Ian McKellen, the actor who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films, has confirmed via his website that filming for the upcoming two-part movie version of The Hobbit will begin this June:
THE HOBBIT’s, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in June. Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started. The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth.
The director Guillermo del Toro is now living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons’ and the studio in Miramar.
Interesting comment about the script including “old” friends. A reference, perhaps, to cameos by other characters from the Rings movies, in addition to Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving, who are already confirmed?
Apparently not having had their fill of fantasy with Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the Starz network has obtained the rights to Pillars of the Earth, an “epic tale of good vs. evil told against the religious, social and political struggles of medieval Europe.” Man, Starz is becoming the place to be, isn’t it?
Are people excited about the new V? I can’t seem to get my finger on that particular pulse. Well, if you are, we have promises from the powers that be that we’ll see more, more, morein the coming episodes. As for me, I just want to see mega-hottie Morena Baccarin rip her face off. Is that too much to ask?
Okay, I thought the idea ofPride and Prejudice and Zombies was genius. I freakin’ loved the title Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. So needless to say, I am super-stoked to learn that Tim Burton will be directing the upcoming film adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. A possibly risky move considering the novel was just released today.
The part of Albus Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth has been cast, and it’s … Julius Caesar? Actually, it’s Ciaran Hinds, who played Julius Caesar on HBO’s Rome. From slain emperor to crazy old wizard. Not too shabby there, Ciaran.
As a New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival has always held a special place in my heart. I love that in a city as commercial as New York there’s a festival that really honors the independent, artistic spirit of roll-up-your-sleeves filmmakers. And I’m proud that they’re honoring that tradition by opening the festical this year with … Shrek Forever After? Seriously? Wow, can’t wait till they open next year’s festival with that hard-hitting indie documentary, Transformers 3.
I ain’t afraid o’ no spoilers. Bill Murray spills the beans on Letterman about the possibility of a new Ghostbusters movie. He doesn’t seem so into it.
This is the kind of tweet that gets a big ol’ Marvel comics fan like me all in a tizzy. Hint: Anyone feel like assembling?
I have to confess, I never read any of Terry Brooks’ Shannaranovels, even though they’ve called to me like sirens every time I pass them in the bookstore. Well, I should get crackin’, because he has three more on the way.
Anyone else suffering from a little Hobbitrumor exhaustion? It’s cast, it’s not cast, it’s in 3D, it’s not in 3D, oh, wait, it might be in 3D. Just make the freakin’ movie already. (Incidentally, I’m currently reading The Hobbit again just for fun. Guess what? It’s just as awesome as you remember. Of course, the best part of the novel is not having to hear any rumors about the making of it.)
After the more-successful-than-God run of Avatar, talk of a sequel is naturally in the works, but James Camerondoesn’t want to call it Avatar 2. He’s thinking he might call it Na’vi. I say he can call it whatever he wants, as long as we don’t have to hear rumors about it for years. Damn you, Hobbit.
Daniel Radcliffe consistently proves he’s a bloody brilliant bloke, most recently for his work with The Trevor Project, a hotline to help LGBT teenagers in crisis. That’s right, a celebrity working for a cause that he’s not personally affected by and doesn’t tie in to a film he’s promoting. He’s just doing it because he knows he has a platform and he wants to use that opportunity for good. Wingardium levi-awesome.
Finally, I’m trying to figure out an excuse I can come up with to post this next link … ooh, I got it. You all saw Look Who’s Talking, right? That was kind of fantasy … wasn’t it? Babies talking to each other? Yeah, that should work. Anyway, here’s 6 scientifically-proven facts that show that babies are completely evil, spiteful, petty A-holes.
The Hubble Telescope has found a spiral galaxy living by the “live fast, die young” philosophy. NGC-2976 (they need to employ a better naming scheme if NASA wants their budget back) got a little frisky with a bigger galaxy sometime in the past and went nuts making stars to the point that it just doesn’t have it left in it anymore.
We mentioned before that Daniel Craig was putting on the spurs in the lead role in Cowboys vs. Aliens, but every cowboy needs a cowgirl, and Olivia Wildeis ready to mount up. The John Favreau project is the second sci-fi/fantasy piece in a row for the House actress, who has been hard at work on Tron: Legacy.
