I held Sting yesterday, the same Sting I’ve seen on the big screen and DVD countless amount of times. True it was the scale double, the one used by the small actor in the Frodo mask and makeup. Yet it was still Sting to me, and one of the highlights of my day.
I was loitering around one of the displays waiting for my personal tour of the exhibit when one of the art directors opened the case to re-adjust it. I aksed all the right questions and got my hands on it. It was quite lightweight and very detailed. Ironically I saw Boromir’s horn, which seemed very well used, but it was rather plain.
I made my way upstairs to the exhibit…
And suddenly I was in Middle-earth.
We are first treated to the mysterious wonders of Fangorn Forest, with its old, witherd trees and mossy underfoot, you feel smothered by the intensity of the place. There was a certain mossy smell that Billy Boyd commented to me about, and Emma, my companion through the tour, said that she felt like any one of those trees felt like they could come to life at any moment.
You had to watch your head as long, gnarling branches made their way across your path, and you can’t help but look back at one of the many waterfalls and pools of water used to make the entire environment come alive.
Theoden’s chamber at in the Golden Hall was next, with a faux open-pit fire burning we were treated to Theoden’s throne and some of the massive pillars and wall hangings used on set. There are two display cases featuring Theoden and Eomer’s swords and sheaths, the Edorian style is very evocative of the Viking culture, with the two handed double-edges swords and low sloping helmets with the nose guard down the middle.
All along the walls were amazing full color photo stills from the film, massive pictures of Eomer, Theoden, Wormtongue and Eowyn. The next room continued the Edoras theme but with different elements from the battle at Helms Eeep, Elvish armour standing alongside Easterling mail suits and display cases with Legolas’ bow and fighting knives, which were much bigger than I had expected. That room opens up to a mock-up of the Helms Deep battle! Suddenly I’m on the front likes with Orc ladders being raised and lighting flashing before me, it was so much fun to pretend we were fighting the good fight!
The next room takes us to the golden glittering caves, something I thought we had not seen, I was wrong. The scene from the trialer and in a few photos with Eowyn holding a sword and hiding from the view of an Orc is indeed from the glittering caves. This room was wonderous in it’s beauty…it was so simple yet wonderfully decorated, the cave walls themselves glittered with a shimmering light that made the room seem to glow from an unknown light source. There were costumes from the refugees of Rohan, I got the chance to feel a few of the costumes and get a sense of what it must have felt like to wear this for hours on end in the mountaintops of the Edoras set.
This led us to a dark staircase with the evil ring inscription rotating on the grownd below us…and suddenly we were in Saruman’s throne room in Orthanc…I felt the sense of evil and forboding that Gandalf must have felt when those doors closed all around him when he was betrayed. The set piece itself was expertly done, I was so impressed that I actually thought this was hauled from New Zealand in one big piece, in reality it was only a re-creation.
A winding set of stairs leads you up and over the top of the Orthanc throne and into Saruman’s book room. The light pooring in from his cross-hatched window frames immediately brought me back to the film, and indeed the detials were so intricate, down to the jar of bubbling eye balls of in the corner. After Saruman’s throne room you have to once again descend the flight of stairs and pass his throne room again (this section is so full of character and is so creepy I felt I had to scurry past in order to avoid the soothing yet evil voice!). We are brought through the horrible and dank dungeons of the caverns of Isenguard. I can see the Uruk-Hai birthing pods…is that Lurtz coming out at me…get out of here get out!
We pass into an open area and are immediately struck by the large, open swamp lake to our right, with a massive tree in the middle and the mossy growth around it. The water is so calm and still you can almost mistake it for glass…but look again..there are bodies submerged in the water!
Yes the old ghosts from battles long past still haunt the dead marshes to this day! That a treat to see the ghosts of the white city still in their leather armour!
This is followed by the caves of Henneth Annun, and the meeting of Faramir and his men, there are small nooks and crannies that you can miss if you don’t look close enough, on my second pass through the exhibit (it was VERY late at night and I basically had the run of the place…so much fun!) I noticed a small little laneway that took us behind a large waterfall and into the caves that Faramir and his men use, where we got to see the Sam and Frodo costumes in full glory and explore a little of cave life as they may have spent it for the night they were there.
Next was the Osgilath ruins and one of the most detailed environments of the entire place. We are taken directly into this ruined tower and you can really see what they mean by ruins! There is a stairwell on the right that is completely un-usable. My imagination raced as I pictured men trying to defend this place from maurading orcs rampaging and killing in the name of The Eye. This was truly wonderfull, and off into the distace was a stone carving of the white tree, bathed in light…amazing.
