This relates to a rather unimpressive bit of journalism by the UK news earlier this week. Ian Collier, the Publicity Officer for the Tolkien Society, wrote to us with the following, which he stresses are his personal views and not necessarily those of the entire Tolkien Society:
Dear Harry & Tehanu
I’m e-mailing you both as I’ve been watching events unfurl on your websites for the last year or two and I gather that Peter Jackson and co.look around the web to keep up with fannish opinion on their efforts; so I’m assuming they’ll look at your sites on a regular basis. As you may or may not know the UK’s Sunday Times ran an article yesterday 25/6 entitled “Hollywood hobbits upset Tolkien fans (here) about the filming of Lord of the Rings. I knew it was coming as I’d been interviewed on the phone for it being the Publicity Officer for The Tolkien Society, what I didn’t see coming (a tad naive of me) was the misquoting that would occur, especially as I had been asked forthe Tolkien Society’s position on the film. I’ve emailed you because I don’t want the society to be understood as being anti-film, an opinion which could be formed if certain pieces of orc-work are taken at face value. Especially with the comments that the Tolkien Society are worried by some developments and “are to discuss Tyler’s role and that of Blanchett, who plays Galadriel, at their annual Oxonmoot, or meeting in Oxford, in September.” as if to say that we are going to sit in some sort of Inquisition-like conclave.
Another example is the following series of misquotes about Liv Tyler:
“Ian Collier, spokesman for the Tolkien Society, said: “We have heard that Arwen is leading an elf army at one point and replacing one of the hobbits in the fellowship. I do hope Liv Tyler is not going to turn it into a sword-and-sorcery type role.”
I didn’t say that, in the interview I gave the society’s position and as the interview went on Arwen’s expanded role came up, my comments were that I
could see some expansion as necessary to explain her marriage to Aragorn,but that I also wondered what effect this would have on Eowyn’s role, silly of me maybe but I know better now. Regarding “and replacing one of the hobbits in the fellowship” I specifically stated that this old rumour had been definitively dealt with on Sir Ian McKellen’s website after someone posted a query based on a ‘spy’ report.
My personal opinion is that the cast & crew are doing a great job and are trying their hardest to stick as closely to Tolkien’s texts as possible,this is based on rumours, interviews and question and answer sessions posted on your sites and on Sir Ian McKellen’s. As I’ve said above I don’t want the idiocies of the press to make the people concerned feel that the Tolkien Society holds a negative opinion about them. They don’t!!
A one-month investigation into claims of movie piracy on the set of the mega-trilogy TLOTR has ended with the arrest of an Auckland man. The 36-year-old has been charged with making a VHS copy of film footage, money laundering, fraudulently dealing with a film and theft as a servant of two video cassettes. The company producing the fantasy trilogy says it has boosted its security since the allegations surfaced. Police spokeswoman Kaye Calder said yesterday that an average of three Wellington police officers worked fulltime for a month before the man was arrested in Ak on Sat night. She refused to say how much money was alleged to have been laundered, and papers filed in Ak District Court yesterday during the man’s first appearance gave scant details. But a source close to the investigation said there were ‘obviously considerable sums’ to be made from pirated copies of the film, which will have its first instalment released in Dec next year. The source said no footage was sent overseas before the man was arrested. Court papers alleged the man stole video cassettes from an employer called Newline Productions. But a spokesman for Newline Cinema, Steve Elzer, said from Los Angeles that the man was not a direct employee. Newline had been working closely with N Z police and had taken steps to ensure no footage would be pirated in future, he said. The man was remanded without plea for two weeks and was told to stay with his mother in Ak under a curfew. He was given name suppression til his next court appearance. The $260 million trilogy, based on three books by J R R T, is directed by NZer P J under strict secrecy, and has sparked a fanatical Internet following.
Alan Sampson of Wellington’s Dominion newspaper was allowed to conduct a thorough investigation of the animal-training techniques used in The Lord of the Rings.
