December 2003
|
|
Click to ENLARGE
Finally, Here we have it. An artists impression, of the unspeakable truth, of what happened to the Christopher Lee sequence that was meant to be in The Return of the King.
Of course full credit goes to Jessica Cano for drawing such a marvelous picture :) Go check out the Board of Bastards for more entries.
|
|
The December 2003 issue of the UK's Mail on Sunday has this article on PJ's mansion in New Zealand, including a Hobbit-hole garden.
|
|
Has your videotape of Rankin-Bass' "The Return of the King" has been viewed so many times that holes are being worn through the mylar? Have you been finding yourself wishing that Zimmerman's version of the movie had been filmed, however badly, just so you could have a complete film to watch?
Well, fear no more! After long and extensive digging through private film archives, the staff of the Tolkien Sarcasm Page has been able to uncover the complete movie version of The Lord of the Rings! And through the miracle of the Internet and the latest advancements in compression technology, this movie epic can now be made available for immediate download!
REQUIRES QUICKTIME to play
|
|
Good Morning fellow Bastards... The good people at Empire magazine have excelled themselves in the coverage of ROTK - if you haven't already got yourselves a copy of the latest Lord of the Rings special issue, go get one now, if you can find any. The supplement contains fantastic photos of cast and crew posing with the ring - including one shot of Orlando Bloom that is just... so.. (actually best stop there before I drool all over the keyboard). Yes. Magazine. Go buy it. Also, on Empire's website is coverage of the UK premiere along with a review. Should keep you nicely occupied for the few days left before ROTK is released. Have fun,
Sam
|
|
Couldn't stop chuckling at this mini review of Return of the King that was sent to the TORN staff mailing list.
REVIEW: I think Peter Jackson is probably a great lover because he really knows how to set up a climax and he is also big on post-climax cuddles.
|
|
Director Peter Jackson is poised to flex his Hollywood muscle by securing a top male film star for his new project King Kong - he wants to lure George Clooney or Robert De Niro here.
While Jackson is overseas attending The Return of the King premieres, he is also in talks with agents to cast stars for the $100 million remake, to be filmed in Wellington next year.
Naomi Watts is in talks to play Ann Darrow, the female lead played by Fay Wray in the 1933 original film.
But it is understood Jackson has long-harboured desires to cast Clooney - or Oscar winner De Niro - as male lead Carl Denham, the adventurer who captures the giant ape and brings him back to New York.
Sources involved in the project said Jackson wanted to hire either star when he first talked to Universal Studios about the remake in 1996.
The project was suspended in mid-1998 when the studio feared it would clash with two other monster movie remakes, Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla.
The delay allowed Jackson to go ahead with the Rings films.
Given the widespread commercial and critical success of the trilogy, Jackson now has considerable clout when it comes to picking his stars.
And the director was also tipped to again put himself in one of his films in a cameo role - possibly that of the pilot who shoots down King Kong in the film's climax, the source said.
Meanwhile, it appears Jackson and New Line Cinema could be denied the chance to bring JRR Tolkien's other classic The Hobbit to the big screen.
The film rights are tied up in a complicated arrangement which would prevent New Line cashing in on any box office success.
Members of the Tolkien family are also opposed to any further film versions of his books. Only Royd Tolkien, the author's great-grandson, has supported the Rings trilogy. He appears in the third film and was flown to the Wellington premiere as a guest of New Line, the films' producers.
Jackson's collaboration with Universal is his second work with the studio, after The Frighteners, for which he was paid $6.5m.
His deal for King Kong will pay a record $20m, or a massive 20% of the profits.
Sourced From : http://www.stuff.co.nz
|
|
FEED ME!
A fantastic interview from http://www.ign.com where they've quizzed PJ from LOTR all the way to whether he'd be wearing pants at the premiere! :)
Q: Do you own a pair of long pants?
PETER JACKSON: Yes. I have one pair. I'll be wearing them to the premiere tonight. I'm wearing shoes today [too], yeah.
