It’s not unusual for prima donnaish actors to make specific demands — like sparkling water with the bubbles taken out when doing press interviews.

But Kiwi actor Marton Csokas, who stars opposite Vin Diesel in the blockbuster xXx, has been making completely out of the ordinary requests during his round of media Q&A.

Real life nice guy Csokas (evidently cast against type in xXx, with a role as the lead baddie) is concerned for the people suffering from the floods that have devastated parts of Europe.

In particular Csokas is concerned about Prague — where xXx was shot. Apparently the film locations are under water and total damage is estimated at $3.5 billion to $5.25 billion.

Csokas, who also starred in Lord of the Rings, has been hoping to focus more attention on the plight of the flood victims. In a bid to spark donations to the aid organisation being set up in the Czech Republic he did a photo shoot with its website printed on his forehead (www.floods.cz).

“xXx was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, which has since been subject to catastrophic flooding,” Csokas, who is currently filming The Great Raid alongside Benjamin Bratt in Queensland, told Confidential.

“About 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes and cultural heritage, existing for centuries, has been damaged or destroyed.

“If you want to help, log on and donate at www.floods.cz”.

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Ringer Spy Ataahua writes that the Sunday Star-Times in New Zealand is speculating that The Lord of the Rings could be turned into a television series.

Will it become Lord of the Tube too?

First there was the book, then the movies, then the toys, Holloween costumes, mugs, T-shirts, chess sets and jewellery. Could a Lord of the Rings television series be next?

New Line Cinema, producer of the Rings trilogy, is in talks with US networks about developing television dramas based its stable of films. Speculation about a Lord of the Rings series was sparked following an interview between Hollywood Reporter and a New Line television boss, Steve Tann.

“They are automatic brand names and franchises and can successfully lend themselves to TV,” said Tann, speaking about the company’s top films.

If the project eventuates, Wellington’s Weta Workshop would probably be heavily involved. Weta has worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy for five years, producing characters and sets, and most of director Peter Jackson’s previous movies, including Brain Dead, The Frighteners and Heavenly Creatures.

Weta also has staff experienced in fast turnaround television, having worked on Hercules for more than four years and Xena, Warrior Princess. Weta, however, will be tied up until next year finishing the third of the Rings films. Filming would probably be based in Wellington, as the Rings trilogy was, with location filming done in the South Island and Auckland. New Line Cinmea and Jackson could not be contacted for comment.

Screen Production and Development Association chief executive Jane Wrightson said New Zealand would be a perfect place to film a series. Television projects were especially welcome because they provided work for years. Hercules and Xena ran for eight years. While Rings lured more that $350m to New Zealand until March this year, Pacific Renaissance – the makers of Hercules and Xena – spent $400m, cast New Zealanders in 3000 roles and employed 7000 people a week. Rings left a legacy of experienced crew and cast, equipment, technicians, extras and knowledge of locations.

Artists and craftspeople honed their skills after starting on the Hercules and Xena series, and could turn out swords, cottages, armour and boats with flair, she said. Hercules’ and Xena’s legacies are already paying off. ABC Cable Networks will begin shooting a children’s television series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in Auckland starting in October, with no finish date in sight.
Spokeswoman Patti McTeague said: “There’s a trained crew and stunt crew there from Hercules and Xena, and it give us the opportunity for a diverse range of locations. And there are also cost benefits for us.”

In the series, six teenagers turn heroic black, blue, white, pink, yellow and red power rangers, complete with futuristic armour and weapons to travel through space and time fighting evil inter-galactic characters seeking to take over the earth. The six will be cast locally, as will the baddies, who in past episodes have had names such as Goaten the Lion Goat, The Crystal of Nightmares and Chunky Chicken.

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Take a look at these great (well, excluding Arwen..what were they thinking!!! -Xo) pics from the Toy Biz line of TTT toys.

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Yahweh70 writes: Sala Baker (Sauron) was in a line of people signing autographs, sat next to Ray Park (Darth Maul etc) and Temeura (sp?) Morrison (Jango Fett (he showed up around mid-afternoon)). By the time I got to the show, there were queues for Morrison and Park, but nothing really for Sala, unfortunately. I asked him which scenes he was Lurtz in FOTR. He said he didn’t like to be known as Lurtz as it was really only 2 scenes where he played Lurtz, Lawrence was Lurtz 99% of the time. A few people managed to get the odd Lurtz figure signed by him, but he said he didn;’t feel right about it.

He had a few photos available, and a mini-poster of the TTT poster (1-sheet design). Saturday should be a very busy day for everyone. Even Dave Prowse (Darth Vader) had very slow periods. At a show in Birmingham in March, he had huge crowds, and he was charging more then!

FWIW, Sala’s scenes as Lurtz were the run out of Isengard with the Uruk Hai and one hunting scene. He said that pre-LOTR he was a stunt man.

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According to the newly-added Horses section on the Official Site, Aragorn rides a horse called Brego, named after the son of Eorl and second King of Rohan, in The Two Towers. However in the novel itself, Aragorn is presented with a horse called Hasufel.

Does this mean that Peter Jackson has made an unnescessary change to the original story by changing Hasufel’s name to Brego? Maybe, but I believe that this indicates that Aragorn rides not one but two horses in The Two Towers. This theory is supported by (spoilers – highlight to read) extracts from a copy of The Two Towers script leaked on the Internet which describe Aragorn being left for dead on the plains of Rohan and watching the huge army of orcs marching towards Helm’s Deep – the number of which he describes to Théoden in the latest TTT trailer. It is very likely that Aragorn’s horse is killed in a skirmish, thus leaving him stranded. .

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