Film festival that launched The Lord of the Rings movies fetes Jackson with a special award of recognition.
Elijah Wood was on hand in France this week to present Peter Jackson with the prestigious Palme d’Or from the Cannes film festival, 25 years after the world-altering preview of LOTR films debuted there.
“Warner Bros. was being sold… The media was talking about the gamble was going to fail. So the first film, ‘Fellowship of the Ring,’ was going to come out in December 2001 and so we just finished shooting in December 2000… Bob Shaye decides that he wants to have 20 minutes of our film screen here in Cannes because he wants to change the press’ stories that were going out … Bob Shaye rolled the dice, and so we quickly changed 20 minutes of film, really fast, and we brought that 20 minutes here in 2001 in May, and we did some press in that castle up on the hill and had a party there, and Bob’s great gamble really changed the perception of the film. And for me obviously, it was a life-changing thing. So by the time the film came out there was an anticipation that there wouldn’t have been if not for Cannes.”
In a separate 1-on-1 conversation with Jackson, he talks broadly about many topics. Many press people were seated at the back of the auditorium filming with phones, so quality is a bit wonky.
On The Hunt for Gollum movie
Peter Jackson explains at #Cannes why he is not directing "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum':
"The film is about Gollum's psychological and addiction. I thought Andy knows this guy better than anybody. So I actually I didn't think much of me [directing the new movie.… pic.twitter.com/eNbmQuQ54d
“The film is about Gollum’s psychological and addiction. I thought Andy knows this guy better than anybody. So I actually I didn’t think much of me [directing the new movie. I thought the most exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis makes it.”
“I don’t dislike it at all. I mean, to me, it’s just a special effect.” Further, he talks about how Andy Serkis playing Gollum may not win any acting awards because of all the discourse around AI. “It’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance, so it’s sort of unfair that he wouldn’t get it.”
Variety as more complete write up of Peter Jackson’s comments on A.I. including a fair perspective of likeness rights. “If you’re doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else, as long as you’ve licensed the rights off the person who you’re showing, I don’t see the issue. It’s when people’s likenesses get stolen and usurped.”
Separately, while attending Cannes, actress Cate Blanchett has announced a non-profit consortium called RSL Media to create a legal framework in managing the AI likeness rights of all actors. There is also another EU group trying to do the same called HPF Human Providence in Film.
Peter Jackson got permission from Christopher Lee’s estate to use old outtakes for the recent War of the Rohirrim, and his Weta Digital worked with Ian Holm’s estate to bring his ALIEN character back using CGI models from The Hobbit movies.
On The Adventures of TinTin sequel
Peter Jackson reveals at #Cannes that he is working on a new "Adventures of Tintin" movie.
He's currently writing the script and plans to direct the movie himself. He was working on the screenplay while attending the festival. pic.twitter.com/mZx805loib
Jackson talks about disappointing Steven Spielberg by not making a movie for 15 years. But he’s writing now as we speak with intent to direct. The first TinTin is a fully animated film and is regarded as a modern classic. The sequel is one of the most long-anticipated movies in the industry.
The War of the Rohirrim and The Rings of Power are both nominated in one of the most prestigious music awards competitions.
According to Variety, which has the entire nominees list, two The Lord of the Rings projects are individually nominated in their respective categories. Bear McCreary (Instagram) is nominated for Season 2 of The Rings of Power, and Stephen Gallagher (Instagram) is nominated for The War of the Rohirrim. This marks the first time in history that Tolkien adaptations in both TV and Film are recognized for excellence at the same time.
World Soundtrack Nominees
Here are the categories LOTR is competitive in for 2025 World Soundtrack Awards.
Television Composer of the Year
Volker Bertelmann – “The Day of the Jackal”; “Dune: Prophecy”; “The Count of Monte Cristo”
David Fleming, Gustavo Santaolalla – “The Last of Us” (Season 2)
Ariel Marx – “Dying for Sex”
Bear McCreary – “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (Season 2)
Martin Phipps – “Black Doves”
Theodore Shapiro – “Severance” (Season 2)
Public Choice Award
“Buio come il cuore” (Dark Is the Heart) – David Cerquetti
“Hola Frida” – Laetitia Pansanel-Garric
“Ni chaînes ni maîtres” – Amine Bouhafa
“Reagan” – John Coda
“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” – Stephen Gallagher
Want to talk more about music from The Lord of the Rings? Join the Discord where members alerted us to this news first!
The Prancing Pony made everyone feel like a Hobbit at Comic Con, and now you can give back to Barliman the barkeep!
Photo: Middle Earth Enterprises Team Picture
Our pals at SDCCBlog.com have opened voting for Best Of San Diego Comic Con 2025, affectionately known as The Shruggies, and The Prancing Pony Booth from Middle Earth Enterprises has made the short list of nominees!
Click here to vote for TheOneRing.net booth and the Prancing Pony Club t-shirt for best exclusive!
Heads up: when you fill out the first 4 poll questions, the page automatically refreshes with the rest of the awards categories. We need your vote to catch up to the current leader LEGO!
Vote Vote Vote here! Let’s win one for the old Gaffer!
– Samwise Gamgee, if he went to Comic Con
Bringing the Prancing Pony to life
Middle Earth Enterprises, the stewards of all things LOTR and Hobbit, made their comic con debut in oversized fashion with a book, cartoon and movie accurate scale build of the pub the Hobbits arrive at in Bree. The Prancing Pony, under the peaceful management of Barliman Butterbur, is famously the place where “it comes in pints!”
If the Prancing Pony booth made you feel something, please VOTE at the polls now and be sure to tag @theoneringnet in your photos on IG. Voting ends Friday August 8th.
The nominations for the 61st Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards have been announced, and The Desolation of Smaug received two nods – Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley in an English Language Feature and Best Sound Editing: Music in a Feature (English or Foreign Language).
Among other awards groups announcing their nominations today, the Costume Designers Guild also released their nods. Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, and Bob Buck were nominated for their work on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, along with the costume designers of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Oz the Great and Powerful. Continue reading “Costume Designers Guild nominates ‘The Desolation of Smaug’”
