Thanks to a Random Hobbit we’ve got the scans from the new Entertainment Weekly, they have a small article and what they claim are ‘new’ pics from LOTR. I guess these guys don’t surf the net much…

When a trailer for Peter Jackson’s unfinished trilogy The Lord of the Rings popped up on the Net last year, fans of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy downloaded it more than 1.7 million times in 24 hours. The New Zealand director (Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners) knew his progress was being monitored not just by New Line Cinema, which bankrolled the $US270 million project, but by a global army of Tolkien aficionados. A 20-minute sneak peek of the first instalment screened at Cannes last month earned rapturous applause. “You can’t believe,” Jackson, 39, said later, “the weight off my shoulders.” For 14 months he has toiled in rural New Zealand, shooting the three films back-to-back with a cast including Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond). Part 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, opens in Australia on Boxing Day 2001, with Parts 2 and 3 at 12-month intervals. Recreating Tolkien’s enchanting Middle Earth and giving appearance to a legion of hobbits, elves, dwarves and orcs was made easier, says Jackson, by “having wonderful source material.” And just to make sure, his on-set mantra was “Make it real.” — Craig Henderson

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From: Paul

Just read today’s copy of Metro, a Scottish daily newspaper, and it had an interview with stand-up comedian Johnny Vegas. Why would you be interested and what’s this got to do with LOTR? Well, it seems that Mr Vegas was once considered for the part of a certain Sam Gamgee! Here’s the question and answer refering to LOTR:

Q: Were you disappointed not to get a part in Lord of the Rings?

A: I actually went to a casting for Sam Gamgee and got a call back with the director. But I did a gig the night before and the mike broke so I ended up shouting and lost my voice. They probably thought I was rubbish anyway. I went through a few months of getting drunk and e-mailing the official site saying it should have been me.

Now, if you’re not familiar with Johnny Vegas I’ll fill you in on a few of his… erm… traits (I think that’s the best word to describe them!). If this casting had come to fruition then Sam would have been wondering around the Shire with a six-pack of beer under his arm and a fag (cigarette to those uninitiated to UK slang) hanging out of the corner of his mouth. Along with his 60-a-day habbit, Sam would have a pretty strong hoarse regional accent with a penchant to swearing and ogling at the lady hobbits.

Imagine the scene if you will:

‘Give us that thur ring, Frodo -cough- -wheeze- and a’ll bloody well get rid of the bugger.’ Sam procedes to put the ring under his rather sweaty green-hued armpit where not even the dark lord would dare to venture.

There’s a pic of him on his slightly sparse homepage here: http://www.johnny-vegas.net/

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From: Circi

Just in case you would like to add this to media-watch files, here are two small articles from the greek film magazine “Cinema”. They were part of their Cannes Festival Special published in the July edition. Apparently the reporter was invited to both the special screening and the party.

1/”The Lord of the Rings”.

Long before the “Holywood Reporter” gave it 5/5 Martinis, the LOTR party was the most important “extra-cinematografic” event of the festival. In a castle, 15Km from the Croisette, the cast of the much-expected trilogy was strolling till late at night among 1000 guests, roasting porks and endless bottles of champagne in avast garden decorated with the films origianl sets, brought over from New Zealand. Knights on horses, Liv Tyler shoeless and trip-hop from the loudspeakers for those who would not wake up the next mornong to watch “Roberto Succo”. We, unfortunately, we not amongst them…..

Although there is quite a big following for LOTR in Greece, the local press hasnt yet given much attention to the upcoming films. Some party footage was shown by some “evening-news” bradcasts and the local sponsors, a publishing house, run series-like articles at their magazines, but they are mostly translations from other us/european papers and internet sites. They do quote “theonering.net” as the number one site though.

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Ringer Spy Wolfman sends along this interesting report. Who knows if we’ll ever see some Frodo vests or Gandalf hats at the next MTV Awards!

A bit of information (and it’s good news about a field where the news have given me mixed feelings lately; merchandise).

