Cool News
del Toro Confirms HOBBIT Casting Tidbits & More...
Merrick here...
Many different sites are reporting snippets of information from Guillermo del Toro's recent appearance on BBC Radio's Simon Mayo Show, but the most comprehensive write-up I found came from G4 (HERE). If you know of a more detailed breakdown of Giuillermo's appearance, please tell the world via the Talkbacks below.
In short, during the Simon Mayo show, Guilermo talked a bit about THE HOBBIT. He said Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, and Hugo Weaving will reprise the roles they originated in "the trilogy". This has been assumed/presumed for some time, but now I guess it's official.
del Toro also mentioned that...
the film will take some liberties with sub-plot material that is briefly discussed in the book. Most notably among this, is Gandalf's departure from Bilbo and the Dwarves to confer with The White Council in Dol Guldur on dealing with an entity called the Necromancer (which later turns out to be Sauron himself.) We've always suspected this based on some statements, but this time, the intention to document Gandalf's quest (which is not covered greatly in the book) was articulated clearly.
[EDIT]
Smaug the Dragon, del Toro revealed that after eight whole months of design work, they have only just “cracked the basic engineering.” It is anticipated that another six or seven months of application will be needed before the great flying, fire-breathing, gold smuggler will be in any kind of presentable form.
All per THIS article at G4.
[EDIT]
Smaug the Dragon, del Toro revealed that after eight whole months of design work, they have only just “cracked the basic engineering.” It is anticipated that another six or seven months of application will be needed before the great flying, fire-breathing, gold smuggler will be in any kind of presentable form.
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lol hobbit
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Bring it on Baby. And release LOTR On fucking Blu-Ray Already.
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Crack the dishes, smash the plates! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
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I was always afraid this project would take too long, especially considering how physical the role still is in Hobbit. However, I feel like I might need to brush up (admittedly, I haven't read The Hobbit since high school and was always more of a LOTR guy), because I have no memory of any scene where Hugo would need to return. I thought it was the nastier river elves down the way the Bilbo and th Dwarves ran into. OR is this more of the subplot fiddling stuff. Like I said, foggy.
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We've got deal, Memo.
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is it bad that I want this movie out just so that del Toro can start working on "At the Mountains of Madness"?
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More lotr movies rocks. I knew about Smaug before I knew the difference between boys and girls.
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WETA CGI > MAN IN SUIT!!! Give Doug Jones a couple movies off!
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Anyone who's heard the 1970s audiobook would love him to re-create his 'Terry Thomas meets Darth Vader' voice to the role.
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...a superb film. Pans Labia was very good, and other works have been consistant, but I get the impression he's a bit of a slave to cliche.... and that is exactly what we don't need in a film version of the most famous childrens book of all time.
Jackson still needs to keep an eye on Mr. del Toro.
But, good luck all the same.
And yes, Howard Shore would be the first person I would confirm as coming back... -
for sharing that nugget...an amazing feat for someone with their head so far up their own ass.
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But Gandalf and the White Council don't meet at /in Dol Guldur, Dol Guldur is the Necromancer's tower which Gandalf attacks. I'm pretty sure Gollum is imprisoned there for a while too.
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Neosamurai85, you've forgotten much indeed! In The Hobbit, the party stops in Rivendell on the way to the Mountain...and they stop on the way back. Elrond even helps them figure out how to read the secret moon runes on their map. I guess you ought to be cracking open that book sometime in the next year or so...
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color Wizards/Istari?
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You'll probably have to wait for Blu. New Line is going to quadruple dip, count on it.
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Will do man. Thanks. While I love the story, I never got deeply into The Hobbit. LOTR was one of the first non-children's books I ever read and I read it before The Hobbit, so as awesome as Dragons and stuff are, I loved the depth of the sequel and the density of the writing more. It was sorta spoiled for me, and I won't pretend to be a specialist on it. So thanks for the recall. I'll crack it again sometime soon. It will be interesting to see how it reads post-teen and without the burden of LOTRs anyway.
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http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=55579109&id=128954728 from (15:33)-(22:55) including more on his relationship with Peter Jackson. Also a couple of words about Blade 4, Hellboy 3 just before.
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The David Wenzel graphic novel has my all time favorite Smaug design. I hope they go that route.
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one shot, one kill...kind of anti climactic when you're talking about a superbeast.
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...will be played by Ron Perlman. Mind you, I'm betting Perlman will get the nod to be Thorin too; save a few bucks by doubling up the talent, like Gimli/Treebeard.
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...or maybe Javier Bardem.
