I don't care what people say. . I love those glasses of his!!!!
I'm overdue for getting new glasses--think I should get some that look just like his :p ??

Post slutting? Who, me?? :confused: :z: :haha: :o :D

Ok, to make up for it, here's a quartet from the scene that won me over. Look at how he "works" those eyes at only 10 years old!

http://www.frodolivesin.us/662a8e40.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/6719fe10.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/675a2e50.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/674a2e50.jpg

ETA--a couple of thoughts from the simulposts

Mariole--I actually had an ISP account that allowed me 20 hours per month online and I couldn't imagine how I could possibly ever use that much time! :lol: And that was before I could go online at work!!

zkg--I couldn't agree more with what you said about the combinations of "Elijah-related" topics we can get into. It helps that Elijah's so eclectic himself, of course... :) But, yeah, it's kind of hard to talk about how an actor played a book character when you can't mention the book or the character :confused: . I think one of the questions was, "Does that mean we have to have one thread to talk about Casey, and another thread to talk about Mikey, and...?" Have to admit that I kinda like it when we get too far OT here on the book, and the discussion gets "bumped" over to the Green Dragon--I do miss the lit discussion over at the blue place (fond memories of meeting Pearl and Elwen and Ezzie and lots of other great people :) ).

--------Another ETA----Something I meant to say a few days ago and forgot. When I was choosing Huck Finn caps, I was also looking at the ones from the "one take" scene. That was something I was going to mention when we were talking about Elijah acting on stage. That scene has a lot in common with stage acting--both because of the one-camera set-up with Elijah relatively far from the camera for most of it, and because he did it in one take, with no cuts and no repetitions, and it's a fairly complicated scene. The director (on the commentary) said he would have expected to need at least a dozen takes for an actor as young as Elijah was then, just to have dialogue he could "piece together" into an acceptable scene. But the sun was setting, the movie was low-budget and needed that natural lighting, and there was only enough time to shoot the scene once. And Elijah, the consummate professional even then, pulled it off. No wonder that director sings his praises all through the commentary! (In case anyone doesn't know which scene this is: http://www.frodolivesin.us/id73.htm ).

Am enjoying all the pictures, and the history of this forum. As far as I’m concerned, this is an example of the Internet at its best: that such a diverse, intelligent group of people scattered around the world can find and talk to each other. I certainly don’t know anyone in my everyday life who would want to discuss Elijah Wood, or Tolkien, or acting techniques, etc. in such depth.

Moondancer, (belatedly) re the “Nixon mask” scene in The Ice Storm : In the book, Wendy develops this whole scenario in which Mikey is a “corporate managerial type” (!!!!) :lol: and she is his assistant. (He really doesn’t get into it very well.) I have no idea why Ang Lee added the mask, although it goes along with the recurring Nixon motif. Though I did wonder whether it wasn’t to sort of “desensitize” the scene a bit, since you can’t see Wendy’s reactions, except by some body language.

Also, Moondancer: That poster you posted would have even persuaded ME (still in my I-loathe-Elijah phase at that point) to go see FotR when it came out, instead of waiting for over a year! It’s a slightly different (and better) shot than what I've seen (e.g., on the CD and video).

Quote from tgshaw:

The book is a historical account of what happened. The movies are "historical drama."

Oops! OK, “improve on the original” was admittedly too strong (I was writing early in the morning). And I was originally trained as a historian, so I really should have known better. I should have said that “PJ -- using considerable artistic license in his depiction of complex historical events – elides and condenses the actual happenings in order to meet the demands of cinema for visual impact and dramatic momentum. But it works. And Elijah is terrific.” ;)

Oh, those stills from Huck Finn! “Works those eyes” is an apt description! What a heartbreaker-in-the-making.

He really was the consummate actor, as Huck Finn! It's amazing!

BTW, just stumbled onto this IMDB.com post about his fellow LOTR actor, Andy Serkis. It's about King Kong.

"Actor Andy Serkis stunned his King-Kong co-stars by flying out to Rwanda to spend time with gorillas - to prepare him for his role in the remake. The LOTR star is so determined to adopt the right mindset ahead of the big budget Peter Jackson film he's willing to trying any method to enhance his understanding of the movie. And actress Naomi Watts- who will play Fay Wray, the object of giant gorilla King Kong's desire - is astounded by Serkis' dedication to his work. She says, "He's extraordinary, the amount of research he's done. He brought back incredible tapes of gorilla behavior that we need to get very familiar with."

When I read this post, it reminded me of something. I read somewhere else that most of the stars for King Kong are already in New Zealand preparing for their roles in the movie. Does anyone know if our Lad will still be doing a part for this film? I understood that he still was going to do it, but I don't know if any current developments have taken place regarding his role in this film. If anyone knows, any information provided would be absolutely very much appreciated!!! I'm really, really dying to know!!! :D
Oh, here's another pic!

I don't want to destroy your fantasy about this dog executing certain manoeuvres but that's the dog of the hotel he stayed in when he was in the Czech republic for EII (their mascot)


Thank you, Moondancer! I'm actually quite relieved! :D

"He has never gone away. He is both geek-boy and movie star, and he is at home both in t-shirts and designer suits." [ref: "Flotsam and Jetsam" (IIRC) ]
:lol: Love it, TG! :cool:

I'm loving reading everyone's stories of how they came to their affection for His Geekieness!

If you've read my little essay thingy at FrodoandSam.net, you know how I eventually found my way here. But I think for ages it was that point at which Fro met Lijah that had me hooked.

But I didn't really give up the struggle (for dignified, middle-aged normalcy) until I'd seen the Glick interview. It was my first time seeing Elijah as himself, not a movie character, not even one of those characters he conjures up for magazine shoots. Here was a lad I wasn't entirely sure I recognized, becuase he didn't even really look like Frodo! But what a delight! That giggle and, yes, the geeky glasses, and the little fuzzy chin, and his hands flying everywhere as he talked. And the sparkling intelligence, and good humor and grace to allow himself to be so thouroughly roasted. Even the little flashes of annoyance! It was all over from that moment on, and I haven't looked back since!

Hubby home! mor later
Honey!

PS those early interviews everyone's talking about; are they still on the web anywhere? Where can I see them?

Back in the late 70's I read The Hobbit and then started FOTR. I remember at first I did not like Frodo at all, I wanted Bilbo back as the main character. Eventually I started accepting him and by ROTK, I was as devastated as Gandalf and Pippin when the Mouth of Sauron revealed Frodo's belongings. My original books from back then have always been among my most cherished books. Throughout my moving, they seemed to be always packed first. When FOTR was released in the theaters, I was newly divorced, starting college after 20 years away and had no time for anything else. When FOTR was released the next summer, I bought a VHS knowing I did want to see it but fell asleep trying to watch it 3 nights in a row. The funny thing is I then got a DVD player for my birthday, bought the DVD and all of a sudden the movie took on a whole new look. The characters were wonderful and Frodo was spectacular. Then I heard Gollum's Song and I could relate to them because like Frodo and Gollum, I realized that the home I left in May 2000 with my daughters and a box of our belongings was one that I would never go home to... Frodo, LOTR, and Elijah have brought such happiness to me that I know I would never have had had I stayed with my ex in a very violatile environment.

A few pages back there was a telling of a strange musical experience. Mine was not strange but literally breathtaking. I was in Seattle at Benaroya Hall enjoying the experience of a lifetime, as the symphony began The Grey Havens, my chest felt tight and I could hardly breath, the emotional level within me was so high. There is something about the story, the characters, and the music that touches some people more than others and I feel totally blessed to be one of them. I know this is not so much about Elijah as it is about Tolkien and the story he wrote. Elijah captured the true essence of the story in his portrayal of Frodo that I will forever be in his debt and a loyal admirer of his acting abilitites.

Thanks for listening (actually reading) but you know what I mean... :)

hallo to you all!!! if go over at
warofthering.net and then to photoforum and
on the top of the page you go to photoart.
there are some raly beautiful pictueres in there!!

there is were i got my quote, grumpy!
glade you liked it !
i wish i hade been sean for those hundreds
of hours!!!! :p :D

its so funny reading about the first meting! its sems like
almost all of met elijah for the first time when lotr-movies
came out!and se what that lead us to!
a lovely group of people from many corners of the
world who have become friends!! :k :k

LOVE/YOU ALL/WOOD

Quote from honeyelf:

But I didn't really give up the struggle (for dignified, middle-aged normalcy) until I'd seen the Glick interview. It was my first time seeing Elijah as himself, not a movie character, not even one of those characters he conjures up for magazine shoots. Here was a lad I wasn't entirely sure I recognized, becuase he didn't even really look like Frodo! But what a delight! That giggle and, yes, the geeky glasses, and the little fuzzy chin, and his hands flying everywhere as he talked.
I never saw the interview you’re referring to; but I had a similar experience seeing him (in reruns) with Conan O’Brien and Ellen De Generes. (He didn’t have glasses, but he did have the giggle.). Thanks to LotR, I had come to appreciate him as an actor (though less so than now that I’ve seen more of his other work); but I was totally unprepared for how charming he was as a person. I was lost.

