New Line exec Mark Ordesky was standing at Sydney harbor when he learned of the Globe noms for “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.” “Between opening day grosses and the Golden Globes, this is really exciting,” he said.
The HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) attention is particularly satisfying since New Line has the challenge of reminding kudos voters that this is not a retread of last year’s heavyweight contender. “This is not a traditional sequel, but three chapters of a long saga — and they’re three very distinct parts.”
Ordesky had flown to Wellington, N.Z., for the “Two Towers” premiere with 30,000 locals. He said the immense event was “the equivalent of closing down all of Wilshire Blvd. at rush hour.”
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A while back we thought we’d made a difference – New Line got to hear about the substandard translations being done for the Japanese versions of the films, and Peter Jackson reportedly asked for that problem to be addressed. Whether it’s a case of Japanese distributor saving face, or a misunderstanding, it seems that nothing is being done after all.
Japanse LOTR fan Herbalist writes, “We were so glad to hear PJ say, “We did change the person (to do the Japanese translation)” on TVNZ. But today the Japanese distributor, Nippon Herald Inc., OFFICIALLY made the announcement: they say that PJ never told them anything of the sort and that they do mean to keep the SAME TRANSLATOR Natsuko Toda.
“In her subtitles we had to see Frodo say to Boromir, “You are a liar!” and dozens of other terrible lines degrading your FotR! And she has never admitted her fault, on the contrary, she openly and repeatedly declares that she did not and would not read Tolkien’s books!
“THE SHAMELESS TRANSLATOR STAYS IN SPITE OF WHAT PJ SAID ! Nippon Herald Inc. insists they have HEARD NOTHING FROM PJ!”
Herbalist goes on to say that she feels that FOTR suffered at the box office as a result, and offers the figures from BoxOffice Mojo as evidence – the numbers for FOTR seem pretty low.
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From Ringer Fredrik: Sweden’s largest newspaper, Aftonbladet, featured a story about Gollum… which confirms the news that we will see Smeagol murder his cousin Deagol! … It’s similar to all other “how Gollum was made” stories that are popping up in news papers around the would but in the middle of the article you can find some interesting information:
“Det är Deagol som hittar ringen, men Smeagol dödar honom och tar den.”
“Den scenen kommer i tredje filmen.”
Free translation:
“Degol finds the ring but Semagol kills him and take it”
“That scene will be included in the third film”
Perhaps this is old news but if not it’s certainly interesting. [More]
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Ringer Spy Mystk sends along these scans from the December issue of Parade Magazine with our very own Elijah Wood (Frodo).
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From Ringer PD:
Hey guys 🙂
So, I’m supposed to be working, and instead I’m surfing – what’s new! Anyway, I randomly came upon a cool site called oracleofbacon.org … the site allows you to link any actor with any other actor, through the actors they’ve appeared in movies with – as in the old game “six degrees of Kevin Bacon.” The interesting part is this. The site figured out that on average, any given actor has 2.9 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon… so they went and figured out who is the REAL center of the actor universe… and guess who? Our very own Christopher Lee. If you take all actors in any movie ever made and average out how many people it takes to get to Christopher Lee you get only 2.622940 !! Which proves Christopher Lee is the most prolific actor ever!!!
I included the top twenty bellow for your enjoyment.. check out the site, it’s actually fun 🙂
Lee, Christopher (2.622940)
Steiger, Rod (2.627270)
Pleasence, Donald (2.651306)
Welles, Orson (2.661389)
Sutherland, Donald (2.662426)
von Sydow, Max (2.662549)
Hopper, Dennis (2.665564)
Quinn, Anthony (2.667077)
Heston, Charlton (2.670193)
Hackman, Gene (2.675916)
Keitel, Harvey (2.677892)
Connery, Sean (2.681795)
Caine, Michael (2.682431)
Mitchum, Robert (2.682564)
Stanton, Harry Dean (2.683768)
Sheen, Martin (2.684875)
Winters, Shelley (2.696842)
Plummer, Christopher (2.698008)
Gould, Elliott (2.699126)
Borgnine, Ernest (2.702159)
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Simon wrote in with some thoughts on the soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings so far, which got me thinking about how Shore was approaching it as a kind of opera. I keep thinking of Wagner (not that it sounds like Wagner…not because Wagner did a Ring opera…..Look, I don’t even LIKE Wagner!) but because he was one of the first composers to rely on ‘leitmotifs’ or little musical fragments that represent and idea or character or thought in the story. Like Wagner, Shore’s music cues you in to important things in the story by the use of these motifs. Simon lists the ones he’s found so far.
