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LOTR News 24-4-00
Scoop Media recently reported this story regarding Liv Tyler, which
they entitled "Our Liv Freaks Out In Battle":
Liv Tyler, Wellywood's most talked about starlet, has been acting it up
during shooting of the Lord of the Rings, both on and off the set.
A crew insider said the normally cool and demure New Yorker freaked out
astride her horse recently during the filming of a tumultuous battle scene
in Upper Hutt.
Things came to a head when filming a large crowd maneuver at the Helm's
Deep set. A multitude of fearsome looking riders dressed as orcs came
galloping towards Tyler, causing her to lose her cool.
"She just sat on her horse and screamed," an eyewitness told Scoop. "She
was really freaked out by all the horses bearing down on her." "She only
calmed down when they used her stunt double. She was lucky her horse didn't
bolt."
Tyler who plays Elvan Princess Arwen the Evenstar has also been causing a
few heads to turn in her off the set shenanigans. At a Christmas cast wrap
party last year she was widely seen engaging in a very cinematic public
kiss with a crew member.
Tyler is also rumoured to have damaged a photocopier at the film's
headquarters at Weta Studios in Island Bay - attempting to send facsimiles
of various body parts to her boyfriend back in the US. Recently boyfriend
and Tyler were seen together at the Cricket at Wellington's basin reserve.
Also, according to Mr. Showbiz columnist Charles Fleming, we may be
viewing the first trailer in theatres for LOTR according to an unnamed
source at New Line. The source reports that New Line is currently working
on a trailer for the first of three films, which won't open until Christmas
2001, for theater screens either this summer or fall. The source also tells
the columnist, "It will be huge. You won't be able to escape it."
LOTR News 17-4-00
Boys, lots of new News on the LOTR front! It figures, we take a one
weekpost-BAFTA break and all hell breaks loose!
Let's begin with this story reported by Cinescape:
'Blanchett Talks 'Rings'
Cate Blanchett is talking, briefly, about the Lord of the
Rings project. While talking to frequent Cinescape
contributor Cindy Pearlman for her syndicated column,
Blanchett talked about Tolkien's original books, saying,
"[Author] J.R.R. Tolkien created a whole language. He
created a world within a world. My god, that man. He
created the Middle Earth. I think Lord of the Rings will be a
historic movie."
Blanchett is ready to go as she says, "I can't wait until I
start filming in June. I'm really excited to work with director
Peter Jackson. He has one of the most out-there
imaginations of any director around." Still, Blanchett admits
that she doesn't quite know what to expect, saying, "I don't
even know what I will look like in the movie."
The biggest news to date came last weekend with a LOTR preview courtesy of
New Line. As reported by Ann Donahue in Variety:
The Internet exclusive preview of New Line Cinema's "The Lord of the Rings"
was downloaded almost 1.7 million times in the first 24 hours it was
available, according to Apple Computer, one of the companies providing
download capabilities.
The number of downloads eclipses the record set by the trailer for "Star
Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," which tallied 1 million downloads in
its first day online.
The two-minute preview is a repackaging of the material that was premiered
at ShoWest, according to Gordon Paddison, VP of worldwide interactive
marketing for New Line.
Middle Earth marketing
It consists of battle footage, brief interviews with star Elijah Wood and
helmer Peter Jackson, as well as behind-the-scenes shots of the special
effects team. The preview was made available at the start of the weekend
Friday and can be downloaded in a number of formats, including a
full-screen version.
"I was trying to turn the long window between production and release into
an asset," said Joe Nimziki, president of theatrical marketing for New
Line. "I'm trying to walk that fine line between creating awareness of the
movie, but I don't want to show so much so people think there's no mystery
left."
Nimziki said that there will be additional teaser trailers posted at www.lordoftherings.net as the
movie's release date approaches.
Paddison said the studio is involved in an outreach effort with 25
independent movie fan sites, which touted the release of the preview in the
days before it bowed.
