THE KITCHENER WATERLOO PHILHARMONIC CHOIR SCORES THE GOLD ‘RING’ WITH PRESENTATION OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS SYMPHONY PERFORMED LIVE AT CENTRE IN THE SQUARE, KITCHENER JUNE 4 AND ROY THOMSON HALL, TORONTO JUNE 5
Canadian Howard Shore’s magnificent The Lord of the Rings Symphony will transport audiences into Tolkien’s world with live performances by the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Markus Huber and a chorus of more than 250 voices from the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir, Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Youth Choir, Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Children’s Choir and Consort Caritatis under the artistic direction of Howard Dyck. Performances will take place Saturday, June 4, 7:30 p.m. at Centre in the Square, Kitchener and at Roy Thomson Hall, Sunday, June 5, Toronto at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
“This is a real coup for us,” says Artistic Director, Howard Dyck. “Although this kind of undertaking is normally tackled only by large symphonic organizations, the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir is undaunted by this latest challenge. Indeed, we are the first choral organization in Canada to mount a production of Howard Shore’s monumental score.
”In addition to presenting this important musical work locally to area students and to hundreds of Tolkien fans, we will also be consolidating our Toronto presence where we have performed every year since 2001. The Lord of the Rings Symphony will enhance the KW Philharmonic Choir’s reputation as one of the most dynamic choral organizations in the country.”
The Lord of the Rings Symphony is Howard Shore’s compilation in six movements of his two-time Academy-award winning score for the popular and epic movie trilogy based on Tolkien’s internationally beloved fantasy novels. It has been performed around the world to critical acclaim (most recently in Moscow). The Symphony follows the chronology of the story-telling in the films and is accompanied by projected images featuring the original, conceptual artwork of Canadian illustrator, John Howe and his colleague Alan Lee, which inspired the majestic imagery of the film.
Says Shore “My initial inspiration over the four years it took to write The Lord of the Rings Symphony was always Tolkien — his books were always open on my desk. There is a real emotional attachment to it – not just from the performers but from audiences all over the world.”
“Anywhere in the world it’s been performed- Atlanta, Chicago, London, Taipei- it’s all been done locally,” says Shore. “To me that’s the real joy of it, awakening interest in symphony orchestras.”
The orchestra will provide all the musical thrills of the score with an array of unusual instruments including metal bell plates, Irish bodhrans, Japanese Taiko drums, Tibetan gongs, and an Arabic Ney flute, to name a few. Centuries of stylistic tendencies are treated with equal respect, creating a uniquely all-encompassing vision. Singing in multiple languages including the Tolkien-spawned languages Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul, Adunaic, Black Speech, and Old and Modern English is a massive undertaking for the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir.
Maestro Markus Huber based in Germany and Bulgaria, has conducted The Lord of the Rings Symphony in Chicago, Detroit, and Salt Lake City and worked with Howard Shore directly on the Taiwan and New Zealand productions.
Born in Toronto, the 57- year -old Howard Shore has composed the scores for over 60 feature films and recently received a Golden Globe award for The Aviator. He is currently working on the music for King Kong, shooting in New Zealand in June and directed by Peter Jackson.
Tickets to The Lord of the Rings Symphony are available as follows:
Kitchener: Centre in the Square Saturday, June 4, 2005, 7:30 pm Box office: 519-578-1570 toll free: 800-265-8977 Ticket prices: $60/$65/$70 http://www.centre-square.com
Toronto: Roy Thomson Hall Sunday, June 5, 2005 2 pm and 7 pm Ticket prices: $45 – $85 Roy Thomson Hall Box office: 416-872-4255 http://www.roythomson.com/boxoffice.cfm or through Ticketmaster 416-870-8000 http://www.ticketmaster.ca or at all Ticketmaster outlets
Principal Sponsor Kitchener: DALSA Corporation With support from Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund
The Lord of the Rings Symphony concerts in Kitchener and Toronto are produced by John Cripton and Linda Sword, Great World Artists.
