These days, even cave-dwelling trolls can’t escape the hoard of the Rings. Heading into this year’s Oscars with the most nominations of any film, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring continues its media assault on multiple fronts–from Academy voters to average filmgoers (who have plunked down $710 million worldwide so far).
While its 13 nods put it in the company of Oscar sweepers like Shakespeare in Love and Forrest Gump, there’s no sure thing in Middle-earth. Fellowship’s massive box office and otherworldly theme could plunk it among popcorn flicks like E.T. and Star Wars–Oscar’s classic underachievers. The good news: “People don’t think of The Lord of the Rings pejoratively as a fantasy,” says Inside Oscar 2 author Damien Bona, noting that four of the last six Best Picture winners were epics.
Speaking of epic ambitions, New Line is extending its Rings campaign with plans for not one but two DVD packages for Fellowship.
According to Jackson, the theatrical version hits stores in August; fall brings a multidisc director’s cut with 30 more minutes and new music from composer Howard Shore. Extra scenes include rockin’ Hobbit tunes (if you can rock on the lute), back story on mangy mystery man Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), and an extended gift-giving scene of Cate Blanchett’s Elf Queen. “In the movie, Galadriel is this frightening oracle,” Jackson says. “This is her in a more gentle mode.”
On March 29, New Line will tempt fans to see Fellowship one more time on the big screen. The lure: a three-and-a-half-minute, Jackson-edited trailer for December’s The Two Towers at the film’s end. “I went through finished F/X shots and plucked the ones that looked really good,” Jackson says.
While Jackson and Co. are mum on specifics, here are some details EW gleaned about Towers–which will boast about 600 F/X shots (about 80 more than Fellowship). Warning: This may get kinda geeky.
BURDENED BEASTIE
One fave Towers creation is Gollum, former owner and current coveter of the One Ring, who is forced to march Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) to Mount Doom. But Gollum‘s anti-Hobbit plotting makes him a menace a trois. “It’s an unholy trinity,”
Jackson says. “We play psychological games more intensely than the book does.” In addition to providing the sticky rasp of the computer-animated Gollum, actor Andy Serkis played his scenes with Wood and Astin while wearing a black Lycra jumpsuit covered with hundreds of pinhead sensors. Serkis’ movements were then replicated to become the CGI Gollum. “Andy’s physicality is a big part of what Gollum will look like on screen,” says exec producer Mark Ordesky.
CREATURE COMFORTS
Quel scandale! Shelob, the she-spider that battles Sam at the end of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers, has been booted to the third movie. “If we started Return of the King after Shelob–the way the books do–there’d be very little for Frodo and Sam to do,” says Jackson. Right now, good guy Treebeard, the oldest being in Middle-earth, is getting the final CGI touches on his bark and leaves, with a voice by John Rhys-Davies (who also plays dwarf Gimli). And look for Brad Dourif as creepy Grima Wormtongue, double agent of Saruman (Christopher Lee). “[Brad] doesn’t play him as a groveling creature,” Lee says. “He kind of slithers along beside me with a soft, husky voice, whispering.”
FIGHTING SPIRITS
Jackson has between 15 and 20 hours of footage of the key battle of Helm’s Deep, in which an army of elves and humans spar with 10,000 Uruk-hai (those uber-Orcs Saruman created). “Helm’s Deep is one of Tolkien’s most vivid pieces of prose,” Jackson says. “You really feel his blood boiling.” What does an army of crazed Uruk-hai sound like? A stadium of Kiwi cricket fans, turns out. In February, Jackson made a half-time appearance at a New Zealand-England match and asked the crowd to beat their chests, march in place, and even perform a tricky bit of dialect work. “There’s this Black Speech battle cry the Uruk do,” Ordesky says. “We wrote it out phonetically on the Diamond Vision screen and Peter directed 25,000 people going ‘Rrwaaa harra farr rrara!”‘ Which just might translate to “Oscar, please.”
A BIG thank you to Roheryn for her work on giving us the details on Ian McKellen’s amazingly funny host job of Saturday Night Live. Take a look at almost 75 pics and all the great skits!
Saturday Night Live with Ian McKellen (IM from now on)
Start of show…IM enters stage dancing to SNL music, claps, waves to audience, very cheery. Audience cheering heartily. IM wearing button-up elveny bluegreen shirt, black pants.
