Cool News
Peter Jackson Hires Expert On Elvish For LORD OF THE RINGS!
Well this is just plain weird/cool. This is an article that appeared in the Wellington Newspaper about LORD OF THE RINGS, and since the announcement you better believe I get my NZ papers daily. Anyway, well... you'll see, Can't wait to see the Talk Back on this one.
This isn't much, but you might find it intresting. This article was on the
front page of tonight's Evening Post. (major Wellington newspaper)
Media-shy elf won''t talk
by Megan Lane, Arts reporter
A Wellington man who speaks elvish - a alanguage developed by The Lord Of
The Rings author J R R Tolkien - has offered his servies as a translator to
film director Peter Jackson.
Jackson's WingNut Films will begin filming the trilogy by mid-1999.
But thee man, thought to be either a student or lecturer in English
literature, has refused to go public.
"He doesn''t want to do anything on it [with the media]," Lord of the Rings
producer Tim Sanders said.
"He's afraid of having the tutti-frutti aspects of it played up."
The man is just one of 500 prospective crew members to send their curriculum
vitae to WingNut Films after Jackson announced last month that his next
project would be Lord Of The Rings.
Sander's said the man's offer was legitimate. He had studied elvish and was
able to read and write it.
Wingnut Films and casting agencies have been approached by thousands of
people from New Zealand and abroad who want to be involved in the project -
film crew, helicopter pilots, actors and caterers.
"All we are doing at the moment is categorising them into various
departments.
"When we appoint the head of each department, we'll go through the CVs and
hold interviews," Mr Sanders said.
The Lord Of The Rings will employ 16,000 extras, 50 New Zeland actors for
speaking parts, and 300 crew.
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Hello dudes!
I read the story about the guy who
could read/write elvish and thought 'great!'
But then I came to the last sentence...
'50 New Zeland actors for speaking parts'
Does this mean that Jackson only wants New Zeland actors?? Why??
Ah well... Guess noone can answer this anyway,
but I simply had to write about it.
Laters,
Christian -
Hello dudes!
I read the story about the guy who
could read/write elvish and thought 'great!'
But then I came to the last sentence...
'50 New Zeland actors for speaking parts'
Does this mean that Jackson only wants New Zeland actors?? Why??
Ah well... Guess noone can answer this anyway,
but I simply had to write about it.
Laters,
Christian -
An expert in Elvish?? So PJ wasn't talking bull about wanting to do it right... Keep up the good work!!
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Why the problem with the number of
NZ actors? This is PJ's movie, he
can cast whoever he wants.
TRUST him. He is going to do a
fantastic job.
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Does this mean that all the speaking parts will have NZ accents. I really hope not. if Jackson has got any sense he will realise that LOTR is essentially English. For this reason most of the accents should be English. Anyone agree?
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Since Tolkien's whole beginning of Lord of the Rings was as a background/culture/history for the Elven language he was creating, it stands to reason that anyone (myself included) who has any interest in the relationships between linguism (languages for you Ivy League folks) and culture would want to study Tolkien's work. Tolkien was a master linguist and LOTR is the by- product of his scientific research. So I don't think studying or learning it is such a bad thing, at least not nearly as bad as learning Klingon.
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Klingon was developed by a linguistics expert as well. Not that I think its normal to speak it or anything but somebody's gotta stand up for the poor defenseless klingons...
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Yeah, but I won't hurt myself trying to pronounce something Elven!
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There are heaps of NZ actors in Hurcules and Zena. It's is quite funny to see people you know on what is a really famous American series. There were also NZ actors in Frightners by Peter Jackson. Have you had any complaints with these, at least it wont be full of Australian accents.
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I agree wholeheartedly my man!!!!
As you say this may be blasphemy but man I cannot think of a better series to fall asleep to. Beats out Nyquil any day of the week!
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English, Welsh, even Irish. But please Pete JAckson keep American, Aussie and NZ accents out of this film!
The camera shot zooms into The Shire. The green meadows, with Hobbits to and fro. Maybe even Gandalf strolling down the 'ol path. Cut to an American accent? Nope please say it wont be so.
The ultimate atmosphere breaker.