(Personal digression here) Shelbyshire, your description of the LotR movies’ resonance in your personal life hits home. I saw FotR on video in January 2003, and TTT in a theater in February. Early one morning the following month, my sister called me at work to say that my 85-year-old widowed mother had had a heart attack and was in the hospital. I spent the rest of the day tying up loose ends at work and making arrangements to travel to Virginia the next day. I went home that evening and packed, and then found myself completely distracted, unable to read or even sit still, much less sleep. And then suddenly, for some reason I got the idea of watching the FotR video again. It was somehow so comforting: partly as pure escapism (all those different and thoroughly credible worlds), but also because the story and themes and characters are so engrossing. I took the book with me the next day, and re-read it and TTT over the course of my mother’s convalescence.

(Now this is really going to sound dumb.) While I was staying at my sister’s during my mother's hospitalization, I slept in my niece’s room (she was away at college). She has these self-stick glow-in-the-dark stars all over her ceiling. At night, I would read Tolkien for a while, and then turn out the lights and look up at the stars, and feel as if I were camping out with the Fellowship. I’d wrap myself in the blankets (not having a cloak), and go right off to sleep.

And Shelbyshire, I know what you mean about the “emotional level” during the LotR Symphony. I started to sniffle the first time the Shire theme came up!

BTW, Wood, I love your pictures -- especially the one showing "the hands" when Frodo kisses Sam's head.

re: the Glick interview

I never saw the interview you’re referring to
You can download that interview if you'd like to see it. It's available on Elijahfan.com
The famous 'giggle' is a big feature in that interview. :)

(Now this is really going to sound dumb.) While I was staying at my sister’s, I slept in my niece’s room (she was away at college). She has these self-stick glow-in-the-dark stars all over her ceiling. At night, I would read Tolkien for a while, and then turn out the lights and look up at the stars, and feel as if I were camping out with the Fellowship. I’d wrap myself in the blankets (not having a cloak), and go right off to sleep.
Why should that sound dumn?
In times of need, I use movies and music as some sort of escapism. Looking at beautiful things or listening to them helps me to remind myself that there's still a lot of great things out there and it helps me to stop focussing at the bad side.
I don't know about you but with me, it's rarely a conscious decision, though. I mean, when times get rough: I'm not looking at my video collection or cd collection to see what I can use.
No, I just find myself listening to a cd all of a sudden.
When my mother died, I listened to Neil Diamond's Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I had it in my car radio when I had to drive from one place to the next, organising stuff. I hadn't listened to that in years and I haven't really listened to it since. It did help me a lot at that time, though. Songs like Hello and Lonely Looking Sky,... I love that album.


PS those early interviews everyone's talking about; are they still on the web anywhere? Where can I see them?
Erm...what early interviews are you talking about?
A good place to start looking for interviews is the media section from the above mentionned Elijahfan.com (that site has got some annoying pop-ups though).
Let me know if you can't find it there. Maybe I (or somebody else) can help you out.

Oh, I may as well chime in. I will echo what ylla said above, on why she put off seeing the first film. Why wouldn't she go see it?
Well...."they can't make a decent movie from these books....too difficult."
Even when I read the favourable reviews, I haughtily assumed that only went to show the reviewers had never read the books! I refused to go when my own family went to see it after it opened. My husband came back saying it was "pretty good" and my daughter said it was "great," but neither of them had read the books. What did they know? Hmph!!!

After Fellowship fo the Ring had been out of theaters for months, the neighbor children were watching the VHS of it with my daughter in our living room. As is my annoying habit, I sat down and watched bits in between chores, off and on. I believe they had entered Moria and were talking about mithril when I thought, "Hey, this is good. Really good!" But I knew this was not the way to watch it. I borrowed the neighbor's copy and watched it by myself the next night.

You will not be surprised to hear that I was completely enchanted. But I had learned my lesson! When The Two Towers came out, I went to see it as soon as it was released. (Over and over.) But I never got to see FotR on a screen until the EE screenings last December. I drove the 170 miles to the nearest theater showing it to do so. Twice.

I knew the films were flawed, but I didn't care. What was good, true and beautiful in them raised them above their imperfections into cinematic greatness, in my opinion.

And Mr. Wood's Frodo? I had never paid any attention to him before but I thought him sensationally good. And jaw-droppingly beautiful. Reading, I had never pictured such a Frodo but being a long-time lover of art history, I found that his unique beauty -- along with so much of the imagery in the films -- seared my mind. It is a beauty which has its roots in an aesthetic I love: Western art at its greatest. The music did the same thing for me. It, too, stood on the shoulders of a musical heritage that I already cherished. It was fantastic to hear it performed this summer in Pittsburgh, but in fact, every time I listen to the soundtracks I am utterly transported. The score, for me, is powerful to listen to, frequently overwhelming -- as it was for you, Shelbyshire, and as it is for so many of the films' fans.

I started off swooning for the films -- and I mean swooning. With no one around me in RL to swoon to, this besottedness drove me to find and start posting on a messageboard (I had never used one prior to this!). There I gushed rhapsodically extolling the film's beauties in threads in Movies (at TORC), as well as bemoaning decisions I though were wrong.

It was only after seeing (and seeing and seeing) Return of the King, though, that I tumbled off the precipice headlong into an abyss of Frodo enthrallment. I seem to be falling still.

It took this thread, really, to slow me down enough to pause and pay greater attention to the person who did so much to create that screen embodiment, i.e. Elijah Wood, the actor. In just the few weeks since I began lurking here, then reading more carefully what you say and report, my opinion of him has been raised greatly. I really knew very little, looking back. But you have produced and commented on so many interviews and clips and quotes which were unknown to me, it truly has been an education. I thank you all very much!

One of the faces of Frodo from RotK that "did it:"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/frodo-cirith-susp.jpg

hallo girls!!!
i coulden`t find that interwie with elijah and sean?
could you Pelegia?

LOVE/WOOD

From Mechtild:
Oh, I may as well chime in. I will echo what ylla said above, on why she put off seeing the first film. Why wouldn't she go see it?
Quote:
Well...."they can't make a decent movie from these books....too difficult."

I can't say how grateful I am to that friend who tipped me off to the movies long before they even started filming, because being able to follow the process all the way through helped immensely in dispelling that feeling for me before the first one was released. And that seemed to be true for a lot of Tolkien readers. Early on, the message boards were full of fear and trepidation (and not a little upset)--and I had plenty of my own. But then bits of information (a still picture here and there, a "spy" report from someone who'd been able to get onto the set for a few moments...) started trickling out. And we lapped up every drop!!--originally because most of us were worried, and wanted to know what the $#5&%! they were doing to our book!!

But then it started to become clear that the majority of things that were trickling out were good, and kept getting better as time went on. After Elijah's casting, my next deep breath IIRC was when I saw Bag End. I mean, I saw Bag End. A few pics of the Shire were released at the same time, and somehow the titles had gotten mixed up. But it didn't really matter, because we recognized the places anyway. Bag End was exactly as Tolkien had drawn it. It was the same kind of feeling I (and a lot of other people) got when Gandalf's cart reached the top of the hill and we saw Hobbiton below: "This is a place I've always known, although I've never seen it with my waking eyes." --I'm starting to tear up as I think about it. I think PJ must have a special love for the Shire, given all the effort he put into it.

I'm also glad to have followed the movies ahead of time because of the things that weren't how I wanted them to be. I think if I hadn't known about AATF ahead of time, I might have stormed out of the theater. But since I knew about it beforehand, I could kind of get used to the idea (although I'm never going to like it, along with a couple of other things--not bad for a 10-hour movie).

I took it as a good sign that Tolkien readers in general "warmed up" to the movies as time went on, so that by the time FotR was released, most were excited (still with a bit of concern included). We'd read interviews, and seen trailers, and gotten to know the actors, and basically ;) trusted PJ, and generally felt that these were "our" movies.

I've been unable to come and peek here for a while, and now I have all these wonderful True Wood Confessions! Great stuff, ladies. I'm glad to know you all better through your stories of your attraction to Wood (Elijah, that is, not our own Wood, wonderful little picture poster that she has blossomed in to!).

I must have first seen Elijah in Avalon , because I saw that movie when it first came out with a friend from Baltimore (the movie's setting). I thought the movie as pleasant enough, and I probably thought Wood was a cute kid, but I really can't say I noticed him.

But I noticed him as an actor in The Good Son . My husband and I saw that together, and although the movie made me sad for McCauley Culkin (you could practically hear his career beginning to shatter by that time), I was really impressed with the little dark haired boy, checked his name, and started keeping an eye on his career.

The Ice Storm was next for me--I was blown away by this very subtle performance, loved the character, and had to admit that little boy had grown up into a very pretty young man--this is not a slur, by the way. I do think boys can be pretty at a certain age, and he was quite so in that movie.

