My Lincoln Center weekend started a little bit after 7:00 pm, when I ascended to the 10th floor of the Rose Building to attend a cocktail reception for the cast members participating in the Lincoln Center event. The setting was sumptuous—windows surrounded two entire sides of the room, with a gorgeous view of downtown NYC and the Hudson River, dapper waiters (aka aspiring actors) bringing around trays of hors d’oeuvres and glasses of wine, candles and glasses and food set out—and Elijah Wood casually chatting to a group of fans and signing autographs for the children who were there. All of the actors, with the exception of Liv (who had unfortunately cancelled just the day before), made appearances at the reception, and were all unflaggingly gracious, lighthearted and open. I got to speak briefly to Bernard Hill and Andy Serkis (who will be at the Barnes and Nobel at Union Square tomorrow at his book-signing), and it was definitely a highlight of the evening.
Next, after the reception and brief photo shoot which occurred outside in the lobby of Alice Tully right after the film had started was….well, Return of the King, of course, as brilliant and breathtaking (and tear-inducing) as ever, followed by the Q&A, which other fans have already dutifully reported. I was able to record the entire Q&A on my voice recorder, and will type it out in transcript format shortly after I finish this report. Stay tuned.
Today, though, was the Conversation with Peter Jackson, which started promptly at 2 pm and was hosted by Richard Pena, director of the Lincoln Center Film Society. First, a short film composed of clips of all of Peter’s other movies, along with clips of many of the movies which influenced his work, was shown to the audience, and then Peter appeared again via satellite from NZ, towering above the audience on the big screen—so wonderfully larger than life.
The first question Richard asked him was about what NZ meant to Peter, and about the ways in which NZ had influenced his work. Peter started off by saying: well, it’s where I was raised, so NZ obviously means a lot to me on that level. But as a filmmaker in NZ, Peter pointed out that it has many advantages: you’re not locked into trends or the entire Hollywood hierarchy, and NZ filmmakers tend to be “mavericks”, which allows more freedom and independence. He also stressed the laid-back attitude of the film-making industry there, and the fact that because so few movies are made in NZ each year, there is a particular excitement and joy which crewmembers have when working on a film that’s priceless.
The next question was about the fact that there aren’t many examples or images of NZ filmmaking, and Richard was curious about how that might have affected Peter’s work. Peter answered that the very first NZ film he saw was Sleeping Dogs, in 1967 as a teenager, and that he was cringing at the NZ accents. He then went on to talk about making Super 8 films as a child, and about how difficult it was to get a job in film as a young man because there wasn’t much of a real film industry—he applied for a job at a film laboratory (which was his very first job interview) and was turned down. His first film, Bad Taste, was shot while he was working as a photo engraver doing photo lithography for a small newspaper, starring fellow co-workers who had time to shoot on Sundays with him. The entire movie took approximately 4 years to make, and was all done on weekends, out of his own pocket money, by and large. After Bad Taste’s success at the Cannes Film festival, though, PJ apparently marched back in to his boss’s office and gave his notice. From then on out, he was a filmmaker.
There was a short film of movie clips shown, showing scenes from Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Forgotten Silver, Heavenly Creatures, Braindead and the Frighteners, followed by more questions about the making of Meet the Feebles (w/ Fran, whom he had met in 1977, Richard Taylor and Jim Booth), Braindead and Heavenly Creatures. Peter did mention that a lot of his humor was derived from Monty Python, which he watched as a child and adored, and that horror flicks (“splatter films”) are the best kind of film to make if you have absolutely no budget, which is what he had when he was first starting out.
This was followed by another short film of clips, this time from all three LotR films, which got the audience considerably more excited (people were breaking out in loud applause by the end of this film). Peter was then asked about the creation of Gollum, and how that went about, and gave his standard answer about how this was an organic process that happened step by step—first by beginning to use Andy Serkis’s facial expressions and body language in the artistic design of Gollum, followed by using him as an actor and CGI guide during the principle shooting, followed by the idea of motion-capture. More information on the creation of Gollum can be found in Andy’s new book, of course.