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you know that makes sense
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And with Jackson to bounce off of, his more ridiculous impulses will be kept in check. Pan's Labyrinth was a masterpiece, and proof that he has what it takes to make a powerful, emotional and gritty fantasy - and make no mistake, the style The Hobbit was written in was geared towards kids, but content wise it isn't much different than LOTR - it will be dark and gritty, even if a little lighter than Rings. Even Tolkien wished he'd re-written the book. Get James McAvoy for Bilbo - would love to see Ian Holm but he's way too old for such a physical role, even if they CGI de-aged him. Hopefully Christopher Lee can hold on for another few years to play the uncorrupted version of Saruman who chairs the White Council. Brian Blessed for Beorn.
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when I read the book 10 years ago I wished that there had been some coverage of Gandalf's adventure. It seemed much more interesting to me than some wandering through the woods and a bit of river rapids
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The pretentiousness of that ad nauseates me. "chillingly clever homage to 2001" oh shut the fuck up. what a fucking holocaustish line. go eat some shit dyke fuckhairs.
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I hope that they don't pass up that opportunity to have the son play the father!
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A certain web site named for a great river in South America has it for one penny less than 70 USD.
Unless, of course, you want the extended version, and I am holding out for that series. I want to keep double dipping to a minimum. -
Cool certainly to cast him, but he was in agony most of the shoot for LotR due to his allergic reaction to the latex mask. Highly highly doubt he'd put himself through that again. Voiceover maybe...?
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Acting like a drunk prick at the Empire movie awards the other month and taking the piss out of the project. I was kinda funny, just to see Sean Bean cringing with embarrasment at the shit coming out of Aragorn's gob.
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Brian Cox, John Goodman, Ron Perlman, George Wendt, John Rhys-Davies, Kelsey Grammer, John C. McGinley, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, J. G. Hertzler
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And play Old Bilbo.
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than that boring fag fest LOTR. It looks like they're cloning that fucker at this point. NEXT!
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Elijah Wood? Ian Holme is too old I guess unless they CGI him to hell. Elijah Wood might be an obvious choice, but I think the English pop elf Leo Sayer would be perfect. Oh, and we should get Leonard Nimoy to sing the theme tune.
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The hairiest actor alive. Robin f'n Williams. No need for costly CG transformation scenes. Just kidding. Please don't cast him.
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You can just feel it, can't you, AICN? Me too, me too.
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Pan's Labyrinth is the only really good Del Toro flick. And The Lord of the Rings films get worse every time I watch them. Which isn't very often.
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After all, he was supposed to have not visibly aged a day, which means that Bilbo in LotR LOOKED LIKE HE DID IN THE HOBBIT!
Really, it's not rocket science people. -
So Viggo wouldn't be coming back, it would be a younger actor. Unless they go down the stupid de-aging route. Liv Tyler would be Arwen because Arwen doesn't age. However, both of these characters don't need to appear at all, it would just be overkill. Whatever, we're not far away from knowing what we REALLY want to know - who's playing Bilbo, Smaug and Thorin.
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Was hugely more detailed. The g4 people even "stumbled onto" some of the phrasing I used.
I also mentioned his comments on why Hellboy 3 isn't gonna happen, his Frankenstein casting and tests and.... LOTS MORE, actually.
So, this is your best bet:
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/06/11/guillermo-del-toro-confirms-hugo-weaving-for-the-hobbit-and-much-more/ -
I was really sad at the routes the LOTR films took after Fellowship. Fellowship seemed to me to be packed with heart, and ideas, and characters and so on. (Even though arguments have been made that he did whatever he could to the book to make it LESS exciting - see Paul Gulino's book on Sequence Screenwriting.) But, god, those second two films, the terrible liberties they took with the books, the horrible way they seemed to concentrate on battles and nothing else....
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That Del Toro DOES have loads of heart, and I think these films could really be rather wonderful. I DO think, though, that they should schedule this to come out at least 6 months AFTER the final Harry Potter film. Otherwise people might get dragon fatigue, no?
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Totally agree with your assessment of the LOTR films, Fellowship by far the best, the next two ruined by 2nd unit directing and bad script decisions.
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That scene gave me nightmares for WEEKS when I was a kid. Now I'm gonna be reliving that shit.