‘Then Feanor began a long and secret labour, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle skill; and at the end of it all he made the Silmarils.’ (The Silmarillion)
The Silmarillion Chapter 7 – Of the Silmarils and the unrest of the Noldor
This weekend, we resume our Silmarillion chapter chats in Hall of Fire with the tale of the making of the Silmarils – Feanor’s most wondrous creation. But out of them arose unrest as well as beauty.
Admired by all, desired by all, what was Tolkien’s inspiration for these unique jewels? How similar were they to Galadriel’s phial?
Mandos said the fate of air, sea and earth lay locked in the jewels. Melkor lusted over them, and their existence drove him all the harder to sow the lies that tore the Noldor apart, and led to Feanor’s banishment from Tirion.
But why did the lies of Melkor find fruit among the Noldor? Who listened most and least to his words? And why did not the Valar tell the Quendi about the coming of Men?
Join us this weekend on Sunday March 20 at 2.00pm EST when we’ll discuss this and more in The Hall of Fire!
Time and date: Sunday March 20
America: 2.00pm EST 1.00pm CST 12.00pm MST 11.00am PST
Europe: 7:00pm UK 8:00pm Central Europe
Asia-Pacific 5.00am (Monday) Brisbane 6.00am (Monday) Sydney 8.00am (Monday) Wellington
Upcoming topics:
“Silmarillion Chapter. 7 – Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor”
– Sunday, March 20
“Pippin Took – bold hard halfling or piece of luggage?”
– Saturday Mar 26 – Sunday April 3
“Silmarillion Chapter 8 – Of the Darkening of Valinor”
– Saturday April 9 – Sunday April 17
“Tell us your LoTR fan experience!’
– Saturday April 23 – Sunday May 1
Got a topic? Let us know your idea!
If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we’ll probably give it a run in the coming weeks – you might even get to guest moderate the session!
Join HoF Announce!
Did you know that Hall of Fire has a mailing list? Join today and get topic announcements and news delivered regularly to your inbox!
TaffyCat writes: On Saturday, April 30, at 3:00 pm in the Community Room of the Bloomington, Illinois Public Library, author David Salo will speak on the Elvish languages in the Lord of the Rings and various aspects of his involvement with the movies. David served as a linguistic consultant and wrote dialogue and songs in Elvish for the Lord of the Rings movies. He is the author of the recently released book A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
As a prelude to David’s program the three Lord of the Rings films will be shown in the Community Room, free of charge on three consecutive evenings. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King will be shown on April 27, 28 & 29 (Wednesday, Thursday & Friday) respectively. All three movies will start at 6:30 p.m. [More]
Dimenthoniel here. I have been on the site a few times here and there. Anyway, last month, I did a photo shoot for the new Boromir clothing line being released from Museum Replicas. New Line authorized the line of clothing in September, but production of the items did not begin until last month. As a vendor for Museum Replicas, I had the wonderful chance to be Boromir for a day, as I was willing to do the job for free and had a hand in the design process first-hand. It was great to be able to etch my own little place in LOTR history by posing as Boromir for the upcoming catalogues.
The beginnings of this was the DIY Boromir I did a couple of Halloweens ago on One Ring. After months of persistant pursuit and assistance with the final design idea, Museum Replicas finally got authorized by New Line to do this. I worked super-hard to get this ensemble out there, and I am glad my work paid off! There is quite a story about it, as I kept a journal about what happened during the entire process. There is much more than would be expected. LOL.
The outfit was made to WETA Workshop specifications, with the actual design templates being sent to MRL from New Zealand. The garment consists of several layers, just as the original. The embroidered burgundy cotehardie is worn over the steel chainmail and cotton-padded gambeson. The leather surcoat is next, followed by an optional cloak in grey or green. The horn is not available (as it is my personal one), but the sword is. The vambracers are dual-layered, just as the originals. The gauntlets, boots, and belt are also true to form. No word on the buckler being made anywhere currently. I can go into more detail if you would like at some point.
I am attaching a few pictures for you. These are not published anywhere, and will not be until probably the May issue of the MRL catalogue. Since it is me in the pictures, I give you permission to use them on your site if you wish. You’ll have them out there before the catlogue does! LOL!