At this point, the other actors were brought on stage again, to the great delight of the audience, and Bernard Hill, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin took up their customary places—right underneath Peter’s gigantic, pixelized chin. The next question asked by Richard Pena was a huge, overly-grand question along the lines of: well, you all have been living Tolkien, and thinking about Tolkien night and day for years now, and probably know Tolkien better than any other group of people on earth, so tell me: what does Tolkien really mean by this work? What was Tolkien really trying to say? Hmmmm. REALLY hard question, which Peter answered admirably (although many of the things he mentioned are nothing new to an avid Tolkien fan). He began by stating that Tolkien was a very opinionated man, who was very regretful of the fact that England had lost its ancient mythology, and that in many ways, Middle Earth was Tolkien’s way of trying to create an ancient mythology for England. He also mentioned that LotR was fueled by things which irritated JRR—the loss of the English countryside, the industrialization of England, the motor engine, the enslavement of men in the service of industry etc. Elijah aptly pointed out that LotR was also hugely motivated by the things that Tolkien loved, as represented by the shire (Sean Astin chimed in “pipeweed” among the things that Tolkien loved), and of course, Tolkien’s love of languages and history is very visible in LotR. It was a really difficult question, and as volumes and volumes of work have been written on this very subject, it’s hard to sum it all up in a few paragraphs—but PJ did a very good job of doing just that.
About halfway through the question on exactly how the size of the hobbits was accomplished successfully throughout all three films (again, a question we’ve heard answered many times before); Peter’s image suddenly disappeared from screen, apparently due to some kind of satellite glitch. And that’s when things got really interesting.
Left to their own devices, the actors began to tell stories about the different gags which occurred on set, which the audience eagerly ate up. Sean began by explaining that at some point during the shoot the actors received gift packages from Gillette, which prompted the filming of a small “commercial” as a Gillette spokesman, which ran something like this: “Hi, my name is Sean Astin, and I play Sam wise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings. Hobbits don’t grow facial hair, but actors do! When I’m on Mt. Doom and I need a real close hobbit shave, I pull out my special, safety-tested Gillette razor….” This brought peals of laughter.
Not to be outdone, Bernard Hill told a story about a gag that occurred while he and Viggo were shooting Viggo’s “Christ-like” entrance at Helm’s Deep after being “saved, fed, watered and given injections by his horse” (at this point, the actors riffed on Viggo’s entrance for awhile, imitating him pushing the doors aside and shaking the sweat out of his hair, with many flourishes and exaggeration). Apparently right before they were filming this scene, Bernard and Viggo had been discussing the merchandizing which would be accompanying LotR, and how tiny, miniature, plastic models of themselves would soon be available in toy stores all over the world. As the cameras began to roll, and Bernard delivered Theoden’s lines about Saruman’s impending army, Bernard asked: “How many?” and Viggo answered: “Thousands and thousands, milord. They will scam you, m’lord. They will cast your head in plastic, you will be on the shelves of every child under the age of 12, you will be underfoot, on the carpet, stuck with gum, etc.” To which Bernard (still in character and trying to save the scene) asked again: “How many?” And Viggo answered: “I already told you, m’lord.” At this point, a cell phone rang on set, and Bernard said (still in character): “somebody answer the phone”, and at that point, the entire scene dissolved and Viggo ended up on the floor laughing.
Since the other actors seemed reluctant to share more of their gag stories (despite Bernard’s urging), Bernard decided to talk about another orchestrated gag, which occurred to him while Peter was explaining that the Uruk-Hai trying to break into Helm’s Deep were just like a visit from someone you don’t want. This reminded Bernard of Jehovah’s Witnesses who come proselytizing on your doorstep (“no offense meant to anyone here who is a Jehovah’s Witness”), so he and Andrew Lesnie (the DOP for the films) put together a shot of approximately 30 soldiers of Rohan answering the banging of the Helm’s Deep door with shouts of: “Who is it?” and “It’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses, don’t let them get in!” followed by all 30 of them shouting “GO AWAY!”
Sean Astin offered up one more story, talking about how he found it hard to find his place caught between such large personalities as Peter Jackson and Sir Ian McKellan, and about how, during FotR, his character was purposely kept somewhat distant from the audience (perhaps to keep Sam’s strength and nobility a secret for the later movies?), so much so that after awhile, he was practically begging for a close-up. So during the shooting of the eavesdropping scene in bag end, he kept trying to slip his face into the shot, at the edge of the screen, and when Ian grabbed him and pulled him through the window to ask him what he was doing, he said: “I just wanted a bit of a close-up, sir”, at which point Ian pushed him aside and said “No, no”, vying in front of the camera with him until Sean fell off the table (but according to Elijah, Ian helped Sean back up and even gave him a little kiss).
And then, BAM, suddenly Peter Jackson is back on screen again, and quickly realizes that the actors are telling blooper stories. The audience begins to call out things like: make a bloopers tape! We’ll pay good money for it, and Peter did say that he imagined a bloopers tape would be made at some point and released on DVD (again, to wild cheering), but not for several years yet, he cautioned.