The last environment in the exhibit is Arwen’s bedroom, literally…the ‘Bed of Roses’ we’ve seen in trailers for years now is seen here, as well as the dress she wears and some of the very fine nick-nacs you can only find in Rivendell, like an intracatley shaped perfume bottle (which you can open, as I demonstrated and was given a dirty look for by one of the rent-o-guards) and candle-holder. Her room was very open to nature, much like the rest of Rivendell, and was indeed full of rose petals and wonderful ornate designs.
This was the end of the exhibit. I have to say that if you are in the Toronto area between now and December 1st you really should check it out. If only for a look at what you will see in The Two Towers, December 18th can’t come fast enough!.
My next report will cover the party, which mainly consisted of great music, small orderves and John Howe and I looking for a place to sit!
I had the very lucky opportunity to attend the press junket and pre-opening tour of the Two Towers exhibit in Toronto yesterday.
My day started out in Montreal as I woke up early to head to the airport. I took the ‘airbus’ hop over to Toronto (6 hour drive, 58 minute flight…amazing isn’t it?), there was no in-flight meal or any type of entertainment on these short hops between Montreal and Toronto. I had to pay for my morning tea and didn’t get a bite to eat…I landed at the huge Pearson International airport, which I’m convinced was designed by the same bloke who makes those connecting tunnels for your hamsters.
7 moving sidewalks and escalators later I arrived at my rental care desk only to get a phone call from the folks at the exhibit telling me I’m late. I calm them down and re-assure them that I will be there in no less than 45 minutes, this was at 10:45 am.
The rental car place of course lost my reservation, which I made online (so much for the internet! The desk lady said to me) so I had to argue with them to get my car….oh and my Credit Card became de-magnetized as well…still didn’t get anything to eat.
For my troubles the car rental place gave me a very cool blue PT Cruiser to make my way downtown. At 11:20 I made my way down 427 south and generally tried to point my car towards the CN tower, the heart of downtown Toronto.
Remember me telling you that I promised to make it down to the exhibit at 11:15? Well at that time I was most likely heading the wrong direction towards Hamilton and had to find a way to turn around.
I finally arrived sometime after 1pm (YES 1 PM) and managed to get myself re-scheduled alongside all the TV stations and Video reporters. I met some of the producers from the IFC Channel and Space: The Imagination Station, as well as some folks from Reel to Reel and a few other entertainment related TV shows from Toronto.
As I was setting up my camera outside to get some establishing shots of the Planetarium Alan Lee walked past me (right in front pf my camera God bless him), followed by John Howe, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan! I made my quick ‘hellos’ as they were being rushed inside for the press junkets.
Soon all the TV talent (myself included, go internet!) were ushered inside and taken in groups of 3 to interview Chris and Dan Hennah, John Howe and Alan Lee, and the hobbit boys Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan.
Chris and Dan Hennah Interview:
I was ushered into a small side-room with a huge image of Aragorn hanging on the wall and the shards of Narsil in a glass case beside me. I was admiring the sword that was broken when Chris and Dan Hennah came down the stairs from the exhibit and sat down with me to chat for a while.
Chris and Dan Hennah are the supervising Art Directors for the trilogy, and were in charge for both of the LOTR events in Toronto this year and last. They were as approachable as can be, in the New Zealand manner of laid back friendliness. We spoke about many things, they mentioned jetting off to Paris for the premiere of the Two Towers after this, then back home to work on film 3 (as Dan pointed out that film two is indeed in the can and complete).
We spoke about our Oscar party last year, they expressed dismay that they were unable to attend and made a promise to be there if they are in town that weekend. (I quote: ‘we were forced t go to that Elton John party…’)
When asked about the TTT exhibit you can tell they were truly proud of the Middle-earth magic they’ve created here in southern Canada. It took six whole weeks of hard work getting the environments just right, I will be talking about the amazing exhibit a little later.
Dan mentioned to us that most of the props will have to go back to New Zealand soon as they will be shooting almost 5 months of pick up shots for Return of the King next spring!
John Howe and Alan Lee Interview:
I was then brought into a very odd little backroom filled with boxes and electric wiring, John and Alan were sitting together making small talk, old friends catching up on all things Tolkien I imagine.
I asked them what they thought of the exhibit, they were truly in awe by the entire thing. Alan had designed the ‘maps’ used by at the venue to guide people through the various environments, but even he was shocked by what was sheer magic and ‘atmosphere’ created by the art department from New Zealand.
John remarked to me that it was great to be back in Canada, when Alan told him Toronto was wonderful, John quickly remarked that Canada was much more than Toronto…only a non-Torontonian Canadian can appreciate that comment!
The two artists share more than an amazing talent at Tolkien artwork and design; they are also two of the most soft-spoken people I’ve ever met. The fact that Peter, Fran and Philippa based their writing and design on their artwork does not effect them at all. There were no egos in that room (myself not included) as John and Alan were quick to both applaud the other’s wonderful work in FOTR as well as TTT.