When I first saw the teaser trailer for FOTR, the shot when they come through the pass, I recognized Wood right away, realized he had to be playing Frodo, and at first was a bit dubious. I knew he had the acting chops to play Frodo, but I thought that Jackson was going to just use short actors (I had no idea then how clever Jackson would be with scale) as hobbits, and I thought Wood was far too young to play Frodo (and part of me still wishes to see Colin Firth perform that role). Still, I had to admit that by the time I saw FOTR, I was smitten, especially at the "Get off the Road!" shot.

Man, I love that color in his cheeks then!

Now, when I see him in interviews, I'm just impressed by how at ease he is with himself--he doesn't try to hard to look cool, and never seems to take himself too seriously. But I've never seen him be cruel or rude to anyone, even when that person is not being too nice to him (ahem, Leno).

Thank you Eresh!!!Glad you liked my pictures!!!!

I have been thinking,maybe i should change my name into something else,it is maybe confusion if i have the same name as our mr.wood!!

If you think so please lett me now,and maybe you can help me chose
a new name!!!

LOVE/WOOD

On the "age issue" -- There's not complete agreement among experts on whether hobbits just live longer into old age than big people do, or whether their entire life cycle is somewhat stretched out. I tend to believe the latter, not just because they don't come of age until 33, but also because the women seem to end their childbearing years at an older age (along with some more minor considerations). If that assumption's followed, to the point of saying that hobbits coming of age at 33 would be equivalent to big people coming of age at 18-21, then Elijah was exactly the right age physically to play "even" book-Frodo, who stopped aging physically on the day he came of age. I still would have loved to have seen those 17 years included, though, and had Elijah playing a middle-aged hobbit who only looked as though he'd just come of age. As has been said many times in many places--if anyone could have done it, it would have been Elijah. And it would have been fun (IMHO :p ) to have had "young" Frodo at the Party, and then "older but still looks young" Frodo for the rest of the story, to see the difference between the two. (There'd have to be a bit of makeup work post-quest to make him look as if he's in his 50's, but considering what they did with Bilbo, that wouldn't have been a problem.)

thin to play Frodo.]

I must say that the questien about elijah being to young to
play frodo has realy never beeing a problem to me but then again
i have never been a "die hardfan" to the books.But i realy think
that Elijah coulde have played an older version of Frodo with no problems
at all!!!(i`m not realy objektivv here am i ;) )

TG.normely i realy understands what have been written in here but i realy ´
don`t understand the last thing you wrote!!SORRY!!
Could you possibly try to explain to me,please!!

LOVE/WOOD

TG.normely i realy understands what have been written in here but i realy ´
don`t understand the last thing you wrote!!SORRY!!
Could you possibly try to explain to me,please!!
Sorry--all this nostalgia is getting to me, I guess ;) , and I'm drifting back to the "Kill me now" days when I was busy defending Elijah's casting against whatever complaints came up (usually from book purists, so those are the folks these explanations are "aimed at").

In the Prologue to LotR there's a section called "Concerning Hobbits," which explains a bit about the history of hobbits, and what they're like. There were three basic "breeds" of hobbits who moved into the Shire when it was founded: Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides (there was a lot of intermarrying, etc., so eventually not many hobbits were really "full-blooded" members of only one type). Most hobbits were Harfoot and that was considered the "normal" type of hobbit, if you will. Harfoots and Stoors tend to be stocky, rotund, chubby, fat. So a lot of people think all hobbits should be stocky, rotund, chubby... ;) etc. Those people, of course, thought Elijah was too thin to play a hobbit.

But Frodo's ancestry is mostly Fallohide, and they're different. Without going into speculations about well-kept family secrets at Rivendell ;) , let's just say that the Fallohides seem to have a bit of Elvish blood in them. One effect of this is that they tend to be taller and thinner than other hobbits. Which makes it completely logical to have a slim actor playing Frodo. -- So the book purists couldn't complain about Elijah having the wrong "build" for the part.

(The longer, earlier part of my post, of course, is the answer to book purists who thought Elijah was too young to play Frodo ;) .)

Tg:thank You For The Explenation!!

When I Read It ,it Some How Makes Perfect Sens!!!


Love/wood

Wood, you're so right about Tg. She has a gift! :k

Pelagia, Moondancer, and Shelbyshire, your stories resonated with me. When I was in therapy after my divorce, my therapist would say to me encouragingly, "There is a place for fairy tales. Sometimes we just need to dwell in them again." I don't think the modern world has a sufficient way of accounting for this. We call it "escapism," but it is really more like getting in touch with who and what we really are, on an archetypal level. I could never sufficiently explain how the "fantasy" of Tolkien has shaped my life's attitudes, morals and behaviors. It has maintained a subtle influence on me at all times - to honor the natural world, to celebrate what is best in ourselves, while not denying the struggle. Pain is very present, but so is beauty. This world -- these values -- whoever would want to apologize for that?

To find this beauty reproduced in another form was a marvelous gift. And I am solidly in the camp with anyone who is repeatedly brought to tears by the powerful and evocative music. *gets teary writing this*

from Ereshkigal
I was smitten, especially at the "Get off the Road!" shot.
I'm still smitten. When I got the DVD (as it would be rude to do this in the theatre -- the 30-odd times I saw the movie :) ) I actually shouted at the screen at various points, "How do you look like that? No one can look like that! It's impossible!" (Elfquest fans, feel free to join in here.)

Another one where he just looks unearthly is when he's peering over the ledge in Moria, when he first spots Gollum. I noticed that one made it into the trailer. If you're selling an alternative world to a new audience, you can set no better tone for it than by displaying someone who looks more elf than human.

from Mechtild
I never got to see FotR on a screen until the EE screenings last December. I drove the 170 miles to the nearest theater showing it to do so. Twice.
Mechtild, dear, my respect for you only continues to increase. Good for you!

I very often bring my laptop up to bed with me at night when I have problems sleeping.
If I throw in Fellowship...I usually drift off to a much more pleasant sleep....
The music and beauty of that first film is indeed therapeutic.
I think it's the magic...the magic that's touched us all.
Nothing at all wrong with fairy tales....RL sometimes can get to us all.
Maybe therapists should prescribe LotR therapy instead of Xanax.

Elijah Goodness Therapy....EG Therapy....I May Go into a New Line of Work :D

very good idear Ylla!! ;)

i would volanter to that therepist at once!!! :k :k


LOVE/WOOD

edit: maybe this is something we all need sometimes i mean the word!!!
and the looks on his face sayes a thousend feelings!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/2417Strength.jpg

Mariole wrote:
I don't think the modern world has a sufficient way of accounting for this. We call it "escapism," but it is really more like getting in touch with who and what we really are, on an archetypal level. I could never sufficiently explain how the "fantasy" of Tolkien has shaped my life's attitudes, morals and behaviors. It has maintained a subtle influence on me at all times - to honor the natural world, to celebrate what is best in ourselves, while not denying the struggle. Pain is very present, but so is beauty. This world -- these values -- whoever would want to apologize for that?

Sigh. Thanks. Now I don't have to say it. It is that powerful a thing. And it really does grab one way down deep, doesn't it? If I were a man I might use a rather vulgar metaphor to express that same thought, but I am not so I won't. I will move up to the neck: It has got me by the jugular; but I am so in thrall I do not, perhaps cannot, resist.

Hi Faculty!! This is just one of my flying visits for the moment. I see you were discussing one of my favourite Elijah/Sean video clips where Sean goes into raptures over Elijah's eyes. Someone may have already provided a link to this but if not I have one but can't post it here as its on someones LJ which I don't think will be approved. Anyone who wants it - just pm me - but I won't be able to get back to you til tomorrow I'm afraid.

I've been enjoying the wave of nostalgia here and I really hope I'll have a chance tomorrow to contribute my own memories of discovering Elijah and LOTR :)

Harking all the way back to tg's post about Frodo's age and Elijah's ability to play it whatever it was (and I loved your even earlier comment, tg, about the films' being a take on the "truth," not a story ;) ), I never thought of Frodo as middle-aged to begin with. Fifty for hobbits was clearly not meant to be the same as 50 for humans. I worked it out once, as did many others, I'm sure--Frodo was about 32 in our terms at the start of the Quest, and the farther away from 32 I get, the younger it looks to me. Anyway, I don't know why so many gripers chose to overlook that when FOTR came out. (Well, OK, maybe because Elijah didn't look a day over 18.)

But I don't recall that Tolkien ever said Frodo aged noticeably after the destruction of the Ring either. Perhaps it kept him looking a bit young while he possessed it, an idea to which the casting of Elijah is more or less faithful. But Frodo wasn't very old anyway, and he didn't have the Ring anywhere near as long as Bilbo or Gollum did, so its effects on his appearance must have been much less severe. Plus he left Middle Earth so soon after the Ring was destroyed.