Pete
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Jeez man, he will have his work cut out. To please people like you!!
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"if Jackson has got any sense he will realise that LOTR is essentially English."
Ummm, no. LOTR is essentially Middle earthish. Just because JRRT was english doesn't mean LOTR is an english fantasy. And we sure don't need to hear some snooty english accents. Jeez I'd much rather listen to Kiwi or American than british! And since these people in the book come from all over middle earth (and beyond), you should expect many different accents... For example, if there is a part for a snooty, uppety sounding King that wants to take over a bunch of other countries, I'm sure they will give him an english accent. :-)
Re: LOTR boredom with the Fellowship. I personally didn't enjoy The Hobbit too much, nor the first 100 pages of the first book. But once you've get to the second half of The Fellowship, you'll appreciate it much more. By the time I finished the Fellowship, I was convinced LOTR was the best book I had EVER READ!
Re: the elvish dude. More power to him. Just because he can speak elvish doesn't mean he's a freak. Obviously he realizes that it's a little "odd" to speak a made up language, since he didn't want to go public to the media.
-TSW -
Me think you very silly. Why you no understand 50 New Zealand actors hired? You don't know why? Money, money, money!!! Jackson not want to pay all costs of importing actors (who probably want bigger money for selves too)!
Hey! Mr. Jackson! Hire me please! As I've demonstrated here, I'm quite the expert in speaking the language of the wild men! What do you say?
Seriously, though, so far this Peter Jackson seems alright by me. He's clearly taking this project in precisely the direction that most of us die-hard Tolkienheads would want. Keep up the great work, Peter; I can hardly wait! -
While Uncle Sam's diatribe is a little far afield, it should be noted that New Zealanders are generally evil folk with a propensity for mischief. They also have blood red eyes that can freeze you in your tracks. To give you an idea of how truly evil these people are, I ask you to remember former WWF tag-team champions The Bushwackers. Chilling, no?
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Attolma i menelessie, nai airitaini
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If you've found anything in Lord of the Rings boring, you abviously haven't read far enough (as you admit yourself). Trust me, every single character devevlops immensely, especially the Hobbits you have met so far. Sure, it takes longer in a three volume work than it does in a 30 minute television show, but it's worth waiting for. Lord of the Rings is an adult book, and maybe beyond you, but it is THE seminal work of modern fantasy -- what most other fantasy written since then has been based on. As for the elf guy, there's nothing too wierd about that (it may not be what the average person studies for fun). Real books exist about it, including things Tolkien wrote on it himself. I even own an english-elvish dictionary, although I'll admit I haven't learned many words to it. Anyway, if they're this serious about doing a film of Lord of the Rings, there are enough people who are enthused about it that it should have all the resources it needs. I'm really looking forward to it -- maybe iven more than the new star wars movies, if it actually turns out to do the books justice.
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How fascinating that you cite Louis Giannetti's Understanding Movies, as it was translated into English from its original elven text.
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I'm going to take the "I'm from Missouri" approach with this movie.
The Bakshi LOTR movie was supposedly staffed with numerous JRRT "experts." I'd begun to doubt when I saw a pre-release picture of Treebeard with a cut branch for a nose, but I figured I could cut them some artistic slack.
But opening night, when Galadriel said, "and this is my husband Celeborn" , the theatre echoed from thousands of LOTR fans exhalation of "that's Celeborn!" .
And that's the least of the problems with that movie.
How you produce a 900-page set of books into 6 hours of movie (remember a 2-hour shooting script has about 120 pages), populate it with child-high hobbits, 7-foot tall elves, and the casts of thousands needed for the battles... I'm not holding my breath.
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This announcement is the best news a TRUE tolkien fan could want to hear about this movie. As someone pointed out a few posts back, Tolkien wrote his stories (Silmarillion, Hobbit, LOTR) because he wanted to find out more about the world that the languages he created came from (read: he made the stories based on a framework of his languages). He created two major Elvish Languages: Quenya - meaning speech, also called High Elvish (example: when Frodo meets Gildor Inglorion for the first time ouside of Hobbiton he says "Elen Sila Lummen' Omentielvo!" which translates to "A Star Shines upon the hour of our Meeting") and Sindarin - meaning Gray Elvish (example: the inscription above the gate to Moria - "Ennyn Durin Aran Moria: pedo mellon a minno,
Im Narvi hain echant, Celebrimor o Erigion teithant i thiw hin" translated: "The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs.")