Alan told me his favorite set-piece was Edoras, and the Golden Hall. He was so enchanted by the location in New Zealand, the lighting and vistas; he said it was amazing to be there.
John told me that he is most looking foreword to the ‘epic battle scene at the end of the film’, which left me salivating for more information!!!
But alas I was escorted out to meet Billy and Dom, something that I was looking forward to for weeks!
Before yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with John Rhys-Davies, and meet Ian McKellen, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Richard Taylor and a whole slew of WETA folks. But I had only spoken via emails to the others. This was my chance to sit down with Billy and Dom with no distractions! Little did I know that they’d make their own distractions without the need of outside influences!
Billy Boyd & Dominic Monaghan Interview:
I was brought into a little stairwell that leads to the event upstairs. So many items are on display here that even a small little stairwell can hold amazing items to behold! I was waiting for Billy and Dom and perused the display cases, only to see Galadriel’s mirror, her pitcher and crown, as well as Elrond’s crown and Arwen’s necklace.
Billy and Dom waltzed in and immediately started to cause trouble. One of the art decorators, Nancy, was quietly placing name cards in the display cases when Billy and Dom immediately being to rail her up
‘There’s Nancy making an exhibition of herself…’
When I finally managed to get them into a chair to talk Tolkien, they remarked to me that the exhibit upstairs was lovely to behold, and brought back the oddest of memories. ‘The smell,’ Billy explains ‘they must use the same stuff they did during the shoot, for the moss and stuff, because the smell brought me right back to the days we were filming Fangorn forest, in ways only a smell can’.
The exhibit was a great chance for Billy and Dom to get back together as Billy has been working hard in Mexico on the Russell Crowe/Peter Weir film ‘Master and Commander’ and Dom has had some work on and indie production ‘An Insomniac’s Nightmare’ in New York City.
The boys mentioned that they very rarely get their fill of LOTR stuff, because it is all so exciting.
‘We come to events like this (in Toronto) and it reminds us how cool this project was’ Dom explains.
The boys recently got together to record an audio track for the Extended Edition DVD and loved what they saw.
‘It’s great to see all those moments in the movie that give nods to the books,’ Billy says ‘Like that great scene with Dom, Orlando and myself in Lorien with the lembas, great stuff’.
The boys then proceeded to test the locks in the display cases and change the name cards around, much to my delight…but to the dismay of the art directors trying to rein them in!
I was then brought into the exhibit and later attended the opening party. Be sure to check out my report tomorrow covering the party, the exhibit itself and much much more!
Dylan writes: I am a bookstore manager for one of the largest East Coast bookstores and today we were shipped quite a treat from Houghton Mifflin. Along with their Two Towers Visual Companion (Release Date is Nov. 6) they sent us a pillar, such as something out of Moria. J.R.R. Tolkien’s runes decorate the top border of the grey pillar which stands approx. 2 feet tall. But what was to set on top almost brought me to giggling, bookends from Sideshow Weta which depicted the scene of Gandalf knocking on the door to Bilbo’s hobbit hole. One bookend is Gandalf with his staff against the door, and the other is Bilbo about to open the door. Extremely well crafted, I cannot wait to own my own copy. I don’t know if we will be selling these in the future, or if it is only to help promote the books and movie, but my name is there to reserve it, so I’ll be happy either way.
From Knockgrafton Productions , October 29, 2002 FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
Lord of the Rings meets Lady of the Strings
London Celtic Harper, Jennifer White, to perform at the launch of The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers Exhibit
LONDON / MIDDLE-EARTH–Even before the long awaited Part Two of THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy THE TWO TOWERS hits movie screens this coming December, Tolkien fans from around the world will be converging on the Royal Ontario Museum’s McLaughlin Planetarium for an experiential journey through Tolkien’s Middle-Earth as Alliance Atlantic Motion Pictures Distribution presents THE LORD OF THE RINGS TWO TOWERS EXHIBIT, an experiential exhibition containing artefacts from New Line Cinema’s theatrical production of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, which will launch in Toronto November 1, 2002 for a four-week period at the Royal Ontario Museum’s McLaughlin Planetarium building.
This news is enough to make any true fan of the Tolkien / Peter Jackson movie trilogy set out on their own quest for tickets, as did Celtic harper, Jennifer White, and her percussionist partner, Robert McMaster.
“We missed the first exhibit last year at Toronto’s Casa Loma that displayed props and costumes from Part One, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, and we weren’t going to miss this one. When we heard the news of this year’s exhibit, you can imagine we quickly joined the line for tickets for this exciting event,” says White.