Anyway, long way of saying, I wouldn't have expected him to appear older at the end of the films than at the beginning. More careworn, of course (sob), but not older.

/lurking

Regarding Frodo's age, to tell the truth, I half-expected to see him with gray hair by the end of the movie. I thought for sure that Pete would bring in *some* physical manifestation of the trials he endured. True, the last shot in Bag End, when Frodo tells Sam that it's been four years to the day since Weathertop, WAS filmed during pick ups last summer, so it works out very nicely that Elijah looks a little older.

ETA: Some time back, we had a discussion over in the "Heart, Mind and Soul of Frodo" thread (I probably don't have the order right, there :rolleyes: ) in the Green Dragon about how the destruction of the Ring would have affected Frodo age-wise in the book. He'd had the Ring for 17 years before the quest, so presumably he'd age those 17+ years after the Ring was destroyed, as Bilbo fairly quickly aged his 60 years. (But they both aged after the Ring was destroyed. Having Bilbo age quickly because he's passed the Ring on to Frodo is a bit of a lapse of logic in the movies, IMHO--because then Gollum should have quickly aged 500 years after Bilbo found the Ring, and would hardly have been around to cause any trouble by the time Frodo got it. Gollum's plaintive cry that if the Precious is destroyed he'll "die down into the dussst," is actually true.)

So, anyway, Frodo got the Ring on his 33rd birthday (the day he came of age, so IMHO somewhere between 18-21 by our standards), left Bag End on his 50th birthday (50 being the age hobbits were expected to be "settled down" by), and the Ring was destroyed almost exactly 6 months later. Then he was in the Shire for several years after that. So between the Party and the Grey Havens, book-Frodo would have aged about 20 years. Without those 17 intervening years, and the movies' other changes to the "schedule," movie-Frodo would have aged about 5 years. So book-Frodo would be just heading into middle-age by the time he sailed, while movie-Frodo would still be considered a "young adult"--maybe mid-20's by our standards (JMHO).


We call it "escapism," but it is really more like getting in touch with who and what we really are...
Would it surprise anyone at all that the strongest defense of this I've ever read was written by an Oxford don named J.R.R. Tolkien, years before he wrote a book called The Lord of the Rings? His essay "On Fairy-stories" attacks all the untrue assumptions about fantasy: that it's just for children, that it's escapism or avoidance of the "real world" (when it really puts us more in touch with reality), that it's "lies breathed through silver" (C.S. Lewis's description of it before Tolkien "converted" him--part of the poem that did the trick is included in the essay). Tolkien says that it's not only our birthright to create and experience fantasy--but that it's an integral part of our human nature.

Some of the essay's dated, of course. He talks about ways that people had tried to turn fantasy into stage plays, and he doesn't see how that could ever be effective--but he hadn't met anyone from Weta :p .

One of my favorite images from the essay is in response to people who say fantasy is only escapism. Tolkien says that it's usually considered the duty of a prisoner to attempt to escape. I have the feeling the people he was responding to wouldn't understand what he's saying (those of the "Huh, weird horse*," school). But those "with eyes to see" know that escape is very different from escapism, and understand it very well--even if we can't quite explain it.

---------
*For newer arrivals. I'm :o :o that I can't remember which Faculty member came up with this image. It was originally used to describe people who for some unaccountable reason couldn't see Elijah's beauty and talent. [Whoever it was :o ] said that they're like people who'd see a unicorn walking down the street and say, "Huh. Weird horse." IMHO it's a great description of people who can't see anything except what hits their optical nerves :p .

--------------------------------

I'm touched by everyone's stories of how LotR (book and/or movie) has affected them. I'm not going to add my own right now because (1) it would turn into a book, and (2) I'm going through one of those times when I need a good hobbit to hang onto, and the brain's not functioning too well. But thanks to all the reminders here, I'm going to pack up and go home earlier than I usually do, and get a good dose of Frodo this evening--not quite sure in what form, but that doesn't always matter :) .

Flourish, loved your post on Frodo's age and aging--clear as clear.

Fifty for hobbits was clearly not meant to be the same as 50 for humans. I worked it out once, as did many others, I'm sure--Frodo was about 32 in our terms at the start of the Quest, and the farther away from 32 I get, the younger it looks to me.LOL! I know what you mean!

As you say, Frodo was still quite young for a hobbit when he returned in 1419 S.R. And, when Bilbo is described as getting more decrepit sans Ring while sojourning in Rivendell, heavens! He only got there when he was already 111 and then didn't go over the Sundering Seas for 20 more years! Frodo, however, was still young when the Ring was torn from him on 3-25-1419. After that, he lived in Middle-earth only 2 1/2 more years before sailing 9-29-1421.

It doesn't seem to me he'd age that dramatically in so short a time. And as you say, even he did, he'd still only look a human's 32 or so.

Edited to add:

tg, we simul-posted. Thanks so much for bringing up On Fairy-stories. Not only do I think it brilliant as an essay (never mind the "dated" - there are purists out there all over the place who think what JRR said still stands 100%) but deeply, experientially true -- for me and I suspect for most die-hard fans. P.S. thanks for explaining the "horse" example. It was perfect.

Well, that was fun! Off to make dinner,

Mechtild

Hi All!! I'm back in town and trying desperately to catch up --but I'm pages behind!! Welcome new people!! I'll have to go back and catch the names, but my, isn't this a vibrant community. :)

I've just started reading from pages I missed about a week ago. I'll just add a little to the old discussion about acting. Because of a small connection in the film industry, I've had at times the lucky occasion to talk to those on the inside. A while back I talked to a pretty high status casting director who says that film acting is not so much about acting, but about being able to keep one's barrier down enough to let the camera deep inside and to let it discover the performance. It was about having it inside, and being able to keep open enough to let the camera discover it.
Interesting, huh?? In other words you have to be brave, and have soul ;)


Pelagia said (days ago):
IMVH (and inexperienced) O, I think it might be easier to go from film to stage acting than in the other direction: for a subtle actor to learn how to project things more, than for a stage-trained actor to learn how to tone things down to a “micro” level.

I would think so, too. But wierdly enough, I've been told by many that it is just the opposite. maybe because a film actor feels the small intimacies as big--as they are portrayed on screen, that it is just hard for them to make it big and feel like they can really be in character. I don't know. I don't think I said that well. :confused: I shouldn't post on so little sleep.

Anyway--that is all old topic. It may take days for me to catch up. Glad to see everyone again!! :D

"How I Got Roped In by a Pair of Big Brown Eyes and a Katana, followed by a Pair of Wide Blue Eyes, a Curly Wig, and a Ring":

I used to be sane. Quite sane. ;)

The summer after I graduated from college (at age 41!), I spent a lot of time reading Tom Clancy novels. Some were pretty decent, but when I found a description of the Red October that he'd obviously cut and pasted from "Hunt for Red October" into - um - "Cardinal of the Kremlin" (I think), I decided that somebody needed to take his word processing package away from him until he learned not to cheat. Harrrrumph.

I was pretty depressed for a long time after graduation (despite still working 40 hours a week - How the heck did I ever make it through school?), so I spent a lot of time in the evening sitting in my living room chair, flipping channels. On Friday nights, I used to watch - um - can't remember what - but I would flip over to "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" for the ending credits, because the theme music was so great (John Rubenstein wrote it - I *think* he's Artur Rubenstein's son). Then, in the course of flipping channels, I found this dark-and-angsty TV show about this tall/dark/handsome guy with a sword. I started watching at the end, then eventually started watching the whole thing, then got completely addicted. Of course, I couldn't share my obsession with my housemate (it was an abusive relationship), so I eventually got a computer that could handle Internet access (once I figured out what it was!) and on September 21, 1995, I logged onto AOL for the very first time.

I was free.

Abuse of the kind that I suffered flourishes best in isolation. In order for it to work, the abuser must isolate the abused from as much contact with the outside world as possible. The abused, then, has no frame of reference for normalcy. Like Frodo, I couldn't recall "...the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of grass...". The more isolated I got, the less frame of reference I had, and the worse things got. All it took was logging on and beginning to talk to people on-line, and I began to see how badly the relationship was hurting me, and how intolerable it was. Three years later, my housemate and I parted company.

From 1995 through about 2000, I was heavily involved in fandom for that show, going to conventions, joining discussion groups. I made some very good friends who I've known since the first day I got online. But I tend to do only one obsession at a time, so I paid little if any attention to growing interest in the LotR movies. I'd read the books in the 70's, but didn't remember much of them (the two small figures standing hand-in-hand on a little hill on the side of Mt. Doom stuck with me, somehow). I also hate the hype surrounding movies - I still haven't seen all of ET - so I ignored it.

A bunch of things happened in 2001. In September, a couple of days after my birthday, a plane flew way too low over my house and crashed into a building up the road. I didn't think about much else for a while.