"We have been working closely with 'The Lord of the Rings' fan sites
worldwide for the past year, and this staggering launch shows how important
the online community is to our marketing efforts moving forward," he said.
The first movie in the "Rings" trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring," has a
tentative release date of Christmas 2001, with "The Two Towers" and "The
Return of the King" bowing in successive years. All three films are being
shot consecutively in New Zealand and also star Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm,
Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler.
Also, the Los Angeles Times interviewed Ian Holm last week, and
this little bit was revealed:
Holm had stopped off in Los Angeles to talk about "Joe Gould's Secret"
while on his way back from New Zealand, where he'd spent four weeks
working on Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings."
When asked about the production, Holm makes a quick "zip" gesture across
his mouth, noting that he's not permitted to talk about the trilogy of
films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic science-fiction work, which
features the other Sir Ian, McKellen, in the role of Gandalf.
Holm does, however, reveal that his character, Bilbo Baggins, ages from
111 to 170 over the course of the story. "I'm in a complete face mask,
and it's the most extraordinary makeup I've ever, ever seen."
And finally, from the Grinch category comes this observation by one
A.N.Wilson writing in the Evening Standard UK:
It Could Become A Nasty Hobbit
One of JRR Tolkien's sons married a Canadian. When this young woman's
parents met the great author, they confided: "Somehow, we couldn't get
along with The Lord of the Rings - we couldn't identify with any of the
characters."
Since most of the characters are hobbits, dwarfs, wizards and elves, it was
perhaps not surprising. Clearly, that is what is expected of literature
nowadays. Those of us who can't identify with Odysseus or Achilles will not
bother our heads over Homer.
The screen version of Lord of the Rings, which one can tell in advance will
be excruciatingly bad, is trying to increase the female interest of the
tale. Cate Blanchett is playing the Elven queen Galadriel, and Liv Tyler
the beautiful Arwen - both pretty minor roles in Tolkien's epic, but
evidently the film's director and distributors believe the public won't be
interested in the story Tolkien actually wrote.
Perhaps these things don't matter, but those of us who admire Tolkien will
feel rather sad. If I were a multi-millionaire, I'd commission a film of
Tolkien's The Silmarillion, which is largely about disembodied angels and
which contains some of his best work.
The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest pieces of narrative ever
conceived by a human imagination. Are we really so limited in our
sympathies that we don't want the film version of Lord of the Rings to
reflect its great original and would rather have some stupid Yankee
version?
If this is our attitude, why not inject some gay interest into the story,
lest it make the homosexual community feel excluded?
Sheesh! What a grouch that guy is! Why don't we just wait and see, eh?
LOTR News 3-4-00
LOTR NEWS
A couple of interesting bits on LOTR info have drifted our way of late. The
first, courtesy of Scoop Media, is:
Lord of the Rings allowed in Tongariro Park
The Minister of Conservation, Hon Sandra Lee, has given approval for the
company making the Lord of the Rings to film within the Tongariro
National Park.
Ms Lee says she has decided to allow Three Foot Six Ltd to undertake
commercial filming, which is allowed under the National Park's
management plan, but some restrictions have been placed on the company's
permitted activities to meet environmental and cultural concerns.
"The filming sites are all in areas of high public use, either on ski
fields or adjacent to highways," said Ms Lee.
"The Lord of the Rings film-makers have undertaken to make good any
possible impact on sites from their activities over an extensive period
of time," she said.
"While some limited helicopter use is permitted for ski field management
in the area, my power is strictly prescribed when dealing with other
access requests," said Ms Lee.
The Conservator's decision against helicopter use had been referred to
the Minister by the company for re-consideration.
"The Government welcomes the opportunity to showcase of one of New
Zealand's most dramatic natural landscapes while also bringing economic
benefit to the local community," said Ms Lee.