Tolkien also made Khuzdul for his Dwarves, Aduniac for the Men, and Westron for the common speech during the third age, the time when the Lord of the Rings takes place.
Trust me, when this "Elvish Guy" says he can speak elvish, he probably means it, and his offer of help is more valuable to the true telling of the LOTR than is probably readily apparent, especially to the dumbshit who coined the phrase "Elf-off".
For any one who wants more information on the beautifull languages "discovered" by J.R.R. Tolkien, I can highly recomend http://www.uib.no/people/hnohf/
- The Ardalambion, by Helge Fauskanger.
Vinyelda (you have to know quenya to translate that)
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Nai Tennoio I Lambi Eldaron Siluvar ve Miiri ara I Lambi Ataniva -
It sounds like all those who have posted saying that they thought the Fellowship of the Ring was boring have been mentally scarred by too many action movies with numerous shoot-outs, explosions, and high speed chases. These things are made to cater to those with a tiny attention span. It seems if they can't appreciate the finest fantasy epic ever written, perhaps they should go play Doom or some other mindless computer game.
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Does anyone know the address of this company? I think I would like to send my headshot / resume to them... even if just for extra work. It would still be an amazing experience.
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First I gotta say, that the Sean Connery sample dialogue someone sent in was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time!
Second, I hope all of the cast will be as our-earth accentless as possible as any recognizable accent will distract from the atmosphere, but I think PJ realizes this. I also read that they are doing casting all over the western world so the argument is rather moot.
Third, I must agree the Elvish guy is not nuts - these languages are a huge part of the books, and I ma sure there are many ppl who read/write/speak these languages to some degree. I used to be able to write in Dwarvish - handy for passing notes in class - who cares if the teacher finds it :) And it was also based on old nordic runes I think...so its almost a practical skill as you can somewhat read engravings on old viking stuff and runestones - not so much the elvish though I guess.
Anyway, I was looking forward to the release of the Star Wars Prequels with huge anticipation, but now they are just a convenient filler to pass the time while I wait even more breathlessly for LotR episode 1! I have been waiting for this for close to 15 years!! and I am so glad it is not goin to be a Hollywood glitzfest like poor Judge Dredd was subjected to - it will be more like 5th Element, a HollyWood budget movie made outside HollyWood - the best of both worlds.
Ok enough rambling c ya -
so what's the big deal? the late professor was by trade a linguist. elvish has a vocabulary and an efficient grammar. in the late 60's donald swan put out a record, using the voice of one gary elwin(?) to sing songs from middle earth--i'llhave to dig out the vynal and double check. one song, "elbereth/gilthoniel" is sung in elvish. quite cool. you can write it, speak it-write love letters to your wife in it.... why the big surprise. i would think that jackson would need a linguist on the set to facilitate the various examples of dwarfish/elvish--entish and orcish that jrrt uses to add depth and quality to the novels. i'm surprised more folks like the fellow from nz haven't come rushing forward. i wish i could....
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If it's reasonably boring on book imagine how much FotR is going to suck on screen. Personally, I enjoyed the books but if PJ doesn't cut out several parts in the book we're gonna end up with another Dune. Imagine the expressions of the audience when this Santa-Ranger guy shows up. What the hell is this crap??!
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Groovy Dude! I haveta agree that as 'accentless' a bunch as they can manage for this project would probably be the best for all concerned. The only problem that i can see is shipping all of those Canadians down to NZ! :)
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How can you prefer American, New Zealand or Australian dialects over English for this project? Anyone remember Kevin Costner with his strong american accent playing Robin Hood? That was a fucking disaster. Tolkien himself has written that the hobbits spoke in English accents. Specifically I think they were suposed to be Liverpool but don't quote me on that.