Then, just before Christmas, 2001, a good friend of mine (met online in '95) asked me to go with her to the big-screen theater downtown to see FotR. I said "Sure!". She came over for lunch before we went. We were sitting at my dining room table having a pleasant time, when we looked out the front window across the street to my neighbor's house. He was standing in the doorway, stark naked, er - doing a little - er - dance. Do I need to say that Frodo Baggins had a hard act to follow? The movie made little if any impression on me. My reaction was "Who the heck is this big-eyed kid anyway, and where's John Rhys Davies, and how did they shrink all of those people?", if I had any reaction at all.

So I didn't bother seeing TTT in 2002. In September 2003, I got a copy of TTT for my birthday. Of course, not being able to remember FotR, I bought the EE. My poor old 17-year-old kitty got sick and died in October, and in the sadness after that, I decided to catch up on LotR to take my mind off things. I watched FotR, and by the time Arwen wheeled her horse to face the Nazgul at the Ford, I was hooked. I watched TTT. I ordered The Hobbit and LotR books and read them (and then cried for three months). I ordered every action figure with a horse. I found Samwise and Bill the Pony and bought that. I counted the days until RotK came out. I compressed four years of fandom into a few months. Along the way, I became fascinated by the talent behind those huge blue eyes. It took me until the fifth time through FotR before I was able to look away from that gaze and focus on other parts of the production. I was, quite frankly, smitten by that kid.

So one Saturday night, I went hunting for LotR forums. I wanted one that discussed Elijah Wood, since I wanted to know more about what he'd done, who he was, and why the heck he was so fantastic as Frodo. I wanted one that did more than drooling and lusting - like I've said before, that's too much like incest to be lusting after a kid his age. ;) I wanted to be around people who seemed intelligent and had the wisdom and maturity to be able to discuss without getting all upset when someone disagreed with them.

I found the Faculty. {{{{{{{{{{ FACULTY!!! }}}}}}}}}} I think my first post started with "May I join your discussion?". :::: sniffle ::::

So, who am I really a fan of? Elijah Wood, or The Faculty? ;)

The whole point, I guess, is that interest in something as apparently trivial as a movie or TV show, and involvement in fandom, can be a life-changing experience. Fandom shook me loose from a very bad living situation. It's given me activities and something to think about besides my own troubles. My writing skills, which were very rusty, improved, though everything still sounds like a technical manual ;). And it's been FUN! FUN FUN FUN!!!

I think that the Faculty was a good choice in another way. The movies are done. We've all seen them. There won't be any more coming out, at least not with that story line. ("Frodo in Valinor" might make a good one...). But Elijah Wood is still out there, busily applying his remarkable talent to other projects. As long as he's working, there will be movies to discuss and compare to an expanding body of really good work.

Anyway...that's what happened to me.

BTW, in listening to the unabridged audio tapes of FotR, I think I found a reference to Frodo after his departure from Middle Earth. It was at the end of their stay in Lotlorien. Galadriel was in a boat, singing in High Elvish (or something). It was a language from the Eldar, and the book says that years later, Frodo translated it with some difficulty. I think it says that he translated it with the help of elves. It was surely after the destruction of the Ring, and he wasn't in the Shire very long after that (at least Book Frodo wasn't), and his contact with High Elves (like Galadriel) would have been limited. So I firmly believe that this was a little snippet of information that got back to Middle Earth from the West.

~grumpy (did this post actually have a point to it?)(Maybe that the whole thing is more than Elijah Wood, but for right now, he's the one I'm interested in discussing)(Frodo lives.)(I know he does.)

Lord – there’s so much interesting material here. Where to begin??

Several people have pinpointed a particular LotR scene that sort of “converted” them to Elijah. Mine was in RotK, when Frodo is staggering along in front of Sam, warding off unseen forces with his left hand while clutching the Ring with his right, and then the camera cuts to a closer shot in slow motion just before he turns to face the Eye. For some reason, I just went, “Ooooooooo” at that one. (But the pink cheeks at “Get off the road!” are very nice, too, Ereshkigal!)

Achila: Thanks for answering a question I was planning to ask at some point -- whether the “It’s been four years since Weathertop” scene was one of the 2003 pickups. Elijah definitely looks older in that one, and I didn’t believe that it could all be just makeup. Was that the VERY last scene he did? Is that the one after which (in one of the DVD “making of” extras) he takes one of his little bows, and then his face sort of crumples up, and he goes over and hugs PJ?

Quote from Mariole:

"There is a place for fairy tales. Sometimes we just need to dwell in them again." I don't think the modern world has a sufficient way of accounting for this. We call it "escapism," but it is really more like getting in touch with who and what we really are, on an archetypal level.

Yes. And I think that LotR is really more like myth (and you can’t get much more archetypal than that) than like fairy tales. At the same time, one of the appeals of LotR (book and film) is its “human-ness.” I remember back before this year’s Academy Awards program, Entertainment Weekly asked various unnamed Hollywood types to comment on who they thought should win. A director (I think) trashed RotK, saying something like, “Where’s the humanity? All I see is hobbits running around the landscape.” To which a reader responded a few weeks later, “The hobbits are the humanity.”

(Mariole, I love your comment: "How do you look like that? No one can look like that! It's impossible!")

Moondancer: Thanks for the info on the whereabouts of the Glick interview. (Wood: I haven’t had a chance to look for it yet.) Moondancer wrote:

In times of need, I use movies and music as some sort of escapism. . . . I don't know about you but with me, it's rarely a conscious decision, though. I mean, when times get rough: I'm not looking at my video collection or cd collection to see what I can use. No, I just find myself listening to a cd all of a sudden.
That’s exactly right. It’s almost as if the movie or music chooses itself, somehow.

zkgrumpy: What a fascinating evolution to Elijah-fandom, what with exhibitionist neighbors and all! But (and I’m sure I should know this) who was the “tall/dark/handsome guy with a sword”???

Was that the VERY last scene he did? Is that the one after which (in one of the DVD “making of” extras) he takes one of his little bows, and then his face sort of crumples up, and he goes over and hugs PJ?

Yep!

Since all you guys are sharing...I guess my story is similar to a lot of others I've seen. I'd read the book in high school 25 years ago, and loved it, but was not really compelled to read it again (but it stayed with me -- I have an iguana named Frodo who is 11). But when I heard the films were being made, I was very excited. I saw FOTR the night it opened, adored it, only saw it once. Bought it on video the day it was released. Started looking forward to T2T and saw that the night it opened as well. But during that time, I was unemployed, and was looking for something to do during the day. I kept going back to see Two Towers and all of a sudden, I started to "notice" Elijah.

Now -- how dumb does this sound? It's not like I didn't know who he was even prior to the movies -- I remember the stories lauding him as a child prodigy and even saw some of his movies -- I know I saw Deep Impact, The Good Son, etc., but they didn't really faze me -- he was just a talented kid at that point -- and I'm sure I was aware of how beautiful and "Frodo-like" he looked in Fellowship. But it didn't get under my skin until those multiple T2T viewings. A year and a half later....

Great stories! I really enjoyed reading them!
Perhaps I should share mine with everyone. Unfortunately, it's terribly long-winded. I first noticed our Lad back when I first saw him in the "Good Son". At the time, I really never thought McCauley Culkin was an expecially good actor. I just thought he was a cute kid. When he played this evil child in the movie, he delivered his lines very monotone-like. Lij, on the other hand, while a really, really cute kid, had the talent to match his angel-like face :) I said to my best friend, after I saw the film, that I thought this kid would be a star.
But for some reason, I forgot that I uttered this thought. I didn't really follow his career after that point. My brother had always been a huge fan of LOTR books when he was a child and bought the anniversary editions of the books in 1975. Like any older sibling, he practically shoved the books in my face and told me I had to read them, they were so good. He kept on telling me that I was just like a little hobbit (He's really tall, over 6 feet, and I am really petite!). Well, to tell you the truth, I read the back cover and really wasn't all that interested. I had just finished reading Anne of Green Gables and, at that moment, was only interested in finishing the Anne series. My brother just rolled his eyes and after awhile, stopped altogether bothering me about it. :rolleyes: It really wasn't until high school, that I was organizing all of our children's books one day, that I remembered LOTR. I picked up the books and decided then and there to read them. I suppose I was bored and wanted to pass the time. Well, after reading them, I was so mad at myself for not having read them sooner! I loved them! I really identified with the hobbits! All of them, really. Sometimes when I saw sick, I would re-read them over and over again.
When FOTR came out, I didn't see it in the theaters right away. I was still recovering from the after-effects of 9/11 (I witnessed the WTC collapse and lost friends and colleagues). I really had no desire to see any film. My brother saw FOTR and again, was my little messenger boy. He informed me I had to see the film. He reassured me that the film was every bit as good as our beloved books. I really wasn't so thrilled on seeing it, even after his exuberance over the film.
It wasn't until January that my Mom just informed me one day that she had bought tickets to see FOTR and that I was coming along. Well, I couldn't refuse my Mom's wishes. My hands were tied :) Well . . . after seeing the film, once again, I was banging my head against the wall for being so stubborn and not seeing the film earlier. The film really helped me realize what the most important things in life were, love and friendship. I really needed to see something which portrayed these universal themes so well.
Well, I told all my friends about the film, including my best friend. It was at that point, she reminded me about my earlier comment. I had completely forgotten about it.
And the rest, I think, is history!