In other news, our friends at Imladris: Lord of the Rings Movie News
recently reported that a few days ago, Cirdan from Herr der Ringe Film (the
German LOTR website) was lucky enough to get a view of The Lord of the
Rings screener footage that we have mentioned previously.
He describes it thusly (we have tidied up the English a bit):
"Some days ago I got this kind of message "We have to show you something.
Visit us at March 23rd, we will pay your costs" So I visited some
influential people and they showed me the LOTR-Footage!
Now I will tell you what I saw. Sorry, it´s not in chronological
order, just everything I remember.
The camera flies about Middle Earth, then we can see some
people on the horizon, we fly closer and see the fellowship --CUT--
Arwen riding a white horse. Four or five Nazgul chase her --CUT--
Gandalf walking through the snow --CUT-- Sam and his daughter in
hobbiton --CUT-- Bilbo with grey-wooled hair --CUT-- Orcs detailed faces
--CUT-- Christopher "Saruman" Lee in white with his Palantir-staff
--CUT-- we see the inside of a hobbit hole--CUT--at the end Boromir (in
a rocky landscape) looks at the ring and spoke with sad words about this
little thing --CUT- then in big letters:
LORD OF THE RINGS
In Addition some CGI-Shots from a Trolll and Gollum, Interviews with
Alan Lee and John Howe, Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin...Some
Shot of Lorien-Designs (looks a little bit like a filigree version of
the ewok-houses) and Cate Blanchett and many many more...
This Footage will appear online this month and I really wish you
all will see this wonderful film reel!!!"...so there you have it!
LOTR News 20-3-00
The Sunday Star Times revealed that Marton Csokas has landed the role of Celeborn. The story:
Former "Shortland Street" star Marton Csokas has scored one of the world's most sought after film roles - playing Cate Blanchett's screen husband in Lord of the Rings. Publicist Claire Raskind confirmed to the Sunday Star-Times Csokas had been cast in the role of Celeborn in Peter Jackson's $360 million film project.
In J R R Tolkien's classic trilogy the silver-haired Celeborn, King of the Elves, is
married to Galadriel, to be played by Cate.
Csokas will be playing opposite the stunning Blanchett, 30, one of Hollywood's most in demand stars. The Australian actress won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her title role in Elizabeth. She can currently be seen on New Zealand screens in "The Talented Mr Ripley" opposite Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Csokas joins fellow former "Street" star Craig Parker in the Rings project. Parker is
understood to have already filmed scenes for a small role.
Weaving's film credits include "The Matrix", with Keanu Reeves, but he is probably best known in this country for his role as Mitzi in "The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert", the Australian film about drag queens.
Weaving has been cast to play Elrond. he has been spotted at Festival 2000
performances with fellow star Elijah Wood.
Otto, who has just finished a film with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, also had a part in "The Thin Red Line". She will play Eowyn.
It is understood former film critic Costa Botes is working for Jackson as a video diarist, filming the behind the scenes footage.
Raskind said studio bosses from New Line Cinema, the film's backers, had visited New Zealand with distributors.
Csokas was coy when contacted by the Sunday Star-Times yesterday. He accepted congratulations but said he could not comment without approval from Rings bosses.
For more on this character, Celeborn...Cate's hubby, we offer this up close and personal profile provided by our pal Xoanon at www.theonering.net:
Celeborn:
Aliases: Teleporno
Biography:
Quote: • "Do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives kept in memory words of things that were once needful for the wise to know."
The brilliant Ian McKellan has updated his Grey Book, the journal he is keeping of his adventures in Hobbiton...the latest entry:
Ian Mckellan in The Grey Book
Notes from Ian McKellen
It is some weeks since I flew south to Wellington and left Hobbiton forever. Once the opening scenes of The Lord of the Rings had been completed, outdoors in the rolling pasture of New Zealand's North Island, there was speculation as to the future of the film village. The farmer who owns the site apparently wanted to retain the film's landscaping and hobbit holes once they were vacated by the production. Perhaps he was planning a supplementary income from tourists who would be visiting the geysers and hot water activity in nearby Rotorua.