”
“To listen to LOTR horse trainer Dan Reynolds, you would think horse training was simple. It’s just a case, he says, of walking them around the ring, then encouraging them toward the trainer with a tap on the backside or a crack of the whip. At least to start with. It has to be more complex, of course. But Reynolds can be forgiven for not giving away too many secrets. “Every horse is different,” he says.
“Some need a gentle, some a firmer, hand. Stallions are the hardest because they have other horses on their mind.” The precise tricks of the trade must remain secret, but after a public smear campaign alleging mistreatment by trainers, it is good to see Reynolds and the rest of the team at work.
Even assuming the worst, that a good front is being put on for a reporter, the horses on show seem well cared for and clearly respond to good treatment. An impressive team of experts is on hand. The owner of the stables at Te Horo is race-horse owner and pre-trainer Chris Rutten; horse coordinator is Stephen Old, who runs the annual 100 kilometre Extreme NZ Horse Ride, which raises money for multiple sclerosis; and wrangler is Dave Johnson, known for his stagecoach carnivals and his Clydesdales. But the man at the helm of the tricks training is Reynolds, a laconic hard-bitten Texan who looks like he’s been doing his work forever.
“Dad was an animal trainer…I started riding when I was two,” he drawls. “When I was older, I did rodeos from Texas to the northwest, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, California.”
Reynolds wasn’t a mainstream performer – he was the character doing the trick roping, the trick riding, the horse tricks. In the 1940’s he confesses, he did some child work in the movies, alongside such luminaries as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Robert Mitchum, the first two at least, noted cowboys. The work that followed provided an impeccable background for his present position. Reynolds recalls having trained, among other things, giraffes, elands and elephants. He’s run Wild West shows in the manner of Wild Bill Hickok. He’s trained horses in numerous movies including DANCES WITH WOLVES, OUT OF AFRICA, GHOST AND THE DARKNESS and TALL TALE.
He’s also practised his craft for seven years at Universal Studios. Watching him at the Te Horo stables, it’s apparent that the key is persuasion: the horses are neither fed sugar nor punished. They are, however, clearly in good condition and have abundant pasture to play in. The horses are certainly not ill-at-ease and Reynolds says firmly that “tripping and hitting are a no-no.” It seems unlikely that mistreated horses have been hidden from view; there are only about 70 of them at Te Horo.
At some big battle scenes yet to be filmed, more than 200 horses – to be transformed by computer into thousands – will be gatheredtogether at a South Island site. But the 200 will be found from hunt and riding clubs and the like, and put through their paces relatively close to filming. The ones going through the complex training now are the comparatively few “name” horses that will be identifiable when PJ’s mammoth production hits the screen. A splendid white animal is identified as Sfax (Shadowfax), the grand steed of wizard Gandalf. At a light crack of a Reynolds’s whip, it rears majestically. Next on view is warrior king Aragorn’s horse, ridden on film by Viggo Mortensen, who is filling the shoes of axed Irish actor Stuart Townsend. Then there is quest leader Frodo’s (Elijah Wood) pony, his hobbit sidekick Merry’s (Dominic Monaghan) pony, even elf princess Arwen’s (Liv Tyler) horse, not to mention the dark, dark horses that will be ridden by the evil Ringwraiths.
According to Reynolds, most of the tricks he has to coax from the horses are quite simple – such as when a horse has to make its own way to a cave and run away again at the required moment. The most difficult trick to date has been getting a horse to rescue a wounded Aragorn, nuzzling the body, before helping him to safety.
The trick of keeping more than 200 horses in their Rohan battle lines, to act on command, has yet to be tested. Now, here are some secrets: having long suspected that body doubles are in action for some of the actors and actresses, it is nice to have confirmed that there are riding body doubles. Local woman Jane Abbott, for instance, will be Liv Tyler – at least in riding shots. Somewhere there’s a character who fills in for Gandalf. A young Wellington woman is known to have been acting as a double for Cate Blanchett, the elf queen Galadriel, who arrived in Wellington earlier this month.