And, of course, to end the story, a couple of pics from ROTK for your viewing pleasure. Umm. . just don't swoon too much over the last one! (When you see it, you''ll know why ;) )

What a beautiful series of posts! These stories of how people have come to love the books and films, Frodo and the actor who brought him so beautifully to life have been very moving -- and so well written, too. Thank you all very, very much.

Elijah as Frodo Agonistes, looking very Old Masters:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/Frodo-saintlyside-gorgoroth.bmp

It was a language from the Eldar, and the book says that years later, Frodo translated it with some difficulty. I think it says that he translated it with the help of elves. It was surely after the destruction of the Ring, and he wasn't in the Shire very long after that (at least Book Frodo wasn't), and his contact with High Elves (like Galadriel) would have been limited. So I firmly believe that this was a little snippet of information that got back to Middle Earth from the West.

From "Farewell to Lorien", FOTR
Yet as is the way with Elvish words, they remained graven in his memory, and long afterwards he interpreted them, as well as he could; the language was that of Elven-song and spoke of things little known on Middle-Earth.

I do think this means Frodo did the translation on his own, from the knowledge of Elvish that he learned from Bilbo. From the fact that the translation occurs immediately following the original in the copy of the Red Book which we have, ;) (the Tolkien edition :D ), it would have been included at this point in the story as Frodo completed writing the history of the War of the Ring prior to departing from Middle-Earth.

Thank you all so much for such wonderful stories about your discovery of LotR and Elijah. I always find it fascinating to hear how individual the experiences are, and yet how much they echo common themes. And with so many new people here, it means I get to tell my story again because you haven't all heard it forty-three times already! :D

For myself, I began reading the books on a family vacation when I was thirteen. I got into a lot of trouble, because I did nothing but read until I was finished them - I read it all the way through in only three days. To say I was transformed would be an understatement. There were serious family issues when I was young, and I can honestly say these books saved my life. For over eight years I carried a slip of paper with me everywhere, with Elrond's words on it:

At least for a while. The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

I no longer carry the paper, because I carry these words in my mind, and they have been my guide and my inspiration. I can't even begin to describe how individual words, phrases, characters, and ideas from the entire trilogy have impacted me - these books have always been, to me, the most important books I have read. I named my daughter Arwen, as a way to honor the place these books held in my life, and she is now a beautiful 17 year old. I lost count long ago of how many times I've read them. I've destroyed two editions, and am on my third - fallen apart from such constant use. :rolleyes:

I initially wasn't going to even go see the movies, because I had been traumatized by my earlier experience with Bakshi, and I was absolutely convinced no one could do them justice. Given my relationship to the books, I felt it would just be too painful to sit through a bad interpretation (and I didn't believe there could be a good one.) I avoided all news about the movies completely, trying to block it out of my mind. :rolleyes: But a good friend of mine roped me into going 'just once' two days after FotR opened.

I wasn't smitten right away - I had to have a day to process the changes from the book. Twenty-four hours later I was back, and this time, when I saw the green of the Shire, my heart leapt to my throat. When Frodo jumped up from under the tree and looked out of the screen at me, my heart leapt right out of my body, and it hung, vibrating, somewhere around the theater roof for the next couple of hours.

I was hooked. I craved the movie experience - I was like a junkie, returning over and over for my fix. I'd start getting restless and unable to concentrate if I went over three days without a repeat viewing. I had people ask me if I was dating someone new, because I was positively glowing as I moved through my mundane days of work and responsibility. I was bowled over, smitten, in love...

I went on-line looking for an outlet, and found a message board where women talked as rhapsodically about Frodo as I felt. I lurked for a long time, and finally joined in. I went back and forth between the 'Harem' and the group that became the Faculty, enjoying both pure Frodo swoonage and the great discussion about Elijah. The rest is history - and I wouldn't take back a minute of the time I've spent in the last three years finally being able to share my passion with like-minded people.

From Vardaelentari:

[/QUOTE]And, of course, to end the story, a couple of pics from ROTK for your viewing pleasure. Umm. . just don't swoon too much over the last one! (When you see it, you''ll know why ;) )[/QUOTE]


That last one is definitely a keeper isn't it! :D

Excuse my off-topic question...Just how do you put the quote in a box? I know it was explained pages ago... :o

From Vardaelentari:

And, of course, to end the story, a couple of pics from ROTK for your viewing pleasure. Umm. . just don't swoon too much over the last one! (When you see it, you''ll know why ;) )[/QUOTE]


Excuse my off-topic question...Just how do you put the quote in a box? I know it was explained pages ago... :o[/QUOTE]



You need "quote" at the beginning and "/quote" at the end (the word all in caps and surrounded by brackets, of course). It didn't work for you because you had [/QUOTE] at beginning and end. Good try -- you're almost there!

I'm having a lot of problems downloading those old interviews mentioned on ElijahFan.com.
I'm particularly interested in the Charlie Rose interview 2002
That site is very slow and I was waiting 1 hour just to download like 2 minutes of the interview...just enough to know I MUST HAVE IT!!!
Can anyone help me.
It's not my computer it's the site...does anyone have a copy of that show.
If so could you pm me
Thanks
Ylla :k

please shireling!!!

can you pm me those link?????? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

i will love you for ever if you do!!!!! :k :lol:

LOVE/WOOD

Shelbyshire....
Excuse my off-topic question...Just how do you put the quote in a box? I know it was explained pages ago

I am so slow at learning these things, but the easy way to do it is to copy the text you want to put in quotes, then, when typing your own post--look at the top of the box-- on the very right there is that text balloon (what might it really be called?). Click on that, a box pops up, and then paste in the quote you copied. This way you don't have to type in your own codes. oh and with my computer I can't copy and paste with the mouse commands and have it work here for some reason, I have to use the keyboard. This stumped me for awhile... :rolleyes: But these things do tend to stump me. (Ah, but now I can post pictures...alyon puffs with pride at her new skill ;) )

I'm getting caught up with this thread -- so many facinating stories.

For me, Frodo has always been one of my heros. I'm an idealist and I like heros that get things done without weapons (alright, there was an army out there backing him up...but you know what I mean). I have always loved the theme that even the smallest person can change the world, and that pity and compassion is what in the end allowed for the destruction of the ring. And I loved the theme of love and friendship. Yay, Frodo. Yay, Fellowship. The movies reawakened Frodo in my imagination, and with a vengence. I needed that dose of beautiful spirit in that beautiful boy. But the beauty of spirit is what gives the glow.

This re-finding of Frodo came at a good time for me. For one thing, I had been going through a very fallow period, when nothing was inspiring me. I had been a person who used to have lots of ideas and used to get excited about projects, and who continually believed in hope. But I had been feeling increasingly jaded in the last couple of years. Weary of things in the world.

I didn't pay too much attention about the movies prior to release, but the little bits I saw and heard did make me feel hopeful. And I knew nothing of Elijah--but I saw the same poster--(who posted it?)--the One Ring to Rule them all. And I had a very contented recognition and faith that this Frodo was going to be THE Frodo. I knew it--but I didn't imagine how much the movie would actually affect me. I didn't even see Fellowship until January. And I just loved it. I love real magic, and this was it. And I saw it with my daughter and she also fell in love with the movie (without having read the books).

The movie, and in particular, Frodo, made me feel stronger and happier and able to go forth into the world with a much more hope. I actually could feel taller and straighter and more graceful as I left the theater. Isn't that weird? I could go "fight the fight" with a lot more will, and at the same time appreciate beauty with fresh eyes. Yeah--Alyon takes her stories seriously :D :p

I thank all the cast and PJ--but especially Elijah for being Frodo and convincingly portraying him with a real inner beauty and magic and strength.

And Frodo has been my talisman--because also it seems as if so many people close to me have been in crisis in the last few years--and I feel like it's easier to take a deep breath and to meet things calmly with such a symbol held in my heart and head.

But the other thing is that being able to come to this forum has probably served to keep the interest really vibrant. It is so nice to share with intelligent and yes, quirky (I'm only saying that because my average friend does not spend so much time analyzing hobbits and very young actors) women who are willing to find joy in such a common interest. I like all of you uncommon and utterly brilliant women. I learn something every day. And it's particularly nice to know that EW is worth the interest because of the kind of person he seems to be. So he is a focal point that really brings us all together to gab.

Not a bad place to be, and not a bad focal point to gab around.