In January, as I clip-clopped along in Gandalf's cart, or bumped up and down the gravel tracks in an open jeep from base camp to location, I could anticipate the thrill that Tolkien's fans would enjoy, peeping through Hobbit windows or maybe spying the distant silhouette of a wizard's hat, as they were driven slowly by in a open tramcar perhaps. There will, it turns out, be no such Hobbiton Theme Park, at least not one which features our film sets. I gather that these have been destroyed as part of the filmed action. Perhaps their charred remains will be rediscovered by bemused archaeologists sometime in the next century.
I am a sucker for movie theme parks. Last year I spent a night at Disneyland Paris where, as on previous trips to Universal Studios Los Angeles, I was struck by an irony. Their rides try and create the experience of somehow partaking in famous films. Some use actual film for their effects, of which the 3D Honey I Shrunk the Kids in Paris is the latest riotous example. But most of the time the older rides just sit the audience down for a journey past a variety of dramatic scenery, working models, and visual deceptions. So when you "fly" at Anaheim over London in Peter Pan's chariot or in Burbank across the moon in ET's bicycle, you are closer to theatre than to cinema.
Again, in the stage shows, parades, and fireworks displays, the subject matter may be cinematic but the experience is of the theatre. Mickey and Minnie et al are live performers, not 2D animation or actors' shadows on a screen. Disneyland and Universal thrive because their customers enjoy live theatre just as much as going to the movies. Long live theme parks!
Way back, there was a scheme in London to turn the disused Battersea power station into a theme park. There in 1995, we filmed the climactic battle scenes for our Richard III movie. I should love to go on a "Tricky Dicky Ride."
Back to Hobbiton, which has not yet totally disappeared. Its interiors are all sturdily in place at the Wellington studios of Three Foot Six Ltd, which anyone could work out is the Lord of the Rings film company. Confusingly there are two Bag Ends. And here's why. (If you don't like reading about how screen magic is achieved, join me again two paragraphs down.)
Hobbits must appear smaller than the other characters in the film. When I, as Gandalf, meet Bilbo or Frodo at home, I bump my head on the rafters. (Tolkien didn't think to mention it!) So there is a small Bag End set with small props to match. As Ian Holm and Elijah Wood would be too big within it, they have "scale doubles" who are of a matching size with the scenery and its miniature furniture. In the small set Bilbo and Frodo are played by Kiran Shah (Legend) who is in Hobbit proportion to my Gandalf.
And of course there has to be a big Bag End, where the scale is human-sized and all the objects of the small set are duplicated but bigger. There the "hero actors" can play the hobbits but the camera expects a gigantic Gandalf and gets him in Paul Webster (a 7'4" Wellingtonian) who substitutes for me. It is not easy acting, as you try to feed off your colleagues' reactions during a scene; but we manage.
By starting with the close-up shots (where the hero actor being filmed can see the expressions of another just behind the lens) we can remember the detail of that experience when confronted by the scale double's face, which is sometime masked, as the camera films a two-shot at longer range. Normally this master shot would precede the close-ups in a film's schedule.
These technicalities need not be an audience's concern but I appreciate any fascination with them. One of my most treasured paperbacks as a kid was a photographed tour of a film studio and as a schoolboy actor I was intrigued by the line or the moment which separates the reality of the wings from the dramatised reality onstage. It is one of the few binds about being a professional actor, forever wondering "how did they do that?" It doesn't spoil the show but can be distracting from more important matters like the dialogue and the story.
The Bag End designs could not be bettered. Their colours are warm with lots of wood and signs of industry, writing and cooking and overeating. Simply, they are hobbity and to me very familiar. They are in accord with my own untidiness and need to be comfy. The kitchen table where Frodo pours the tea is akin to the family kitchen of my childhood.