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Jun 12, 2009 4:38:23 AM CDT
Don't really agree with those assessments of TTT and ROTK
by turdontherun
Certainly not when the extended versions are brought into account, anyway. For me, those versions ensure the series gets progressively better. Fellowship was the most linear movie, which disguised the fact that it had just as many omissions and alterations as the other two, if not more so. And it does hit a very slow patch between Gandalf's death, and the final battle with Boromir's sacrifice. It's true that Towers and King had a lot gutted from them to fit a theatrical run time, and that there were a few puzzling changes (Aragorn's fake death), but I find the longer cuts to redress the balance by a very wide margin. They're more accomplished and richer movies than Fellowship in many ways (Fellowship though brilliant, was very road movie-like, with a large ensemble cast), containing more intimate character moments (since the individual story lines are reduced to a smaller number of characters), and with multiple, inter-linked plot threads that build on each other.
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I partially agree with Kwis. For me personally FOTR is the best (flawless filmaking imho). While I find both TT and ROTK to be a bit flawed by some weak choices/changes by Jackson and co..However they are both still damn good movies...
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COUNT IT HONKEY FACE!
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and I am actually quite happy about del Toro making the Hobbit. I think his directing and Jackson producing will mesh well. And personally I like that DelToro is bringing D.Jones, Ron Perlman, and Mike Mignola into the LOTR universe. I think they will add a nice touch that will help differentiate the Hobbit from LOTR, which is as it should be imho....
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Its a Del Toro film so...
DOUG JONES = THE ENTIRE CAST... TWICE -
I was hoping it would get to 2000 posts! It was a nice little refuge for discussion - guess we'll just have to wait for the next Avatar-related piece of news and set up shop there.Yep, i think, in retrospect, bringing in Del Toro was a great idea. Jackson might have used up all his creativity in regards to Middle-Earth if it was just him doing these Hobbit movies alone. I think he even said something to the effect of "going in and trying to compete with myself would have been no fun, and not very satisfying." I think the two of them will play off each other very well, bringing their own unique and fresh ideas to the table, and will cancel out the worst of each other's excesses - bit like Lennon and McCartney, really! Ron Pearlman is definitely assured a role - be it Thorin, the voice of Smaug, or Beorn.
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GDT's involvement means Smaug will be: 1) Perlman-voiced 2) Be made of clock parts
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...I was beginning to wonder if the AICN bunch was going to boycott this time around.Of course Elrond is in this so Hugo Weaving had better reprise the role.Everyone just keep repeating: James McAvoy as Bilbo, James McAvoy as Bilbo...Glad to hear Smaug is getting a well considered treatment instead of copying something earlier. Yes, whoever said the Smaug from the illustrated novel would be perfect is spot on...as a starting point. I mean, how original can you get depicting a dragon...pretty much been done to death.Finally, Stephen Moyer (vampire Bill from 'True Blood') to play Bard the Bowman. C'mon, he's got that dark brooding intensity thing going in spades.
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That's the one I can't wait for! So I can finally erase the memory of Brannagh's horror..
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No doubt they're going to quadruple the shit out of the LOTR Blu Ray. But what's taking them so long for the first wave?
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...he's an overrated, fair-to-middling actor with no real presence. Can't carry a film (and before anyone mentions Last King of Scotland, that was Whitaker's Show). As for who could be Bilbo - tricky. Toby Jones? At the very least he's got to be a dwarf.
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If he were cast I don't think I'd be worried, but anything other than Ian Holm agreeing to start aging backwards at an alarming rate so that he's capable of donning his Hobbit feet once more to stab some spiders is bound to disappoint anyone that interested in who gets the part. I disagree with you, Diamond Joe, about McAvoy's part in The Last King of Scotland, I think that film wouldn't work without him.
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Richard Boone as Smaug. I love it!
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talkback. But as you say we will just have to set up camp in the next one lol. Anyway....So dude are they splitting the book into 2 halves? Why? I read the book many years ago, and cant remember it being able to be split into 2 books (i realize my memory of it may be really wonky...).
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I'm going to believe this to be the case until an official announcement says otherwise.
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Hahaha, you losers are either trying to get a response like the sad attention seeking morons you are, or you're in a very very small minority. Either way, you're opinions are irrelevent. You do make me laugh though. Name one trilogy that is better than LOTR.
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Still, he never topped his big game hunter in The Last Dinosaur, with the awesome name of "Maston Thrust". Can't beat the dialogue in that one: "You DING-DONG!" A reviewer described him in that movie as looking like "a rotten log in a safari hat." Genius.
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I wouldn't worry about a confirmation. It's just a matter of them asking him. He's gone on record saying he'd love to do it and has admitted to loving Middle-earth so much that he's already composed Hobbit tunes in his spare time for his own enjoyment. You can count on him being part of this. Thank God.
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I wonder if he'll be working with any of the previous themes he wrote for Bilbo.