In Simon’s words: “I was thinking about how great Howard Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings has been so far, and began to wonder just how many themes there were, and how they progress throughout the trilogy of films. This is what I’ve found so far, if anyone out there is interested!
1) Gondor/Men theme – 9 note minor motif heard over the title of both movies, when Boromir goes for the Ring at the council of Elrond (extended version) and when the Fellowship pass by the Argonath
2) The Ring theme #1 – minor motif heard when Gollum has the One Ring, and when Gandalf talks about the Ring
3) The Ring theme #2 – minor motif heard when Boromir and Aragorn are tempted by the One Ring, sung softly by a boy‚s choir
4) Hobbiton/Hobbit theme – heard in Hobbiton at the beginning of ‘Fellowship’
5) Fellowship theme #1 – used a lot during Frodo/Sam’s scenes, such as when they leave the Shire for the first time (“If I take one more step, it’ll be the furthest from home I’ve ever been”) and when Faramir lets the hobbits go at the end of ‘Towers’
6) Fellowship theme #2 ˆ bombastic, heroic theme heard when other members of the Fellowship are together, such as when they leave Balin‚s tomb, and when Aragorn says “we will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death”, and when Legolas jumps on the shield at the battle of Helm‚s Deep; used in a minor key when, for example, Gandalf rides to Isengard
7) Isengard/Saruman/Uruk-Hai theme ˆ a 5/4 based theme in a minor key, consisting of 6 notes, heard whenever the Uruk-Hai are travelling, or when Saruman is building his army
8) Mordor/Sauron theme ˆ evil sounding theme, heard when we first see Mordor in ‘Fellowship’, when the different races argue at the Council of Elrond, and when Frodo and Sam first see the Black Gates
9) Ents/Treebeard theme ˆ heard when Merry and Pippin first meet Treebeard; a kind of low, slow, ominous theme, played on brass and wooden percussion
10) Gollum‚s theme ˆ a sort of eastern-flavoured theme, played on some sort of plucked string instrument; heard when we first see Gollum in ‘Towers’
11) Nature vs. Industry theme? ˆ sung by a boy soprano; heard first when Gandalf whispers to the moth when imprisoned in Orthanc, then more prominently when the Ents march on Isengard
12) Rivendell theme ˆ heard when we first see Rivendell, when the members of the Fellowship arrive, then when the Elves leave Rivendell in ‘Towers’
13) Lothlorien/Lorien Elves theme ˆ heard first when the Fellowship enter Lothlorien, then sung by a single female voice as a lament for Gandalf, then when Galadriel communicates with Elrond in ‘Towers’ then when the Lorien Elves arrive at Helm‚s Deep, then when the battle of Helm‚s Deep commences
14) Gondor theme? ˆ heard when Boromir talks about the “White Tower” to Aragorn in Lorien
15) Nazgul theme ˆ heard when the Nazgul are on screen, most prominently at Weathertop and when they break into Bree
16) Gandalf the White/Shadowfax theme ˆ triumphant theme heard when Gandalf the White rides with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas to Edoras, then when Gandalf leaves Edoras on Shadowfax, then when he returns at the battle of Helm‚s Deep with Eomer
17) Rohan theme ˆ played most prominently on a fiddle of some kind, when we see Rohan for the first time, when we see Edoras, and when Kind Theoden takes up his sword again.”
UPDATE:
Shawna sent in some additions to the list of themes or leimotifs that Simon found in the Rings soundtracks so far.
The theme he’s talking about in #5 is actually more correctly thought of as “Frodo’s theme,” but also kind of a generic hobbits/Shire theme. Known as “The Breaking of the Fellowship” on the FOTR soundtrack, with the lovely boy soprano solo. Sam also now has his own theme: “Samwise the Brave” which is the beginning of that track on the TTT CD, before it switches over to “Frodo’s theme.” I suspect we’ll hear both those themes interwoven, enhanced, etc. quite a bit in ROTK.
Eowyn also has her own theme, which is frequently at the beginning of the larger Rohan theme (which is played on a Norwegian Fiddle, btw). It’s heard most notably when she storms out of the Hall after her confrontation with Wormtongue, and just after she and Aragorn spar. It should make a most lovely battle theme in ROTK. 🙂
There is also a Frodo/Bilbo theme, which is heard during their reunion in Rivendell, and during their interaction at the Party in the extended version.
There’s also the Balrog theme and the Nazgul theme, and a theme for Narsil which will probably be heard in ROTK.
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