{"id":87789,"date":"2014-03-25T12:24:53","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T17:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=87789"},"modified":"2014-03-25T12:27:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T17:27:59","slug":"how-would-have-peter-jacksons-the-hobbit-looked-as-a-duology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2014\/03\/25\/87789-how-would-have-peter-jacksons-the-hobbit-looked-as-a-duology\/","title":{"rendered":"How would have Peter Jackson\u2019s The Hobbit looked as a duology?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The Originally, Peter Jackson intended his adaptation of The Hobbit to be a two-film effort — a duology. <\/p>\n

We’ll never know for certain how it would have turned out, but in this feature TORn writer Captain Salt brings together the known facts to give us some idea of just how it might have shaped up.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

The Hobbit: a duology?<\/h3>\n

by Captain Salt<\/b><\/p>\n

The Hobbit being adapted as a trilogy has certainly caused a lot of controversy… so much so that it may be hard to recall that the initial plan to produce a duology also drew its fair share of discourse and speculation. <\/p>\n

From the scraps we\u2019re able to glean (the process of adapting a two-film version has not been over-detailed to us as of yet), Peter\u2019s Jackson\u2019s initial The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (no The Desolation of Smaug here) would have differed in several ways from the final product.<\/p>\n

Once the Extended Edition of The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again come out later this year it’ll be easier to reconstruct Peter\u2019s original two movie conception. In the meantime, this is one possible “what could have been” for a two-movie The Hobbit.<\/p>\n

The prologue<\/h4>\n

\"Ian
Ian Holm as old Bilbo in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.<\/figcaption><\/figure> The idea of opening The Hobbit movies with Sir Ian Holm and Elijah Wood seems to have been in place from early on. However, the prologue was at first to feature a backstory for how Frodo came to be adopted by his “Uncle” Bilbo. Following the party scene featuring young Bilbo and Gandalf, it seems the writers intended to show Frodo moving to live at Bag End after the untimely drowning of Drogo and Primula.<\/p>\n

Ryan Gage, ultimately cast as Alfrid Lickspittle, was to play Drogo Baggins while Australian actress Caroline Grace-Cassidy was one of the candidates in the frame for the role of Primula Brandybuck. <\/p>\n

According to Philippa Boyens, at one point the flashback sequence detailing the history of Erebor and Dale was set to unfold during the Unexpected Party. This would have meant a shorter, more whimsical prologue featuring only the Hobbits. Boyens also mentioned they considered including the flashback following Thrain within the party scene. This would have shed more light on the pivotal Map and Key -\u2013 and perhaps even have started the Necromancer storyline in a very different way. <\/p>\n

Another consequence of all these flashbacks occuring in Bilbo\u2019s house would have meant an even more extended first act — and perhaps significant trims to character scenes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The introduction of Bolg and Azog<\/h4>\n

\"Bolg,
Bolg, son of Azog. Original design.<\/figcaption><\/figure> Perhaps one of the major deviations in PJ\u2019s two-movie version would have been differences with the “orc hunting” sub-plot. Initially the plan involved a later introduction of Azog, and different roles for both him and especially Bolg. The scene with Fili and Kili teasing Bilbo about orcs would have been much shorter and would not have included the Azanulbizar flashback. <\/p>\n

It seems that when Thorin\u2019s company was attacked outside Rivendell we would have been lead to believe they had by-chance encountered a prowling pack of orcs lead by Stephen Ure\u2019s Fimbul. The Azog flashback at Weathertop did not come into being until after the trilogy split. <\/p>\n

Material from An Unexpected Journey\u2019s B-roll footage with Gandalf exclaiming “orcs… hide!” as the company seemingly takes shelter until their enemies depart also suggests a previously more suspenseful entrance into Rivendell. Azog\u2019s name would not be mentioned until the encounter with the Goblin King (something originally set to follow Gandalf\u2019s excursion into the High Fells, helping establish the growing menace of the Necromancer). And the reveal that the Pale Orc (John Rawls in prosthetics) was alive and pursuing the Company was to occur in the Out of the Frying Pan sequence -\u2013 meaning viewers would not encounter Azog until Bilbo did. <\/p>\n