Read the full interview HERE
|
|
After the phenomenal popularity of New Zealand magazine Pavement’s previous two The Lord of the Rings special issues, the magazine is about to publish its third and final instalment to this amazing trilogy.
Once again, Pavement editor Bernard McDonald spent a week on the set in Wellington during pick-up shoots for Return of the King, interviewing cast and crew, including director Peter Jackson, conceptual artist Alan Lee, writer Philippa Boyens and New Line executive Mark Odesky. In addition, Pavement writer Melinda Williams interviews a number of New Zealand cast members, Stephen Jewell interviews Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore and correspondent Desmond Sampson interviews Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) at the New York press day.
Viggo Mortensen has been photographed exclusively by Pavement for the cover and 6-page feature, while the 30-page extended feature on Return of the King features dozens of film stills and production photos.
The issue can be purchased directly from Pavement. Contact Pavement via email on pavement@pavement.co.nz or PO Box 309, Auckland 1, New Zealand. Cost of each copy is NZ$40 (rest of world), NZ$30 (Australia) or NZ$15 (NZ). Includes postage and handling. Please supply relevant credit card details. Bank cheques must include an additional NZ$15 to cover bank charges. In addition, A2 cover posters featuring Viggo Mortensen are also available for NZ$20 each or NZ$10 if purchased with a copy of the issue. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Pavement also has 60 copies left of The Two Towers issue (NZ$80 each), featuring Orlando Bloom on the cover. Sorry, no copies of Fellowship of the Ring issue left.
|
|
New Zealand film director Peter Jackson (news), tipped to win an Oscar for his "The Lord of the Rings" epic, said Monday he would like to make "The Hobbit" prequel to the trilogy and work with some of the same actors again.
Speaking to journalists in Berlin ahead of the European premiere of the last part of the "Rings" trilogy -- "The Return of the King" -- Jackson said he was sad but also relieved that the mammoth project he has worked on for seven years was over.
"I'm glad there's not a fourth Lord of the Rings film next year," he said. "I feel very tired and exhausted."
"I've been working very hard this year. It was the hardest year of the whole seven really," he said, adding that the last part had twice as many computer-generated shots as the second, "The Two Towers," which won an Oscar for digital effects.
"It's my favorite because it has a stronger emotional depth than the other two films, it has a sense of closure," he said.
Despite his exhaustion, Jackson is not resting on his laurels and said if complex rights issues can be resolved he would like to direct "The Hobbit," J.R.R. Tolkien's prequel to the "Rings" trilogy set some 50 years earlier.
"I'd be interested in doing it because I think it would give continuity to the overall chapter," he said.
While many of the lead "Rings" characters do not appear in "The Hobbit" story, the wizard Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen (news), and Gollum, the cave dweller corrupted by the powerful ring, do and should make a comeback. Arwen, the elf princess played by Liv Tyler (news), could also feature again, Jackson said.
STAND TEST OF TIME
Jackson made movie history by filming all three parts of the "Rings" trilogy simultaneously. The first two films have earned a combined $1.8 billion and won a total of six Oscars
Barrie Osborne, the producer of the trilogy, and Philippa Boyens, the writer, both said they hoped for more Oscars for the third installment, especially one for Jackson's directing.
"The film is a memorable film that will stand the test of time and be around forever and ever. However winning depends on what's happening in the world, what other films are out there that you're competing with," Osborne said.
Boyens added: "Peter didn't make these films to win an Oscar...It's always been really hard for fantasy films or films perceived as fantasy to get that kind of acknowledgement."
Jackson, 42, has certainly not let fame go to his head. He met journalists in an upmarket Berlin hotel barefoot and wearing a faded shirt and threadbare shorts. While he said "Rings" was the hardest thing he would ever do, more challenges await.
"I just love making movies. I have done since I was seven years old," he said.
Jackson will take a few weeks off over Christmas and then start writing the script for his next project, a remake of the classic "King Kong" which, like the "Rings," he will also film in New Zealand, using the same team of special effects experts.
Richard Taylor, whose special effects workshop made 48,000 props for the trilogy and whose work earned two Oscars, says "King Kong" will be even better than Lord of the Rings.