In news I could live without, the change at the top of DC Comics is clearing the way for Watchmen 2. Nobody that was associated with Watchmen being the best-selling graphic novel in DC history will touch the project, but the suits are already counting their money.
The Palantir (that would be me) once had to go to the bathroom during season two of Lost. He hasn’t understood a thing since. That’s why this parody from TV Wasteland makes him laugh.
Catching up withJohn Wagner, the creater of Judge Dredd, we find that he’s read the script and seen some of the visuals for the new movie, and likes what he sees. He also dishes on Dredd aging, how 70 is the new 40.
Last month we showed you the Star Wars Burlesque show, now io9.com has pictures of the more generalized Sci-Fi Burlesque show, adding Leeloo and Silk Spectre, among others.
Sam Raimi may have walked away (or been pushed) from Spider-Man, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to do a genre film. He’s planning to remakeThe Shadow. Is there not a new comic book character to exploit?
SyFy has announced a development slate of original SyFy movies based around dark retellings of fairy tales.Hansel will be an imagining where twenty years after the original woods trip, Hansel returns to the woods for revenge. But the twist is he finds Gretel has become the witch’s apprentice. Just one of SyFy’s many ideas to get into making something other than tornado movies.
You’ve probably heard that there’s a new live-action/CGI Smurfs movieunder development. The producers of said project occasionally leak concept art that people pray to be fake. This is another such piece of art. But it comes with a story that the movie will be set in New York City because Smurf Village is in Central Park. Mayor Bloomberg has summoned Papa Smurf to his office to discuss back taxes.
Dragon Age: Origins Expansionhas got a glittery version of the Ghost Dragon, and the new DLC content Return to Ostagar has finally hit the Xbox 360 and PC.
Alice In Wonderland continues to release new trailers and featurettes. The latest marketing assault is to give us slightly different trailers across all of Disney’s major networks, ABC, ESPN, and ABC Family. We’ll start with ABC Family, and then move to ABC. Play them together and note the not-so-subtle, but fascinating differences:
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Tor.com has a piece on why the Oscars don’t respect genre films, and hints that if the Best Picture category wasn’t expanded to 10 films this year, none of the genre films would have been nominated.
Universal Studios Orlando isn’t the only park getting a cool new attraction. Well, depending on how you define “new,” they are.But KingKongis coming back to Universal Studios Hollywood, and it’s in 3-D.
Locus Online has come out with their consensus Recommended Reading List 2009, and there are a few books on there I really enjoyed, like Transition and Ark. But we can all use more books in our life, so I’m going to try something else I haven’t read. What about you – what looks tasty?
On April 6, 2010, we can go back to The Shire. No, no – they’re still going nowhere with Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, but that’s when Ralph Bakshi classic animated Lord of the Rings movie comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Speaking of The Hobbit, Elijah Wood wants James McAvoy asBilbo Baggins. For some reason, that seems like it should count for something.
Going in the other direction from LoTR, we have Andy Serkis, who voiced Gollum, trying to get someone to make a biopic of Bono, and he wants to play the rocker. No word on why Bono wouldn’t just play Bono, because Bono seems to be pretty good at playing Bono.
Remember that Ollivander’s Wand Shop video we had? Well, Universal shelled out $2.6 million to promote The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the Super Bowl this Sunday. The park addition itself seems fairly amazing — this multi-million dollar spot, notsomuch.
Reaper was a quirky, fun show that died too soon. It had a delightful mix of comedy and action, and promised an intriguing story arc that never got finished. Since it died quietly, we never heard that story, but if you talk to the creators, they’ll tell it all, including the mystery of Sam’s father.
I’ve always wanted to be like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys or Robinson Crusoe and live in a tree house. I was never quite as elaborate in my dreams as the Wilkinson Residence, but I’m not opposed to it.
Ursula K. Le Guin has declared war on the Authors Guild for agreeing to “settle” with Google after they and their Google Book Project illegally scanned millions of books. Le Guin has resigned from the organization in a very public way. Careful, or she’ll send the dragons to burn down Google’s Mountain View California campus.
