{"id":70211,"date":"2013-03-24T22:54:56","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T03:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=70211"},"modified":"2013-03-24T22:54:56","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T03:54:56","slug":"the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-sneak-peek-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2013\/03\/24\/70211-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-sneak-peek-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Sneak Peek – commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>\"monstrous-nightmare\"<\/a>Want to relive what you saw this afternoon?\u00a0 Reflecting on some of the moments, and trying to remember what was what?\u00a0 Well, don’t forget that, if you missed the Peter Jackson hosted first look at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug<\/em>,\u00a0 or just want to watch it over again, a modified version will be archived on the Trilogy\u2019s official website\u00a0 www.thehobbit.com\/sneak<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0To access the footage, use your UltraViolet code on your copy The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey<\/em> Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack or 2-Disc Special Edition DVD.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, staffer Rasputin the Evil Balrog shares with us some commentary on the footage:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After logging in and holding breath through a countdown, we are treated to the trailer from An Unexpected Journey <\/em>to whet our appetites. Now we are welcomed to Weta by Jed Brophy (Nori), who introduces Peter Jackson. Peter greets us and remarks on our opportunity to time travel, as it is already Monday morning in New Zealand. He says, \u201cSpoiler alert!\u201d and tells us that tomorrow\u2019s weather will be fine, and that New Zealand is currently beating England in an important cricket match, showing us the front page of the Wellington paper.<\/p>\n

Peter then told us that we were visiting the post-production studios, and the pair walked us into the Motion Capture stage where two actors were creating a fight scene between Azog\u00a0and another (smaller) orc under the supervision of a crew member named Christian (I\u2019m speculating that this is Christian Kickenweitz, a Weta motion editor, but I could be wrong. I\u2019m pretty sure it wasn\u2019t Christian Rivers). Peter commented that the orcs are more friendly in the studio, and Jed directed them to give us \u201ca little more anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving down the hall, the pair stop by a large format poster from the 1955 film The Dam Busters<\/em>, and Peter explains that it is one of his all-time favorite films. Taking the piss a bit, Jed comments that someone should remake it, a reference to Peter\u2019s widely reported ongoing efforts to do this remake. Peter gave him \u201ca look\u201d – and a wink at us! \u00a0On down the hall we are treated to a discussion of more vintage film posters, Peter explaining that they used to be larger than today\u2019s movie one-sheets and were hand painted. He has a whole collection of James Bond film posters down the length of the hall and says that Live and Let Die<\/em> was the first Bond film he ever saw.<\/p>\n

We enter the Pre-Viz department where Peter tells us they are doing some spider work as well as working on Smaug. Smaug! Hooray! Are we about to see him? But when we are shown the first computer screen, it\u2019s one of the dragons from Dreamworks\u2019 How to Train Your Dragon<\/em>.\u00a0[The ‘Monstrous Nightmare’ – as shown in the image with this post!] \u00a0A shot of a second monitor show the animator working on\u2026 a T-Rex with wings. Peter gently explains to the animator that those wings are far too small to lift the mass of that T-Rex.<\/p>\n

One \u201creal\u201d thing we get to see in the Pre-Viz room, though, is some designs for a library in Rivendell that unfortunately, according to Peter, didn\u2019t make it into the film.<\/p>\n

Peter and Jed now move down the hall again to the editing room where they join Peter\u2019s editor, Jabez Olssen. Peter mentions that it\u2019s almost a bit of culture shock to transition from working with 200-300 people on set every day to \u201cjust two guys in a room.\u201dJed remarks on the 103-inch television, and Peter talks about how it\u2019s essential for the editing process in order to get a better sense of the scale of the film as they work.<\/p>\n

Another vintage film poster discussed \u2013 One Million Years BC<\/em>. Peter says he had this one as a teenager, and when Jed asks about it, he says, \u201cdinosaurs were cool, Raquel Welch was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now we get a little more \u201cmeat\u201d as Peter and Jed discuss the links between filming and editing. They show us a wide shot of the Dwarves on a boat on a green screen set with Luke Evans (Bard), explaining that this is immediately after Bard picked up the barrels in which Bilbo smuggles the Dwarves out of Mirkwood. Peter explains that this is the \u201cmaster\u201d shot \u2013 a wide shot of the full scene done first to give them the big picture to work from. They show a number of takes of Martin Freeman (Bilbo) delivering a line and talk about how Martin never delivers a line the same way twice, so they have lots of options to choose from. The line he\u2019s delivering is, \u201cI never should have left Bag End. That was my first mistake. You know, we have a saying in the Shire. You learn it from birth. You never venture east.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jed and Peter discuss the mid-shots and closeups that are done after the wideshots, using examples of the boat scene\u00a0to illustrate. Jed refers to Aiden (Turner) as \u201cthe hot dwarf\u201d and Peter also refers to \u201cthe hot dwarf\u201d more than once. Bilbo\u2019s line is delivered after he notes that Kili\u00a0(Aiden Turner) is wounded, and Kili\u00a0tells him \u201cit\u2019s just a scratch.\u201d Bard responds to Bilbo\u2019s proclamation by asking, \u201cAnd why did you? Venture east?\u201d and we see our first shot of Luke Evans as Bard of Laketown at the tiller of the boat.<\/p>\n