IM monologue {standing on stage}:
Thank you, thank you, thank you ver much indeed. Well here we all are, and here am I hosting Saturday Night Live. Why, you might ask. I’m – and all thru these rehearsals I’ve been asking myself that same thing actually. Y’know, a classical actor used to doing Strinberg [?sorry I don’t know that one] and Chekov and Shakespeare – plays that have been around for centuries, and here I am performing work that’s only been around since yesterday afternoon.
No, honestly, they’re still writing some of the scripts right now. I just hope it’s not too obvious! People are always telling me I should do more comedy. Well this show will show them- they’ll never ask that again! {laughs} Well, you know…I mean…think: I could be sunning myself in Los Angeles waiting for the Oscars, or be at home in London seeing my 95-year old stepmother who I don’t get to see often enough, or I could be on holiday with my boyfriend in New Zealand – there’s a thought. But, no, I’m here, here in New York doing Saturday Night Live…basically, you know, it’s just vanity I suppose. But I love this troupe of players, this company, regulars, on SNL, especially that Jimmy Fallon – isn’t he cute {grins mischievously}?
Most hosts get around to thanking the casts at the end of the show – I think it’s worth thanking them right now because I need them on my side! {laughs} I’m not sure that they realize they’re a part of a very old theater tradition – it’s called Review. Did you know Maggie Smith, Dame Maggie, started off in Review when she was a kid? She’s still brilliant at one liners – if you’ve seen her in Gosford Park you know what I mean. And when Maggie and I were starting out, she dragged my hero, Laurence Olivier, to come and see me act in London, and subsequently he put me into his national theater company along with a young actor called Anthony Hopkins. And who would have thought that after all those years in the classics, Dame Maggie would end up being best know as the Harry Potter lady, Tony Hopkins known for eating people’s faces, and they’ve made me into an action figure! {laughs}
No no, I LOVE my action figures – I play with them all day long! {laughs} Anyway, it’s really really fun and great to be here, but I feel REALLY welcome. Unlike the St Patrick’s Day parade in New York City where they don’t exactly encourage openly gay men. They don’t seem to mind the priests though, do they, mmm? {deadpan look at camera} {hands on hips} Anyway, forget the parade, we’ve got a great show, and I’m going to have a ball showing you because my fav disco diva is here, Kilie Mignogue! Off we go, and we’ll be right back!
Did a number of skits; brief summary:
Versace skit: played Yves St Laurent (in fancy suit). Wanted to dance with the boys and watch the Oscars…played it very deadpan, was hilarious.
Irish cookbook author being interviewed on National Public Radio. Cookbook title: If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Hoosafadalawaladong [spelling?]
Hot Air Balloon Mystery Theater – played pipe-smoking Sherlock Holmes
The Ferey Muhtar Talk Show – played Mexican in red cowboy boots, cheesy mustache – looked like Burt Reynolds; subtly plays with crotch during entire skit
The Life and Times of Charles Dickens – beautiful skit – he puts on a one-man show while sitting at a table; wig/hat changes every few moments to portray 47 Dickens-related people.
The Comic Book Zone – plays the “local hero who’s the most successful Dr Who impersonator” – wears long scarf, hat, curly hair – really looks like Dr Who. At begging of “Give us your Gandalf!” he does the “Bilbo Baggins! Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks! I am not trying to rob you!” line, breaking off giggling. Audience near hysteria.
And finally the best skit:
Weekend Update With Jimmy Fallon (hereafter, J) and Tina Fey
J and T do lots of other news…then…:
J: {Jimmy sitting at desk; Tina not on camera} Well, the Oscar race is heating up and here to offer her predictions is Oscar nominee Dame Maggie Smith, everybody!
{IM enters in hot pink long sleeved loose dress, wearing hideous gaudy pearl necklace, heavy makeup; wrist is limp and kept that way for nearly entire skit. IM sits at desk next to J, simpers. IM really hams it up through the entire skit}
J: Thank you. Dame Maggie Smith, wow.
IM: Thank you, Jimmy, aren’t you a dahling {eyes J up and down, leans over and caresses J on cheek} Look at your little suit, just like a little schoolboy, mmm?
J: Okay…Dame Maggie…
IM: …call me Maggs.
J: …ok, Maggs, uh, let’s talk about the Oscars.