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Not to be a wet blanket, but did NOBODY notice that PJ hasn't hired this guy yet, that he was only submitting his resume? No wonder you thought Fellowship was boring - you just ignore the cool bits to get to the battle sequences. That's not reading, that's skimming. I, for one, will miss Tom Bombadil badly when he doesn't make the final cut, which Petey has as much as said already. Anybody have any ideas on where the first and second movies will end? SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS TO BE REVEALED DON'T READ FURTEHR IF YOU'RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST BOOK SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING Here's my thought: end #1 with the breaking of the Fellowship, then have the ENTIRE second movie deal with Aragorn/Pippin and Merry/Minas Tirith etc., leaving Frodo's journey for the thrid movie. How would that be for cliffhangers? You other choice would be to end each movie pretty much where the books do: #1, break the Fellowship; #2, have Sam staring up at the gates through which the orcs have taken Frodo. Any other ideas out there?
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Lord Of The Rings in New Zealand = Hercules the legendary journeys. BLASPHEMY!
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Will Boromir and Faramir be played by the same actor?
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I agree that PJ could get more bang for his buck by using less known actors, especially those from NZ. But, I would have to sneak off and get down and dirty if Sean Connery was cast as Gandalf. Sean, if you read this take a pay cut and be a part of history!!!!!!!!! As for Elvish, do a search on the net and you'll find pages dedicated to learning it. If some old fart in NZ says he can then cool, better for PJ since Tolkien himself isn't around to lend a hand, not to mention the Tolkien Clan doesn't seem to want to put their stamp of approval on these films. I agree that the fisrt 100 or so pages of Fellowship are boring, but I always feel myself tense up when they are in the council of Elrond. That is when the true Fellowship begins, the first chapters are just background for those who had not read the Hobbit, plus it sets the tone of the stories, adult and not leaning towards childrens reading. Ever read Dennis McKiernan? The Iron Tower Trilogy? He stole a shitload from Tolkien but, I haven't found a fantasy writer that rivals him. And I've read a lot. Later.
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I would just like to explain that Kevin Costner's accent in Robin Hood may have been annoying, but amazingly enough more "real" than any British accent. The American accent is in many ways more similar to old English than modern British. And that's a fact!
I'm also it seems the only guy around who really likes the first part of The Fellowship. I mean, it's there you get to know the hobbits, Gandalf, and the surroundings.... how can that be dull? -
First of all, that bloke who commented that modern American is closer to old English than modern English (or something like that). Where did you find that info from? And why is that so? (please feel free to email me.) But since the first British settlers in America came along some time in the 17thC, long after old English had ceased to be, there wouldn't be any remnants of Old English to persist in the land of kinky, cigar smoking presidents (sorry, couldn't resist). And the American accent developed the same way as NZ and Aussie accents, a collection of people in a new place, from all over Britain (pluis othe rplaces) all with different accents, gradually modified their accents to fit in with their neighbours, and/or picked up different phrases or accents by being exposed to it on a regular basis. So I don't think the American accent is at all close to old English, or closer than modern English is. There's about 50 different accents in Britain. One of those is probably closest to old English. Didn't Chancer write phonetically (spelt right???) That's old english, and it doesn't sound even vagually American to me.
But on to film.
I think Sam Neil is considering a part in LOTR, he was in Wellington recently for a meeting with PJ.
To the guy who hassled NZ landscapes. Disregarding HErcules, a shit programme, shot in the far north of NZ, on the back of a farm, hardly representtive of what's here.
Speilberg was going to shoot some of The lost World here.
PJ is apparantly a big fan of the series, and he wouldn't shhot the film here if he didn't think NZ had the right locations for it. Also a lot of places are apparently going to be CGI, Weta, the FX studio PJ likes to use has been developing some flash programmes for the LOTR films.
I'm not a NZer, English, but have lived here for a while, so thougth I should stick up for my adopted country.
HAve a nice day.
Munch -
I don't think you realise how much this film means to NZ.
I am an actor in Auckland NZ and I have contacted "Wingnut films" about auditions, which apparently will start in October-Novemeber. I am taking an american accent and acting class just to get myself speaking American. It will be spoken with an american accent like "Xena" and "Hercules". I'm sure any American actors that are in NZ at the time will be treated the same as us.
