A foray into the world of hobby modelling has established Peter Jackson as New Zealand’s own lord of the wings. The film-maker’s latest side venture will be unveiled to the Wellington public when scale aeroplane models from his new model company, Wingnut Wings, go on display at the National Scale Models Expo this weekend. The models all World War I aircraft went on sale on the company’s website about four months ago, after years of planning and work. More..

From ifmagazine.com: Peter Jackson has a knack for picking winners. And he did so with Neill Blomkamp and DISTRICT 9, the awesome aliens land on Earth and are forced into a slum movie. THE LORD OF THE RINGS director was only a producer in this film but you can see his imprint and his vision of things being larger than life and full of consequences outside of what we are just seeing on the surface are there. The film too has been a smashing success finding its way to the hearts of many movie-goers through word-of-mouth and some simply amazing visuals shown in the many trailers. More..

Philippa BoyensOscar-winning Kiwi screenwriter Philippa Boyens has revealed that she introduced The Lovely Bones to Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, but she did not believe the novel could be turned into a film. It was only after Walsh and Jackson had read the book and both believed it could be a film that Boyens, who co-wrote The Lord of the Rings and King Kong with the couple, changed her mind. Boyens discussed details about The Lovely Bones and The Hobbit, the script for which she is also co-writing, at a writers talk at Te Papa yesterday just hours before she was to watch a final cut of the film, to be released in December. More..

3DBilboThe interwebs have been astir with rumors and sources claiming that “The Hobbit” is being planned as a 3D movie experience. An unscientific but fun poll showed conclusively that almost 75 percent of TORn poll takers didn’t like the idea. Then, the same pot was stirred again with more “sources” backing the original information and a flurry of e-mails landed in our inbox (Spymaster@TheOneRing.net if you have a hot tip!) beating the same drum. Not wanting to disrupt the creative process going on around a pair of films based on “The Hobbit,” we nevertheless asked Guillermo del Toro just what exactly, if anything, was up with 3D Hobbit movies. Since he is the director of the films in question (you know, the guy who picks the director of photography, the cameras and formats and all that movie stuff) we thought he might know.
Turns out he did and he told us, “I can safely say that, as of this moment, there are absolutely NO conversations about doing the HOBBIT films in 3D.”
Put that baby to bed and turn off the light.

tom-cruise-2With MGM involved in financing “The Hobbit,” and Tom Cruise heading its United Artists division, its been a TORn staff hobby to joke about Tom Cruise playing Bilbo. Far fetched? Perhaps, but, he just flew to Wellington to meet with Peter Jackson. No joke.

The pair could be talking about anything. Jackson could be giving Cruise advice on New Zealand real estate, they could be talking about “Dam Busters,” or the speculated-on “District 10,” that would serve as a sequel for the Jackson-produced hit “District 9.” Maybe he wants the juicy role of The Necromancer. Nobody really knows the reason behind the meeting but we do know everybody will be talking about it. You can read the article right here or you can read on for some more story. Continue reading “And Bilbo is . . . Tom Cruise?”

Thanks to forum member Theodred for tuning us into this video. In it, PJ talks about hid anxiety revisiting his most successful venture to date, but once they got under way on ‘The Hobbit’ they felt very comfortable revisiting Middle-earth.