I really don't care to speculate on who's playing Bilbo. Del Toro's made his choice and I trust his directorial sensibilities in this regard. Casting was not a problem with any of his previous films (except maybe Mimic). -
I just said i thought the 2nd and 3rd films had some flaws, but were still damn good movies. And that Fellowship is flawless filmaking, I never trashed the Lotr movies at all...
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onally dont think you can really compare trilogies or series that are completely different genres. There is no question that LOTR is the best/greatest fantasy trilogy/series, blows HP away as far as im concerned. There is no completely good superhero trilogy imho, there a number of good 1-2 punches, but superhero series always seem to completely shit the bed in the 3rd movie (blade, xmen, spiderman, superman etc...) Im hoping Nolan pulls off a hat trick and gives us the first perfect comic book adaptation trilogy. As for Sci-fi....well that depends on your feelings tastes, and is highly argumentative imho. We could say the Star Wars OT (and its the most likely candidtate), but what about ROTJ? Many love it and will defend it to their death, while many see it as a weak conclusion. And then what of the Matrix trilogy? On what side do you come concerning the matrix sequals? Or what about the triogy within the star trek series WOK-TVH? .....All food for thought...
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more wisecracks, pratfalls, and burp jokes in the middle of serious scenes!
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Kinda cool, but I fell asleep whilst watching A Few Dollars More. Star Wars would be an excellent trilogy if they had regarded the Holiday Special as the second film :)
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is the best Western trilogy i guess....
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sounds like good casting for the dwarves in snow white. I can picture it now.
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thank you. you're just jealous
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LOTR for filling the void that the Star Wars prequel left.
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Pegg and Frost for 2 dwarves.
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I love how that movie has created this dicotomy between SW fans and LOTR fans. I never knew I was supposed to pick a side
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You just know someone is aching for this film to come out so they will finally have some decent footage to go with that song for their homemade YouTube fan vid.
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...that your eyeballs were just fucked by a HOBBIT.
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Don't forget the Alien trilogy. Despite Alien 3 being the weakest (not nearly as bad as Resurrection), it was a fitting end to Ripley's arc in my opinion.
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"Return," okay, and it ain't "of the King," it's "of the Jedi." -Clerks 2
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Whoever it is, they should look like a young Ian Holm. Ever listen to the BBC adaptation of Lord of the Rings? It's funny to hear Ian Holm playing Frodo.If the movie starts with a voice over by Galadriel and the Howard Shore's "theme of the ring", I'll be ecstatic. I'll even be able to live with James McAvoy as Bilbo.
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Please.
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"For Elrond lives in the Last Homely House."
Nice! -
I will follow every detail. Let's hope Ringwearer surfaces over the next many months to entertain.
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Imagine the visuals of Smaug reflecting his environment and characters interacting with him. Should be spectacular.
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No, not really. At least, I hope not. Goldberry, maybe.
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Since Oliver Reed isn't available.
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I agree with the earlier "you haven't aged a day" comment, PLUS we actually see Holm as Hobbit-era Bilbo in LOTR and it worked just fine. Enough with the recasting!
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"It is a crime. To wander. In my. Realm. Without leave! Do you forget? That -you-. Were in -my- kingdom? Use-ing. The road. That my people made?"
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"Then I saw that there Arkenstone, and I said: Get 'er done!"Man, it'll be loads of laffs.
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He did a great job of reading The Hobbit and LOTR. He should get to be a hobbit or a dwarf or one of the Mirkwood elves.
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Film production starts. And Bilbo is a pretty physical role in The Hobbit. I don't think they are going to have much choice but to recast. Still, I vote against James McAvoy. He's not frickin' Bilbo, and all I'll see is that weird, over-emoting guy from Wanted and some period Jane-Austeny movie.
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And yeah, the Necromancer sequence was a given.
Also, TTT is by far the best of the three when you consider Extended Editions. Sadly, ROTK has many, many, MANY flaws in either edition. FOTR would've been better if they had made it last; there was a lot that wasn't even filmed because of length concerns and they didn't know how successful the franchise would be. Boromir is awesome though. -
Michael Drout talked about this in a lecture series you can buy at B&N for $10 now. A lot of the encounters in the Hobbit are based on class differential. Bilbo represents the typical English yeoman or landed gentry. The trolls represent the rough-and-tumble working class. The goblins represent the communist-style 'lack of individuality' working class (only one individual is mentioned by name, and its only a title). And Smaug represents the aristocracy (taking all the gold away from the surrounding neighbors and doing nothing with it). But Drout does advise not to try to apply this across the entire work.