There will still be big names involved from Hollywood, so i wouldn't worry about that.
CONGRATS TO PETER. -
Someone wondered how American accents could be like Old English. For one thing, they aren't, but they are very much like the English accent of about 1600-1750 or so. This is especially true in the South, especially in the isolated valleys of Appalachia (for anyone not from around here, the second a in Appalachia is pronounced flat, like the A in apple, not long, like the A in ape. Webster says otherwise, but Webster didn't live here). Scholars have come to East Tennessee, western North Carolina, and West Virginia to try to recreate true Elizabethan accents for Shakespeare revivals.
Consequently, I, as an East Tennessean, should play Frodo or Sam. Or Gollum.
I have also read that modern Scottish accents are similar to Elizabethan London accents, but I don't know if that' s true, or not.
But regardless of that, the Hobbits as least should have modern English accents, since Tolkien has said (or at least implied) that the Hobbits were decent, conservative English folk of the kind he saw disappearing around him. Now, I think that, since language was so important to all Tolkien's work, that accents should exist, and that each group in Tolkien's books (Hobbits, Rohirrim, people of Gondor, et cetera) should have different acents to make them obviously different.
And, I think, everything in the real books should be left in, Tom Bombadil and all. There was a reason for everything Tolkien did, and, let's face it, this film is (or should be) for the die-hard fans, and they will miss Tom Bombadil. -
Banky -- right on! Dennis McKiernan is the only fantasy writer who can hold a sword to Tolkien. Yes, his stuff reads a lot like Tolkien, but its more of a hommage than an outright rip-off. "The Eye of the Hunter" is one of my favorite books ever -- I would love for someone to make that into a movie, but it is probably too complex, with all of the flashback scenes.
I don't get all the people blasting "Hercules" and "Xena." Those series aren't supposed to be taken seriously -- they're satire! They're funny, they're smart, they're well-done for what they are and they're very entertaining. So they aren't historically accurate? Who cares, just enjoy or don't watch.
For those complaining about people wasting their time learning Elvish -- lighten up! Linguists have to make a living somehow. There are many fantasy and sci-fi movies that have employed linguists to develop alien languages. "Star Wars" is full of them. Did you think Jabba's speech was just made-up crap? Sure, it was made up, but it is an internally consistant language just like whatever language you speak. As for Kiwi actors having Kiwi accents -- just because an actor is from a certain country doesn't mean they can only speak using their native accent. Good actors can speak any accent the part calls for. Look at Merle Streep's movies, for chrissake! She uses a different accent in almost every one. Lucy Lawless speaks flawless American on "Xena," but in TV interviews she speaks with her native accent. I'm sure Peter Jackson is planning to hire competent actors for this project, and I'm sure those competent actors will be able to speak using whatever accent the director wants. If they have trouble, that's what dialogue coaches are for. -
Banky -- right on! Dennis McKiernan is the only fantasy writer who can hold a sword to Tolkien. Yes, his stuff reads a lot like Tolkien, but its more of a hommage than an outright rip-off. "The Eye of the Hunter" is one of my favorite books ever -- I would love for someone to make that into a movie, but it is probably too complex, with all of the flashback scenes.
I don't get all the people blasting "Hercules" and "Xena." Those series aren't supposed to be taken seriously -- they're satire! They're funny, they're smart, they're well-done for what they are and they're very entertaining. So they aren't historically accurate? Who cares, just enjoy or don't watch.
For those complaining about people wasting their time learning Elvish -- lighten up! Linguists have to make a living somehow. There are many fantasy and sci-fi movies that have employed linguists to develop alien languages. "Star Wars" is full of them. Did you think Jabba's speech was just made-up crap? Sure, it was made up, but it is an internally consistant language just like whatever language you speak. As for Kiwi actors having Kiwi accents -- just because an actor is from a certain country doesn't mean they can only speak using their native accent. Good actors can speak any accent the part calls for. Look at Merle Streep's movies, for chrissake! She uses a different accent in almost every one. Lucy Lawless speaks flawless American on "Xena," but in TV interviews she speaks with her native accent. I'm sure Peter Jackson is planning to hire competent actors for this project, and I'm sure those competent actors will be able to speak using whatever accent the director wants. If they have trouble, that's what dialogue coaches are for. -
Hercules and xena may very well be satire but they are far from harmless.