At Te Horo, it turns out there are also doubles for horses. The filming plays all sorts of optical tricks, mixing and matching small or big ponies and horses to dwarf or exaggerate characters such as hobbits and wizards. Watch out for the giant Clydesdales, as high as 17 hands (1.7 metres), that play a variety of roles from battle steeds to Gandalf’s cart horse. The latter also has a double, a Welsh pony that will pull at an identical cart for scale shots. Expect to see Frodo on a regular horse, not a pony, to accentuate his small size.
But why stay with horses? The Te Horo team also has deer, sheep, rabbits and ferrets. All have important parts to play in THE LOTR. As do pigs and ducks and goats and cockroaches. If the purists want to glimpse a breach of Tolkien authenticity, they should look to the smallest characters. You can guarantee that nowhere in the trilogy is there a mention of a weta. PJ’s version will have the peculiarly NZ insect emerging from the dark in places of great evil.
How do you train insects? Cockroaches can be chilled. Spiders and wetas can be moved by blowing at them through a straw, and by shaking a false ground underneath them. But the trick that has attracted the most attention has to do with the horses or, rather, with avoiding them: a barrel with springs is used to simulate a galloping rider in close-up shots. On the screen it may be difficult to tell just what is real. Ultimately, the magic of LOTR may be the triumph of illusion.”
Very big thanks to Tiggy for that transcript!!!
To listen to this audio June 2000 update on the LOTR movie news, click here. The following is a transcript of the audio:
Greetings and well met!
This is Calisuri, coming to you live from the official headquarters of TheOneRing.net, Middle-earth.
Stay tuned for this edition of the Lord of the Rings Movie Brief for June 2000.
It’s been another productive month in New Zealand! New filming locations continue to crop up like mushrooms. Among some of the more noteable, we have seen action at the Fernside Lodge, near Featherston. We believe this could be Lothlorien.
Lyall Bay has seen the rise of quote “white medieval tents, with green detailing,” close to a cliff face; Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) was rumored to be seen here, with a large variety of horses… could it be Dunharrow?
Something rather large is happening at the Claireville Showgrounds in Carterton. A recent report has large moving trucks, camera equipement and other movie making materials moving into this large scale stadium.
The Helms Deep set at Dry Creek Quary has also seen more action , with orc, human, and elvish armies doing battle. It is rumored that the Uruk-Hai at this set wear wear ‘black leather-like breastplates and shoulder pads… full length arm coverings… and crested helmets’.
It is also thought that a Minas Tirith set will also be built at Dry Creek Quary.
The Mordor location on Mt. Ruapehu near Iwikau Village has seen a huge cast, crew, and bluescreen hard at work; with elf, human, and orc armies fighting here this could be a location from the early history of Middle-earth, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves.
If you’re a regular consumer of Lord of the Rings news you’ve been treated to some incredible glimpses of what’s to come. We have seen Sir Ian Holm decked out as Bilbo Baggins, a beautiful shot of Hobbiton, and a pack of Nazgul chasing down a lone horse and rider. We were also lucky enough to see John Rhys-Davies in full costume as Gimli, shots of Frodo and Gandalf together in a cart, and a fierce-looking Aragorn!
New Zealand’s Women’s Week continues to produce incredible snapshots of the production: a recent spread included Frodo (Elijah Woods) and Sam (Sean Astin) working closely with director Peter Jackson and some of the crew.
Come down to TheOneRing.net for daily updates on Tolkien and Lord of the Rings movie news! Check out our scrapbook for images galore, our archives sections for past news, and our chatroom Barliman’s for the latest scuttlebut on the filming.
It turns out that Bo Hansson is not a forgotten name in music at all. Plenty of people wrote to say that they had his album on vinyl; however people found his music on CD at Amazon and at CDNow. Opinions on it were varied:
“It is a mixed bag, some tracks work and some tracks are grimly awful.