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I'd love to see as much of the Silmarillion and the appendixes and the Lost Tales and what not referenced or made into a movie. I'd love to see what the White Council did to push back the Necromancer . . . back to the lands or Mordor, where the shadows lie. And a lot takes place in the Hobbit. A scene by scene film would take two movies.
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But Two Towers is my favorite, because of the hook back to the first movie and showing Gandalf's battle with the Balrog at the beginning. I cheered when Gandalf, falling down into the pits of Moria, grabs Glamdring and prepares to do battle. I never cheer at movies. Man, I love that. Although, I prefer the extended editions, all around.But I surely love ROTK. Sam Gamgee's entirely authentic misery when Frodo puts on the ring, Frodo's final surrender, Aaragorn telling the Hobbits that they "bow to no one", and bowing down before them . . . I can live without the scenes of the hobbits returning to Hobbiton and putting things right. And I can surely live without Saruman taking up residence in Bag End with Wormtongue. I really like the novel, but I think skipping that part of the book was entirely appropriate for the film.
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The first film is the Hobbit. The second film is takes place between the Hobbit and LOTR. It's where we find out that Saruman is a Decepticon.http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/5/28/
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What I can't live with is: "No man shall kill me", Denethor played as a one-note villain because they removed the palantir, and Frodo tackling Gollum into the cracks of doom.
Here's what it comes down to: when the Rankin-Bass version is more faithful to the original than your movie is, you've done something wrong. -
Film his shit before he fucking dies.
Or I'll kill your family.
I'm not sure who this is directed at..... -
To base the revelation of the Treason of Isengarde on. Some of it may be newly created, to Christopher Tolkien's great chagrin, but I can see both movies being an excellent set of "prequels" (I hate that word) to the trilogy, if done right. Whether or not they will be done right remains to be seen, but I definitely see the potetnial. Although I don't much care to see Saruman, now, if it isn't Christopher Lee.BTW, you can get The Children of Hurin, read by Christopher Lee, on Audible.com. Awesome. And he does a tremendous job for someone who was maybe 85 years old when he did the recording.
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Yeah, never explaining that Denethor has a palantir is irksome. Actually, I loved "No man shall kill me", but I understand the objection. Frodo tackling Gollum into the cracks of doom seemed perfectly consistent with the nature and story of the ring, so I had no problem with that. But Denethor should have been accorded with depth and wisdom he had in the book. However, having John Noble play Denethor made me overlook even that. But . . . valid points. Fortunately, they didn't bug me. ;)
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How do you turn the events of those 60 years into a cohesive story? I guess you can include Aragorn meeting Arwen and hunting Gollum. You can have the White Council meeting and Saruman saying the Ring has likely gone to the ocean. You may even have Frodo's parents' death. But what's the climax? What's the buildup? It's just a series of vignettes loosely bound together. There's no narrative thread that exists *unless they create one*. And that's what I fear. I'm not ready for LOTR EU, because I can't help but imagine that just like SW EU, it'll suck hard.
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PJ gets some changes right: for example, the dead at the Pelennor Fields was a great addition that actually made a lot of sense. But it bugs me that after being so faithful for so long, PJ actually thought he could do the two climaxes of the movie better than Tolkien. Tolkien was a linguistic scholar! He said 'hinder' *on purpose*. Heck, it was actually a linguistic joke. And Gollum dancing into the cracks is way better. You can't convince me otherwise.
Is ROTK still an exceptional film? Yes. But it bugs me so much that it could've been perfect if PJ had just stuck to the original. -
Is better. And could have been great on film. I'm just saying, I still love it. And, either way, Eowyn kills the Witch King, so that whole seen works for me. And it's my daughter's favorite scene in the entire series . . .Good points on the 2nd movie. I suppose I'm just optimistic. Much could be done with Arwen and Aaragorn and Aaragorn's time at Rivendell. A little more on the Istari. Saruman's deception of Radagast. I could see how it would work, but I also see how it might not. Hope against hope.
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Damn my homonym dyslexia.
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If Sauron/The One Ring survives, so does the Witch King. As a ringbearer the Witch King is bound to it.
Also, it ignores the fact that Merry 'hinders' the Witch-King first, and then Eowyn 'hinders' him (thus the joke). Heck, if they only say 'kill', then they could just pound the shit out of the witch-king (I'm envisioning the torture by bullets of 'Proinsas' in the Preacher). -
It's like a dream come true having this guy direct the Hobbit. There's really no better choice short of PJ himself, and even so, I'd rather see Del Toro's interpretation this time around. It's gonna be killer.
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...in the Conan TB.