Does anyone remember the original pennies from Heaven? It was a masterpiece. An American company bought the original film, destroyed it and made a crappy remake starring Steve Martin. I am not saying that Classic books on which Hercules: T.L.J is based will be burnt like this. The sub-standard remake of Pennies from Heaven is the only version most people have access to. To most people these Hercules television programmes are how they are introduced to ancient greek and Roman literature.
Most people think that Hercules: T.L.J is what the ancient Greek classics are all about. I believe this fact makes the Xena and Hercules watching population less likely to read these masterpieces. If Lord of the Rings is handled innapropriately many potential readers of Tolkiens Trilogy will be turned away also. -
Actually, some of the actors on both "Hercules" and "Xena" are incredible -- for example, Michael Hurst who plays "Iolaus" (Herk's sidekick) is pretty much the Kenneth Branagh of NZ. He writes, directs, acts, fences, etc...I would love to see him in "LOTR". Ditto Kevin Smith who plays Ares, Danielle Cormack who plays Ephiny the Amazon and most importantly, Karl Urban who plays Caesar and Cupid. If you've ever seen any of these actors in person, you'd know how well rounded they are as compared to your average American teevee or film star who is pretty much a cardboard cutout.
I'm more than willing to give PJ the benefit of the doubt. I don't think *anything* could be worse than the Bakshi or Rankin-Bass cartoons *shudder* And knowing what I do of the NZ film industry, he's got some of the best talent in the world. Yes, it's also about 2/3s less expensive than Hollywood, but the quality is *there*
As for accents, most Kiwis learn "Mid-Atlantic" (good ol' Amerkan) accents as part of their training. Not to mention British ones. But if you're talking what the heck Tolkien's people should sound like, well, it depends, don't it? The Hobbits should be British Country accents, the Dwarves German, the Elves Scandanavian, blah blah blah. It's pretty obnoxious to just assume they're all supposed to be Brits considering he used so many mythological sources for his world.
As for "Hercules" and "Xena" being so detrimental to people learning "classical" myths -- please -- LIGHTEN UP!!! I was a classics minor in college, have studied myths extensively, etc. I first avoided these two shows because I was offended by the portrayal. When I finally got forced to watch them, guess what? I laughed my ass off. They're FUNNY! Usually the PTB take the classic myths and drop them on their head. However, they also still use all the dark and gritty stuff that makes mythology worth reading; hatred, jealousy, petty gods, war, incest (at least implied), monsters, etc. Maybe if people watched, they'd be interested enough to pick up a book and read the original source material. -
I feel it's less important to have specific accents associated with specific groups than to have consistency. I don't recall JRRT describing the accents characters used. -- Furthermore, unless JRRT mentioned things like skin color (and the producer wants to retain that description), you could cast all the "elves" with actors of African decent. After all, they are an ancient people who had developed cultures well before Europe or the West, are visually distinguishable, and can interbreed with other peoples.
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Whoever this person is, I'm not aware of any person from NZ who has ever been published in the Tolkien linguistic journals. There is a lot of inaccurate, self-taught Elvish out there!
The only fully credentialed experts (and the *only* persons with access to Tolkien's unpublished linguistic papers) are the team designated by the Tolkien Estate: Carl Hostetter, Arden Smith, Patrick Wynne, and Christopher Gilson, in association with William Weldon.These are the people PJ should use as consultants. (similary, PJ should *not* use the very inaccurate David Day as a consultant). -
#1 Danger intrudes in the comfort-
able old Shire, Frodo & co. run for it, each time the Nazgul almost catch them Gildor or Tom B. saves them but the country is get-
ting wilder and wilder, this Strider guy might talk good, but he's not much help at Weathertop. The suspense is unbearable...
#2 A multi-ethnic squad on a dan-
gerous mission. The dwarf and the elf become friends. The goofy one drops a rock down a well and wakes somebody up..Captain Gandalf takes a fall, can Aragorn fill his place
Frodo sees the Red Eye in Gala-
driel's mirror, Boromir is honor-
able but shallow: why not use this ring to kick Sauron's ass, and so he falls, not your usual movie hidden traitor.