To end the evening, Peter told one last story about a gag that was played on Viggo Mortenson during filming at Dunharrow. Peter gave Hugo Weaving a pair of Matrix-style glasses, and as Viggo entered the king’s tent to meet with Elrond, Hugo Weaving stood up, removed his cloak, revealed his glasses, and said: “Your Dunedain disguise cannot fool me, Mr. Anderson.” Peter called this the “ultimate geek moment.”
All in all, it was an incomparable day, and I felt incredibly lucky to be there, but even luckier to have such a dedicated, gifted and down-to-earth cast and crew working on a project that is so precious to me. Keep posted for the transcript of the Q&A following last night’s RotK screening, plus PHOTOS!!
I arrived early for the Fellowship of the Ring showing at Lincoln Center as it was all I could get tickets for at such late notice. Elijah and Sean introduced the movie, commending us for our fortitude in braving the cold. Elijah advised us to all “make the theatre [our] home” for those of us who planned to stay through the entirety. Then FOTR:EE unspooled in all its glory. On a whim, I decided to stay in the area to see if I could get tickets for ROTK, if not TTT. The box office kept insisting that “tix are sold out, dammnit! But come back at 6:30 p.m. anyway.”
I showed up at six for the standby line, with about six people in front of me. At around 6:45, they all got tickets and went in. I proceeded to wait first in line until 8:14, at which time they gifted me with 2 tickets of a supposed 6 or so available. I rushed in to see the film introduced by Elijah, Sean, Andy, and Bernard. They were all quite warm and funny and commended us again on our fortitude amidst the cold.
ROTK played to probably the best crowd ever; an entire auditorium of die-hard fans knew just when to laugh, cheer, cry and shut up to augment every scene. The applause at the end of the film was deafening.
Finally, after credits, the big moment came. Sean, Elijah, Andy, Bernard, and the local host all came out and sat down, and Peter Jackson joined in live via satellite. There was a bit of a delay in his responses, which made for a few awkward moments of hilarity. As soon as he appeared, the actors all got down on hands and knees and starting bowing before the three-story “altar” of Peter JAckson. He responded with humility and laughter, as expected. After a few rounds of mutual congrats (the actors just won an ensemble Critic’s Choice acting award, and ROTK won best picture and best director from the broadcast film critic’s circle), they ripped into the questions from the audience, some of which I will try to remember.
1) They all chose their favorite lines from the movies, both their own and others. Nearly all chose Sam’s “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you” line. ASfor their own character choices, for Frodo, Elijah chose “We set out to save the shire, and we did-but not for me.” Amid chants for “my precious,” Andy Serkis ignored the rules and chose Gandalf’s line in FOTR about “do not be so quick to deal out death and judgement-some live who deserve to die, etc…” Bernard Hill chose, “I know your face.” Peter chose, well, everything.
2) Peter spoke a bit about his chances for adapting the Hobbit. New Line has production rights, but not distribution, and thus far, he says he’s a bit out of the loop. He also noted that adapting the Hobbit would be a bit of a strange process for film, since the whole story is constructed around this quest for Smaug, and then a new character comes out of nowhere to kill him. Then we move on to a battle afterward. He was concerned that it lacked the weight of LOTR to cover for its gaps in logic. But he did say he hoped New Line straightens things out and that he gets a call when they do. He admitted seeing someone else do it would be really “weird.”
3) An audience member complained about the absence of Tom Bombadil and the scouring of the Shire, to boos from the audience. Peter basically went on to reiterate why those segments were best cut, which we’ve all heard a thousand times.
4) Someone complained about the lack of Merry in ROTK, and Peter described a new scene for the EE DVD in which Merry and Eowyn take a break with the Rohirrim on the way to Pelennor and have a “nice conversation.” He mentioned something to the effect that we’ll get much more of each character, esp. Merry and Pippin. He reconfirmed that it would be 4hr. 15 min, although later he alluded that they might only use 40 min. of the extra hour shot for ROTK EE.
5) Bernard Hill had a nice commentary on all of the coincidental parallels between LOTR and the modern “good vs. evil” situation in the world. He said that no matter what side of the fence you stand on, it’s amazing how relevant LOTR is. He also brought up the fact that midway through the press for TTT, Peter had commented to him that the berserker orc at helm’s deep who runs in with the torch to break the deeping wall was essentially a “suicide bomber.” Hill noted that This is a common worry and occurence in our time now, but not at the time they were filming, and he thought it incredibly ironic how that cultural context could actually sneak in.