The Stage Adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS will have its World Premiere in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Princess of Wales Theatre
Performances Begin February 2, 2006
The book trilogy has sold in excess of 200 million copies. The multi award-winning three-film adaptation broke box office records. Now, J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS arrives on stage.
An acclaimed international creative team has combined all three books into one unmissable theatrical event. With a thrilling score, a spectacular design, and featuring an ensemble of over 65 actors, singers and musicians, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is the biggest and most ambitious theatrical production ever staged.
A Kevin Wallace Limited Production, presented by Kevin Wallace and Saul Zaentz, in association with David and Ed Mirvish and Michael Cohl, THE LORD OF THE RINGS $27,000,000 stage production will have its World Premiere in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
“THE LORD OF THE RINGS has captured the imagination of the City and Provincial governments of Toronto and Ontario which have – with our Canadian partners – created the ideal platform from which to launch our Premiere production to the world,” says producer Kevin Wallace. “From February 2006, visit Toronto and you will find Middle-earth”
Performances will begin February 2, 2006 at the 2,000-seat, Princess of Wales Theatre. The gala opening performance will be on March 23, 2006.
Background to the Stage Production
J.R.R. Tolkien began writing THE LORD OF THE RINGS in 1936. By the autumn of 1948, he wrote to a friend, “I succeeded at last in bringing THE LORD OF THE RINGS to a successful conclusion Š I think there is a chance of it being published, though it will be a massive book, far too large to make any money for the publisher (let alone the author).”
The publishers Allen & Unwin accepted the manuscript and worked with Tolkien to divide the work into a more manageable three volumes, with the final installment published in 1955. Despite Tolkien’s original doubt of the popular and commercial appeal of the work, today the publisher HarperCollins estimates there are more than 200 million copies of Tolkien’s books in print.
Further proof of the universality of the work is the international popularity of the New Line Cinema/Peter Jackson film trilogy released between December 2001 and December 2003.
In November 2001, an early draft of a stage adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS by Shaun McKenna was brought to the attention of producer Kevin Wallace.
“It demonstrated you could deliver Tolkien’s trilogy on stage in one epic and eventful evening,” says producer Wallace.
Kevin Wallace Limited (KWL) acquired the rights to Shaun’s draft and commenced negotiations with The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises (SZC) to secure the underlying rights. Those negotiations concluded in April 2003 when SZC (the same company that licensed New Line Cinema to produce the Jackson films) granted KWL an exclusive worldwide licence to commission and produce the first major stage adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.
At the same time Kevin Wallace confirmed Matthew Warchus Director), Rob Howell (Designer), Christopher Nightingale (Musical Supervisor), Peter Darling (Choreographer), Simon Baker (Sound Designer) and Paul Kieve (Illusions Director) were joining the project.
The Creative Process
In May 2003 Matthew Warchus set out the approach he wished to take in bringing the story to the stage. Music was to be an integral part of the storytelling, and a search began for the composer. Ultimately, the producers and creative team chose two distinct collaborators for this purpose: the Indian composer A.R. Rahman, a star of Indian cinema, stage and popular music; and Värttinä, a contemporary Finnish group comprised of three female singers and six acoustic musicians, that has built an international reputation in the contemporary world music arena.
The music of each of these collaborators is rooted in the integrity and antiquity of their respective cultures. Additionally, one of the original points of inspiration for Tolkien’s story of Middle-earth was The Kalevala, Finland’s national epic of mythological songs, poems and stories. Värttinä shares the same inspiration for its music and lyrics.
In the summer of 2003, Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus set about redrafting Shaun’s original text; set and costume designer, Rob Howell, began the design process; and A.R. Rahman and Värttinä began to compose the score with Christopher Nightingale.
The epic nature of Tolkien’s story demands that traditional stage and scenic techniques be rethought and expanded. Having completed several workshops of the text, music and scenic elements through 2003 and 2004, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is now ready to go into rehearsals in Toronto in October 2005.