I was on my way back from a meeting in Munich when I saw a guy carrying an interesting folder at the airport, waiting for the same plane as me. What caught my interest was an obvious “Lord of the Rings” Logo peeping out from beneath his arms. I approached him and he told me that he was on his way back from the European licensing negotiations about our beloved movie trilogy. Asked about his role, he said that he and his company were responsible for textiles, and asked what my feelings about the merchandising was so far. Since I am a hardcore fan only on the literature side (I detest the new German translation, for example), I answered that it’s okay; I like the Weta stuff but could have done without BK and the like. He agreed, and now here it is; at least in Europe, there won’t only be the usual T-Shirts with print-material on it, they will come out with a complete fashion collection (for men and women), with several (!) lines of (he said really wearable) clothing inspired by the movies.

Naturally, he was quite secretive about it, but the cover-drawing I saw looked really neat; appearing to be made of linen, it featured a long dress with tengwar (?) applications at the sleeves and the neck. When he said that his folder also contained the new trailer (for september) and some material for a DVD-release on CD, I should have lured him into a dark corner and knocked him down.

Oh yes; they plan on consulting some die-hard fans from the European scene for final input!!

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TheOneRing.net gives you an EXCLUSIVE look at the ‘Official Movie Guide‘ by Brian Sibley. (Available for Pre-Order right now at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk)

Ringer Spy Roxanne has sent in a sample section of the ‘Guide’ that has been distributed by the HarperCollins UK sales force.

From the first 10 pages, this book looks like it is going to be great! Check out our first look at Frodo healing in Rivendell as well as a great picture of Gandalf entering Hobbiton. Enjoy!

Close-up Images:

Convinced this book is going to be great? You can pre-order it now at Amazon.com. [HardCover] [Paperback] [UK Hardcover]

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Last week, Super Spy Big Jerk sent us a bunch of new images. So what’s going to top that? How about a rendered look at the Mines of Moria Cave Troll? Sounds good to me!

Now, i know this is bad research on my part, but we have had an image of the Cave Troll all along in our Movie Scrapbook. This image is from the 2000 Video Software Dealer’s Association Show.

Read the excerpt from my Cannes report on the footage below:

STORY/MOVIE SPOILERS
“I personally have never seen anything like this on the big screen. The Cave Troll is not made of rocks or stone or anything like that. It almost looks like you could squeeze and have your hands slide right off. It has a dull grey thick skin and a huge bulbous head with eyes very spread apart. The beast is so big and powerful you immediately realize that there is no way the Fellowship can beat this thing. It’s just that unstoppable. It initially uses a huge hammer to attack. Huge chunks of floor are dislodged as he swings and misses. Legolas leaps up on to a higher ledge and fires arrows into the beast to draw its attention. The troll then grabs a chain and uses it as a whip. Legolas is too fast. Aragorn attempts to attack it and is tossed across the room. The others are still engaged with some orcs.

We then cut to a shot of Frodo hiding behind a pillar. He is sliding along the circumference as the Troll is searching for him. It’s almost like the classic cat and mouse game. As Frodo slides to the right, the Troll peers to the left and sees nothing. As the Troll peers to the right, Frodo has slid to the left. Then Frodo begins to slide back to the right and without warning the troll catches onto his game. That big bulbous head suddenly appears in front of Frodo and we all jump out of our seats. Frodo stumbles back and begins a feeble attempt to escape the Troll’s attacks. Aragorn at one point runs to Frodo’s defense, only to be knocked out of contention as he is tossed away. The Troll picks up a huge pole and slams it into Frodo. The camera is set up so that it looks like Frodo takes a direct hit in the chest. Everything slows down as Frodo reels in pain and in astonished disbelief. The entire Fellowship looks at what has just happened and scream in agony. Even the Troll has a look of surprise at the affect of what he’s done. Frodo slumps to the floor. Merry and Pippin scream madly and jump on the Troll’s back, stabbing frantically with vengeance. Aragorn picks up the pole and sticks it under the Troll’s upper right rib cage. As the Cave Troll screams in anger, at yet another small nuisance wound in his side, he opens his mouth just enough for Legolas to skillfully shoot an arrow directly into his upper palette. The assumption is that the arrow reaches his brain and kills him. The Troll falls to the crowd with a dramatic thud.“

[Read the Full Cannes Footage Detail]

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