There were a few other questions, and if I remember, I’ll post again. Near the beginning of the interview, someone yelled “King Kong!” and PJ proceeded to act like KONG (since he was three stories tall) and acted like he was grabbing the actors and throwing them around. They played along and dodged his hands or flung themselves through the air. It was quite a bit of fun, and poignant; it really illustrated just how much of a bond and sense of gratitude there was between everyone who labored on this magnificent gift. They all seemed like such genuine, talented people, and I’m so happy they’ve achieved so much.
One extra tidbit- At one point, Elijah mentioned that Sean Astin was deeply interested in politics and headed for world domination, and PJ started chanting, “Sean for President!” And everyone joined in! After the laughter died down, Sean rubbed his hands together and said in a sinister voice, “All in good time…”
—–
elanor
First I should tell you that ROTK remained sold out with no hope of tickets being released when I finally left at 8pm, despite my day-long attempts. Still, there were people waiting (there is always hope!) and they were waiting OUTSIDE in the zero degree temps. I actually hope to read later that some of them got in, as would befit such sturdy hobbits types.
But on to more cheery news.
OK, there was a huge line buying leftover tickets when we arrived but still there were scattered empty seats (it’s a big house). I would say probably 25-30 seats went empty for Fellowship – 10-20 for Towers (and seemingly none for ROTK). The good thing is that you really can see from any seat, the screen is so huge, the sound is perfection. Just after 10AM, a very cute and cheery Elijah and Sean were brought on to introduce Fellowship. My favorite part of the day was how huge the audience response for them was. It was truly thunderous applause, went on a long time, embarrassing both of them, and THEN people stood up and kept clapping even more. I really liked getting to see them experience that. They sort of hung back on the edge of the spotlight rather than moving forward. I think the size of the room and our enormous love for them was a bit intimidating. Anyway, they were sweet and humble and Sean said when he thinks of The Lincoln Center he usually thinks of Lawrence of Arabia or Gone With The Wind and the audience went nuts, clearly believing that LOTR is already worthy of such company. Elijah asked if this was anyone’s first time and got a big laugh. Then he asked if anyone had been at Trilogy Tuesday and about a fourth of the audience waved and yelled. Then they both gave us some advice about how to avoid muscle damage (from sitting so long) and wished us well and off they went. Someone tossed an envelope and Elijah trotted back to pick it up. He held it up and then dashed off to more applause. The movie started, and when the LOTR title came up the audience roared happy applause again. It was an attentive and enthusiastic crowd. Very well behaved. All of Bilbo’s, Pippin’s, and Gimli’s jokes played well and Aragorn’s vanquishing of Lurtz got its usual big reaction. Seeing Fellowship after having seen ROTK is especially pleasing as the hobbits’ innocence is so beguiling when one knows what hardships lie ahead for them.
After Fellowship ended (to more thunderous and sustained applause, there was about an hour’s break. Many people had brought lunch with them and the Lincoln Center staff permitted us to sit and eat right there in the lobby. I ran into a few folks I have come to know from LOTR midnight showings, etc. It was fun to stop and chat about our favorite subject!
Then, for the Towers introduction we were treated first to Bernard Hill. His theatre training showed, as he walked right to center stage, holding a mike and getting the best of the spotlight. He spoke about how he loved working with Peter and playing Theoden, the gorgeous locations and said something with a funny referrence about his neice falling in love with a “horrible man” who needed a shave. We gave him a thunderous welcome and standing ovation, too. Then Andy Serkis was introduced and instead of coming out, we heard Slinker and Stinker arguing about whether to go out or not. Then out bounded Andy, with his coat still on, and we roared for him, too. He talked about how what happened in the world affected the writers and the work, he was very complimentary of Fran and Phillipa. Then he and Bernard stood together with their arms around each other and waved as we applauded all over again. Someone yelled “Thank you!” and I wished it had been me. Then Towers started and again, when the title came up the crowd clapped its mighty approval. It seemed to me that lots of people in this audience were seeing the extended version for the first time. There were big reactions for nearly all the extended scenes; the ones I remember were for “roast chicken” and Gollum’s “ashes and dust scene”, The Eowyn/Aragorn Dunedain scene (featuring stew! heh heh) and HUGE APPROVAL reactions to Legolas/Gimli “43” (every line got a laugh and there was applause at the end). Then even BIGGER approval reactions came for Merry & Pippin in waist-deep water (every line, every reaction got laughs), and then their follow-up scene in the storeroom brought the house down, a real “thank you for that” applause. It was a great day.
