two new projects: First, he’ll co-write and direct an adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel The Lovely Bones, about a murdered girl who watches over her family from heaven; then he’ll exec-produce Halo, a film version of the addictive Xbox game. We called Jackson in New Zealand to chat about those films, plus the King Kong DVD (due March 28). [More]
NEW YORK – The box-office performance of Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” wasn’t as chest-thumping as many expected. But to be fair, $217 million isn’t terrible, nor was the $520 million worldwide take. It was well received by critics, nominated for four Oscars and won three: visual effects, sound and sound editing. Those three aspects of filmmaking are represented on the new two-disc special edition DVD coming out Tuesday (a single disc version also is available). The features include post-production diaries that bookend the previously released production diaries of “Kong.” They are an unusual inside look on the minutiae that goes into even the biggest of movies. [More]
Andy Serkis helped to create two of filmdom’s most celebrated characters, but most people probably wouldn’t recognize him. That’s because the veteran actor’s breakthrough performances — as Gollum in “Lord of the Rings” and the big, misunderstood ape in the 2005 “King Kong” remake — were created using digital technology. Although computer animators relied on Serkis’ performance for the emotional center and movements of both characters, he doesn’t get any face time (aside from a small, secondary role in “Kong”). Serkis is fine with that. [More]
We admire Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep as legends-in-waiting, committing performances to film that might be referenced by future generations alongside Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn. We praise the lengthy careers of Steve Martin and Bill Murray, wondering if their work will live on like the Marx Brothers or Peter Sellers. However, the most significant contemporary cinematic figure of our time might be launching a career even more monumental, but we’re too busy eating popcorn and enjoying the ride to fully appreciate it. It’s OK, says Andy Serkis, because until recently, he was equally unaware. [More]