The cover was very strange, but this was the 70’s and we were all wearing lurex socks at the time. The decade that style forgot.”
Other people liked it a lot more:
“I think Bo Hansson wanted to explore LOTR in a very personal way, and in this aspect he certainly succeeds. The tracks range from themes from The Old Forest to The Grey Havens, yet Hansson seem to have focused on a somewhat nostalgic take on the books. Whenever I put on this record I get the ‘You can never go home again-ish’ feeling that Tolkien illustrates in the latter part of ‘The Return of the King’ with the ‘Scouring of the Shire’ and Frodo’s leave. The burden of the ring is also heavily evident in the musical landscape, though without being dreary or too melancholic. All in all this record is an obscure gem not to be forgotten when Tolkien derrived music is discussed. It has achieved cult status in various circles, but aside from that it gets (maybe too,) little notice.”
Thanks to Sam and Aelinwen for that.
DW sent me a clip on realaudio, thanks for that, and Sam gave the URL of the Bo Hansson website
More people put in a plug for Blind Guardian. Whether you envisage LOTR with a heavy metal backing is a matter of taste. Stranger had this to say:
“If to talk about Tolkien related music – yes, Blind Guardian is great (my favourite band), but yes, you’re right, there are more good Tolkien music. For example, check out Classical Swords . There you can find “Lord Of The Rings” album of classical music in mp3’s, rated as film music (actually, as written, some compositions are really using music from Bakshi’s film). Or a Russian Blind Guardian-style band called “Shadow Host”. In their last album “Downfall” they have the song called “Galadriel” (you even can hear elven speech there! 🙂 ). Even Enya has a piano composition (I dont’t actually remember its name, something like “Lothlorien”). And there are much more. So there is no lack of Tolkien music now. :)”
For those preferring something more classical, there’s this suggestion from Elrond320:
“I read on the webpage about “Tolkien-inspired music” and thought you might also be interested in learning about a five movement wind symphony by Johann de Meij called The Lord of the Rings. Its five movements are:
I. Gandalf
II. Lothlorien
III. Smeagol
IV. The Mines of Moria (Journey in the Dark)
V. Hobbits
The music is very good and will appeal to classical listeners and probably all Tolkien fans in general. The themes are well done; bright brass fanfares for Gandalf, haunting drum beats for Moria and a playful march for the hobbits. I don’t know of any recordings on the web, but I found the mp3’s on Napster. Enjoy!”
Thanks again to Orjan, who sent us the URLs to Summoning: The Official Summoning Homepage They have lots of the songs and poems on their site, along with cool pictures.
Then you have to scroll down till you find Summoning. When you’re on the Summoning page, press ‘Soundsamples’.. and vòila…
Don’t all write to me with your suggestions for who’d do a great LOTR soundtrack please, I don’t have Peter Jackson’s ear on this. If I did I’d put forward Phillip Feeney’s name. He wrote the score for the ballet ‘Dracula’ that’s currently touring NZ. It’s been a hit in the UK and here, and is about to get to Australia. Very wonderful, very dark. Don’t miss it.
TheOneRing.net brings you the first exclusive interview with Indie ANCANAR dircetor Sam R. Balcomb.
Sam and I recently spoke via Internet regarding his project and his plans to involve the fans!
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
One of the first memories of my life was my father reading from The Hobbit & LOTR to me once a night every night before bedtime. That had a tremendous effect on me in many ways. The most profound being that I fell in love with storytelling from the get go. Since then I’ve always looked for ways to take the stories that I love and share that experience with others.
So you’ve been a Tolkien fan since then?
Absolutely! I can’t read his work now without being drawn back to those times. It’s perfect, really, since Tolkien’s work connects with the inner-five-year-old in us all — that we’re taken to distant lands, mighty kinds and terrible monsters. Some of us lose that perspective as we get older. Tolkien reminds us that we can still dream.
What other filmwork have you done?