I will try not to be too jealous when I read about the post ROTK cast Q & A.
—–
Flourish
Flourish reports from the Lincoln Center LOTR event:
What a wonderful day! We had not just the very great pleasure of seeing the three films back-to-back in a superb theater with an adoring audience (and with the luxury of meal breaks in between) but the chance to see the actors in person and feel the thrill that ran through the house when they walked out on stage, and the rush of excitement and affection for them that brought the entire audience to its feet to cheer and applaud them. And this was a pretty sophisticated New York crowd, mind you! We basically went wild.
Elijah Wood and Sean Astin introduced FOTR, Andy Serkis and Bernard Hill introduced TTT, and all four of them introduced ROTK and did the Q&A afterwards.
The actors spoke a lot about their surprise and pleasure in finding that people are grateful to them for “getting Sam right” and so forth (someone shouted “Thank you!” from the back of the house), and about their amazement at how big a phenomenon the films have become and their assured place in film history (enthusiastic applause). Elijah asked the FOTR audience how many had already been to Trilogy Tuesday and it looked like about half the 1100 people there were hollering and waving their arms in reply. He appeared quite happily astonished.
Before ROTK he asked how many in the house had already sat through FOTR and TTT, and of course virtually everyone cheered madly. Sean said something about how insane we were, and how we would probably sit through even more if it were possible (loud cheers and applause), but I didn’t get the same sense of pleasant kidding from him that I got from Elijah on the same subject. Sean went on a little too long about “idiots” for tact, I thought.
Elijah also asked the audience whether they thought the EEs were better than the theatrical versions (we had just sat through the EEs of the first two films). Immense cheers!
When Andy Serkis was announced to introduce TTT, he didn’t come out right away–instead there was heard a brief but acrimonious backstage discussion between Gollum and Smeagol about whether to “go out there” or not. Andy won and came out to a very enthusiastic reception.
The films were wonderfully presented and the audience was great. We cheered and laughed, and most of the last half-hour of ROTK was accompanied by huge bursts of happy applause.
For the Q&A the actors were joined by Peter Jackson in the form of a huge video picture live via satellite from New Zealand. They all were relaxed and happy and took questions from the audience with grace and good humor. When the image of Peter appeared on the screen the actors got silly and were bowing down before it, which PJ said was quite appropriate. (I’m not sure he could see the proceedings as well as hear them; I don’t think so.) Then they had him hold his hands out and make scooping gestures while they pretended to tumble about in his fingers. That was pretty hilarious–and probably the cheapest special-effects shot I’ve seen in quite a while.
There was nothing original in any of the questions or the answers–at least not if you’ve been reading about the films even a little bit on the Internet or in the print media! Someone asked about the omission of Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire and the audience booed him, but PJ gave his usual calm and rational answer. Other questions for the actors that I can recall off the top of my head were about what they’re doing now, whether they had any difficulties working in NZ for such a long time (Bernard Hill said the hardest thing about it was leaving), and what was the most memorable or resonant line they felt their character had in the films.
Sean said, “That’s easy, it’s ‘I can’t carry it but I can carry you.” (huge applause)
Bernard Hill said, “I know your face.”
Andy made a joke about Gollum’s lines that I didn’t quite get because of laughter from the audience, but he said he particularly liked Gandalf’s line, “Do not be too ready to deal out death and judgement. Some who die deserve life…”
Elijah didn’t seem to have an answer ready, but Sean suggested, “The Shire has been saved but not for me,” to which Elijah agreed.
Early in the Q&A Bernard Hill got into a long and solemn monologue–I think in answer to a question about the relevance of the films’ themes of good and evil in today’s world–in which he spoke in rather oblique terms about the way the real world has changed in the last four years and how that gave scary prominence to those themes, and finally he worked himself up to mentioning 9/11 and the Two Towers-Twin Towers thing. There was no reaction from the audience–perhaps it was respectful silence (this was New York after all), but I had the idea that the evening had had such a party atmosphere until that point that just no one wanted to hear about the World Trade Center right then.
I think it was PJ (or perhaps Bernard Hill) who said something about Sean and politics, and PJ was chanting, “Sean Astin for president” which got a big round of applause. Sean responded by saying that there were quite a few New Zealanders at the ROTK premier who were promoting PJ for prime minister “and they weren’t kidding.”