Like the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, White has drawn on many ancient Nordic and Celtic myths and legends for themes and inspiration for her musical compositions for harp. But who would have thought that she would be playing these compositions to a crowd of 1000 invited guests at the Launch Party of THE TWO TOWERS EXHIBIT in Toronto this coming Wednesday evening.
Jennifer’s partner, percussionist Robert McMaster saw an ad in a Toronto paper for THE TWO TOWERS EXHIBIT in the form of a full page poster.
Being a collector of all things Tolkien, McMaster sent out a few on-line inquiries to see if he could find one of the full colour event posters to add to his collection. One such e-mail, which also contained the web-site and e-mail address of White’s music production company, Knockgrafton Productions, came to the attention of Julia Caslin, Director of Publicity and Promotions for Alliance Atlantis Motion Pictures. Back came an inquiry: would the duo be available to play the Two Towers Exhibit Launch Party on October 30? Two days of anxious anticipation later, their performance booking was confirmed for the Launch.
So, bright and early Wednesday morning White and McMaster will be packing up harp and drums and heading east on the 401 for a gig in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth.
So, here I am; sitting behind my desk. Last week I was able to see about seven hours from the Extended DVD and here’s my take on the entire thing. Owh and if you are wondering why it took me so long to write up this report, first I had to finish a very detailed one for the Dutch communitysite TheFellowship.nl so if you happen to know a few words Dutch and you are not afraid of a terrible ammount of spoilers you might want to think about reading that review, which can be found here. But enough of this shameless self-promotion, let’s get down to business.
First of all, let me tell you that I will not get into great detail about the extras on disc 3 and 4 because I think Xoanon covered those quite well in his review (which, in turn, can be found here), I am here to tell you all about the extended cut of The Fellowship of the Ring and it will be quite spoilerish so keep that in mind before you continue.
Ahh.. where to start, where to start… My biggest fear before seeing the extended cut was that I was going to look at the theatrical version of FOTR with here and there a new scene plunged in. It was the feeling you would get when for instance you would look at a scene and know that it was new, because there is something entirely different happening in the movie compared to the theatrical version. The great thing about this extended cut is that you rarely have these kind of scenes.
What PJ did most of the time was simply make a scene longer, add a little bit dialogue or a make a shot last longer. This can quite easily be explained by one of the first added scenes on the dvd: the moment when Frodo and Sam run into a group of Elves heading towards the Grey Havens. Now it would have been very easy to simply ‘dump’ the scene anywhere in between the moment when Gandalf leaves Frodo and Sam and when they meet up with Merry and Pippin, but what PJ was a far better solution in my opinion. At a certain moment in the theatrical version we see the camera focussing on Frodo and Sam underneath a tree cooking some dinner. It then cuts to a totally different scene, I believe of Gandalf heading to Orthanc but I could be wrong there, but in the extended cut this scene lasts longer and we hear Frodo and Sam talk for a while until they hear Elves singing and decide to check it out. Very nicely done.
Now the result of cutting the movie that way leads to a quite different and, again in my opinion, far better movie. Not that the theatrical version of FOTR wasn’t good, far from it in fact, but the extended cut is as a movie so much better because with all this added material is makes the movie more complete in various ways.
The movie starts of exactly like the theatrical version and the only new scene we see in the prologue is a scene of Isildur. The beginning of this scene is the one we see in the theatrical version of him and his soldiers riding through the woods, the extended bit is the part in which the Orcs attack him and he puts on the Ring and it slips from his fingers when he tries to swim. Not much new there although the look in Isildurs eyes when he sees the Ring sinking to the bottom of the river where he cannot get to it in his heavy armoury is a nice detail.
When the story gets started it does so with an entire new beginning. Instead of seeing Frodo read underneath a tree we see Bilbo starting on his book and in a voice-over we hear him discuss Hobbits and their behaviour while we get some beautiful shots of Hobbiton and the Hobbits gathered on the marketplace. Amongst other things the Hobbits love for food and pipeweed is mentioned.
Suddenly there’s a knock on the door and Bilbo calls for Frodo to open the door. Frodo however is not there and we find him reading his book and meeting up with Gandalf much like in the theatrical version. But the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo has also been editted here and there, some parts of their discussion are replaced by Bilbo’s voice-over and other parts in the conversation were not in the theatrical version. This gives it a much more serious ‘tone’ and overall makes it a whole different scene.
The entire Shire-sequence right until the Hobbits reach Bree contains a whole lot of new material, not only in the beginning but also during the Long Expected Party (which features some very funny moments) and an extended scene inside the Green Dragon in which we see Merry, Pippin and Frodo singing and we meet the Gaffer! A lot of nice stuff from the books has been put back in to the movies in these scenes and it’s great fun recognising them.
