It was months before the cameras were set to roll on one of 20th Century Fox’s most ambitious projects for 2005, a $140 million historic epic about the Crusades by the director Ridley Scott. And still there was no one to play the leading role of Balian. Mr. Scott had at first envisioned Russell Crowe, the scowling, muscled star of his “Gladiator” hit, to play the role of a blacksmith and reluctant Crusader in the Holy Land. But Mr. Crowe had other projects on his slate, and would not alter them to fit the director’s timetable. It took four more months of searching by casting agents and Mr. Scott to settle on Orlando Bloom, the long-haired, doe-eyed young British actor who was high on Hollywood’s list of hot new stars in the making. Mr. Bloom, who had won a fan base of teenage girls with his performance in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and who was fresh off the set of another historical epic, Warner Brothers’ “Troy,” was the favored choice of Fox executives. [More]
Category: Original TORn
BLOOPERS FROM ‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS’ MOVIE TRILOGY TO BE SCREENED FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE ONE RING CELEBRATION
Only Official “The Lord of The Rings” Convention To Take Place in Pasadena from January 20 – January 22, 2006
For the first time ever, fans of The Lord of the Rings, the Oscar winning New Line Cinema trilogy, can view exclusive blooper footage at the ultimate Lord of the Rings fan event, ORC (The One Ring Celebration). Taking place at the Pasadena Center in Pasadena, CA from Friday, January 20th through Sunday, January, 22nd, the only official LOTR convention is an opportunity for fans from around the globe to celebrate Peter Jackson’s film interpretation of Tolkien’s classic tales.
Throughout the weekend, stars from the films including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Miranda Otto and John Noble will meet with fans who will be transported to Middle earth while experiencing educational and entertaining workshops and seminars that cover all aspects of Tolkien lore. For more details please visit
Note: BLOOPERS will be shown all three days of the convention. GREAT TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!
AICN writer Quint writes: Quint here with a chat I had recently with a man by the name of Michael Pellerin. Michael is the dude most directly responsible for those amazing LORD OF THE RINGS Extended Edition DVDs and has also recently contributed to that fantastic documentary on the 1933 KING KONG DVD as well as providing all those weekly (or bi-weekly as it was during the filming) Production Diaries for Peter Jackson’s KING KONG. I met Michael on one of my last days on the set of KONG. He’s a big fan of the site and even though the pressure of recording DVD material as well as cutting material for the online Production Diaries was obviously stressing him out I could still tell that he was in his element, doing what he loves. [More]
In its monster hit “Lost,” ABC has found more than just a highly rated, award-winning television show with the potential to spin off sequels. “Lost” has become a world of its own, albeit fictional, that, with its labyrinth of clues and multilayered plots, has become the test case for the marriage between new technology and creative content. Getting “Lost” has never been easier. It’s on your TV set, your DVR, your iPod and DVD collection — and that’s just the Wednesday-night program itself. Surf the Web and there are countless “Lost” sites — some designed by ABC or the show’s creators and others by the legions of fans of the island castaways drama. Soon there will be “Lost Video Diaries” on Verizon cellphones, two-minute episodes that will chronicle the stories of characters who were on the doomed Oceanic Flight 815 but who do not appear on the show. [More]
Now is as good a time as any to start a Celtic rock band. In an age when Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser’s siren-like linguistics-mangling voice livens the scores of ultra-mainstream The Two Towers, or alternately, sets the mood for Gregg Araki’s angst-laden Mysterious Skin alongside bandmate Robin Guthrie’s chiming guitar, “world music” no longer carries the same cheesy connotations outside of gothic rock’s inner circle. Emerald Rose already has the attention of 4AD record collectors and quiet librarians-turned-new age mysticists, but the band’s sights are set just a little higher as they attempt to reach a broader audience. An exuberant, exciting and passionate four-piece blending traditional Celtic music with their own compositions, Emerald Rose delivers a power-packed collection of songs on Archives of Ages to Come. They have been a hit success at many festivals, parties and holidays in recent years, and have received the honor of performing as the headline act at the Oscar parties for the movies The Two Towers and Return of the King, which they consider a delightful and appropriate opportunity. [More]
Carlene Cordova found herself in the midst of Middle-earth madness and realized that she had the makings of a movie. The former Dayton-area resident was working with the popular Lord of the Rings fan site TheOneRing.net, covering red-carpet premieres and fan anticipation for Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film trilogy, based on the epic novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. The sudden resurgence of Tolkien’s work, fueled by Jackson’s films as well as by the Internet, caught the attention of Cordova and Cliff Broadway, a writer for the Web site. They saw it as a phenomenon in the fan world. “Since we were right there in the middle, and we had access to the stars, and we had access to the fans — both sides talked to us, knew us, trusted us — we realized that we were in a unique position to document what was happening and that we should,” Cordova said. [More]