This leads into a recorded message from Luke Evans greeting the viewers, including \u201cthe One-Ringers\u201d (a shout-out to TORn!) and \u201chobbiteers.\u201d Jed says to Peter, \u201cAre you gonna tell him he\u2019s not in the movie any more?!\u201d<\/p>\n

The first viewer question comes from \u201cChris in the United States,\u201d who asks about the challenges of making the middle film of a trilogy, comparing The Desolation of Smaug<\/em> to The Two Towers<\/em>. Peter says it\u2019s actually cool to be working on the second film because we get a chance to split into multiple timelines and follow more characters, giving, for example, the opportunity to reintroduce Legolas. This discussion happens while we are treated to a montage of footage of Orlando Bloom as Legolas\u00a0doing a lot of fighting and shooting on Mirkwood\u00a0green screen sets. Besides Legolas, Peter mentions Thranduil, and we see a shot of Lee Pace confronting Richard Armitage (Thorin). And finally he mentions the Master of Laketown and shows a number of quick scenes of Stephen Fry.<\/p>\n

This segues into a recorded greeting from Stephen Fry (the Master of Laketown), who is then cut off by Peter to play another viewer question from fans in Beijing. They ask about Peter\u2019s casting choices, using Orlando Bloom as an example. Is he similar to the character he plays? Peter says that in real life Orlando is much more relaxed and laid back, and funny, than Legolas.<\/p>\n

And we segue into a recorded greeting from Orlando Bloom who also has a question for Peter: What moment is he most looking forward to seeing on the screen in The Desolation of Smaug<\/em>? Peter says that he can\u2019t wait to see the first confrontation between Bilbo and Smaug, calling it an iconic scene. We get to see a couple of shots of Martin Freeman in the midst of Smaug\u2019s horde of gold.<\/p>\n

Peter cuts back to Stephen Fry\u2019s recorded greeting which is still going\u2026<\/p>\n

Then we take a viewer question from \u201cMarina in Canada\u201d who asks about the new characters that we will meet in the second film. Peter mentions Thranduil\u00a0again and also Bard, and we are treated to several shots of Bard in Laketown\u00a0and some action scenes that are quite reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean. Peter says we\u2019re going to particularly have fun with Bard as his character is enigmatic, and we\u2019re not quite sure if he\u2019s good or bad. It reminded me of Peter\u2019s treatment of Faramir in Two Towers<\/em>, giving him more dimension and depth than we see in the books.<\/p>\n

Peter then talks about Tauriel, a truly new character who doesn\u2019t exist in the books at all, played by Evangeline Lilly. He says she\u2019s part of the \u201cWoodland Guard\u201d in Mirkwood, and we will be able to see that she\u2019s from a somewhat lower status than Legolas. We get lots of shots of Legolas\u00a0and Tauriel\u00a0fighting orcs on Mirkwood\u00a0sets, and Tauriel captures and threatens to execute an Orc.<\/p>\n

The next question is from several young fans in Brazil who want to know what Peter\u2019s favorite weapon is from the LOTR films. Peter says he loves Theoden\u2019s sword, and he pulls it out to show everyone the horse design, explaining that it\u2019s real steel and much heavier than you might imagine. He says the design is evocative of Viking or Anglo-Saxon designs.<\/p>\n

And we go back to Stephen Fry who is still talking on his recorded greeting, saying that he has \u201ca lot to live up to,\u201d but that the films show \u201cthe sheer delight of the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter and Jed take another question, this one from Twitter, asking how difficult is it to stay on track during the film process? Peter says it\u2019s very difficult to stay on schedule and especially to stay within budget. He says that the weather can be one of the biggest challenges and describes how, when they were filming in Nelson, the scene when the Dwarves and Bilbo escape Mirkwood\u00a0in the barrels, they got flooded out. Police had to come and evacuate them because of a storm and they lost two days of filming. Peter described how he rehearses with the cast at the beginning of each day then plans out which shots they are going to work on, ranging from 6 or 7 per day to as many as 12 to 14, depending on how complex the shots are.<\/p>\n