“What we have is a beautiful and spectacular adaptation of Tolkien’s epic that in word, music, design and performance honours the original trilogy in its imagination, scale and insight. THE LORD OF THE RINGS is one of the great stories of the last century, and not surprisingly it will take us three hours of stage time to perform our version of all three books – three unforgettable extraordinary hours in Middle-earth for audiences of all ages,” says producer Kevin Wallace.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS on stage
Combining classical drama, physical theatre, music and spectacle, the production cannot be described in conventional terms. For instance, although the production will be filled with music and, like Tolkien’s books, have numerous songs, it is unlike any traditional musical.
“Our respect for Tolkien’s book means that every step of this adaptation to the stage has been rigorously thought through to avoid all possibility of trivialising the material,” says director Matthew Warchus.
“We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of Musical Theatre, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien’s material. As a result, we will be presenting a hybrid of Text, Physical Theatre, Music and Spectacle never previously seen on this scale.
“Following in the tradition of many great quest stories told on the world’s stages over the millennia, I believe Tolkien’s story of the One Ring will blossom and flourish in its adaptation. Great theatre has a boundless capacity to thrill, delight, touch and amaze an audience and this piece, with its extraordinary flights of imagination and powerful emotional core, will, I think, thrive on the stage.
“To read the novel is to experience the events of Middle-earth in the mind’s eye; to watch the films is to view Middle-earth as though through a giant window. Only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. The environment surrounds us. We participate. We are in Middle-earth.”
The World Premiere Production
Casting for the premiere production will begin immediately across Canada. Rehearsals start in Toronto on October 24.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS will be the cornerstone show of Toronto’s Mirvish Theatre 2005-06 Subscription Season. Mirvish season subscribers will have exclusive access to tickets until May 15.
Single tickets for the initial booking period go on sale via www.lotr.com at 9:00am (EST) on May 15. Phone sales and in-person sales at the theatre box office will begin at 9:00am (EST) on May 16.
The official website – www.lotr.com – will broadcast all casting and ticketing news about the production. Audience members are advised to join the email list for timely news of the production.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
KEVIN WALLACE and SAUL ZAENTZ In association with DAVID & ED MIRVISH, and MICHAEL COHL present
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Book and Lyrics by SHAUN McKENNA and MATTHEW WARCHUS
Music by A.R. RAHMAN VÄRTTINÄ with CHRISTOPHER NIGHTINGALE
Set and Costume Design by ROB HOWELL
Sound Design by SIMON BAKER (FOR AUTOGRAPH) Moving Image Design by THE GRAY CIRCLE Illusions Direction by PAUL KIEVE Tolkien Creative Consultation by LAURIE BATTLE Musical Supervision by CHRISTOPHER NIGHTINGALE Orchestrations by CHRISTOPHER NIGHTINGALE, A.R. RAHMAN AND VÄRTTINÄ
Aussie and Maria Layne were two of the very lucky folks to spend an ‘evening with Peter Jackson’ last night in Sydney. Peter was very candid about his work on LOTR..and more importantly…he showed a BLOOPER REEL!!! Take a look!
Aussie writes: I’ve just come back from a night with Peter Jackson in the State theatre in Sydney. Since people on the message board were bugging for a repot I thought I’d write one up.
The three leveled elaborately carved ancient theatre was absolutely packed with very excited people. Just when the looping footage on the big screen, of Frodo falling over, got at its most tedious we were welcomed by the boss of the powerhouse museum. Then the host, David Stratton from “at the movies” arrived. He told us he hoped today would reveal something new about the lotr since “you all know everything about the lord of the rings films don’t you?” >>insert laugh track<<
We were then treated to the lotr supertrailer which, being my third viewing was quite tiresome but exciting enough knowing what was to come.
Then Peter himself entered to much applause, wearing a dorky but very cool late 80’s shirt, commenting that the 6 minute supertrailer was much easier to get through than the films themselves. The audience reacted uproariously which pretty much set up the tone for the night.
Peter talked of his early days with bad taste. And boy could he talk. The whole night took about two hours including about 15 minutes of footage.