IM: Yes lets. {making faces at camera as if checking reflection in mirror}
J: Who do you think’s gonna win for best actor?
IM: Well the winner will be Denzel Washington…and Denzel if you have any interest in getting it on with an experienced old dame of experience, give me a call {big cheesy grin}
J: OK, what about best actress?
IM: {frowning mock disapproval, nose in air; stiffly} Judi Dench, little Judi Dench, such a clever little Judi Dench, little clever chubby Judi Dench…
J: {interrupting} All right, all right…best supporting actess, who’s that?
IM: {in “of course” sort of way} Oh me whether I win it or not.
J: Ok that’s good! Uh, best supporting actor?
IM: Oh without a doubt Ian McKellen, Saint Ian, mmm {grins} They’ve got to throw that old queen a bone sometime.
J: {laughing} Oh, is he…gay? I didn’t even…
IM: {eyeing J up and down with great, um, interest}
J: ,…I didn’t know that…
IM: {still eyeing J} You’re not gay, Jimmy, are you?
J:{slightly flustered} Well no, but I…best picture?
IM: Oh who cares. By that time I’ll be getting as high as a kite in the toilet with Helen Mirren.
J: Well, are you gonna go to the afterparty?
IM: After parties I’d rather drink [something]. But wish me luck {leaning cheek close to J’s face}, mmm, little Jimmy Fallon, mmm?
{J leans over to kiss IM on cheek. IM suddenly turns to face J full-on and kisses him smack on lips. J pulls away in shock, laughing, flustered, straightening tie and trying to maintain composure. Audience roars. IM looks extremely pleased with himself, simpering at camera. Tina leans over to wipe lipstick off Jimmy.}
J: {smiling, trying to hold it together; IM no longer on camera} {to Tina} Maggie Smith should shave! {clears throat} Does this mean I’m knighted? {laughs} Or did I just get queened? Wow…
In preparation for the March 24th broadcast of the Academy Awards, here is a brief overview written by Ringer staffers Tookish, Gamgee and Leo.
2002 Oscar Categories and Nominees from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Picture Peter Jackson, Barrie Osborne, and Fran Walsh
Peter Jackson’s start in feature film directing began in the 1980’s with his very own handcrafted gorefest spoof, Bad Taste. A native of New Zealand, Jackson now stands tall in the Kiwi film industry with his own companies Three Foot Six and Wingnut Studios. Jackson is the first director in movie history to envision and bring to life a three- film shoot. Jackson’s first Academy Award nomination came for Heavenly Creatures.
Barrie Osborne is a film industry veteran and hails from New York City. Producer of films such as The Matrix, Obsorne’s early industry training featured mentors the likes of Sydney Pollack and Francis Ford Coppola. This is Osborne’s first trip to the Academy Awards as a nominee.
Fran Walsh has been writing film screenplays for decades. Long time companion and colleague of Peter Jackson, Walsh’s credits include Forgotten Silver, The Frighteners, Meet the Feebles, and Braindead. Walsh was previously nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Screenplay category for Heavenly Creatures.
Best Director Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson’s start in feature film directing began in the 1980’s with his very own handcrafted gorefest spoof, Bad Taste. A native of New Zealand, Jackson now stands tall in the Kiwi film industry with his own companies Three Foot Six and Wingnut Studios. Jackson is the first director in movie history to envision and bring to life a three-film shoot. Jackson’s first Academy Award nomination came for Heavenly Creatures.
Best Adapted Screenplay Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh
Philippa Boyens has worn many hats in the performing arts industry, including teaching, writing, producing and editing. A Tolkien fan since childhood, Boyens first feature film screenplay is The Lord of the Rings. This is Boyen’s first Academy Award nomination.
Peter Jackson’s start in feature film directing began in the 1980’s with his very own handcrafted gorefest spoof, Bad Taste. A native of New Zealand, Jackson now stands tall in the Kiwi film industry with his own companies Three Foot Six and Wingnut Studios. Jackson is the first director in movie history to envision and bring to life a three-film shoot. Jackson’s first Academy Award nomination came for Heavenly Creatures.
Fran Walsh has been writing film screenplays for decades. Long time companion and colleague of Peter Jackson, Walsh’s credits include Forgotten Silver, The Frighteners, Meet the Feebles, and Braindead. Walsh was previously nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Screenplay category for Heavenly Creatures.