"I have every aspiration to make King Kong much cooler," he said. "It's going to be a very beautiful film."
Sourced from http://www.yahoo.com
|
|
All I can say in response to this story is 'Bloody Good Show! Elijah, Dom and Billy!'
After living in NZ myself, I can honestly say i really hate that damn fountain on Cuba Street! It so badly designed it hardly works. Its noisy as hell. It is also the ugliest thing i've ever seen! Thanks for making my deepest fantasy of bringing the reign of terror it has brought upon Wellington a little bit closer to the end.
Hobbits upset Jackson by peeing in fountain
Elijah Wood and his fellow hobbits upset Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson by urinating in his favourite fountain.Wood and co-stars Dominic Monahan and Billy Boyd climbed to the top of the fountain in Wellington, New Zealand, after a night on the town.
He said they didn't think much of the fountain which was made up of a series of coloured buckets, reports the Channel 4 website.
Wood said: "So one particular drunken evening Dom, myself and Billy were walking home from a bar and we saw this fountain and Dom and I look at it and he says: "We should conquer it, let's climb it."
"So we climb the thing and once we got to the top, what else is there to do but urinate in it - and really show our disgust.
"Peter Jackson was very upset when he found out. He said: "'I grew up with that fountain." I felt a bit bad after that."
Sourced from http://www.ananova.com
|
|
Sourced from http://www.stuff.co.nz/
By Tom Cardy
Director Peter Jackson, fresh from the Return of the King world premiere, will start work on his $200 million King Kong film in Wellington next month.
Universal Studios is to pay Jackson a record $32 million to direct the film which is expected to provide between 1500 and 2000 jobs.
Jackson, who will be in Los Angeles tomorrow for The Return of the King's United States premiere, said he still had to edit an extended version of the third Lord of the Rings film for DVD late next year. He wanted it done before Christmas.
But after taking a short holiday, he would spend most of his time from January working on King Kong, inspired by the 1933 film.
Shooting is planned for August mainly in Wellington.
Jackson said that, because the film would be set in the 1930s, to create the period it would be easier to shoot about 80 per cent of the film at his Miramar studios. Some of the natural locations, including King Kong's home, Skull Island, would also be shot at the studios.
A key feature of the film is a freighter ship, Manuia, – believed to be berthed at Miramar – which takes King Kong from Skull Island to New York.
"I'm interested in (King) Kong being quite stylised and the jungles of Skull Island I want to be very over-the-top, like a jungle from hell. I imagine we are going to be more successful pulling that off in the studio or in a back lot than we are trying to find a beech forest in the South Island," he said.
There would be some location shooting for scenes on beaches or in boats, "but I'm not imagining a huge amount".
Jackson confirmed it was likely that Australian actress Naomi Watts, 35, would play Ann Darrow, the role made famous by Canadian Fay Wray in the original. The contract still had to be sewn up, "but it's looking okay".
He met Watts in London in October and showed her some designs for King Kong.
"She got really excited and it was great. Naomi's the only person that we've really approached because she's becoming so eagerly sought after by everybody."
No other cast decisions would be made until he, partner Fran Walsh and writer Philippa Boyens had completed the script by February.
"A lot of the characters are members of the ship's crew and we don't really kind of know who they are because we are going to write the script from scratch again."
Wellington special effects companies Weta Workshop and Weta Digital will work on the film.
"Once we get started on Kong we get a few months of what I call gentle work because I am writing, having meetings at Weta and looking at designs," Jackson said.
"It's actually going to be easier. . . (than The Lord of the Rings) the logistics involved don't seem as daunting."
|
|
'Evening Fellow Bastards,I'm sure there's plenty LOTR tomfoolery doing the rounds on the web right now, but for the best of the bunch check out this link:Weebl's Stuff - Two Towers - for the Two Towers with added badgery goodness.Cheers,Sam
|
|
Thanks to our friends over at NZ Edge and Costa Botes, we have updated the About PJ page with an incredibly in depth look at his life. This is a must read and I'm sure it will take at least half an hour off your life ;) So go have a read right now!