Andy talked a bit about the “addiction” theory that motivated his characterization of Gollum’s little problem with the Ring, and he gave generous credit to the screenwriters Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh (more applause) and to all the technical people he’d worked with. He also mentioned that when his agent called him about a “three-week voiceover job” for an animated character on the Lord of the Rings films, at first he told his agent he wanted to turn it down and said, “There are lots of parts in that movie–can’t you get me a better one?”
Peter had combed his hair and wore a striped polo shirt that the actors kidded him about because they said it was dirty. Honestly, I couldn’t tell.
All the actors have made quite a few films since LOTR wrapped so it’s amazing that they’re still willing to talk about their experience so often and so readily. They each spoke a little bit about what they’re doing next–I think if I understood him correctly that Andy said he would like to continue exploring CGI and motion capture roles as a sub-genre of acting (one very interesting thing about watching ROTK and TTT back to back was seeing the huge improvement in Gollum’s articulation that was possible in a single year). Sean said he had a lot of scripts to look at, and Bernard Hill said he was leaving the screening early “to go to Sean’s room and nick a few of those scripts.” He went on to say that he was very reasonably priced and was sure that Peter would vouch for his good working habits. Solemn nods from huge Peter!
Elijah said he’d shot “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” this year and paid Jim Carrey what seemed like a very backhanded compliment on his acting performance in it–I can’t remember exactly how he worded it but I thought it was one of those damning-with-faint-praise things and it raised Peter’s eyebrows for a moment. Elijah then mentioned the film he’s making in England this spring called “Hooligans.”
Sean said he’d met with Robert DiNiro that day and characterized him as “shy.” He said he hoped they’d be working on something together soon. The audience seemed to agree.
Peter answered a question about a possible film of “The Hobbit” by saying that it is a somewhat problematic situation at the moment since New Line has the rights to make it but not to distribute it, and they would like to have both. He also said the storyline is far less complex than LOTR, which presents filmmaking problems because it is such a linear tale. What would also make it hard to adapt, said Peter, is the ending, in which after all the fuss about defeating the dragon Smaug, he is killed by a character who appears out of nowhere and the story continues on to a huge battle in which the dragon has no part. New Line hasn’t spoken to him about “The Hobbit” at all, said Peter, but if they got the rights he hopes they will because, as he’s said before, it would be “strange” if anyone else made the film.
There were flashbulbs popping all over the place during every appearance of the actors on stage, but virtually no opportunity for autographs during the event unless you were in the front row and caught the actors as they were walking off the stage. No matter–it was enough of a thrill just to be there!
—–
Celebrial:
The conversation via satellite with PJ worked reasonably well. As you see,one of the funniest photos is of the 4 cast members on stage kneeling to PJ on the giant screen behind them.
Small scoop: In response to a question about Merry and his character development, PJ said that in the EE there is a good scene between Merry & Eowyn in camp on the way to Minas Tirith and another one later between Merry and Faramir.
The first audience question, can you believe it, was about Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire. PJ’s response , “Are people still upset about that? They’ve has three years to get over it.” He then repeated his explanation that Tom is just not central to the spine of the story and the Scouring is anti-climactic.
The discussions were quite good – I have a ton of notes. I transcribed a lot of it last night and will finish up after the conversation which is at 2PM today.
Roughly a thousand people attended. it was extremely cold in NY. People arrived just after 9AM and left after the Q&A at 12:45AM Sunday morning.
Ringer Spy Nazz attended the MANY press confrences during the ROTK media blitz last month. In this article he chats with actors Viggo Mortnesen and Liv Tyler.
Special thanks to Rip It Up Magazine in South Australia for this transcript.
Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler play the lovers Aragorn (the returning king of the title and the elf, Arwen:
They share their thoughts on working together and the love affair between their characters.
Liv: “He played with my ears a lot [laughs]! He had this habit of liking of slipping a stroke of my ears into as many shots as he could when we were together.”
Viggo: “I liked the ears. Very nice.”
Liv: “The most impressive thing, I think for everyone, about Viggo, was he got this phone call and had to get on the plane and arrive the next day.”
Viggo: “She’s changing the subject [laughs]!”
Liv: “He was so passionate and I learned a lot from Viggo about the material. He was always encouraging us to speak more Elvish together in our scenes. So in many ways, I credit Viggo for making our love story feel so rich and believable in many of the ways it is.”
