Take this report from SFcrowsnest.com with a 20 pound bag of salt: We’ve been tipped off that the legal and ownership issues which surround the Lord of the Rings have come under an intense round of negotiation as a significant unnamed party – said not to be Peter Jackson in this instance – work towards a new multi-million dollar per episode television series set in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The working name of the project is TOME – Tales of Middle Earth – and the proposed timeline is the years following the events in The Hobbit, but prior to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. One of the main points that need resolution is whether Peter Jackson should get first dibs on a movie adaption of The Hobbit, or whether the TOME project should be allowed to develop the children’s book as a movie prior to the launch of any television series set in Middle Earth.
Category: Old Special Reports
megan writes:
Hi from Sydney Australia!!
Richard Taylor was a suprise last minute special guest at the Supanova Pop Culture expo this past weekend in Sydney. He spent the entire day at the Weta Workshop booth, just to meet people, shake their hands, and chat about lord of the rings, as well as other WETA projects, the one that recieved the most comment being the Evangelion live action movie, which Richard says is still seeking finance. He brought with him hobbit feet and ears, a Rohan helmet with real chainmail, warg rider costume with the plastic chainmail, and a gondorian breastplate. It was so delightful to see how down to earth he is, and seemed to just enjoy chatting to people! Richard also gave a 45 minute talk and specially mentioned the “fantastic” onering.net oscar party!
Other lord of the rings guest was John Noble, who was also a last minute standin for John-Rhys Davies, who had to withdraw due to filming commitments. John was signing all day, and gave a highly amusing talk about his experiences shooting the films, as well as commented on some extra scenes that are in the extended edition which hes seen and recorded commentary for. (though he didnt give away in depth things). The houses of healing are definitly in, and a scene which involved him falling down a step which resulted in a very bruised rear end from Peter Jackson’s many takes of “do it again”. He also quite cleverly looked at the role of Denathor in relation to King Lear, which as a Shakespeare nut really made me look again at his performance and how the character was established, and yes, a very good observation.
Stephen Ure was also present, however his talk was on Sunday afternoon which i wasn’t able to attend. Maybe you’ll get another spy report along!
Hope this helps. Didn’t know you guys quite want to write! I’ll get a couple of pictures developed in the next couple of days if you’re interested.
Keep up the great work!!
Thanks to everyone who sent in their pics!
Cheshire Cat writes: Cheshire Cat reporting in fresh from a day at the Collectormania convention in Milton Keynes, UK. Had a smashing day and got to meet a few more of the actors from LOTR plus re-acquaint myself with some (seemingly) old friends.
I arrived at the venue around 11 o’clockish. It was the final day of a four day event, but because of family commitments I’d only been able to attend for the one day. But it was definitely worth the trip. It was a much quieter affair than the October Collectormania, as the guests weren’t quite so high profile this time around. There weren’t horrendous queues to contend with and the guests had plenty of time for a chat as the signed autographs.
First of all, I went to see Brad Dourif. He was about as scarey as I thought he’d be, and not overly sociable it has to be said. I just got the feeling he didn’t really want to be there, but never the less I paid my £15 and went for a quick chat. He was polite and he told me a little about his next project, which was nice, then he signed my book and I moved on.
I noticed that Sala Baker (Sauron) and Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz) were sitting next to each other, so I took a deep breath and decided to ask them to do something I’d wanted for a long time…. I approached Sala and started chatting to him. I said that I’d seen him at The TORn Oscar Party in Hollywood and asked him if perhaps he were a “little” drunk that night. He flatly denied it and said he wasn’t drunk at all. I pointed out that he was swearing rather a lot on the stage and he said “Well that’s because it was our %#&$ing party and the authorities had no %#&$ing right to throw us out early!” At this point I had to agree with him whole-heartedly. Then I asked him for the favour… “Is there any chance I can have my photo taken with you AND Lawrence?” “Yeah sure” he replied and he went over to ask Lawrence. As I shook hands with Lawrence I told him that we had met before at the last Collectormania. I told him we were sitting on the front row at the Question and Answer session and that I was there with my friend from Alabama, at which point both he and Sala burst into song with a rousing rendition of “I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee” just as they had done back in October. They remembered us!!! Woo hoo. :o) So then I got my photo taken (see footer) squished between these two hunky Maoris one of them wearing a full length leather coat. * swoon Thud! *
Next I head over to where Isildur and the King of the Dead are seated. Harry Sinclair (Isildur) is a charming chap, but a little shy. Next I go to see the King of the Dead (the leader of the Dead army in ROTK) Paul Norell. As I walk up to him I tell him how much nicer he looks with lips!!! And for that he gives me a nice kiss on the cheek and says thanks very much with a great big smile. He is very friendly and chirpy and fun to talk to, not at all how you’d imagine a dead king to be at all. He was very interested in the set of FOTR Production Notes that I was having signed and asked where it was from. I said it was produced for the press at the London Premier and he said he hadn’t seen one before.