Yet it is all with a difference because Bag End feels like a hole in the ground. Why are subterranean books popular with children? Besides The Hobbit there are The Wind in the Willows, Knock Three Times! and, of course, Alice.
Through the circular latticed windows there is a backcloth of the Shire and entwined in the structure are the polished roots from the tree above, on which Gandalf parks his cloak and pointed hat. His staff is always at the ready leaning by the fireplace in the sitting room.
A fireplace means a fire and the fire in this case must look real enough to test any ring that might be thrust into it. Real fires produce heat. So here we all are -- twenty or more dotty enthusiasts crouching on the smaller set in which only Kiran is laughing. We are blasted by the heat of the fire and of the lights, which Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (Babe) and his head gaffer Brian Bamsgrove keep out of my eyes but not away from the few areas of skin that are exposed beneath Gandalf's cloakings and beardings.
It feels like madness but it is all part of filming. The second the camera rolls, I forget the discomfort, just as on stage ailing actors are temporarily cured by the intensity of "Doctor Theatre."
Alan Lee, the films' Conceptual Artist, is more usually a book illustrator. His style is romantic and rich with detail. His pencil impressions of Bag End and all the other varied locations were realised as three-dimensional models under the expertise of Dan Hennah, the Supervising Art Director. Once costed and approved by the director, the full-scale (and hobbit-scale) sets were built within the old warehouses that now house the production company.
Under corrugated iron roofs there are offices, amenities, dining shed, trailers for actors, makeup, wardrobe as well three studios. We are settled amongst the flat suburb of Miramar behind the low ridge of hills that stretches into Wellington's harbour. Real life is just through the gate. And my rented house is only five minutes away in Seatoun, where Peter Jackson lives permanently with his family on the coast road directly below me.
The good news is that air conditioning piping has rapidly been installed. I hope, come winter, this can double as a heating system.
The studios are neighbours with Wellington's airport and they are not soundproofed. Ideally, filming wouldn't be interrupted by each aircraft as it takes off, but I've known worse. James Whale's garden when Gods and Monsters filmed near Pasadena, California, was almost impossibly noisy. Under the blinding sun, he had to seduce his visitor to the accompaniment of whining helicopters, suburban propellers and international jets.
Last week, the day after Gandalf packed Frodo and Sam off to Bree, promising to meet them at The Inn of the Prancing Pony, I worked with Christopher Lee for the first time. Gandalf visits his fellow Istar at the Orthanc Tower, where Saruman consults his seeing stone, the palantir. I don't feel face to face with Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Fu Man Chu all at once because Christopher looks saintly in his robes. And there is work to be done.
For instance, I have to learn a new pronunciation. All this time we have being saying "palanTIR" instead of the Old English stress on the first syllable. Just as the word was about to be committed to the soundtrack, a correction came from Andrew Jack, the Dialect Coach; he taught me a Norfolk accent for Restoration, and for LOTR he supervises accents, languages and all things vocal.
Palantir, being strictly of elvish origin should follow Tolkien's rule that the syllable before a double consonant should be stressed - "paLANTir" making a sound which is close to "lantern."
Christopher Lee proves that a distinctive voice is an asset in the movies. Stars are not just pretty faces, so to speak, they must sound good too. His 200 (or is it 300?) films have robbed theatre audiences of a resounding Shakespearian. Spread across the black throne under Orthanc's vasty roof, he looked like King Lear in age and authority. He is 78 years old, handsome and powerful. When he speaks, all I see and hear is Saruman, my old associate gone wrong. Except once when he rounded off a speech, at Peter Jackson's suggestion, with a snarl. To be within four feet of a Lee snarl is unsettling. I was glad he wasn't wearing his fangs.
He loves stories about actors and I amused him last week with one he didn't know, which I was told by Brian Bedford:
You may visit Sir Ian's site @ McKELLAN.
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