CollegeHumor.com has some mockups of what video games would be titled if they were named after what you said most while playing them. My favorite is Grand Theft Auto, which would be renamed Shoot Those Hookers.
George Lucasis working on a CGI feature film at Skywalker Ranch, and it’s a musical about fairies. Typing that made me a little ill. There’s no title for the piece but Kevin Munroe is directing, and his cred for animated films is TMNT (a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies)
Nightscape is billed as a thriller/horror movie about three high schoolers discovering they have paranormal powers, but none of that is on display in this quietly creepy trailer that just went up. How is it that little kids walking around quietly can give you the shivers so easily?
Zelda Rubenstein, the diminutive actress who played the psychic in Poltergeisthas passed away at the age of 76. With more than 50 credits to her name, from voicing Atrocia Frankenstone on The Flintstone Comedy Hour, to guest spots on Caroline in the City, she was also a noted AIDS activist and little people advocate. Our condolences go out to her friends and family.
NASA has a fancy new space suit for astronauts to wear to the moon, assuming we can ever afford to go back there. The new suit has a 150 hour life, computer telemetry links, and added flexibility.
Supernaturalis spawning a web spinoff calledGhostfacers, to premiere on TheWB.com in a run of ten three-minute webisodes. If Ghostfacers sound familiar, they appeared in season one and season three of Supernatural, largely for Dean to mock mercilessly.
On the face of it Spartacus: Blood and Sandappeared to anemic numbers on Friday night, but it was actually record-breaking for Starz as a network. Nobody seems to have any idea what a magic number is for the show to make money at this point, but hopefully CGI blood spatters aren’t expensive, otherwise they’re screwed.
Multiple outlets are linkingSam Worthington to a film called Dracula: Year Zero, about how Vlad the Impaler became Count Dracula. There’s a lot of swirl that this is going to get fast tracked for sometime in 2011.
I couldn’t begin to tell you who scores most movies. If it weren’t for the Family Guy spoofs, I’d have no idea who created the iconic Star Wars music. So when Howard Shorewas mentioned as having been signed for Twilight: Eclipse, I shrugged. It didn’t ring a bell, but it should have since he scored The Lord of the Rings, and has an Oscar on his shelf. Yeah, I still won’t see it.
In Wisconsin prisons, Dungeons & Dragonsis considered gang-related activity and is banned for the safety of other prisoners. No, this isn’t a clueless warden making a sweeping ruling about something he knows nothing about, although it started that way. After the prisoners sued, a judge agreed, evidently unaware that “orcs breaching the castle walls” did not mean a jailbreak was imminent.
Considering there doesn’t appear to be any hurry to pick a cast for The Hobbit, it’s not surprising that it looks like at least 2012 before Bilbo makes his way from the Shire to the silver screen. It’s a long walk barefoot to get to Hollywood.
When it comes to Dune-the book and Dune-the-movie, I liked both, but they remained disconnected in my mind. But we can finally know precisely how Frank Herbert felt about the film, thanks to these publicity interviews from 1983. It turns out, he liked it. He really, really liked it.
And to finish on a fun, trippy note, the new featurette for Alice In Wonderland, titled “Strange World” is out, and rather than focusing on a single character like last week’s Mad Hatter, we get to see the characters integrated into their wild surroundings.
Back again for another highly opinionated — some might even say downright cranky — look at the week in fantasy. You’ve been warned!
COULD THE HOBBIT SUCK?
With the news (since shot down) that Tobey Maguire is once again the front-runner to play Bilbo in The Hobbit, I’m starting to get this sinking feeling that the movie, if it ever actually happens, will end up being a massive disappointment.
It’s not just a question of sky-high expectations — my expectations for The Two Towers and The Return of the King were just as high, and both those movies actually (far) exceeded them.
Then again, those weren’t your usual sequels. The Lord of the Rings may have been released over three years, but it was, of course, conceived and mostly filmed at one time. In many ways, it was “one” movie.
And let’s face it: with all the delays and lawsuits, and now these endless, pointless casting rumors, The Hobbit movies are starting to feel like the never-ending health care debate in the U.S.: no matter what happens now, everyone is going to end up disappointed and cranky.