Next it’s Jed Brophy’s turn. He plays all the nasty little skinny Orcs like Snaga and Sharku the Warg rider. He is full of twitchy energy and keeps the crowds amused even when he didn’t have a queue. I told him that the last time I saw him, he was dancing the Haka in Hollywood. “You were there!” he exclaimed. He said it had been an amazing time and that it was probably the only time he’s likely to be invited to a party in Hollywood. He was a hoot.
Finally, last but by no means least, came Hunky Haldir, Craig Parker. I was actually quite stunned at how good looking this man is. He had slightly scruffy hair and a short beard and he was bursting with energy. He spent ages talking to every person who came to see him, chatted with the children and posed for as many photos as people wanted. Bearing in mind this was the fourth day he’d been doing this! You really couldn’t tell. I asked him to sign my book and he wanted to know if I had other autographs in it already – I said that I had attended last time when Elijah, Sean and Dom were there, and he said it was mad whenever they turned up – they were like the Beatles! I thanked him for being such a good Haldir and he gave me a big hug after we’d had a photo taken. What a nice man! :o)
I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the place having a nosey at some of the other celebs. Brian Blessed was there, who has been a hero of mine for a long time, and many Star Trek and Star Wars people. It was nice to see Tasha Yar, Neelix, Voyager’s doctor and also Phlox, Chewbacca and Freddy Krueger. Then, walking past the collectors’ stalls, I finally succumbed to temptation and bought myself a United Cutleries replica Sting. I’d been wanting one for ages and just decided that as interest in the films slows down, genuine replicas would start to become more expensive. So I took the plunge and whipped out my credit card!!! Sting is beautiful and I am very, very pleased with it.
So at the end of a whirlwind afternoon I headed back to the train station. It had been an afternoon of happy memories from the wonderful three days I’d spent with fellow TORNsibs there in October. It was great to see the hotel where we’d stayed – knowing that members of the LOTR cast were sleeping under the same roof. I passed the Pizza Hut where we had howled laughing at the photos we’d taken and probably irritated the heck out of all the other diners. And I giggled to myself as I walked through the underpass where myself and jordan the discursive had received a full-frontal flash from a rather intoxicated gentleman on our way back to the hotel one night!!! It brought back a lot of very happy memories. Today was very much quieter but fun even so.
Tehanu here, with a late spy report.
I was down in Wellington recently when friends reported seeing a truck passing by their house with a giant cave-troll on the back. The Troll and Fell Beast have been taken off the buildings where they’ve perched since before the World Premiere last year. After a short time lying in a field they started to get damaged by people climbing over them, once the newspapers had reported on their whereabouts. So now they’ve been moved.
Well, I’m not going to say where they are now, for that reason. And also because while I’m willing to climb up some rotting wood and rusting tin, or climb tall wobbly ladders in order to take photos, I’m not going to be responsible for somebody heavier or less lucky injuring themselves doing the same.
Climbing up said rotting wooden bits netted me some poor shots through a small gap in the wall. My friends went back and got a truck and a ladder so we could reach a more substantial hole in the wall just under the roof. Just as they were propping it against the wall of the building, the police turned up. I saw them first; my friends were oblivious. I had the interesting task of trying to run towards them in a casual and non-guilty-looking way while shouting very quietly “Put the ladder away, the cops are here!” God only knows what the cops were looking for. They turned around and drove off without even looking at us and our ladder propped against the wall of a lonely warehouse in the middle of nowhere.
I climbed up and stuck my head in the small opening under the roof. There was the Cave Troll, resting on his back in the dark amid a heap of other strange debris – badly-made paper-machier trees (not from Weta obviously), plaster swans, part of what looked like a large model Saturn V rocket, and various rejected decorations from other shopfronts. It was a graveyard of sorts. Rubble, dust, rusting girders and chains hanging uselessly from the ceiling – it was a very sad sight.
Later my friends rang to say that a funeral cortege had passed by carrying the Cave Troll’s friends – the giant Gollum that used to sit on the roof of Wellington Airport, and the Fell Beasts and Nazgul from above the Embassy and Reading cinemas. So perhaps we have seen the last of them – they have gone to their final resting place, their long home.
— Tehanu
Thanks to EVERYONE who sent in their pics!
SemiSilver writes:
Last Sunday, my friend Combeferre and I, drove the 1 and a half hour confusing drive (thanks to wonderful Mapquest) to Winchester, Virginia for the Annual Apple Blossom Festival (and I wore my spiffy Goonies Shirt, just for the occasion!). This year, Special guests Loni Anderson (who wasnt very crowd friendly) and Sean Astin were to be the Grand Marshals of the festival and were to ride in the parade along with Soap Star Eva LaRue, and other celebrities like Chevy Chase and Kwame Jackson, runner up of the Apprentice.
We arrived around 12:30 ish, and wandered the streets that the parade floats had adorned. We saw nothing that Sean Astin could possibly be gracing his presence with.
