TolkienOnline’s original.wombat found a very interesting extract regarding Smeagol/Gollum in ROTK from Andy Serkis’ forthcoming book, Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic:
“Friday 11 April (03) was to be one of those defining moments in Gollum’s journey. I went round to Pete’s house to work on the script (ROTK) with Fran and Phillipa. It was great to see them after such a long time and we caught up on life since that mad day of ADR at Pinewood last summer. What they had in store for me, and Gollum, completely blew me away. It really brought home to me what incredibly adventurous, fearless screenwriters they were.
Fran had this idea that instead of repeating what he had established in the Two Towers – Gollum being the vicious dark side, the survivor, full of hatred and revenge, with the re-emerging Smeagol as the chink of light in his soul, the abused child, the victim who really trusts Frodo, and the side we felt pity for – that we turn it all on its head so that Smeagol was really the cold calculating passive-aggressive psychopath who play acted being the victim to get his own way. In comparison, Gollum would be less dangerous because his passion, lust and aggression were true hot-blooded emotions, flooded with feeling. The idea sent me reeling but I knew instinctively that this would be the way to go, that the character would deepen and take the audience on a very complex journey.
My only worries were, I suppose that it questioned my world-view. I had played Gollum as someone who, at the end of the day, no matter what he’d done, was a very sick addict and was redeemable because he was the victim of a powerful force that he couldn’t handle. Now we were looking at a character who is pure evil, past all redemption. My brain was frazzled by the implications.”
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The Ringers: Lord of the Fans crew is traveling to New Zealand for the world premiere of New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Arriving in Wellington on November 28th, the crew will be covering the many Lord of the Rings events and decorations hosted by the capitol city of Wellington. [More]
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TSN’s ‘Off the Record’
Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and Andy Serkis were special invited guests on TNS’ ‘Off the Record’ talk show in Canada. Take a look at the screenshots here. [More]
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The Ringers: Lord of the Fans (http://www.lordofthefans.net) crew is traveling to New Zealand for the world premiere of New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Arriving in Wellington on November 28th, the crew will be covering the many Lord of the Rings events and decorations hosted by the capitol city of Wellington.
Some events included for coverage are: The Folklore Festival, a Viggo Mortensen poetry reading, and TheOneRing.net’s The Return of the Ringers Party, on November 30th. Ringers writer/producer/narrator Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway will be the Master of Ceremonies for this classy fan gathering.
On December 1st, The Ringers crew will be in the thick of things shooting the Return of the King star-studded parade through the streets of Wellington. The crew will film the fan reactions to the stars red carpet arrivals for The Return of the King premiere at the Embassy theatre.
TORn staffers Asfaloth and Quickbeam will be on the Red Carpet shooting interviews for TORn Digital. The crew may be able to set up a live webcam of the red carpet arrivals. (Pending available Internet connectivity and weather.)
On December 2nd the Ringers crew will fly to the South Island join Red Carpet Tours on the Gondor tour of the Lord of the Rings filming locations.
The crew will be posting a weblog of the trip whenever Internet access is available. The weblog and webcam can be seen at www.lordofthefans.net.
About Ringers: Lord of the Fans:
Ringers: Lord of the Fans is a feature-length documentary that reveals the ongoing cultural phenomenon created by The Lord of the Rings. Produced in association with the popular Lord of the Rings new site, TheOneRing.net, this very funny and often moving documentary shows the hidden power behind Tolkien’s books — and how after 50 years a single literary work continues to spark the minds and hearts of millions, across cultures and across time.
Shot with groundbreaking new digital technology in 24P, Ringers explores the real foundations of Middle-earth; a community of true fans who share a common bond. Moving beyond “cult classic” and over several different generations, the film unearths academics, musicians, authors, filmmakers, and a plethora of pop junkies — the people gathered under the banner of ‘Ringer.’ From the hippie counter-culture to the electronic age; from the Bakshi animated film to Jackson’s epic trilogy; this documentary brings together extensive footage from across the globe. With units in Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Bonn, Germany, Wellington, New Zealand, and Oxford, England, our cameras capture the most fascinating “Ringers” and Lord of the Rings events.
What began as the private amusement of a tweedy Oxford professor has now become a new mythology for the 21st century. Ringers: Lord of the Fans shows how an adventure story published in 1954 has had dynamic ripple-effects through Western pop-culture. Ringers carefully pulls away the veil between Tolkien’s book and the creations of art, music, and community that have been inspired by it.
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As a testament to the deep bonds formed on the New Zealand sets of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, actor/musician Viggo Mortensen has tapped three of his co-stars to contribute to his upcoming album, Pandemoniumfromamerica. [More]
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Irascian writes: I’ve just posted my first daily weblog report from New Zealand, with pictures of the airport film set exhibition, sculptures in Courtenay Place etc. [More]
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