But in retrospect, at least when it comes to health care, that disappointment was probably inevitable. There are simply too many hopes and dreams (and masters to serve and pipers to pay) for it to have not ended up this way.
I hope I’m wrong, but I think the same could be true for The Hobbit.
Yes, I understand that most of the key players involved in The Lord of the Rings will be involved with The Hobbit. On paper, you have to admit, “There’s no way these movies can suck! They just have to do exactly what they did before! How hard is that?”
But it’s when you start to think like that, of course, the universe really sticks it to you. On “paper,” there’s no way a Peter Jackson version of King Kong could disappoint either, but we all know how that turned out.
The same goes for George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Harrison Ford re-teaming to make a new Indiana Jones movie after all these years — and, again, we all know how Kingdom of the Crystal Skull turned out.
The older I get, the more I think that art expresses a feeling and, more importantly, a moment in time (for both the creator and the viewer).
It’s impossible to recreate a moment in time. It simply can’t be done. You might create a new, maybe better moment, but you simply can’t go back to that which is already past. The fact that each moment is totally unique and transitory is part of what makes “time” special.
I think smart artists recognize this and always try to move forward, never even trying to recreate an artistic triumph of the past. The few successful movie sequels (or prequels), like Aliens, completely rethink the premise of the franchise — but, of course, that’s hard for anyone to do successfully, much less the filmmaker who originated a franchise and had such success the first time around.
CanPeter Jackson do it again? Does it help that Guillermo Del Toro, not Peter Jackson, is directing? (Despite my initial disappointment, the further we get from that announcement, the more I think this was an excellent decision. I think this at least gives us a shot at greatness.)
Anyway, I want to believe The Hobbit movies will be great, I really do. But I confess, I’m losing faith.
His art isn’t bad, but his website is so over-the-top that it kinda has to be read to be believed. It calls him a “visionary” at the top of every page and has a bio that brags that one of his inventions was featured in “one of TV’s most successful infomercial” and refers to him as a “modern-day DaVinci.”
For one thing, it’s spelled “da Vinci,” not “DaVinci,” which is a hint that he may not be replacing the original Renaissance man just yet.
Here are some of John’s works:
Now that I think about it, maybe if “DaVinci” were alive, he would be involved with infomercials! Hey, a guy’s gotta eat.
Not surprisingly, I get over-hyped press materials like this all the time. I guess a lot of publicists think journalists will read them and think, “Wow, if this press release says it, it must be true! I’ll just mindlessly repeat this in my article!” When, of course, the exact opposite is true, and we usually end up writing snarky posts like this.
THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND HYPE MACHINE KICKS INTO OVERDRIVE
Here’s a (very) short featurette about the character of The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland. As always, it looks like it’ll be visually incredible:
THE IDIOT BOX
On Friday, most programming is being preempted by the Hope For Haititelethon, but there are two premieres: the two-hour Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica (9 PM, SyFy). I thought it started strong, but then got way too bogged down in character introduction and world set-up. I’m told things get better in eps three and four (in the next few weeks), but I don’t think I’ll be sticking around to find out. (I’m generally sort of anti-prequel to begin with, a feeling that was forever confirmed by The Phantom Menace.)
Also premiering on Friday, of course, is Spartacus: Blood and Sand (10 PM, Starz). Here’s what we thought of the series, but for the record, I thought the pilot was (by far) the weakest of the four episodes I’ve seen. It makes it seem much more conventional than it actually is.
This weekend, there’s a new episode ofLegend of the Seeker (syndicated, check local listings).
On Thursday, there’s a new The Vampire Diaries (8 PM, the CW), Fringe (9 PM, Fox),and Supernatural (9 PM, The CW). In the latter, Sam switches bodies with a teenage nerd, who enjoys his handsome new body while “Sam” is stuck dealing with intrusive parents. Sounds funny, but I confess: I’m surprised by how many “funny” episodes they’ve already done this season.
Oh, and if anyone is curious to hear what I sound like, I’m a guest this week on Alpha Waves Radio’s podcast, talking about how “gay” the would-be American remake of Torchwood is (or isn’t) likely to be.