The next bit of new material we see is when the Hobbits and Strider head to Rivendel. There is a great shot from the Midgewater Marshes with one of my favorite lines from the books in it and a lot more shots from the company travelling through a snow-covered landscape. There is also a very touching scene of Aragorn singing the Lay of Luthien and explaining it to Frodo.
Although I’d have to say that the Lorien-squence benifitted the most from the extended cut Rivendel would be a good second. We get a new beginning of the Council of Elrond with Gandalf uttering the Ring verse in the Dark Speech, much to the dismay of all the others present. Boromir also gets some more lines during the Council in which he tells about his dream and Isildurs Bane. After that we get another great scene when Aragorn visits his mothers grave and talks to Elrond about his mother and being the last in the line of Elendil. When I first saw FOTR I have to say I had my doubts about the way PJ decided to portray Aragorn but to be honest I quite like the change and with scenes like these PJ really ‘sticks to his choice’ and it makes the character a whole lot better in my opinion. The Rivendel-sequence ends with Elrond giving his blessing over the Fellowship and Frodo leading the Fellowship out of Rivendel, although he still needs Gandalf to tell him wether Mordor is to the left or to the right.
On the way to Moria we see some extended scenes again, mostly between Boromir and Merry and Pippin. Their ‘fight’ scene gets expanded a bit and we see a shot of Boromir protecting the two Hobbits on Caradhras. Then, when the Fellowship reaches Moria, the story turns more Frodo-centric again when Gandalf takes him apart and tells him about powers in Middle-earth he has not yet matched his strength against, and that he fears someone from within the Fellowship will try to take the Ring from Frodo. Perhaps some wink to Gandalf’s foresight? The scenes before the Doors of Moria also have some great new dialogue in it (“Knock on the door with your head Peregrin Took, but if that does not shatter them, and I am allowed a little piece from foolish questions, I will seek for the opening words!’ great stuff) and we get to see some sarcastic friction between Legolas and Gimli when Legolas questions the odd ways in which Dwarves tend to keep their secrets.
When the Fellowship finally enters Moria there is some good dialogue about Mithril and Bilbo getting a Mithril shirt that was worth more then the entire Shire. All this stuff is straight from the books and its combined with some more beautiful area-shots in Moria. The fight scene in Balin’s Tomb also features some new material with Boromir being thrown across the room by the Cave Troll (and once again I have to say the interaction between the actors and the cgi-Cave Troll looks awesome).
Like I said before: the Lorien-sequences probably benifitted the most from the extended cut. Now when I first saw FOTR I felt that Lorien was probably the weakest part of the film. It was too short, it missed too much and it was too ‘dreamy’. And here once again I think PJ on my bare knees for this extended cut, because especially for this part of the movie it does great things. There are tons of new scenes and shots and I won’t mention them all because it is far more enjoyable to just sit back and watch them for the first time. However there are some extended scenes in which Haldir and Aragorn discuss in Elvish, we get to see a lot more stuff from Celeborn (he must have had a very bad they when he saw they only kept one of his lines in the final movie) and they slightly added the scene in which Galadriel and Celeborn talk to the Fellowship; Celeborn is more ‘in charge’ of the conversation whereas Galadriel has more time to ‘read their minds’. Here again are some nice bits straight from the books like Galadriel saying that none knew fully what Gandalf was up to and Legolas defining the Balrog as ‘A Balrog from Morgoth’.
We also get to see Sam reciting his verse in the lament for Gandalf, another great scene, and some smaller detailed stuff like Aragorn sharpening his sword and Galadriel showing Nenya to Frodo; a lot of little eyecandy for the fans!
Now as for the giftgiving-scene: that was truely awesome. It was beautifully cut (we basically get to see it in flashbacks when the Fellowship is leaving Lorien by boat) and head some great moments (I won’t spoil them all) that brought a smile to my face. We saw Pippin and Merry getting their knives, Sam getting his rope (unfortunally he does not get the little box with ‘dirt’) and of course we see Gimli trembling and fulling over his words when he asks for his gift. There’s more time for Aragorn’s goodbye to Galadriel and some more Elvish lines are being spoken.
As the story reaches is end there’s some added scenes along the Anduin with a discussion between Aragorn and Boromir which serves as an introduction to the breaking of the Fellowship, Sam taking care of Frodo en we even get to see Gollum on a log! At Amon Hen there’s more fighting scenes, especially from Boromir who gets a more ‘heroic’ death and Legolas who gets to show of some more of his bow and arrow-techniques (we know it’s all done by computers Orlando, you don’t fool us;) ) And with that the extended cut ends.
…
Now if I am ever going to see a better movie like this one before TTT I’ll eat my shoes. Or maybe my socks.. but you get the point. I love this extended cut, I think it’s great! It has some fabulous stuff in it which I think should deffinitly have made it to the big screen, but alas, I am not the one who makes that decision. Now there’s a lot of discussion here and there about the whole idea about this extended dvd only a few months after the first dvd etc. etc. I remember a great piece from fellow staffer Quickbeam about it not that long ago so I’ll just throw in my two cents here as well.