He left school at 16 since he found it pointless to stay what with his filmmaking aspirations and made bad taste over 2 years on sundays.
The conversation then turned to the famous story of how the film started. Peter mentioned that it seemed fate had a huge part. Most of the story wasn’t anything new to people who have watched the dvd’s and read about it. He talked of his original call to Harvey Weinstein. He mentioned to Harvey that Saul Zaentz had the rights. Harvey was excited at this as he had saved Saul Zaentz’s production of “the english patient”. Saul Zaentz owed harvey a favour, and so he gave the rights away where previous directors had failed (george lucas…thank god). It was great as Peter didn’t have to try not to offend New line and was able to impersonate Harvey and reveal his anger at the films.
He recounted the feeling of dread when production was pulled and ten million dollars had already been spent, and miniatures made. The rest of course is movie history.
Now to the bloopers. We’ve been told about them for years and I finally got to see them. They revealed a very rude but funny aspect to the filming. Peter apologized about the excess use of f*** but said they decided not to bleep it because it was funnier. Most of it was Viggo and Bernard with quite a bit of Dominic and Billy making dirty jokes or gestures and crawling into bed together. There was also lots of disturbing footage of Liv Tyler acting all prancy and annoyed at her hair going in her face and some seemingly abandoned footage of her in front of a greenscreen acting like a wraith of some sorts and making scary facial expressions. There was an edited sequence of Aragorn shooting down Sauron with a machine gun and footage of the snow machine going haywire and spurting snow all over the surrounding city area.
Peter put together the clips in his spare time and they are all he has of any bloopers since newline has taken all the footage to the U.S.
Apparently there were many more bloopers and other reels but they never had time!! Silly supertrailer!
Anyway what else? He has lost ALOT of weight wow. He never mentioned Kongisking or theonering unfortunately.
My dream never came true as he didn’t announce there was a special key under one person’s seat and they would go to new zealand to the set of King Kong. Oh well.
Anyway sorry i have to go now. thanks for reading, I hope this gave an idea of the night.
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Maria Layne writes: At the State Theatre in Sydney, at “An evening with Peter Jackson” He showed some of the bloopers from the Set.
Here are some of them:
Merry is in bed at the Golden Hall, and has this HUGE erection under the blanket – about two feet long. He says “I was just having this dream about Gimli” and then Pippin said something like “can I help?” or “Can I look” – people were laughing too much around me to hear properly. Anyway, Pippin lifts up the sheets and slides in beside Merry, and Merry turns over and cuddles him, then waves to the camera and says “nighty night”, then rolls half onto Pippin and waves the cameras away.
In another one, Dom and Billy were in their trailer, half-turned away from the camera, and were comparing their sizes. “Mine’s longer than yours” “Mine’s a bit thicker” etc. Then they pretend to see the camera for the first time and pull up their pants, saying that they were just practising for a scene, and Dom throws a sheet over a blow-up doll…
In another one, at the coronation scene, Gandalf has a blonde curly wig (very tall, like a wizard’s hat) with little flowers on it and says, “Now is the time of the Queen.”
In another one, Sir Ian parts the front his Gandalf the grey robes and has only tighty whities under them – and proceeds to do a little dance.
David Wenham does this thing when standing next to Eowyn at the coronation, behind her back, where he grins at the camera and points at Eowyn in a lacivious way, as if to say “guess what I’m getting later” then, when she looks at him, he is all innocence again, just applauding Aragorn like in the film.
They showed Orlando Bloom, over and over and over again, NOT being able to shoot the arrows – they fell down, they got caught in his hair, in his cloak, in his fingers, in his quiver – they even came out back to front, and he put them into the bow feathers first… I was crying with laughter.
They showed Viggo making faces a lot, and fooling around with Bernard Hill. there were lots of mistakes made by actors where they said “F##k” and a version of the “Green Dragon” drinking song which was just the word “c##t” over and over for several lines…
Sean Bean wasn’t in the bloopers, but he was mentioned.
Gandalf was speaking to Faramir, and said “Well Boromir… (then he realised he had said the wrong name)… is dead. Your brother is dead. This is the third film, and you just have to accept it, I’m sorry.”