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hell no to Sean Connery, Liam Neeson or James Earl Jones
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...could have been morGoth, once posted an way out of the Bilbo casting dilemma. He mentioned that there is one instance where Gandalf met Bilbo long after the events of The Hobbit but before LOTR. One could cast a young Bilbo in the movies, yet tack on an epilogue with Holm as Bilbo as to preserve continuity.
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James McAvoy or Martin Freeman as Young Bilbo
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That'd definitely be going in a new direction.
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Fair enough. Still works fine, for me. If that's all the liberty they take with the Hobbit, I'll be perfectly pleased.
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Tiddly tee hee! I'm Tom Bombadil! Watch as a skip along the forest, giggling and twinkling! Tee hee! Oh, look, here comes Frodo and Sam! They make such a nice couple. I hope gay marriage is made legal in The Shire, cause those two queens are so sweet!
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Jun 12, 2009 11:13:40 AM CDT
RankinBass Cartoon = NePlusUltra of LOTR Related Products & Serv
by laserpants
Truth.
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Sam = Top. Frodo = Bottom.
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The LOTR trilogy is near and dear to my heart. Hell it practically took up 4 years of my life lol. Del Toro has his work cut for him here, and will certainly be scrutinized by fans everywhere. I do wish him luck. Just don't cast Downey Jr. in it and everything will be fine. Love the guy, but they seem to put him in EVERYTHING these days...
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Doug Jones is an amazingly gifted individual movement-wise. We know how much you love him. But I agree with the above posters. Part of what I didn't like about Hellboy 2 was the ubiquitous use of Doug Jones. He's just too unique to get away with that kind of overuse as multiple parts in the same film. I wouldn't mind if he is in it AS ONE PART- his physique would lend himself to something Elvish I think. I can't wait to see the Battle of the Five Armies!! TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION!!
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Bredan Gleeson as Thorin. PERFECT!
I think my dream vacation right now would be a week trekking in the mountains, coming back each night to a cosy couch and watching a half of each Extended Edition every evening. -
Del Toro has been saying that previous cast members whose characters reappear in "The Hobbit" will be asked back for like a year, and he's mentioned the White Council storyline being included numerous times, too. May I suggest TheOneRing.Net for Hobbit news that isn't 11 months old?
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I appreciate every time I hear people say what they would have done different and that things should have been included, but one thing I really like, as I watch the movies more than read, I mean I can watch the trilogy in a weekend, is that it's so nice to go back to the book and feel like watching the movies hasn't taken away the "newness" each time I read it. For it is SO intricate. You need 12 trilogies to come close to capturing all of it.
And people who read the book, having been excited by the movies, find TONS of "new" stuff to discover and that they have only experienced the lean plot of the movie, for it is a movie. It's nice to have both.
I will alawys be glad to have read the book first. But because of how Jackson and co. stayed on "their" vision for "their" movie, we have a great movie(s) that doesn't try to come close to one excellent book. For they know a movie works in a much more limited scope, if you will. -
Lol - man I think every day for four years they had a hit from me. God bless that site for giving me my daily LotR fix.
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are actually gonna be the Hobbit split into 2 halves. Del Toro confirmed that when he was in LA promoting The Strain. Although it looks like a bunch of stuff that happens "offscreen" in the book will find its way into the movies.
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I talked to Del Toro about The Strain and his work on The Hobbit ... here, http:// bookotron.com/agony
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Cheech Marin as Smaug!!!!!!!
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Ralph Macchio as Bilbo!!!
Bobcat Goldthwaite as the voice of Smaug!!!!!!! -
Cheech Marin and Steve Guttenberg = now the same person.
How the faaark did that happen? -
No thank you...I'd prefer McAvoy. But really, I want Anton Yelchin to play Bilbo as a young man with Holm doing voice-over work.
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That way people will see past it's flaws like they did Pan's Labyrinth.
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If they're going to continue backwards, a Silmarillion movie can't be far behind, especially if these Hobbit films perform on the level of the LOTR trilogy. Now that would be a badass movie if done right - Morgoth could be a wickedly memorable movie villain.
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Brendan Gleeson as Thorin - a round of applause, sir. I think Gleeson is one of the most underrated actors working today. He is not aware of the meaning of the words "bad performance". Del Toro - get his number and book him the fuck in, now.
Anton Yelchin? Could live with him more than McAvoy. Still say Toby Jones is yer man though. -
loogenhausen, I loved Toliekn's Hobbit and LOTR but I just didn't connect with the Silmarillion. Very Old Testament style, no dialogue or conversations between characters just centuries upon centuries of described events. Kinda boring actually.