We’re having a major update at Ancanar.com later today — I think there’s some info on my previous work to be posted. But since you asked I wrote/directed an indie flick in Boston three years ago called Under Oath. I’ve done work for Kodak, and right now I’m also working on a commercial for KCRW, an LA radio station.
When did the Ancanar project start to take form?
Ancanar was a story that I wrote a few years back after reading the Silmarillion. I fell in love with the book — a hundred movies could be made from that thing… But after Elessar was (abruptly) canned, I took it out and blew off the dust. I liked what I saw, so I took the next two months to write a shooting script. I showed to my producer Raiya Corsiglia and she flipped. It was a go from then. Ancanar is on a much larger scale than Elessar, but we are willing to make it the kind of movie Tolkien fans can be proud of.
Can you tell us a bit of the Storyline?
Here’s what I can tell you: Ancanar is a young woodsman, the heir to the Rammoth household. He is obsessed with the Elves, and grudges the fact that they live in eternal bliss while his father ails on his deathbed. Through a series of events he learns of a hidden Elves city closeby in the mountains. To speak of it warrants death, but he chooses to find this city, somehow, and restore his family name. That’s all I can say right now… and that it might involve one of Shelob’s ancestors…
How many people to do you have working with you on the project?
We have a fantastic crew so far, and more are on the way. There are about twenty people on what we call the “primary crew,” not counting pre-production staff. Once the crew list is finalized you can see all the bios and pics of each member on our site.
Why did you decide to get the fans so involved?
Because they really deserve it. Especially Tolkien fans. When something has impacted your life the way his stories have, you want to become a part of them. Film is a fantastic storytelling medium, a way to really be enveloped into a world. We wanted to have a forum for people to become a part of the process — and for those who don’t know the first thing about filmmaking, here they get a chance.
What stage are you at with the production?
We’re location scouting right now — that place in the trailer where I was sitting, that was one of the locations. And now that the site is set up we’re going to begin the casting process soon, so everyone can watch. We’ll post the sessions, along with Quicktime clips of the screen tests. We’re also hiring our makeup FX team, who will be making the prosthetic masks and so forth. Today I’m going out with our sound guy to test microphone quality out in the forest.
Any other details about the project you can give us?
Well, we’re very excited about the DragonCon convention, where I’ll be doing a live tele-conference call, along with airing the 5-minute version of our trailer. Also, I warn people ahead of time — there are lots of secret hidden pages on our site that will be added and deleted constantly. They’re hard to find, but have cool stuff on them. We’re very sneaky.
Besides being on a smaller scale than Peter Jackson’s film, what are the other major differences between the two projects?
The major difference is that Jackson’s LOTR is a story we all know and love. With Ancanar, Tolkien fans can enjoy watching a story that they won’t know the ending to.
What do you hope to get from the fans?
All through this process we want the fans to speak out as much as possible and let us know how they want to interact with us. We’ve gotten a tremendous response so far, and I thank everyone who’s participated. But we won’t shy away from problems — our motto is that if there’s a glitch in production, people are going to hear about it; why not hear about it from us? Overall we want fans to enjoy the ride as much as we are, voice their opinion, and learn more about Hollywood. We hope that we can keep professor Tolkien’s spirit alive in what we do.
How will you be using the internet to promote the film?
The Net gives us opportunity to reach people across the globe, and it’s not something to underestimate. Blair Witch blew open the venue for web-based promotion. It showed the studios that you don’t need their help to get people excited about a good film. Expect lots of chats with the cast and crew, contests, Quicktime, streaming, and the most interactivity possible with the production.
Any other forms of off-line promotion in the pipeline?
We’re waiting until we’re a bit more down the line in terms of production to start major off-line promotion (TV, magazines, etc). Since this is an internet event we want to establish our internet fanbase, which is, to us, the most important.
Do you have distributors yet?
Only in the LA area. As production moves on we have plans to broaden the distribution circle as widely as possible. We’d love for everyone to see this in a theater, but if they can’t, we’ll ship Ancanar to their door.