Another video question and this one is from Stephen Colbert! Colbert asks a very detailed question about the elves of Mirkwood\u00a0(formerly Greenwood the Great). Will Peter be making any differentiation between Thranduil\u00a0and Legolas, who are Sindarin, and the other Mirkwood\u00a0elves who are Avari\u00a0or Noldor\u00a0\u2013 those who did not heed the call of the Valar\u00a0and travel west to Valinor. Peter responds briefly, yes, but then says he has a question for Stephen. He gives a long explanation of how, when he was a guest on Colbert\u2019s show a year ago, he was given a souvenir coffee mug, but that when he left, he also took the much larger mug which he was given on air with water while he was a guest. Apparently, the printing of the Colbert report logo on the larger mug washed right off in the dishwasher. Since it was pristine when Peter had it on the show, he\u2019s forced to wonder, does Stephen ever wash that mug between guests?!?<\/p>\n

Another Twitter question, does Peter always edit barefoot? A resounding yes, and he props his bare feet on the table in the editing suite to demonstrate. He says that, unfortunately, he has to wear shoes most of the time when he\u2019s working on set due to safety regulations.<\/p>\n

We get a recorded greeting from Lee Pace (Thranduil) who says he\u2019s looking forward to the second film where he gets to have the Dwarves in his realm, on his terms.<\/p>\n

A Twitter question for Jed, how would he choose to torture Peter? Jed says he\u2019d opt for rotisserie over a fire. He and Peter discuss the scene in An Unexpected Journey<\/em>\u00a0where the trolls tie half of the dwarves to a spit over their fire. Jed comments that Mark Hadlow (Dori, and the voice of Bert the Troll) was particularly uncomfortable, and they say that even under his dwarf makeup you could see how pale he was. Peter says that much later, while they were editing, he realized you can just hear Mark saying, \u201cCan we stop? I think I\u2019m going to be sick\u2026\u201d but that they never heard him on set and Peter just told them to start turning them again!<\/p>\n

We get a recorded greeting from actor Billy Boyd who asks Peter about what new wild lands we’re going to see in The Hobbit<\/em>, pointing out that he and his companions in Lord of the Rings<\/em>\u00a0only made it to the Misty Mountains before turning south. Peter shows us some of the artwork designs for the forest of Mirkwood, which used to be the Greenwood but has become dark and fearsome.<\/p>\n

We get a recorded greeting from Evangeline Lilly who says that when she was doing her ADR session, she saw a mockup of Thranduil\u2019s realm, but it was unfinished, and she wants to know what will Peter\u2019s vision look like? Peter describes the underground realm of the elves and shows us artwork by John Howe depicting the entryway to the realm reached by a bridge across a perilous river. (I was on the chatroom with TORn staffer Demosthenes while I was watching, and he showed me that this art is extremely similar to Alan Lee\u2019s depiction of \u201cMenegroth of the Thousand Caves.\u201d). Peter says that he tried to make this cavernous\u00a0realm still look elvish, but that it\u2019s less \u201cgentle and friendly\u201d than Rivendell.<\/p>\n

A recorded video from actor Dominic Monaghan asks Peter what is the best untrue rumor he\u2019s heard about himself (and gives us a view of the backyard of Dom\u2019s home, which he says is \u201cwiiiiiild!\u201d). Peter says that the wildest rumor he heard was that he was moving his family onto a boat to live twelve miles off the coast of New Zealand to avoid paying taxes. He said that besides the fact that he gets seasick, he\u2019s \u201chappy to pay taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Twitter user asks if the Necromancer will play a greater role in The Desolation of Smaug<\/em>? Peter and Jed deadpan respond, \u201cYes.\u201d And that\u2019s all they\u2019re saying\u2026<\/p>\n

Peter then says, to our great disappointment, that they do not have a trailer for us yet, that it will be coming this summer, but they do have a scene to show us. He intros it by saying that it\u2019s a scene based on information from the appendices of Lord of the Rings<\/em>, building on the Necromancer\/Dol Guldur\u00a0story line and Gandalf\u2019s consultation with Galadriel\u00a0regarding the Morgul\u00a0blade that Radagast\u00a0found. Gandalf goes to what Peter refers to as \u201cthe High Fells\u201d to investigate. The scene opens with Gandalf lighting the end of his staff at the top of a narrow staircase that goes around the inside wall of a square tower. He climbs down towards a door that\u2019s surrounded by the mangled wreckage of an iron gate. Through the gate, he enters a narrow crypt with a sarcophagus at the end. The lid is broken and shoved aside, and as Gandalf slowly approaches, a bird suddenly flies out and into his face (in what will undoubtedly be a cheap thrill moment in 3D). Radagast appears in the doorway behind him and takes off his hat to give the bird access to its nest in his hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh. You,\u201d says Gandalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s me. Why am I here? This is not a nice place to meet,\u201d replies Radagast.<\/p>\n

Gandalf tells him it was built by a nameless servant of evil \u2013 one of nine.<\/p>\n

Radagast asks, \u201cWho would break into such a foul place?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one. These tombs were opened from the inside…\u201d<\/p>\n

The event was wrapped up with a fast-paced montage of sneak peek shots including:<\/p>\n