So those who go around the internet a lot. Do the other actors/characters get this much studious analysis? Or generate this much interst beyond just swoonage?? Just curious. Are hobbit people of a certain type? (Not to mention elijah people--but you really can't go there because Elijah also has the "oh he is hot" fans in great numbers....). I'm losing my ability to write clearly. Going to bed. Glad to be back. :k

Oh, time for "first exposure" confessionals, hmm? Let me chime in!

I first read "The Hobbit" for my eighth-grade (13/14 years old) English class--liked it enough to buy FotR, but not enough to actually read it. Most lingering memory of it was Gollum and Smaug's conversation with Bilbo. Finally, a year later I had to take the public bus to school for a few weeks, so to pass the time on my commute, I went through my bookshelves and found FotR, and decided to give it a try. In the next two weeks, I not only read FotR, but purchased and read TTT and RotK as well! "Read" isn't quite accurate--"devoured" would be closer. It was my first adult SF/Fantasy book, and I loved the depth and otherwordliness of FotR, completely fell for Eomer and the Ents in TTT, and was shocked at the end of RotK, since it didn't have the traditional "happy ending."

While in college, I saw the Bakshi and Rankin/Bass versions of LotR on tape--thought that Bakshi made a noble effort, but one that definitely didn't fully work, and the less said about the Rankin/Bass RotK, the better. I still reread the books occasionally over the next decade or so, but really wasn't obsessive about them.

Then, around Christmas 2000, I was working at my part-time job in the bookstore, and I was shelving the SF/Fantasy section when I came across a one-volume paperback edition of the trilogy with an interesting painting I later discovered was done by Alan Lee on the cover. Also on the cover was a little circle in the corner with the phrase "Coming soon as an epic trilogy by New Line Studio." Convinced it was going to be an animated series, I did an online search for info, and I was blown away when I heard that not only was it live-action, it was going to star Ian McKellen (whom I had seen in Richard III) and Elijah Wood (whom I only vaguely remembered from Deep Impact).

I didn't think much else about it, except for my conviction that there was no way this was going to work (!), until I went to a national booksellers convention here in Chicago in May 2001. Houghton Mifflin was doing a display of the tie-in books coming out that fall, as well as showing the first internet trailer on a continuously playing loop at their booth. I finally made my way over there about halfway through the first day, but when I saw the trailer, I could not tear myself away from the screen for about ten minutes, until I had absorbed the idea that they might actually pull this off! I don't remember too much about that first trailer except for the shot of the Fellowship walking over the mountaintop, with the dates of the three films being shown over their faces.

I did a bit more research after the convention (that's when I first discovered TORN), but again, the Real World took precedence for a few months, until it was announced that the official trailer for FotR was going to debut during the season premiere of one of my favorite TV shows, "Angel." I was taping the show anyway, but when the trailer finally showed up (during the final commercial break, of course!), I was just dumbfounded in the apparent quality of the film, enough that after the show was done, I must have rerun that trailer at least five times in a row! The next day, I scheduled December 19th off work.

My mom wanted to join me for the Christmas shopping I was planning on doing before catching the noon showing, and agreed to be dragged along to the film. As soon as the film started, with that incredible narration over dark screen, I was entranced by the film, but I wasn't completely convinced by Elijah's Frodo until the Bridge of Khazad-dum scene. His reaction to Gandalf's fall just flat-out amazed me, and his grief afterwards had me tearing up. Then, his final scene with Aragorn, and the boat scene with Sam made me a complete Elijah Wood fan.

What I find funny is the intrview where the Interviewer mentions Elijah was unexpectedly muscular. :rolleyes:

He didn't where an open shirt and flirt with her did he? :D

What pictures does he look muscular in anyway? He reminds me the Ordinary short guys I went to school with. :lol:

Not that he doesn't have a body. I do like his commet that he say's he still looks 14.

If that theory of at 20 you have the face you have, at 50, youhave the one you deserve, then he's always be Youthful looking, (until that smoking catches up with him of course. :rolleyes: )

Shadowcat,
Did you see "The Bumblebee Flies Anyway"? It first struck me how muscular he really is when I saw that movie. At one point, he's working on something in a sleeveless shirt and he really surprised me there with his arm muscles.
:p :)

Besides, didn't Miranda Otto mention something about him being tiny indeed but muscular (and she might have had an even better look at him than this interviewer) when she talked about her first impressions of Elijah Wood?
Besides, you don't need to be build like Schwarzenegger (not my taste anyway...I prefer a more natural look than the body builder type with muscles almost bursting out of a shirt) to be muscular.


Ylla,
I'm having trouble downloading that Charlie Rose interview too. I only get the very beginning (a nice teaser) and then it stops... :(

Mechtild,
That screencap you pasted in post #8790...
It should come with a warning. Teary-eyed Frodo! How utterly beautiful!



So many great things to read in this thread. You guys have been busy when I was asleep. Nice couple of messages to wake up to before I get busy at work.

His essay "On Fairy-stories" attacks all the untrue assumptions about fantasy: that it's just for children, that it's escapism or avoidance of the "real world" (when it really puts us more in touch with reality), that it's "lies breathed through silver" (C.S. Lewis's description of it before Tolkien "converted" him--part of the poem that did the trick is included in the essay). Tolkien says that it's not only our birthright to create and experience fantasy--but that it's an integral part of our human nature.
Oh, I loved fairy tales when I was a kid and I never really grew out of that.
My own big red book is an old book (one of those books that really look old fashioned. It has an unusual shape and a beautiful dark red hard cover). It is full of fairy tales from various authors. It's immense and I love that book.

When I grew up, I started to read other stuff besides those and comic books. I didn't really like reading all that much to begin with but one of my sisters really put a lot of energy in it to make me read. She started out by helping my parents choose books for me.
Her strategy didn't really work right away (she tends to read different things than I do and it took her a while to get to know my taste).
I remember the book that did it. The book that gave me the spark.
The title of it was "Tim and Tom and the dragon". (Tim and Tom are twins :) )
After I had finished the book, I ran to my sister and told her that I never realised that reading could be so much fun.
The next step for my sister was to take me to the library and show me all kinds of great books (like Roald Dahl's Charlie and the chocolate factory and many great Flemish and Dutch authors).

I kept hearing that fairy tales was for kids and that you're supposed to 'grow out of liking that'.
One day, I was in the library (it used to be this fantastic old building with wooden shelves and a gallery and everything. Now, it's a soulless new building with metal shelves :( ), this one thick book caught my attention. I took it from the shelf. The cover of the book was ugly (they used to put their own boring hard covers around books): brown and it just had the title and the author on it. No pictures, no summary.
So, I flipped through the pages and discovered elves, dwarfs, wizards and...what are hobbits?
I closed the book and looked at the book code from the library to check if it was a book for kids.
No, it belonged to the adult section.
A fairy tale for grown ups?
I took Tolkien's book home and the old magic from my beloved fairy tales came back to me. Fantasy! What a discovery.

How silly of me to assume that fairy tales are just for kids.



ETA:
So those who go around the internet a lot. Do the other actors/characters get this much studious analysis?
My LOTR searches on the internet tend to be general or Frodo/Elijah related. Sometimes, I have a look at other fan sites but not that much.
Some of the other LOTR actors like Dominic or Sean Astin have very dedicated fans.
Maybe I haven't found the right sites yet but from the LOTR actors, the Frodo/Elijah threads tend to be more interesting. You have the really fluffy fangirly forums and threads to the deep analyses of Elijah's career or Frodo's journey through Middle Earth. I can't say that I have found such an arc of topics from other actors or LOTR characters.
Some time ago, I was looking for Russell Crowe threads - a thread like this one would be nice: talk about his career with respect for his private life. I haven't found it yet. The strange thing with fan forums is that there seems to be some kind of competition going with regular forum wars. Odd!
There was one thread on a forum I really liked to begin with but they talked too much about his private life and I left that forum when they started discussing amongst each other that it was a shame that Russell refused to show pictures of his newborn son to the media. I didn't quite understand why they found it a shame that Russell wanted to protect his son. His son has nothing to do with his movie career.
So, in short :p : this forum is quite unique. :)

PS I have a new toy! A new mobile that can take pictures. I took a picture from an Elijah Wood photo. One that Wood recently posted with that Sean Astin quote about his eyes.
The detail I photographed is one of his eyes with the eyebrow. I didn't think that it would come out well but it did and it's now my welcoming picture. Really great!

WOOD ~ the link you want is in your pm box right now. Enjoy :) And here's a little something to whet your appetite:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/ShirelingUK/frolijahsamhug.jpg

I expect everyone knows by now that Elijah was spotted in Galway on 23 Aug. but for anyone who hasn't seen the piccy, here it is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/ShirelingUK/ewgalway.jpg

My husband and I spent the weekend at the Fellowship Festival held at the Alexandra Palace in London. It was a really good event but I do wish Elijah could have attended - I'm sure he'd have really enjoyed it. I won't go into too much detail as there are plenty of reports about it on the net - one of the highlights for me was the exhibition of hobbit dancing!! It was wonderful to stand within inches of Sarah McCleod (Rosie Cotton) & Cameron Rhodes (Farmer Maggot) as they demonstrated the Sam & Rosie falling-in-love dance - to the actual party music from the film. Sarah is really pretty, by the way. She related a story about dancing with Elijah and accidentally standing on one of his hobbit toes so when he moved it came off :D Great to see so many familiar faces in real life - Alan Lee, John Howe, Gino Acevedo (watched him make someone up as an orc), Bernard Hill, Bruce Hopkins, John Noble, Karl Urban and many others. John Noble spoke in glowing terms about Elijah's performance as Frodo - and said it was a pity that this tended to get overlooked. Too right, John :mad: Bernard Hill spoke about meeting up with Elijah at the KV film fest.