At first I agree the idea might sound a bit odd. It might sound like New Line is trying to get us for all the cash we are worth (I am far beyond that point by the way), but to be honest: after seeing this dvd I know that’s not true. What PJ did with this extended dvd is something we as fans should all be thrilled about; he gave us a new FOTR. And not only is this new FOTR better then the one you saw in theatres; it is also closer to the books we all know and love. And that is eventually what I find important. Because as much as I love these movies and everything about them, it all draws forth on my love for the books. And this dvd to me is a gift from PJ to those fans who feel the same. It is PJ saying to us: ‘Hey look here guys, I know you love these books so I made this cut for you!’ It is not a dvd that someone should buy who has no ’emotional string’ with LOTR, it is a collectors item. Something that all fans will appreciate. It has all these great moments from the book we didn’t get to see in the movie, and it has some awesome new music in it from Howard Shore which makes the movie all the more ‘new’ and better.
And that’s just the movie! I haven’t even begun to tell you all about disc 3 and 4 and all the fantastic material on those. And I won’t because, like I said, Xoanon covered it quite good. I will however point out a few personal highlights from those discs.
Now there are a few things apart from the movie that I would advise everyone to look at right after they sat through the extended cut. If you are a member of the official fanclub you might wanna scroll through the fan credits (also; if you like Howards Shore’s score as much as I do I would advise to do it too). I browsed through the fancredits and my name was amongst the fancredits as well!! It was there.. 111 minutes and 7 seconds into the second disc… I’m on the middle of the screen, only a few lines above Barrie Osborne and Mark Ordesky and I’m telling you: it is a very satisfying feeling to see your name in these credits, to me it was a reason to love this dvd even more.
But I’m getting carried away, the absolute must-see from disc 3 would have to be the Bag End Set Test. Again I woint spoil it all but it features some people from the crew (including PJ in the ‘lead role’) who play out a scene from the movie in a not-even-close-to-being-finished set of Bag End and I tell you; I was laughing so hard it took three people to shut me up! The tour through WETA Workshop was also extremely interesting, especially since I have a long history of standing outside the gates of the WETA Studios trying to peek inside, if only I knew this dvd was coming out back in those weeks I could have saved myself a lot of strolling around Miramar…
Disc 4 also contained a lot of goodies. The Fellowship of the Cast feature was very enjoyable and the ‘A Day in the Life of a Hobbit’ featured some interesting and funny stuff. Other then that is focusses a lot on all the technical thingies that were done on the movies with the sound effects, visual effects, digital grading and music. All very interesting and very detailed!
So all in all I’d say that anyone who would sit through all of these four discs in one long sit would know absolutely everything they will ever need to know about the production of FOTR (keep in mind; these discs only deal about FOTR, there’s more of this goody-ness coming our way next year!), and I don’t know about you guys but I live on stuff like this, I loved it, bring me more!
And actually, that was the feeling I had after sitting through almost eight hours of dvd. More, I wanted more. I wanted to know all about the TTT soundtrack. I wanted to walk around Helms Deep and Edoras the way I walked around Rivendel and Hobbiton, and I want to listen to Bernard Hill and Brad Dourif talk about what they thought of their character and their co-stars. But I guess I’ll just have to wait for that, after all; waiting an entire year for The Two Towers wasn’t as hard as we all thought it would be…
HarperCollins took a carefully managed approach to its tie-in programme for “The Lord of the Rings”. In the event there was no stopping the film – or the books. Caroline Sanderson reports:
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a phenomenon. Consistently voted the peoples favorite – indeed the “Book of the Century” in the well publicized 1997 Waterstone’s poll – it has notched up estimated sales of 100 million copies worldwide in 50 languages since it was first published in 1954. In the UK, HarperCollins banks on annual sales of half a million copies, in a quiet year.
Last year, which saw the release of “The Fellowship of the Ring”, the first film in the three parts, $300m adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, was not a quiet year. In 2001, total sales of all editions of The Lord of the Rings novels in the UK reached £18.5m at retail, with sales of all Tolkien titles, including the film tie-ins, rising 500% by value year on year. With the release of the second film, “The Two Towers”, scheduled for 18th December, and the third, “The Return of the King”, a year later, this particular publishing fantasy is set to have a very long shelf life indeed.
Even before the December 2001 release of “The Fellowship of the Ring”, sales of The Lord of the Rings trilogy were already double those of the previous year. Quoted in [UK newspaper] “The Independent” at the time, David Brawn, HarperCollins” publishing director of estates and properties, said: “We can’t quite keep up with how it’s going. We thought we would sell books, but not until the film came out. Yet it seems people are reading them now to get up to speed. The film has given The Lord of the Rings a currency which was undreamt of even a couple of years ago.”