Aragorn was on horseback in the middle of the riders of Rohan, answering his cell phone…
There were more, including two versions of Aragorn talking to Theoden in the Golden Hall about how they will make tens of thousands of plastic toys from scans of Theoden’s skell – which has already been seen on the internet.
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Lynette
“Aussie:, who wrote a review on PJ’s Sydney interview, seems a bit hard to please. He may have seen the 6 minute preview before but the rest of us hadn’t and it reminded us all of how powerful the films are when shown on the big screen. He also forgot to mention Peter and Fran Walsh’s integrity when presented with an ultimation from Mirimax that they make the book into one film or else it would be handed over to another director and writer, all ready waiting in the wings. They took a long walk together and decided that despite the huge amount of time and money that had poured into the project up to that time, and despite the damage that withdrawing from it could do to their careers, they could not be involved. As PJ himself put it, people who loved the book would flock to the film because of its title and go away very disappointed, and he and Fran simply could not be a part of that. He took a terrible risk. Thank heaven (and New Line) it paid off.
Also not mentioned in other reviews were:
* Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli riding up to Fanghorn Forest and Aragorn saying, “Fangorn Forest. Now what they f**k are they doing in there?”
* Faramir politely applauding Aragorn’s coronation and clearly mouthing at the camera “This is b*llsh*t” before continuing politely applauding again, then turning to Eowyn with a lascivious wink and a nod and then assuming a polite expression as he continued clapping.
* Bernard Hill making a stirring speech and then happily skipping away.
* Pippin and Merry giving mouth-to-mouth to a dismembered orc head.
* Four uruk-hai crowding their faces into a camera and singing “You make me feel like a natural woman”.
———-
Sven
Sydneysiders were privileged to be the first to see excerpts from Peter Jackson’s private Gag & Blooper reel cut while editing The Lord of the Rings. While all the shot footage of Lord of the Ring has been turned over to New Line and stored in their vaults, Peter Jackson cut himself a private DVD of some gags and bloopers of the cast and crew.
Sydney’s ornate State Theatre was a venue of a rare one-off “An Evening with Peter Jackson” on March 12. About 2,000 people from all age-groups paid $65.00 to see David Stratton interview the director. Exactly why he took time out, with just three weeks of principal photography left on King Kong, to fly across the Tasman Sea, was never explained.
Peter Jackson looked exhausted, although a little better than the shocking Day 100 Production Diary from KongisKing.Net that had fans worried.
The event began with a plug for Powerhouse Museum by its director, followed by David Stratton (from the Movie Show) introducing the Trilogy Trailer, and then Peter Jackson himself, who walked out casually attired.
The questions weren’t particularly inspired, and despite being advertised as an interview about the making of Lord of the Rings, didn’t actually get to that topic. Most of the time was spent on Peter Jackson’s previous films and the fascinating story of securing the rights leading up to the famous “But isn’t it three books” by Bob Shay.
The highlight of the evening was the clips of gags and bloopers. Some of the best were:
Orlando Bloom as Legolas at Helms Deep counting “Twenty-Seven!” while fumbling with an arrow, loading it the wrong way, dropping it, etc.
Peter Jackson getting his finger stuck in the clapper board and Bernard Hill, as Theoden, having to do the clapping himself.
Viggo Mortensen, on horseback, in full Aragorn costume, with the Gondorian soldiers behind him, while talking on a mobile phone.
Gandalf announcing “Now come the days of the Queen” while sporting a gigantic beehive hairpiece adorned with flowers.
While Pippin sneaks off at Edoras to look at the Palanatir, Merry shows off his huge erection. Pippin forgets about the Palantir and hops into bed with Merry.
Dom and Billy caught in the trailer comparing the size of their manhoods, while an inflatable doll lies on the bed.
Lots of swearing by the cast as they forget their lines or mince their words.
Gimli tripping over a couple of times while wearing his overlong chainmail at Helms Deep.
Arwen tripping on her gown while ascending stairs at Rivendell.