Viggo: “I appreciated the fact that Liv seemed to understand these characters’ relationship was like those couples you see from time to time, maybe there’s one in your own family, that have been together for a long time, decades maybe – but not out of convenience. They’re just comfortable together and you can just see it in the way they move around each other, the way they almost absent-mindedly touch, finish each other’s sentences or show affection to one another. They understand that their union is more important than their individual existences. I think that’s really the story of Arwen and Aragorn.
That’s something they really value – and in a very limited time we had to get to that fairytale relationship without it seeming to be a cliché; and that there was something solid beneath that.”
I am sending you several pictures that I took today at Lincoln center. There are 2 pictures of Sean Astin, 3 of Bernard Hill and 1 of Andy Serkis.
I attended the Lincoln Center showing of the Lord of the Rings movies on Sat January 10. Well I actually saw only the Fellowship of the ring because I didn’t have tickets prior to the show. My sister and I arrived there at 8.30 am and waited in line for about an hour. We got pretty good seats and there were actually lots of tickets left. Then we right away went to the stage entrance to Alice Tully Hall, conveniently located just around the corner, to wait for the arrival of the cast even though we weren’t really expecting to see anyone. We stood there for several minutes when a black car drove up and ELIJAH WOOD got out of it. There were only 5 other fans waiting there at the entrance with us (which was pretty strange – with a theatre full of fans I expected crowds to be standing there waiting for autographs), and when Elijah came out we were all really shocked and surprised and did not say a word, just watched him walk by two feet away from us. He didn’t even seem to notice us, even though we were right there, didn’t turn, look ar say “hi” as other cast members did. I wasn’t able to get any photos of him except for one of his back which I’m not sending you. After he went inside, we waited for about 10 minutes when at 5 minutes before the start of the show another car pulled up and SEAN ASTIN came out. This time we were ready. I got a picture of him just when he got out of the car and one with him that my sister took. He was really nice and polite (when my sister dropped her wallet he right away said “Oh look, you dropped something.”) He posed for pictures and gave everyone autographs even though he was late.
We watched Elijah and Sean talk on the stage for about 5 minutes before the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition, which by the way was wonderful. After the movie we left the theater and came back to the stage entrance at 1.30, half an hour before the Two Towers was going to start. At about 1.57 pm a car arrived with BERNARD HILL and ANDY SERKIS. When they got out they both smiled at us when passing by. Bernard Hill even said “hi” to the fans and managed a “You look cold” before the security guards rushed them in, a woman telling us that they couldn’t give autographs because they were late. We decided to wait for them to come out instead of going to the Two Towers because we noticed that the car they came in was still standing there with the driver in it obviously waiting for their exit. The actors did come out about 15 minutes later, and this time they took time to give EVERYONE (around 15 people) autographs even though the security kept telling them to get in the car. Bernard Hill was very understanding, to the summons of the security he said something like “These people have been waiting here for a very long time!” He then asked every person their name and wrote them things like “with love” or “lots of love to you too,” plus decorated the signatures with little Xs. He had time to pose for several pictures, joke and say something to everyone before he finally got in the car where Andy Serkis was already waiting. As they were pulling out he rolled the window down and waved to the thankful fans.
Thus ended our first encounter with the LOTR cast members (as well as with celebrities in general – we haven’t met any before) which proved to be amazing – we’re still star-struck!
This is a second update to some of the ideas discussed in my review of ROTK and the update I wrote to include people’s responses. A lot of people wrote to me about the scene where Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying. I sadi that it diminished Aragorn by making his motive for saving Middle-earth personal (ie doing it for love) rather than heroic (ie doing it for the common good of all). Other people disagreed:
Barbara wrote: “Arwen’s fading forces _Elrond_ to reforge the sword, and it’s this _sword_ that is the last missing piece of symbolic motivation that Aragorn needs to enter the Paths of the Dead and follow _his_ path from there. It’s not Arwen who really matters in this scene, it’s the sword.”
Lossefalme wrote: This is in response to a point brought up in your “ROTK Review: Updates and Corrections”
Elrond: “I bring hope to mankind.” Aragorn: “I save none for myself.”
For me, this exchange brought to mind a conversation between Aragorn and Gilraen as told in the appendices. Gilraen tells Aragorn that she will soon die, that she cannot face the gathering darkness. Aragorn tries to comfort her.