THE BOX OFFICE
Two fantasy movies open this weekend: The Tooth Fairy and Legion. I was curious as to why I hadn’t been invited to a press screening for the latter, and it turns out they didn’t do press screenings. That is a sure sign that the movie almost certainly stinks. I was going to catch a midnight showing tonight for a early-morning review, but you know what? Since I’m certain it’ll suck, I’m thinking I’ll just skip it.
Is there another movie franchise that’s the subject of as much speculation as The Hobbit? It seems that every day there’s another rumor about who’s been cast, when the movie’s coming out, what problems are rising up, you name it.
We understand, Peter Jackson. Your job is not easy. And since we here at TheTorchOnline.com are nothing if not selfless, we’re going to do you a big favor.
Just as we did for the upcoming Conan, we’re going to cast your movie for you. (Mostly. We’re only doing one dwarf — Thorin Oakenshield — otherwise we’d be here all day.)
Now, even though there’s a few different versions of whether the roles of Gandalf and Elrond are cast, I think we can pretty much bet that Ian McKellan and Hugo Weaving are going to be donning their wigs once again, so I don’t really see a need to speculate about those roles.
Without further ado, let’s get the biggest one out of the way first.
Bilbo Baggins - Hugh Dancy
I’ll admit to being a little surprised when word came out that Elijah Wood had been cast as Frodo Baggins way back when. Certainly, he was not how I imagined a hobbit to look — too thin, too young, too modern, and quite frankly, too good-looking. Aren’t hobbits supposed to be appear as pudgy, middle-aged men? But then realization set in: if you’re going to hang a billion-dollar movie franchise on a single star, that star is going to inevitably be someone people enjoy looking at. In that vein, I nominate Hugh Dancy. Having seen Dancy perform on screen and on stage in a variety of roles, it’s clear to me his good looks are matched by his incredibly versatile acting ability, and he’s truly a performer capable of breathing life into Bilbo Baggins. (And check out that hair! Hobbit hair! You’ll save on wigs, PJ.)
Thorin Oakenshield - Brian Cox
It seems, ironically, that in order to pull off a true dwarf warrior, you need a giant, strapping man. (See John Rhys-Davies in The Lord of the Rings.) Cox is veteran performer, capable of great onscreen presence, and knows how to work an over-the-top scene like few else, as he did in X2: X-Men United, Troy, Deadwood, etc. Who wouldn’t love to see him strut his stuff as a four-foot-tall warrior?
Bard the Bowman - Stuart Townsend
Okay, I have to admit, I’m not being impartial. Having worked as an actor, I know the sting of almost getting that great role. There are conflicting stories about what exactly happened with LOTR, but what we do know is this: Stuart Townsend had the role of Aragorn, then he lost it. Now, to be fair, he was replaced by Viggo Mortensen, and the world is a better place for it thanks to Viggo’s pitch-perfect Aragorn. But how about we throw Townsend a bone with the smaller, slightly Aragorn-esque role of Bard?
Beorn - Joel Edgerton
The fearsome shape-shifter Beorn could change into a large black bear at will, and aided Bilbo and the party of dwarves, even participating in the Battle of Five Armies. Joel Edgerton, on the other hand, looks like a bear. So there you go.
Thranduil - Luke Goss
When Bilbo and company head into Mirkwood, they are captured by the Elvenking, Thranduil, and thrown in the dungeon. The father of Legolas, Thranduil is seen as a much more imposing figure than Orlando Bloom’s agile elf. And who wasn’t impressed by Luke Goss’s performance as Prince Nuada in Hellboy 2, in which he proved you can be beautiful and repulsive at the same time?
Smaug the Dragon - Bill O’Reilly
Andy Serkis who? If you really want the motion-capture performance of a lifetime, just strap those little ping-pong balls on this dude and put a camera in front of him. You don’t have to give him a script. In fact, you don’t even have to tell him it’s for a movie. Just tell him to do what comes naturally, and watch the wicked, greedy dragon Smaug come to life before your very eyes.
This is old news, but I suppose it must be said: Avataris a massive hit, and its prospects are growing better by the hour. Even more interesting to me, surveys find that every single demographic gives the movie an “A”!