#3 Orcs and Rohirrim, Ents and Saruman with the Palantir deliver-
ing the final jolt, this one stands on its own.
#4 The most intimate of the 6. The contrast of Frodo and Gollum shows just what a serious thing the Ring is. Shelob is the kind of monster Hollywood loves to use.
#5 The War of the Rings. Merry and Pippin's parallel relationships with Theoden and Denethor, 2 very different masters who die 2 very different deaths. Should it end at the Morannon, or after the Last Debate: that 2nd battle might be too much after the Pelennor, and the 6th movieseems the least unified...But if Morannon is in #5 the shock of the negotiation with Sauron's ambassador has full force: we still believe Frodo is in Sauron's hands.
#6 I always thought Frodo and Sam got away from Cirith Ungol far too easily...but once out, their 10 day grueling march across Mordor, something that truly would wear anyone down, is not the kind of film does well (I think of Tuco and Blondie's desert journey in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly")
So the Ring is destroyed and Sauron falls, but we're only 1/3 of the way through the film.
Actually, films that end right after the last battle bother me: I like to know what happens next. And, in #6 we get 4 ceremonies to put the Royal Wedding to shame: Cormallen, Aragorn's coronation and wedding, the Funeral of Theo-
den: There is an audience for solemn ceremonies. Then we go back to the Shire and find a Mordor in the making awaiting us. Done right (which means we have to get to know and love the Shire well in #1) this should evoke tears.
As far as I'm concerned, LotR must be 6 movies, with no speaking character cut, all the songs, all the loving glimpses of deep mys-
teries like Mirrormere and Cerin Amroth and Argonath intact. Do #1 right and #2-6 will be goldmines (this is the best way to convince Hollywood to do the right thing.) Do it wrong, and we'll kill it: I was at the sell-out opening night of Bakshi's abortion, 2nd showing, the faces of those leaving the 1st showing said all that needed to be said, word of mouth is deadly. -
Maybe different nations should have different accents. Gondor could be American; Rohan, New Zealand and Shire, British, or something like that.
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All this talk of American accents over British accents is moot - as has been pointed out, any actor worth his salt should be able to use any accent required of them. What worries me is American actors, not the accent they speak in. There's a world of difference in the style of acting between the Brits and Yanks and the American style just wouldn't work in LotR.
This is because American actors usually learn their trade working in television and movies while British actors usually cut their teeth in the theatre (a trend - not a hard and fast rule!) There's nothing wrong with the American style of acting but for a project like LotR a more theatrical style would work better - therefore I feel British actors would work better (or Yanks with a backgound in the theatre). If Costner had been able to do a decent Brit accent for Robin Hood he still would not have been convincing because his delivery would not have worked for the lines.
LotR is high drama with archaic and purple (damn good but still purple) prose a plenty. To deliver Tolkein's dialogue convingly would require a theatrical training.
I have no idea whether Kiwi actors lean more towards the theatrical or the 'TV naturalistic' style. Anyway the report that said there were 50 speaking parts for Kiwis came from a Kiwi paper (I think? Could be wrong!) and was probably highlighting the fact in a "no Americans were killed" kind of way. It doesn't mean that the major roles will be played by Kiwis.
I agree that the Bakshi film was disappointing (to say the least) but (apart from mispronounciations) it sounded right - largely due to the theatrical background of the voice talent.
Lastly, PJ's HAS to lose Tom Bombadil! It only just works in the books but would be laughable in a movie. -
I have always loved every part of The Fellowship Of The Ring.
Tom Bombadil is a very mysterious and wonderful character. Use your imagination! Have you ever heard his songs set to music? I have. It would be very sad if a whole character was cut from a movie just because a few people feel that Tom Bombadil isn't important enough to work into visuals and sound. Professor Tolkien definitely felt the character was important. They are ALL pieces of the tale. Would Gandalf carry a CANE because his STAFF wouldn't fit on a movie screen?
Read the books again. We can't cut and paste them just to suit our tastes.
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