“But she answered only with this linnod: Onen i-Estel Edain, u-chebin estel anim” – English translation: ‘I gave Hope to the Dunedain, I have kept no hope for myself.” [And in the Extended Edition of FOTR, we even see Aragorn tracing the inscription on his mother’s tomb – which is this line, surely – Tehanu]
“So, I took it not as having to do with Arwen, but as an acknowledgement of his mother, and, more importantly, Aragorn signifying to Elrond that he has now made the commitment to live up to his destiny and will accept his place as king (or die trying). By doing so, he finally gains Elrond’s approval,” says Lossefalme
Katrelya made a good point:
“At first, I thought the scene with Arwen on her death bed – which isn’t in the book – detracted from the story. However, it showed Elrond’s unconditional love for her, as opposed to Denethor’s possessive love for his dying son Faramir, which is in the book, of course. This scene provided the audience with Elrond as a foil for Denethor. Elrond is willing to finally let go of Arwen; Denethor wants to keep Faramir with him, even if it means killing him! Elrond, of course, is the wiser of the two dads. Ultimately, both Elrond and Denethor let their children go. “
Which reminds me – on my last viewing, I finally caught the expression on Elrond’s face at the coronation scene, where Arwen leaves his side and goes to Aragorn. It’s a complex mixture of pain and love and bittersweet acceptance, and it backs up what Katrelya said about Elrond being willing at last to let his beloved child go, despite the pain it costs him.
A few people have written in with suggestions for great paintings that seem to have inspired some of the shots in ROTK. Kathe writes, “I totally agree, as Faramir goes to his doom, down through the incredible set of M.T. the images are between Italian and Dutch early to mid renaissance – the faces and film tint and lighting and the colors of the clothing- great!”
Denethor eating while Faramir rides to his doom reminded Odile of this very disturbing Goya painting of Saturn eating his children. [More] Carla thought that the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian I found by Rubens is most similar to the 7th image downhere She said, “I knew this one looked familiar it reminded me of a shot of Frodo I see everyday (it just so happens to be my desktop background) Though not actually seen in any of the films, it made a quick appearance in the Two Towers preview (seen in the shot by shot analysis on your site. They share almost identical expressions…beautiful.”
As all of us here at TORN are big fans of Tolkien’s works, we have varying opinions and levels of how much we like or dislike Gollum in the books. While engaged in many discussions over the years with other TORN staffers and ringers from around the world, I have never heard anyone say Gollum was their favorite character. Well, after seeing Andy Serkis’ perfomance as Gollum in all three LOTR movies, that may very well change. In “Gollum: How we made Movie Magic”, by Andy Serkis, we get another wonderful Houghton Mifflin LOTR movies tie in book that is delightful, fun, intelligent, humorous and easy to read. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down!
In this 120 page book, Andy lends his thoughts from the moment he first got called to audition, through the entire principal photography and into the final days of post production. What originally was supposed to be a three week job turned into 5 years of intense, emotionally and physically draining work. “Gollum” is very insightful on the ever evolving transformation of Gollum, the character, by Andy and the entire crew that worked on the films. From the moment Andy first acted out Gollum, Peter Jackson and the production crew knew they were going to have to rethink Andy’s involvement in the process. Andy tells us how he would have to do certain scenes three or four different ways. First from Motion Capture ( the process of digitally converting an actors physical movements onto a computer generated model),secondly to actual on screen shooting of scenes with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, then thirdly to having Andy off camera delivering his lines with the same timing to the same exact scene he just shot, then lastly to ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement).
Andy shares with us in depth details explaining the whole process of motion capture and the technology behind everyone of Gollum’s shots. He gives a very thorough account on his exhaustive performance as Gollum and everything he did to make Gollum the most actor driven CGI character in film history! Andy puts it simply, ” What we had achieved collectively was to take a great character from literature, filter that character through great screenwriters, then take the emotion, physicality and voice of an actor’s performance, ….. and synthesize them in a range of animation techniques and motion capture. This was then rendered inside a skin so real it looked as if you could touch it, then meticulously lit and placed back into original environments so that Gollum unquestionably existed as a real being. The audience was enabled to feel a connection with this hideous-looking creature rather than just being impressed with technical magic.”
I guess part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much was the way Andy relates some of the experiences he has while he is in New Zealand. He has an amusing way of making us laugh as we follow along with him as he personally goes tramping all over New Zealand. It brought back clear memories of how beautiful New Zealand is when I was there over 3 years ago. Just reading Andy detailing his adventures or misadventures in New Zealand makes this book a worthwhile read. Then throw in some of the truly incredible sketches and drawings from the designers and animators that worked on Gollum, to go along with their candid commentary while working on creating Gollum, and we have another must read book for any Tolkien or movie fan!