Speaking of which, Stephen Spielberg liked Avatar a lot, saying it’s as revolutionary as Star Wars.
The first issue of the returning Realms of Fantasy magazine is available for free download.
The X-Men: First Class project means that the Magneto: Origins movie is now off the table — the Xavier/Magneto origin will now be part of the former film.
A (dubiously sourced) rumor says that Taylor Swift will play Supergirl.
28 Star Warsmashups. Good Lord, some people have way too much time on their hands!
Hasbro, which owns Wizards of the Coast (which makes Dungeons & Dragons) is suingAtari, which owns some digital rights to the game and recently sold them. Can I be honest? I didn’t even know Atari still existed.
Tobey Maguire as Bilbo was a rumor with no basis in fact. Really? People on the internet are just making shit up? Who knew?!
The decade’s most “profitable” actress was … Harry Potter’s Emma Watson. Which just kinda proves how stupid these kinds of surveys are.
A great blog with all the news about HBO’s upcoming A Game of Thrones.
A new website does for sci-fi/fantasy books what RottenTomatoes and Metacritic do for movies: it compiles and composites all reviews for particular books. Helpful!
Liza Minnelli is not a fan of The Wizard of Oz – but only because she has a hard time watching what they do to her mother.
A way-too-short article on how Terry Gilliam finished The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus without Heath Ledger. Interesting to read that Johnny Depp did his fill-in for Heath all in a day and a half without any rehearsal!
Speaking of Parnassus, I saw the film this week, and I think it’s a failure — one of Terry Gilliam’s least accessible films (which is saying something!). But it’s a spectacular failure, and the way he replaced Heath with Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell was clever and beautiful. Full review to follow next week!
Sigh. The filming of The Hobbit has reportedly been delayed (again!), and the studio has still not even greenlit the project. It’s like they’re saying, “What’s that? You have a machine that’ll print us billions of dollars? Yeah, okay, but we’re kinda busy right now. Maybe in three years, okay?”
Meanwhile, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has wrapped, and here are some pics from the film.
Worst. Job. Interview. Ever. Sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison says he’d “jump at the chance” to work on the Star Trek reboot, but that they’d have to pay him a lot of money, and oh, yeah, he’s spent the last few decades suing the Star Trek rights holders for work he did on previous incarnations.
The voice-casting notices for the animated remake of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie are out, and it’s clearly going to be very different from the original short film.
Most. Unsurprising. News. Ever. Breaking Dawn, the next Twilight book, will be split into two movies. First, The Hobbit, then Deathly Hallows — it’s clearly a trend. The thing is, I see no reason why each chapter of Breaking Dawn couldn’t be its own movie (I’m kidding).
An interview with Dan Abnett, where he discusses making it as a writer of speculative fiction: “I think there’s a very fine line between innovation and commerciality in any market. In SF, particularly at the most marketable end of it, you want to try and walk that very fine line between identifying current popular trends and ‘flavors’, and not producing a bad reheat of something that’s doing well. There’s no simple formula — I wish there was.”
First, it was “werewolves,” then it was “angels” that were supposed to be the next big trend. Now word is that “aliens” are poised to be the next “vampire.” (Incredibly, there are already at least 27 alien-themed movie projects in the works!)
Who should playGod on Supernatural (assuming they cast Him)?
Torchwood is back for another 13-episode season. After the sloppy, horribly-written ending for “Children of the Earth,” I’m not sure I care.
Stephen King is writing a sequel to The Shining, about Danny Torrance, the now-40-year-old son from the original book. “Maybe if I keep talking about it I won’t have to write it,” he told fans at a recent reading.
The next next NEXT Harry Potter is Beautiful Creatures, the first in a five-book series being published today. Warner Brothers has the movie in development.
I refuse to pretend it’s news that Daniel Radcliffe will be naked and embracing Emma Watson in Ron’s Deathly Hallows movie “vision”
Following a Tolkien movie adaptation tradition, director Guillermo Del Toro is giving himself a cameo role in his upcoming film version of The Hobbit, he revealed in a posting Monday at TheOneRing.net.
He wrote on the site’s message board that he’ll play a monster:
“I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly.”