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DiamondJoe yeah, Gleeson can play comical, heroic and also extremely menacing. If I remember there are some scenes where Thorin acts in all these way. Imagine Gleeson seeing the gold and not wanting to give it up - he'd nail that scene.
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The story of Beren and Luthien is very doable (although: Talking Dog = Disney film? *shudder*). They've already "remade" a part into the Children of Hurin, so that's possible.
And of course you could do the end of the Second Age: Fall of Numenor as prologue into the Last* Alliance ... although the prologue of the LOTR movies spoiled that one ;) -
Go to Jobless Film reviews at
http://tinyurl.com/l44edq -
SECONDED!
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I think I would be physically ill if that smug schoolboy McAvoy is allowed anywhere *near* this film. I thought Bilbo was described as chubby and in his fifties. I think Holm *could* play Bilbo - for any long shots or physical stuff it's not a problem to use doubles. It depends on his general health I suppose. I'm not sure he'd want to do it either. If it must be re-cast, I'd like to see someone closer to his appearance and voice than, say McGregor to Guinness.
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Jun 12, 2009 2:08:16 PM CDT
Ian McShane or that dude from 24 and allstate commericals as sma
by rudimus maximus
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...and he's British!
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Jun 12, 2009 2:25:38 PM CDT
They're using Harry Knowles as a rendered model for Smaug
by glory_fades_immaxfischer
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...when i say i believe that his work's are particularly unsuitable for film. The Fellowship of the Ring was the ONLY movie in that series that did anything for me at all, and it didn't do much. The entire tone of the movies was all wrong, for the director didn't get the fact that the books are NOT about action, but about the journey. The books spend just enough time on the action to explain what happens, where the movies are non-stop action all the time. There is none of the wonder from the books in the movies at all, and i think it's because Middle Earth is a place that can only really exist in your mind.
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http://tinyurl.com/ldsb72
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Sorry dude, I've read the LOTR dozens of times and there's tons of action. Also, quite a bit more violent. Lots of cleaving of skulls and beheading.
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Ironhelix, not the Extended Editions - those movies really have time to breathe and 'exist' as you say.
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... None of this Kenneth Branaugh-amniotic-fluid-with-electric eels-in a big boiler BS from the last time they tried to update Frankenstein. No Stephen Sommers-clear plastic-skulltop-with-Green Lantern-glow-and-leg braces either! Ya hear me Guillermo? Do it right!
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...this almost feels too good to be true. Gonna savor the wait for these.
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After the self indulgent crap that was Hellboy 2, I'm not holding out much hope for this and can't even get excited about it. And Frankenstein? Yea, lets adapt something that's been done a billion times already.
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...but Tolkien FLATLY refuses that he uses allegory and symbolism in his work.
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Thanks, but no. Anything Jackson or del Toro is a wast of time. I'll pass.
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that would be incredible.
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Trolls: Brendan Gleeson, Alexei Sayle and Robbi Coltrane
Brian Blessed as Thorin -
I loved that movie as a kid and it hasn't even hit DVD yet. Stupid poopheads.
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and we will be fucking eyeballs and mandibles for weeeeks
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Tolkien was completely disingenuous with that comment, and it is arguable that he was only referring to the Lord of the Rings, and reacting to the heavy-handed use of allegory by his compatriot Lewis. Leaf by Niggle is pure allegory, and Tolkien knew it.
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Answer: YOU CAN'T. That reveal of the MASSIVE dragon in the cave, tucked into the shadows looming over Beowulf, is one of the greatest OH SHIT moments in fantasy filmmaking. Of course it was designed for 3d Imax and that's how I viewed it and the result was poo-poo exploding out of my pants. But the point being: P. Jackson and GDT dragging out the modeling and rigging of this amazing *new* dragon smells of Jackson making Weta model EVERY BUILDING in 1930s New York City for King Kong. I.e., doesn't really need to be done, won't pay off on camera, but it sure puts more bucks in Weta's coffers, which in turn puts them in Peter's wallet because he's a gross partner.
Not saying I don't want a kick-ass dragon, but with so many great ones on film, especially in the past few years (Harry Potter, Beowulf, LOTR, even the dinos in Jurassic or King Kong having dragon-like characteristics) c'mon, can't be THAT tough. -
Steven Tyler as Saruman and ZZTop for the rest of the white council. Edward James Olmos with prosthetic tail as Smaugh. Clancy Brown as all three cave trolls. Have Tarantino direct it = instant classic.
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Good god would that be cool...
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Tom Waits would rule!
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Tolkien + del Torro and Jackson. Yes please.