Thorin and Azog\u2019s confrontation was meant to be much simpler. According to the An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition commentary, the Eagles swooped in to save Thorin immediately after he was knocked down. Bilbo was not forced to leap forward and defend the Dwarf lord. The scene on the Carrock where Erebor is espied in the distance as Thorin and Bilbo reconcile seems to have been part of the last-minute reshoots after the switch to a trilogy.<\/p>\n

Events around and within Mirkwood<\/h4>\n

\"Beorn\" Balin narrating Azanulbizar was to have occurred at Beorn\u2019s house, perhaps with Bilbo asking about the orc chieftain that had attacked them and Beorn mentioning his backstory concerning Azog. Initially, it seems that the Pale Orc was to have pursued the Company through the Woodland Realm — footage of motion-capture from the March 2013 preview of The Desolation of Smaug, along with Azog\u2019s presence during the barrel scene in DOS marketing, suggests this was a late change. <\/p>\n

After Gandalf left the Company at Mirkwood’s edge, he was to encounter a hulking Bolg (Conan Stevens in prosthetics) in Dol Guldur, where he would realised that both Bolg and his progenitor were serving the Necromancer. Evidently, Azog was always the hunter of the dwarves (not returning to Dol Guldur from outside Beorn\u2019s house, but rather much later in the story), while Bolg was not included in the dwarf hunt at all, but rather was intended as Sauron\u2019s servant in Dol Guldur). <\/p>\n

Based on supplementary material and his prominence in marketing material, Fimbul was originally slated to be a significant villain. Instead, Yazneg — a character who did not exist until the late re-shoots on Film 1 — took Fimbul\u2019s place as Azog\u2019s lieutenant in the trilogy. And more of Fimbul\u2019s role may have been assigned to Bolg and\/or Narzug in Film 2.<\/p>\n

As the dwarves entered Mirkwood, the writers planned to include events from the novel such as Bombur\u2019s dip in the Enchanted River, and Thorin attempting to shoot the White Stag. This may (or may not) be included in the Extended Edition of The Desolation of Smaug). Concerning the Wood-elves: originally, according to Orlando Bloom, Tauriel and Legolas had a “brother and sister” relationship rather than being involved in a “romantic triangle” with Kili -\u2013 though their scenes in the two-film version were probably largely similar.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A much more expansive first film<\/h4>\n

\"10359599104_66ab5ff670_o\" An Unexpected Journey was obviously to have originally covered much more of the plot, ending with the barrel escape from Mirkwood and Gandalf\u2019s confrontation with the Necromancer. Conceptually, the writers seem to have been aiming for Thematic “rhyming”, with Bilbo and the dwarves escaping from the elves just as Gandalf is captured by his nemesis, with Azog and Bolg each involved in the dual climax. <\/p>\n

Thrain\u2019s presence, (which supposedly will be reinserted into the Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition), and Lego sets hinting at the presence of Radagast and Beorn in Dol Guldur, may have meant a very different sequence of events on the Hill of Sorcery than what we saw in the theatre. And Peter Jackson says that An Unexpected Journey would have ended with Thorin\u2019s company encountering Bard. One speculates, as in the theatrical version, the Lonely Mountain would have remained part of the final moments of the film.<\/p>\n

It seems that initially, Bilbo was a more doubtful character on Bard\u2019s boat into Lake-town (as depicted in the March 2013 preview), perhaps not really coming into his own until the company reached the Mountain; however, this character trait would now probably be inconsistent with Bilbo\u2019s more obvious growing heroism spawned from his encounter with Azog shot in pick-ups for Film 1. Bilbo bemoaning the fact that he\u2019s \u201cventured east\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to conform with his constantly (and willingly) aiding the company throughout the second film.<\/p>\n

Events around Lake-town and Erebor<\/h4>\n

\"Luke
Luke Evans as Bard The Bowman and John Bell as his son Bain.<\/figcaption><\/figure> Originally the story in Lake-town would have been shorter: it seems that Alfrid noticed the dwarves sneaking into Lake-town and reported this to the Master, with Braga heading out to arrest the company (as was shown in DoS making-of videos). According to Luke Evans, the scene with Bard recalling Thorin\u2019s name after finding an ancient tapestry was part of pick-ups, while the failed burglary of the armory and Bard\u2019s unsuccessful attempt to reach the wind-lance may also have been added to the original Lake-town story (Evans stated that his character was expanded considerably in pick-ups). <\/p>\n

