In a recent interview with stuff.co.nz, Sir Ian McKellen revealed that scenes including Gandalf and a young Bilbo were filmed for “The Hobbit: and Unexpected Journey.””Sir Ian says during the film’s development [he] has been forthcoming with Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. For one, he felt that the relationship between Gandalf and Bilbo needed a little history. He suggested a scene showing the wizard being introduced to a baby Bilbo and his mother Belladonna Took and it was shot. He’s not sure if the scene will make the final cut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but his suggestion was taken seriously. ”We see Gandalf observing this little boy who’s full of beans and full of adventure. And I let him play with [a] toy dragon that I’ve got.” And, when he’s thinking, ‘Who should we get? Oh, there’s that little boy.’ And he goes back to Hobbiton to meet this little boy who’s now grown up and is a real stodgy, dull, settled, unadventurous person. And he’s so disappointed. ‘What happened to you? Come on! You’ve got to go on an adventure, it’ll be good for you. Get back your childish enthusiasm!”’ Read More…

Neil Finn talks to Andrew Dickens of News Talk ZB about recording “The Song of the Lonely Mountain” for the end credits of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Choice quote regarding the “anvils” used in the song:

“I’d love to paint a picture of a big, blacksmith’s anvil sitting in the middle of the studio but, in actual fact, it was my son Liam […] poised over an electronic keyboard.”

Listen to the interview here.

ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post Peter Jackson and his production team have provided TheOneRing.net the following statement refuting allegations by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that a horse named Shanghai was hobbled during the making of The Hobbit because he was too energetic for his rider. The statement includes a declaration by Shanghai’s owner that the horse has shown no signs of ill-treatment. Continue reading “Statement from Peter Jackson and the producers of The Hobbit about animal mistreatment allegations”

Philippa Boyens. Photo: KENT BLECHYNDEN/Fairfax NZ
Philippa Boyens. Photo: KENT BLECHYNDEN/Fairfax NZ
Wellington’s Philippa Boyens is one of the most successful screenwriters in the world. She’s won an Oscar, a Bafta and has been a nominee for many more, including a Writers Guild of America Award.

Boyens owes much of this to her screenwriting debut with Sir Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. She went on to co-write King Kong and The Lovely Bones with Jackson and Fran Walsh, as well as co-produce both films.

So with the fruits of her most recent labour, the US$500 million trilogy The Hobbit, soon to be revealed to the world with the release in December of An Unexpected Journey, we’d be forgiven for assuming Boyens was keen from the very beginning to return to Middle-earth.

When asked, there’s a long pause before she answers. “I loved the world. I loved [JRR] Tolkien’s writing. [But] I think there was a quality about myself where I felt like ‘I’d done it’,” she says while in Wellington.

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