Director Peter Jackson played several different cameo roles in The Lord of the Rings movies: a drunk in the village of Bree, and a Rohan warrior.
In a separate interview last week, Del Toro discussed the creation of another Hobbit monster, the dragon Smaug:
“Obviously, he took the longest. It’s actually still active: we’re finishing his color palette and a little bit of the texture. But the bulk of the design took about a year, solid. It’s because of the unique features of the dragon. Early in production, I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we’ve nailed it.”
The Hobbit, which will be split into two movies, is currently in pre-production in New Zealand. No other casting news has been announced.
The news about his cameo isn’t the first time Del Toro has posted sometimes cryptic messages about himself on TheOneRing.net, a site about Tolkien’s work. For example, prior to a deal he recently announced with Disney to develop “scary” genre-related films, books, and merchandise, Del Toro hinted at the partnership in a message on the site.
John Rhys-Davies, the actor who so memorably played Gimli the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, has declined to play the role of Gloin, Gimli’s father, in the upcoming two-part movie version of The Hobbit, according to Empire Magazine.
“I’ve already been asked and to be honest with you, I wouldn’t,” he told the magazine. “I have already completely ruled it out. There’s a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. [But] really, I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment any more.
“It was just a gentle ‘What would you feel about putting it on again?’” the actor said. “But no.”
Is the actor ruling out returning to Middle Earth in a non-dwarf role? “I’d really prefer to play something quite different,” he admitted. “Maybe an elf.”
A veteran and well-regarded character actor, Rhys-Davies played Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies, and also voiced the character of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings.
On television, he co-starred in last spring’s comedy fantasy series Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.
Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit is back “safe” on the forest path.
The project, which was fast developing a reputation for being as troubled as Bilbo’s misadventures in Mirkwood, received more bad news two weeks ago when MGM, the studio that is financing the movie in a 50/50 split with Warner Brothers (which owns New Line, the direct producing entity),was facing major financial difficulties.
But late last week, the company confirmed that its lender was allowing it to miss three interest payments on a $3.7 billion outstanding debt. The three-month reprieve is a major boost for the studio.
There was little chance that MGM’s financial problems would have resulted in the film’s not being made, but it was possible that the studio might have had to sell its interest in the film to meet its immediate obligations, possibly delaying the production.
For the time being, the project will stay at MGM with co-producer Warner Brothers covering any immediate costs. MGM’s success in keeping the rights, along with the rights to other franchises such as James Bond, is seen as a major factor in the studio’s future viability, since The Hobbit is widely regarded to be big moneymaker.
The project, which will be released in two parts starting in 2011, will be directed by Guillermo Del Toro, with screenplays by Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens (who wrote The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy) and del Toro.
Contrary to earlier reports, the first draft of the screenplay is still not finished.
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As a New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival has always held a special place in my heart. I love that in a city as commercial as New York there’s a festival that really honors the independent, artistic spirit of roll-up-your-sleeves filmmakers. And I’m proud that they’re honoring that tradition by opening the festical this year with … 
Daniel Radcliffe consistently proves he’s a bloody brilliant bloke, most recently for 
but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to do a genre film. 
under development. The producers of said project occasionally leak concept art that people pray to be fake. This is another such piece of art. 
Back again for another highly opinionated — some might even say downright cranky — look at the week in fantasy. You’ve been warned!
Yes, I understand that most of the key players involved in The Lord of the Rings will be involved with The Hobbit. On paper, you have to admit, “There’s no way these movies can suck! They just have to do exactly what they did before! How hard is that?”
The first issue of the returning Realms of Fantasy magazine is available for 
Speaking of Parnassus, I saw the film this week, and I think it’s a failure — one of Terry Gilliam’s least accessible films (which is saying something!). But it’s a spectacular failure, and the way he replaced Heath with Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell was clever and beautiful. Full review to follow next week!
Meanwhile, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has wrapped, and here are 
John Rhys-Davies, the actor who so memorably played Gimli the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, has declined to play the role of Gloin, Gimli’s father, in the upcoming two-part movie version of The Hobbit, according to 
Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit is back “safe” on the forest path.