Interestingly, even a couple of years ago sales of Tolkien were already seeing a worldwide increase, a phenomenon that Brawn puts down to factors such as the Book of the Century crown, and “millennial fever”. Since HC’s acquisition of the Tolkien list in 1990, however, the company has rarely spent much money on the brand. The readership, says Brawn, renews itself as new generations of young people grow into the novels.
Win-win situation
When the film project was announced, naturally there were concerns about what the result would be like. “We thought, it could be awful and frighten off the next generation of readers, but concluded it was probably a win-win situation, because even if wasn’t great, it would make people want to read the books instead.”
In the event, the first-part of Peter Jackson’s adaptation, “The Fellowship of the Ring”, received almost universal acclaim, and went on to claim four Oscars, including those for Best Score and Best FX. It has also notched up some impressive statistics at the box office.
Despite the widely quoted views of the author’s son, Christopher Tolkien, that the books “are peculiarly unsuitable to transformation into visual dramatic form” (and apart from some grumpy die-hards, says Brawn, “who will always moan about the elf on the left not having pointy enough ears”), the prevailing opinion is that the film has done the books proud.
But would seeing such an extensive and much lauded film adaptation still leave people wanting more and bring new readers to the books themselves? The feeling at HC, Brawn says, was that “they are such fat books with so much richness, that people would need to read them for the full experience”.
And so it has proved. But the huge opportunities presented by the film also brought unique publishing challenges. In the first place, HarperCollins found itself in the unusual position – despite already being the author’s publisher – of paying what Brawn described to The Bookseller last year as “an enormous amount of money” to purchase exclusive publishing rights to the Tolkien films.
Then, getting the tie-in titles right presented creative and logistical challenges, with the spectre of the Star Wars tie-in disaster looming over the project like a Ringwraith. “We were fairly nervous about the whole thing, conscious of what had happened to Dorling Kindersley,” Brawn recalls. “[Their ruinous over-producing of tie-in books associated with Episode One of] Star Wars set back the cause of tie-in publishing by about three years.” So, before the release of the first film, HC took the decision to keep the number of Lord of the Rings tie-in titles strictly limited. This, as Barry Clark, HC’s key properties brand manager, put it, was in order not to “belittle the franchise through a wave of tacky add ons”.
Practical considerations
Apart from new tie-in editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, only two titles were published in 2001 – Jane Johnson’s Visual Companion and Brian Sibley’s Official Movie Guide. “If you haven’t got too many books, you can get them all in one dumpbin,” Brawn points out.
He is amazed by the number of spin-offs produced by some publishers. “For example, I bought all eight books produced to tie-in with [Aardman Animations”] Chicken Run, and it seemed to me that their values were all interchangeable. It’s a much less profitable approach, I think. Our titles are clearly doing different things, with little crossover of material and photos.” This, he believes, has encouraged people to buy the whole set of tie-ins. “The strategy worked for us last year, so don’t expect our strategy for films two and three to be any different.”
Even leaving aside the HC tie-ins, its existing editions of Tolkien’s work – including The Hobbit – typically registered five-fold, year-on-year increases in 2001. Brawn says that he has little feel for who is buying which editions, but, he adds, “I don’t think we much care. Retailers have supported both tie-in and existing editions. Some people don’t like tie-ins. But if we hadn’t done any tie-ins, I don’t think we would have sold many fewer copies. As Christopher Tolkien once said, you could put J R R Tolkien’s books in a brown paper bag and they would still sell.”
But with a globally hyped film in the offing, and a whole raft of merchandising, from trading cards to bedspreads, ready to launch, was there perhaps a danger that such a small range of books would be swamped? How did HC contrive to keep the books at the centre of things?
Before the release of the film, the Tolkien estate had granted virtually nothing in the way of licenses, so there had never been a proliferation of merchandise. Though the film company, New Line, kept a comparatively tight hold on the licenses it did grant, Brawn will admit to initial concerns about the fact that HC would no longer be working in “an exclusive environment”.
Resisting “kiddification”
He praises New Line for exercising restraint. “You can’t be too purist, and they aren’t. The commercial landscape has changed. But there hasn’t been a glut as there could have been.” He believes it was particularly important not to “kiddify” the film, not to go overboard on merchandise for children. “For our part, we have always maintained that The Lord of the Rings is not a children’s book.”
It is clear that to a great extent the books have “ridden on the back” of New Line’s enormous global marketing campaign, though the artistic attitude of New Line Films has also had its part to play in keeping the book centre stage. From the start they never tried to disguise the book that lay behind the film. Says Brawn: “In virtually every press article, the director Peter Jackson has stressed that the film was his interpretation of the book, and he stressed that everyone behind the film “loved the book”, and it shows.”