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Jun 12, 2009 6:38:39 PM CDT
Michael Cera as Aragorn, Ellen Page as Bilbo, Seth Rogen as Gloi
by copontheedge
C'mon, you know you were thinking it. Give it that 'young Hollywood' reboot. And they'll be stoned on Gandalf's kind herb.
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Jun 12, 2009 6:39:57 PM CDT
they should get the voice of Faggy the Hutt from clone wars
by six demon bag
to voice smaug
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They couldn't afford that thing! And so we shall all suffer!
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"Bilbooooo! Iiiiiye! Am your father! . . . . Oh, I'm just kidding, now show yourself so we can laugh about this whole thing! Hello? Curses! Your defenses are impenetrable!"
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McAvoy is just too baby faced to be Bilbo, and it would be kind of jarring to go from someone as young and smooth looking as him in The Hobbit to Ian Home in the LOTR flashback. Freeman is the perfect happy medium IMO.
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We won't get Flight of Dragons until someone coughs up a copy of the Laserdisc that isn't suffering from bit rot, or if someone finds the original tape.
Until then, you'll have to console yourself with the bootleg DVD, or a VHS copy (I've a shrinkwrapped copy, if anyone is interested). -
So basically, for the longest time, studio executives used film stock for toilet paper. I hate studio executives. I also hate Ewok mange (it just looks unsightly).
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Yes, Sir, the check is in the mail. Get ready for some real pay-off, bisnitches! Did I just say "bisnitches"? I think I did...
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you know you want it. the dude needs to have a part in every franchise.
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Yup. The studio execs are greedy, but uncaring. Which equals stupidly greedy. If only they had thought they needed to preserve stuff in order to continue making money off of it.Never fear, though. There are a couple of guys out there who are painstakingly searching for and buying up every copy of the Laserdisc that shows up on online auction sites, in order to find one that is pristine (apparently, it had a low run).
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now and then. I've found hardcover TSR AD&D books from the 70's (which are usually beaten to hell and back) in used/remaindered bookstores that look like they just rolled off the presses.
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If John Rhys Davis can be both Gimli and Tree Beard, then Lee can be both Sauruman and Smaug. I hear he was upset that Sauruman's death was cut from the theatrical cut of ROTK, and if they want to get him back for The Hobbit then throwing in the voice of Smaug as a consolation prize would certainly make it worth his while.
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“My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, Brother"
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maybe characters wont start bawling their eyes out every 5 minutes here hopefully and i'm cautiously optimistic how the action scenes will be, it can only be better than peter "what the fuck is going on in this scene" jackson's.
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not really, but I'll throw that guy's name in the ring for just about anything.
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let your hate flow....gooood. Goooooood.
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hot shit!
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Jun 15, 2009 12:06:23 AM CDT
Given, that he's going to get a big budget from the start
by puddleglum
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Jun 15, 2009 12:10:39 AM CDT
Maybe, but don't tell me she doesn't have the FACE for it.
by puddleglum
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Jun 15, 2009 12:13:00 AM CDT
I wonder, too, how it will feel without a "sexy" male role?
by puddleglum
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Jun 15, 2009 12:13:35 AM CDT
hear me out now. I'm talking about an Aragorn or Legolas.
by puddleglum
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Jun 15, 2009 12:14:59 AM CDT
they need a character of greater sex appeal for the ladies
by puddleglum
the ones under 70.
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Jun 15, 2009 12:16:21 AM CDT
and, yeah, some Mirkwood elves, but they don't play a big role
by puddleglum
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Jun 15, 2009 12:17:19 AM CDT
I guess they can cull a "Legolas" or "Aragorn" from one of those
by puddleglum
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a D&D porno?
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if Lee couldn't do it for some reason...
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none of which I will ever get back..... : (
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like Willow 2. Fuck this!
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Jun 15, 2009 3:26:53 PM CDT
As long as gandalf don't change into every zoo animal there is
by finky089
and a young Aragorn (if they should need to add this character) doesn't resemble "Mad Martigan", it could be ok. Think "Time Bandits", but stuck in Middle Earth.
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wasn't Billy Barty in Willow, too? Guess that shouldn't be surprising, though.
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Jun 15, 2009 10:10:18 PM CDT
Isn't it obvious - Stuart Townsend for young Aragorn!
by thunderbolt ross
Finally there will be JUSTICE!
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Jun 15, 2009 10:12:31 PM CDT
"never explaining that Denethor has a palantir is irksome."
by thunderbolt ross
nerd quote of the week
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Peter Jackson said that he would not mind using an unknown because Tolkien is the "Real" star. I hope that is indeed the case as I am an actor who would love the chance to audition for the part of a lifetime
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