So we moved on. Untill we noticed (some 45 minutes later) that a large crowd had gathered in a parking lot lined with convertible cars of all assorted models. We figured that was a good place to investigate. And aren’t we glad we did! Because therwe near the front was a really nice, old convertible labeled with banners saying “SEAN ASTIN, Sam, The Hobbit” Which I thought was rather comical. We waited, gathered with other Sean Fans (and a huge fan girl group that had Sean Astin written all over themselves in a bunch of different places) and before we knew it, there were a few screams and “There he is!” shouts.
Needless to say, I think my heart momentarily stopped. I have been a fan of Sean’s since I was 7, and I am now 21, so…you do the math 🙂
So here he comes, along with his wife and two daughters. He has such a beautiful family, and I could just eat his kids up. (Don’t look at me like that, it is a figure of speech!) 🙂 And people, no joke, FLOODED around the car. It was like releasing a dam at the begining of the Nile River… Everyone was shouting “Sean Sean!” and it got a bit rediculous. The security started stepping in a bit. People were asking him to sign things, and he had to decline, regretfully because Security wouldn’t allow it. (I wont say anything…) But Sean managed to respond to all the “Seans!” and made eyecontact with whoever he could, and someone gave him a monopoly One Ring on a chain, which I kind of had to laugh at, because honestly, HOW MANY TIMES do you think hes gotten a version of the one ring? LOL. But Sean was very generous, and said “I thought we destroyed this thing!” and of course everyone laughed.
Thats when they started the car and pulled out onto the main drag where the parade would begin. Only, they stopped in the street, and more people realized who it was, and since they weren’t moving, more people went to the car. And he still made sure to chat with everyone.
That’s when he looked at me. And he kept looking at me. I tugged down my Goonies shirt so it was readable and he smiled. So of course, I said “Rock on! He saw my shirt!” And again he was distracted away by people screaming his name. Thats also when I noticed that Combeferre was at the car shaking his hand and speaking with him! I hadn’t even noticed she had left me on the sidewalk and gone over! So I contemplated getting yelled at to go over, when Combeferre returned to me and informed me that he was leaving straight from the Festival to go to The White House in Washington, DC. So… he would most likely not be able to sign anything later. She also told me I should go to the car, and my reluctance was begining to fade. So I took a breath and walked to that car. And he looked at me and smiled (He is SO nice, lemme tell you!) And I said extremely chipperly “Hi Sean!”
To which he replied “Hi! How are you!?” I told him I was well and explained that I had been a fan of his for 15 years, since Goonies was released and I saw it for the first time. To which he said “Oh wow! Thank you! I was admiring your shirt way over there!” And I said “Oh! Thanks! I loved the Goonies!”
Before I could open my mouth to praise his Sam, the car began to move, so before I walked back, I asked him if I could take a picture, which he said yes to, and I extended my hand, and he shook it with a big Sean Astin Grin that I absolutely adore.
It was a fabulous day. The weather was great, the Hobbit Karma was great, and aside from sunburned arms and face, I am feeling extremely well! Once I get the pics scanned I will definately send them in. Take Care everyone and have a hobbit day!
Award-winning composer Howard Shore will conduct the Sydney Symphony for the Australian Premiere of his acclaimed work, The Lord of the Rings Symphony. With 250 performers on stage, the Orchestra will be joined by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Sydney Children’s Choir, with special guest vocalists. Following the extraordinary success of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the 2004 Academy Awards, this unmissable concert event will be presented in the Concert Hall of Sydney Opera House on 17,18 and 19 June, 2004.
Howard Shore’s epic music score for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is a brilliant portrayal of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. The music captures its sweeping emotion, evokes the vast Middle Earth vistas, and carries us along the grand journeys undertaken by the characters. When Peter Jackson conceived his trilogy, he saw them as one work, at some point being able to be screened continuously as one film. When he commissioned Howard Shore to write the score, the same was true for the music.
After four years of writing, The Lord of the Rings Symphony now presents this award-winning music in a breathtaking symphonic concert. The vast scope of the work calls for a huge symphony orchestra, massed choirs and a children’s chorus, together with instrumental and vocal soloists. The work also features songs from the films including Gollum’s Song, and the winner of the 2004 Best Song Oscar, Into the West, co-written by Annie Lennox.
Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings has garnered him every major award in cinema and music. At the 2002 Academy Awards, he won the Best Score Oscar for his music for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In an unprecedented move, the Academy again awarded Shore the Oscar for Best Score in 2004 for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He has also won two Golden Globes and two Grammy Awards.
Following his repeat triumph at the Academy Awards, Shore has commenced a major tour, performing The Lord of the Rings Symphony with the great orchestras of the world in major cities including New York, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. In June, 2004 this extraordinary event arrives in Sydney.
The concert will be accompanied by the stunning imagery of John Howe and Alan Lee, the world’s foremost illustrative interpreters of Tolkien’s work and conceptual artists for the films. These beautiful and never-before-seen storyboards and sketches, which were the basis of the design of the films, will be projected onto a giant screen above the Orchestra.
Dates: Thursday 17, Friday 18 June at 8pm & Saturday 19 June at 2pm
Venue: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777 or online at sydneyoperahouse.com