The fight between Legolas\/Tauriel and the orcs in Lake-town also seems to have been extended, as we can infer from Peter Jackson\u2019s comments concerning Orlando Bloom battling a \u201cserious orc\u201d that the Leggy\/Bolg scene was the result of the Summer 2013 pick-ups (and of course, Bolg was originally in Dol Guldur at this time and not pursuing the dwarves as in the final DoS). Initially, the scene would have ended with Legolas slaying a more-prominent Fimbul, and the orcs being driven from Bard\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

Finally, it seems likely that the dwarves attempt to slay Smaug would have been shorter in the duology than it ultimately became in the trilogy. Initially this scene would have fallen toward the middle of the second of two films, rather than being the climax of film 2 in a three-installment version. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Swings and roundabouts<\/h4>\n

\"HobbitWhile there surely would have been many differences between the shorter and longer iterations of Peter Jackson\u2019s version of The Hobbit, they ultimately would have remained similar in approach. Thus, those disappointed with what Jackson has delivered may not have been impressed by even a two-film version -\u2013 and perhaps less so considering character moments probably would have been trimmed to accomodate a shorter running time. <\/p>\n

It does seem certain elements would have enjoyed more attention in a duology. Bilbo\u2019s backstory and more pointedly, the characterization of the dwarves (well-described in casting calls and supplementary material) have been downplayed in the trilogy. Many of the dwarves are bit players. <\/p>\n

Others have been elaborated. We know that the Weathertop and Bree scenes were the result of re-shoots, while Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans and John Bell each stated that their characters ended up more involved than was originally planned. Azog may not initially been as prominent either. Ultimatly, Peter Jackson’s two-film version of “The Hobbit” joins his simiular “Lord of the Rings” duology as a “what might have been” in the history of cinema.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Dcole4 for thoughts on orc story\/Lake-town battle sequence.<\/i><\/p>\n

Captain Salt has been a Tolkien fan since childhood when he played Gloin in a stage production of The Hobbit though as there were only about eight dwarves, he was given other dwarves\u2019 dialogue as well, resulting in a rather strange Gloin who at times talked to himself in a Gollum-ish manner. He\u2019s also volunteered through the years at other film sites and has written for (minor) entertainment publications. <\/p>\n

The views presented in this article are his own and don\u2019t necessarily represent TheOneRing.net or other staff. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally, Peter Jackson intended his adaptation of The Hobbit to be a two-film effort — a duology. We’ll…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":85258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1344,1294,32,1518,1506,1637,114,41,1502,1494,497,46,1515,1295,331,435,22,7,4,1711,2255,49,1320,232,2017,1296,1667,1383,2363,1495,333,1517,1840,1298,1260,1156,1387,1299,74,1292,1293,1386,590,466,1297,498,1228,148,1636,1911,1912,392,1385],"tags":[1788],"class_list":["post-87789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-brown","category-aidan-turner","category-serkis","category-barry-humphries","category-benedict-cumberbatch","category-billy-connolly","category-hobbit-casting","category-blanchett","category-conan-stevens","category-dean-ogorman","category-production-directors","category-wood","category-evangeline-lilly","category-graham-mctavish","category-greenbooks","category-guillermo-del-toro","category-headlines","category-hobbit-book","category-hobbit-movie","category-hobbit-movie-rumors","category-hugo-weaving","category-mckellen","category-james-nesbitt","category-jed-brophy","category-john-bell","category-john-callen","category-john-rawls","category-ken-stott","category-lawrence-makoare","category-lee-pace","category-hobbit-locations","category-luke-evans","category-manu-bennett-hobbit-cast-news","category-mark-hadlow","category-martin-freeman","category-mgm-production-studios-production","category-mikael-persbrandt","category-peter-hambleton","category-jackson","category-richard-armitage","category-rob-kazinsky","category-ryan-gage","category-saoirse-ronan","category-stephen-fry","category-stephen-hunter","category-production-studios","category-sylvester-mccoy","category-hobbit","category-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey","category-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","category-the-hobbit-there-and-back-again","category-warner-bros","category-william-kircher","tag-library"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Hobbit-Smaug-Poster.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-mPX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87789"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87938,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87789\/revisions\/87938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}