I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my leftover Halloween candy, but I have to admit that something like this never crossed my mind! You’ll want to visit the website for more photos of this candy version of The Battle of Pelennor Fields, as well as The Mines of Moria, The Battle of Helm’s Deep, and Smaug the Magnificent. (Lily Milos via Tolkien lover Kelly Cowling)
Actor Martin Freeman confessed to RadioTimes that The Hobbit is “the biggest film I’ll ever do.” He has already spent 18 months working on the project and has a lot to share about living in New Zealand, his favorite scene from the book, and being nervous about the final product. (Evie Bowman)
Collider has an in-depth interview with Richard Armitage, who plays Thorin in The Hobbit films. You should really, really read the whole thing, but there are several parts that stick out. When discussing fighting as character building (for both actor and dwarf), he mentions he’ll be playing a younger Thorin in flashbacks. “When he’s a younger dwarf, he fights in a completely different way to when he’s older.” He also talks about “a really good day” when they filmed the dwarves taking the gates of Moria–a scene from the prologue of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. (Evie Bowman)
You may have seen photos of our favorite dwarves trekking across the New Zealand Post House, but this gives you an idea of their size! “We worked closely with Weta Workshop on this installation, which has been designed to withstand winds of up to 178km per hour (110mph),” Simon Allison said. “The only sacrifice we had to make was not including an image of Gandalf – who, to keep things to scale, would have been over 12 metres (40 feet) tall if we’d included him in this travelling party.” (Lily Milos)
Collider snagged another interview with a member of The Hobbit crowd! Richard Taylor runs Weta Workshop, the crew responsible for bringing the characters and sets of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and numerous other films to life. Read the entire Q&A session with Taylor, a man who has “been looking after the design of costume with armor, weapons, creatures, special make-up effects, some of the hair and general looks of the characters and environments” for The Hobbit for years! (Arwen Kester)
It was really an eye-opener to find out about the difficulties Ian McKellen faced when reprising his role of Gandalf in The Hobbit. McKellen admitted, “I cried, actually. I cried,” about the loneliness he felt filming his scenes entirely alone. “It stretches your technical ability to the absolute limits.” (Evie Bowman)
Stansborough Limited, the family-owned company that produced the wool for Gandalf’s silver scarf, has officially secured a license from Warner Brothers to sell their products as official Hobbit and Lord of the Rings merchandise. Visit their website to learn more about the special breed of sheep that creates such beautiful costumes or visit their online shop to make an addition to your wardrobe! (Evie Bowman and Jack Machiela)
Michael Reynold Tagore reveled in the discovery of the Lord of the Rings films, calling it “my world” and “the film I’d been waiting for.” Ten years later, he signed with Weta on as a texture artist for The Hobbit films. Read his story from Java and Jakarta to the silver screen at The Jakarta Post and visit his blog to see some of his creations. (Evie Bowman)
Box Office Mojo is predicting that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will top the list this holiday season. Their prediction is that this prequel will fall short of its predecessors (doubtful!) and they forecast $330 million in earnings in the US, $10 million more than Breaking Dawn Part 2. (Evie Bowman)
How many times have we all wished to live in Bag End? Jeremy of Balloon Guy Entertainment used 2600 balloons to turn this dream into a reality! (Lily Milos via the always amazing Kelly Cowling)
It seems like everyone has gone to visit the set of The Hobbit! Make sure to read reports from IGN and HitFix, and we’ll keep you updated with details as they become available! (Arwen Kester and Evie Bowman)
Every week, our Middle-earth News reporters seek out Tolkien/Hobbit/LOTR goodness and tag their finds with their names. If you have something to contribute, feel free to submit it using the Got News Precious link in the sidebar.
2 Comments