Christopher Lee reciting the Australian Lords Prayer – circa 1930s.
Ian McKellan commenting on some of the less prose-like dialogue in the script, particular the rallying calls to the Gondorian soldiers at Minas Tirith. Some of his comments were inaudible due to loud audience laughter from the previous gag.
Peter Jackson complaining on a cold, snowy day at Deep Park Heights, that the crew couldn’t their new snow machine off, and that the Police were going to come soon and tell them to turn it off, but the off button was jammed.
An Orcs Quartet at Cirith Ungol singing “You make me feel like a natural woman”.
A cameraman imitating a point-of-view Jaws scene and soundtrack in the pool outside the entrance to Moria.
Billy Boyd running into the camera in the Minas Tirith citadel.
Aragorn opening a can of softdrink at Dunharrow.
Frodo donning a pair of dark sunglasses around Ithilien.
Sam tripping backwards when Frodo tells him to “go home”, and dislodging a polystyrene part of the cliff.
Aragorn knocking over one of the hobbits – I think Pippin.
As Aragorn is lifting the Hobbits over rough terrain approaching Lothlorien, he’s saying things like “Get your arse up here”.
Faramir mouthing “This is bullshit” during Aragorn’s coronation speech and indicating his pleasure in Eowyn with an exaggerated wink.
Ian McKellen showing off what’s under his robe as Gandalf the Grey.
Bernard Hill skipping away daintily after delivering a powerful war speech.
Bernard Hill and Viggo at Dunharrow – during the 6,000 spears conversation, Viggo moves away so that King Theoden is left talking to himself.
While Merry and Pippin dance on the table at Edoras, Pippin sings out “C***” as a substitute for his lyrics.
Frodo’s horse goes backwards when the four Hobbits are returning to the Shire at the end of The Return of the King.
A crew member non-chalantly carrying a dead horse with spears in it.
Andrew Lesnie hamming it up with a Peter Jackson puppet.
Peter Jackson as Gothmog having no control over his steed, which starts to move backwards.
Pippin struggling to pull out his sword and getting it stuck in his cape.
Pippin running down the wrong lanes in Minas Tirith.
Sam struggling to control his daughter in his very last scene – who starts crying.
Aragorn taunting King Theoden about the toys that will made from his likeness.
Frodo getting unstuck in Shelob’s web.
Christopher Lee experiencing déjà vu (remembering Peter Cushing) while impaled on the wheel at Isengard.
Perhaps the funniest – While fighting Sauron outside the Black Gate, Aragorn whips out an Uzi and starting firing while shouting out “And that’s for Frodo” and “That’s for Sam” as Sauron collapses. This got the biggest applause.
Due to a lack of time, some of the bloopers & gags were not seen.
What wasn’t said
There were no hints about what’s going to be included on any future DVD HD box sets of Lord of the Rings, or what’s distinct about Peter Jackson’s particular version of King Kong, or whether the succesful 35 minute pitch video that Peter Jackson prepared with Fran on the 18 months of pre-preproduction up to August 1997 will ever be put on a DVD.
Securing the rights
There were many highly improbable events detailed in the 30-minute recount of securing the rights and, as interviewer David Stratton suggested, it’s almost movie-worthy in its own right.
Weta had acquired its first computer at the time of Heavenly Creatures. By the time they finished The Frighteners, they had 30 computers. Peter Jackson wondered what a fantasy movie would be like using CG. He and Fran tossed around ideas using Lord of the Rings as a reference, but never at first, actually contemplating the Lord of Rings as it was “too big”. But gradually they asked their agent to make some tentative enquires as to who had the rights.
The agent discovered it was Saul Zaentz who was notoriously reluctant about giving them away. However, due to Saul Zaentz-produced The English Patient, which was funded by Harvey Weinstein (working for Miramax which was owned by Disney). As Harvey funding the English Patient when its original funding was cancelled, Saul Zaentz (Producer) owed Harvey a favour, and Harvey called in this favour to get Peter Jackson the rights, after the plug was pulled for King Kong (because Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young had both underperformed). Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh developed the scripts for two films, one ending at Helms Deep, effectively condensing the first two books into one film. They were budgeted at about $140 million each. However, Harvey could only greenlight films of $75 million and suggested they do it as one film. He said, in a meeting in New York in July 1997, they even had a scriptwriter and director standing by if Peter didn’t want to do it. (Peter suggested this could have been a bluff).