Best Supporting Actor Ian McKellen as Gandalf
Actor par excellence on stage and in feature films, Sir Ian McKellen has graced the acting world with his talents for four decades. This is McKellen’s second Academy Award nomination; his first was for Best Actor in Gods and Monsters.
Film Editing John Gilbert
Having worked postproduction on more that 20 films, Gilbert teamed up previously with director Peter Jackson on The Frighteners. Although a previous winner of accolades such as Best Editor Award for Via Satellite from the New Zealand Film and Television Awards, this is Gilbert’s first Academy Award nomination.
Sound Christopher Boyes, Gethin Creagh, Hammond Peak, and Michael Semanick
Putting the sound together for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was an epic adventure in itself. Most dialogue and sound shot on location was unusable and had to be redone. This is the first Academy Award nomination for Semanick, Creach, and Peek, but the third for Boyes, who came away an Oscar winner for Sound Effects Editor on Titanic.
Original Song “May It Be” Music and Lyrics by Enya, Nicky Ryan, and Roma Ryan
Recording artist Enya holds feature film credits as actress and composer since the 1980’s. A native of Ireland, her work on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings has garnered her first Academy Award nomination. This is also the first Academy Award nomination for Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan.
Original Score Howard Shore
Howard Shore is no newcomer to the movie music business. Having scored numerous films over the past two decades, Shore was also the first musical director of Saturday Night Live. His work for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has garnered Shore’s first Academy Award nomination.
Art Direction Dan Hennah (Set Decoration) and Grant Major (Art Direction)
Dan Hennah also hails from New Zealand. His art direction and design work have been seen in multiple films and television shows. Hennah teamed up previously with Peter Jackson on The Frighteners, and this is his first Academy Awards nomination.
A New Zealand native, Grant Major is a decorated veteran of film design. Awarded the New Zealand Film and Television’s Best Design title for Heavenly Creatures and The Ugly, this is Major’s first nomination from the Academy Awards. Cinematography Andrew Lesnie
Andrew Lesnie has been wining high profile awards for his film work cinematography since 1995. Declared Australia’s Cinematographer of the Year twice running, this is Lesnie’s first Academy Award nomination.
Costume Design Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor
Nglia Dickson is a New Zealand native who began reaping high profile awards for her costume design work in 1997. Having worked with Peter Jackson on Heavenly Creatures, this is Dickson’s first Academy Award nomination.
Richard Taylor is the co-director of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand special effects company. Although this is his first Academy Award nomination, Taylor is nominated for Oscars in two other categories, and has recently added to his trophy shelf two BAFTAs, two Golden Satellites, the Sierra Award, and others. Visual Effects Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor and Mark Stetson
Richard Taylor is the co-director of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand special effects company. Although this is his first Academy Award nomination, Taylor is nominated for Oscars in two other categories, and has recently added to his trophy shelf two BAFTAs, two Golden Satellites, the Sierra Award, and others.
Jim Rygiel’s background includes television, advertising, and film, brining computer animation to the forefront of visual effects. Guru Rygiel has been bestowed numerous awards for his work and this is his first Academy Award nomination.
Randall William Cook’s experience in feature films extends back to 1977. Cook has earned two awards for his work in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a BAFTA and a Golden Satellite Award, in addition to this first nomination for an Oscar from the Academy Awards.
Mark Stetson is no stranger to the special effects movie business. A BAFTA Film Award winner for Special Effects for The Fifth Element, Stetson was also an Oscar contender in the mid-1980’s for his work on 2010. This year marks his second nomination by the Academy Awards for Visual Effects.
Makeup Richard Taylor, Peter Owens
Richard Taylor is the co-director of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand special effects company. Although this is his first Academy Award nomination, Taylor is nominated for Oscars in two other categories, and has recently added to his trophy shelf two BAFTAs, two Golden Satellites, the Sierra Award, and others.
Peter Owens’ background in makeup and the performing arts spans opera, theater, television, and film. With multiple feature film credits and a list of celebrity clientele, Owens is an industry giant. Previous winner of numerous awards, this is Owens’ first time as an Academy Award nominee.