Sales of Tolkien, including the tie-in titles, finally started to tail off a little around Easter this year, though it was a brief hiatus. Early August saw the UK DVD and video release of “The Fellowship of the Ring” (attended by a £2m marketing campaign), with sales of two million in the first week. According to Jason Ritchie, The Bookseller’s charts manager, all the Tolkien backlist showed sales rises at this time. And, he says, “It’s interesting to note that both parts two and three – “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” – are now showing big sales increases as people move on in the trilogy”.
Saturation point?
Brawn will admit to wondering at times if “there are enough people left”, but he feels confident that this year should be as good as last. Published on 6th November, the tie-in list for “The Two Towers” has again been limited to four new, or improved, titles. Brian Sibley’s “The Making of The Lord of the Rings” movie guide has doubled in size to 200 pages, boasts more than 500 illustrations, and, it is claimed, “gets much more under the skin of the film”. There is a “beefier” “Two Towers Visual Companion” by Jude Fisher (a.k.a. Voyager publisher Jane Johnson), and two new tie-ins aimed at children (though HC is keen to stress that no age restrictions apply): “The Two Towers Photo Guide” and “The Two Towers Creatures Guide”.
As far as tie-ins of the novel itself are concerned, HC is going “more the hardback route this time”, having been surprised by the number of hardcover editions of The Lord of the Rings it sold last year (they ran out before Christmas). In response to requests from booksellers, HC will be issuing a hardback tie-in edition – “one way of keeping things fresh”, says Brawn.
Making a splash
One interesting new promotional development this year is the appointment of Cow PR to work on a big launch event for the tie-in titles. “We wanted to make a bit more noise about this year’s tie-ins, so with Cow we’ve put together a big London event designed to appeal to as wide a spectrum of people as possible – diehard fans, as well as kids,” Barry Clark says.
The event will take place at Waterstone’s in Piccadilly on publication day, Wednesday 6th November. “It will be an exciting event with things happening on every floor of the store,” says Jessica Livingstone of Cow Activities being finalized include a celebrity appearance, and “we are working with the film’s UK distributor to try to get some exclusive footage from the new film”.
HarperCollins is also hoping for an exclusive stills exhibition of never-before-seen artwork. There will be giveaway lithographs by Alan Lee available on that day only, and there will also be author talks and signings by Jude Fisher and Brian Sibley. For young people, there will be a “creatures corner” with games consoles featuring the new Lord of the Rings game, as well as face painting and other childrens activities. “The whole day is themed like a walk into Middle Earth,” Ms Livingstone says. Waterstone’s has described it as one of their two major events for the season.
So what is it all costing? The marketing spend for “The Lord of the Rings” tie-in publishing last year was, according to Clark, “easily HarperCollins” biggest of the year” (he would not be drawn on the figures). However, he points out that the 2002 spend is very similar, and that the figure represents only 1% of revenue. If you reckon on the oft-quoted 3% of revenue to maintain your position and 5% to grow it, then this is a very cost-effective campaign indeed.”
With the fanfare surrounding the 2001, 2002 and 2003 film releases, one might think that 2004 would present a promotional vacuum. Not a bit of it: 2004 will be the 50th anniversary of the first publication of The Lord of the Rings. This will present different marketing challenges. “The film is all about bringing new people to the book,” says Clark. “We see the 50th anniversary as a time to address Tolkien aficionados and enthusiasts.” It will be an opportunity, Brawn adds, “to reclaim The Lord of the Rings as a literary property”.
Though the impact of the film on sales looks set to be felt for a good while yet, Tolkien is ultimately a publishing story rather than a film story. The Lord of the Rings has been selling for 50 years, and it will remain in copyright for several decades to come. It is crucial, therefore, that in the midst of the film fever the long-term value of the brand is maintained.
Always another generation
Brawn claims he was misrepresented in the aforementioned “Independent” article. (He is reported to have said: “We and the Tolkien family are worried that there is genuine risk of burnout, that at the end of it, there will be nobody left to read this book. Once every household has a copy of the book, there’s nobody left to sell it to.”) He tells The Bookseller:
“Each generation of Tolkien readers provides champions for the next generation. There is no reason to be that the books will have burned out, even though sales may not reach the dizzy heights of these years again.” Apart from anything else, the conclusion of the film cycle will provide HC with opportunity to focus on Tolkien’s other titles for which the films will doubtless have generated renewed appetite.
And with the works of C S Lewis also in his HC estates portfolio, Brawn and his team will have opportunity to rest on their laurels: 2005 is expected to bring the release of “the next big thing” – a film version of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” from C S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. There are seven books in that series.