Peter told Harvey, rightly, that all the fans would be disappointed with a 2-hour condensed version. Peter Jackson has a document that has never been seen by the public – the 3 page outline prepared by Harvey’s people, condensing the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy down to 2 hours – Moria was to deleted altogether and only referred to in conversation, while Theoden and Denothor were going to be merged as one character, just as Rohan and Gondor were to merged as one realm.
At this stage, pre-production on the two movie version was well advanced, with Weta, John Howe and Alan Lee. The Helm’s Deep and Rivendell miniatures (bigatures) had been done as well as various maquettes.
Peter and Fran told Harvey they would think about it, then flew back to New Zealand, and immediately by chopper to a remote location for Fran’s birthday. Peter called his agent to tell him to tell Harvey they would NOT be doing it.
However, unknown to them, Peter’s agent used initiative and secured Peter 4 weeks to pitch it the two-movie version elsewhere, so that another studio could repay Harvey the $10 million they’d already spent on it.
Given the 4 week deadline, Peter and Fran set to work immediately preparing a 35 minute making of documentary, interviewing themselves, Alan Lee, and showing lit models of some of the miniatures. They then lined up just two meetings, with Polygram and New Line – all other studios turned them down without even granting a meeting or seeing the video.
Polygram, who being a British company, were interested, but as they were being sold in the next 5-6 months, could not commit to something so expensive in the few weeks remaining to close this deal.
The second and final meeting, their last chance, to pitch the idea was with New Line. Peter Jackson, disarmingly jovial, but obviously shrewd underneath, was playing poker with them, cancelling on the meeting several times, pretending he was “hot property”. The “mercurial” Bob Shay saw the video, and the rest is history.
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Kiwisue
Just wanted to add my bit to the reviews of ‘An Evening With Peter Jackson’, which I saw along with the exhibition the day before (my cup runneth over!)
Peter recounted how at a horribly tense meeting with Harvey Weinstein (during which time the 2 film version was already well underway), he tried to make Fran and Pete agree to doing LOTR as one film (“not a Gone with the Wind or a Lawrence of Arabia-type epic – he was talking a 2 hour film.”) When they asked how could they possibly write such a script, Harvey produced a 3 page ‘I-had-one-prepared-earlier’ type outline. It was of course a ridiculously condensed version of the books which P & F knew anyone who had EVER read the books would HATE. It included such travesties as…ignoring the Mines of Moria altogther (it had Frodo merely emerging from the gates and saying something like ‘wasn’t that exciting then?’/ Gondor and Rohan being lumped into one people/ Denethor and Theodon being amalgamated into one character (!!) Harvey also told them he had lined up an alternative writer and director willing to do the one film, should they refuse.
When first on stage and facing a hushed expectant crowd of 2000 – all focused on him under a bright spotlight – Peter said that during the 6 minute trailer he had managed to forget everything he knew about LOTR!
The bloopers (which were from Peter’s personal DVD collection – the sound wasn’t great) conveyed the renowned spirit on the set. Stand out for me was David Wenhamn – hysterical in the coronation scene, applauding and smiling politely and mouthing “this is BULLSH*T!” before ogling Eowyn in a most unstewardly manner! Sir Ian was gorgeous as the Queen. With all the gravity of the occasion he lifts the crown he’s about to set on Aragorn’s head to reveal his own bouffant blonde wig. His mincing-in-underwear scene was a fave too. Go Ian!
Peter no longer ‘looks’ like Peter – he was so much thinner, no glasses, shorter hair and beard. But the voice and lovely manner was still Pete’s (and I should confess my bias here of being a Kiwi!) Walking to the train station afterwards, I noticed a small crowd gathered and realised it was the back entrance to the theatre – Peter was there signing autographs for people.