The BBC radio dramatisation of “Lord of the Rings” has been reissued with new material, written by Brian Sibley and recorded by Ian Holm last year, added. This new version appears to only be available on CD. Note that the old version (identical to the broadcast repeats going out at the moment on BBC Radio 4 in the UK) is also still available in many stores.
The differences between this version and that issued previously on CD and cassette are as follows:
The recordings have been digitally cleaned up – tape hiss that was audible on the original (if you listened through headphones) has gone and some of the messier edits have been tidied up.
There are no hour-long episodes – instead there are 3 separate sets of CDS which can be purchased separately and which follow the books exactly. Each set comprises 4 CDs with no episode beginning and ending music other than at the start and end of each 4 CD set.
Each set features a new intro and outro (between 5 and 8 minutes per set) recorded last year by Ian Holm and written anew by Brian Sibley. The scenario is that Frodo is going through Bilbo’s Red Book, reminiscing about his own adventures before leaving for The Grey Havens. Needless to say it is very nicely written (I loved the regretful reminiscing about Sam and the hardships he faced at the end of “The Two Towers” – it brought a real lump to my throat and a tear to my eye) and superbly acted by Ian Holm. You really can’t tell that 20 years have passed between these new recordings and the original material.
The “Return of the King” set narrative really only covers 3 CDs. The 4th CD is Stephen Oliver’s music but with the added “sung” version of Bilbo’s Last Song which, for copyright reasons, they were not allowed to broadcast with the original serial (or indeed the current re-broadcasting on Radio 4). This was featured on the tie-in radio documentary for the radio repeats a couple of months ago, but that recording was played on a transistor radio – here it is much improved in quality and of course doesn’t have people talking over the intro/outro. Personally I find this version more moving than the original spoken version, not least because John Le Mesurier, who plays Bilbo, can’t really sing, making it somehow more “real” and even more melancholic.
Each of the three sets features a new booklet. The first set features writer Brian Sibley reminiscing about the radio series, the second features director Jane Morgan reminiscing, and the third features a short Tolkien biography and one sentence summary of each of the 19 music tracks on the last CD.
The set is NOT as lavishly presented as the original CD/cassette release which came in a handsome black cloth binder format with a fold-out map of Middle-Earth and a generous booklet. However, the original lavish packaging did mark rather easily and was a bit unexciting in visual appeal. The new sets each feature the rather standard “dual jewel case” format -a bit generic and rather ugly in my view. The sleeve design is a LOT more modern and colourful too. Although you now get the chance to buy a set at a time so you don’t have to buy the whole thing in one expensive go (you can break it down into three separate purchases), the new edition also works out considerably more expensive if you’re going to buy the whole set (at least if HMV in Oxford Street, London are anything to go by). In a shrewd (but unfair?) marketing move the first set (Fellowship of the Ring) costs £37, the other two sets £27 – despite having the same number of disks and running time (4 hours 35 minutes per set). I guess the BBC realise that many will buy the first set and may then decide they can’t afford the follow-ons so they’re maximising the revenue from those who just buy “The Fellowship of the Ring”!
Because the credits now appear at the end of each 4 and a half hour set (rather than every hour) they are a lot longer and have been newly recorded by Brian Sibley rather than the original radio announcer (whose name I forget).
I prefer this new version (although those who want to get nostalgic about the original broadcasts may prefer the original episodic format) because of the wonderful new prologues and outro’s and cleaner sound (OK I notice things like hiss – many probably don’t!) but these may not be obvious to many who will find the original version (still on sale) a much cheaper purchase.
And for those wondering what happened to the original 26 half hour episode format (only broadcast once and, I would argue, the best presentation of the radio series and the format it was originally written for) – they were lost when the BBC actually used the master tapes to edit the first repeat broadcast as one hour long episodes!
Also of interest and highly recommended is the double-CD (and cassette) from the BBC Radio Collection called “J.R.R. Tolkien – An Audio Portrait”. narrated by Brian Sibley and made last year. This runs to 1 hour 50 minutes featuring Sibley’s narration of Tolkien’s life and the influences which came to bear when writing The Lord of the Rings. It features interviews with Tolkien’s biographer Humphrey Carter, his original publisher Rayner Unwin, several of Tolien’s colleagues and friends, and perhaps most important of all the man himself. This is all intespersed with relevant radio series extracts. This is a fascinating listen and a great way to find out about Tolkien – lively and very informative.