I have been fascinated by all your reminiscences of discovering Elijah and LOTR and this quote from NARYA could be me speaking:

I was like a junkie, returning over and over for my fix. I'd start getting restless and unable to concentrate if I went over three days without a repeat viewing. I had people ask me if I was dating someone new, because I was positively glowing as I moved through my mundane days of work and responsibility. I was bowled over, smitten, in love...

In fact, around that time I remember my cousin, who is not known for handing out compliments, said "There's something different about you - you look younger". And you're right, Narya, it felt exactly the same as being in love and happily I've never looked back - the feelings I had back then for Elijah, for Frodo, for LOTR are still with me but have grown in depth and intensity the more I have discovered. I was born and still live in Birmingham, England where Tolkien spent most of his childhood. When we first married we lived next to Wake Green Road which is where he lived for a time, and we are familiar with places such as Sarehole Mill which are featured on some of the LOTR documentaries. But up to 2001 I had never read anything he'd written. Although I've always been an avid reader and was aware of Lord of the Rings, somehow it just didn't appeal to me. During that year I saw a couple of trailers for FOTR - I was really impressed and determined to see it when it came out. When the books started to pop up everywhere I decided to read FOTR - wanted to find out what it was all about as I really had no idea. I really enjoyed the first few chapters but then started to struggle with it though I can't remember exactly where. And oddly enough I hadn't been able to put faces to any of the characters, something I'd never experienced with a book before. I put it to one side with every intention of continuing - but it lay there for weeks. But every now and then I'd catch sight of it and really get quite a strange feeling - I realise now that this must have been some kind of premonition. Although the film came out on 19 Dec. for various reasons I didn't get to see it until 26 Jan. It completely transported me - I was entranced. But Frodo - oh my God! When he got to his feet and the camera zoomed in on him I felt as though I'd been hit by a sledgehammer - the effect was instantaneous. By the time we got to "Sam - I'm glad you're with me" I knew I was doomed. But in the best possible way :) Before that day I'd never heard the name Elijah Wood before - not even from the publicity surrounding the film which I hadn't really taken that much notice of. And I know that I've mentioned before the shock I felt at discovering he was American - he sounded more English than I do :) I could not imagine what the real-life, present day person behind Frodo would be like - I just had a strong feeling he would turn out to be someone very special. And how right I was. Of course, I couldn't wait to finish that book which I did the following day! And within the next few days I'd also read TTT and ROTK. Well, actually thats not completely true. I skipped to the chapters concerning Frodo and Sam - I just couldn't wait to find out what happened to them, the rest had to wait until later. When I got to the end of ROTK my emotions were in shreds. My poor, beloved Frodo - I wanted him to live happily ever after in the Shire. To say that going to see that film has changed my life is an understatement. At first I didn't quite know how to handle this huge passion which had taken possession of me. I felt I was too old to be a fan of anyone or anything and tried to keep it hidden. But of course, it was impossible. I saw the film another five times in the cinema, would listen to the soundtrack over and over as the scenes played in my head. At that stage I didn't have a home pc so at work I'd be sneaking onto the internet at every opportunity, discovering all the LOTR sites, and also discovering that the young man who played Frodo so perfectly was as fascinating, charismatic and lovable as his character. Now, with the exception of the elusive 'Day-O', I own every film he's been in - plus a mountain of videos with his chat shows, LOTR docs, etc. My life before all this happened was full and I was content - happily married, with two grown-up kids, two cats, a part-time job in a university. But when I think about it now, I can't imagine not knowing anything about LOTR, being completely oblivious to a little creature named Frodo and a young American actor named Elijah Wood. I had never experienced anything like this before. I would look at other people and actually feel sorry for them because they didn't have this huge joy in their lives. And I still do. I discovered a new world of message boards, and fan groups and live journals. To my husbands delight I expressed our urgent need for a dvd player, a new video player which would play US tapes, a wide-screen tv. And I would never have dreamed I could love a computer so much :D Although I'd used a computer at work for years, I'd never had any desire to go beyond just what I needed to do my job. Within months I owned a home pc - but even that wasn't enough, much too slow, I had to get hooked up with broadband for quicker downloading and surfing :D I made internet friends. And what report of mine would be complete without a mention of Collectormania, October 2003 where I actually got to meet my beloved Frolijah in the flesh - something I will never get over. And next year I really will be following in Frodo's footsteps when my husband and I go to Middle Earth. Yep, the flight to NZ is booked for next March :)

Well, this isn't as helpful as I hoped it would be, but here's the link to Charlie Rose's website: http://www.charlierose.com/index.shtm . Since it's awfully hard to find his show on TV around here, I'd used his site to listen to interviews (streaming audio??) after they took place on the show. But, evidently, after a certain amount of time most of them aren't available in that format any more. There's still one of PJ's that's available to listen to, but neither of Elijah's are.

On the site, you can buy a tape of any program--for $29.95 a pop. There's also an "800" number given that you can call to request transcripts. It doesn't say anything about a charge for them, but I assume there is one (when I've ordered transcripts of other programs--that is, other than Charlie Rose--they've cost somewhere between $5-10).

So, I was hoping to be able to point people to a place where you could listen to the interviews for free, which didn't turn out to be the case.

The site has a good search function. When I typed in "Elijah Wood" as guest, it even brought up "The Lord of the Rings panel," where his name isn't specifically listed.

----I had to post this bit from home, since it's the only place I have Charlie Rose's site bookmarked. Will try to be back later when I'm at the office.

[Anyone who happens to see this within the next four hours or so, I'd appreciate prayers, good thoughts, positive vibrations, or whatever else you care to emanate :) for me and especially for the people at my Credit Union (kinder, friendlier version of a bank for those who may not know the term). They're sending me some back records from my account today that I hope will turn out to be helpful for my side of the lawsuit--to prove that, yes, I really did make the payments I'm being sued for.]

Ylla,
To see the Charlie Rose interview from Dec. 2002, go to this link. It's the elijahfan.com fansite. http://www.elijahfan.com/media/videos.php. Scroll down a bit for the Charlie Rose interview. There are 4 parts to it.

Hope this info. helps!

Cat

P.S. Shireling, you are beautiful! I was searching high and low to find pics of Elijah in Galway! Thank you. . you made my day

Thank You So Much For The Link Shireling!!!

I Did Download It And The Other Boys Out At Night Or
Something Like That It Was So Funny To See!!!thank You So Much!!!!

Love/wood

from Sharpe's Girl:
I was taping the show anyway, but when the trailer finally showed up (during the final commercial break, of course!), I was just dumbfounded in the apparent quality of the film, enough that after the show was done, I must have rerun that trailer at least five times in a row! The next day, I scheduled December 19th off work.
It was really kind of sad for me when the 2004 schedule went up at work and I didn't immediately flip to December to mark my day off :( . I kind of feel as if I should take a vacation day on the proper Wednesday, anyway (Dec. 22 this year, I guess) just for old time's sake. Of course, I was at the midnight showing each year, so I could technically have worked that day, but when you reach "a certain age" it's tougher than it used to be to get home at 4:00 am (5:00 am for RotK) and then go to work a few hours later :rolleyes: . -- Besides, 2 out of the 3 years I saw it again in the afternoon with a friend who couldn't make it to the midnight show, which I couldn't have done if I hadn't taken the day off. I'm still glad that I'd scheduled that afternoon viewing of FotR with her, because it took that second viewing for it to really sink in. After the midnight viewing, I thought, "Okay, we got through that, and it was pretty good," but basically all I could do while watching it was compare it to the book. It took that second viewing to realize this was really something special, and I don't think I would have gone to it again so quickly if I hadn't already promised to see it with her.

Regarding the trailer--super geeky admission here :rolleyes: --I'd seen both online trailers as soon as they were available, but when the news came out about the first chance to see these characters on the big screen, I, uh... took that day off, too... well, just the afternoon... Why? We have one theater in the city that has matinees, and I was bound and determined that I was going to see the trailer the first time it was shown onscreen in Omaha, which meant a 1:00 pm show at that theater. So the first movie I'd seen in a theater in about 4 years was that matinee of Thirteen Days. Not a bad movie (again, if you can kind of ignore the fact that Kevin Costner's Boston accent sounds strangely like Kevin Costner's Southern accent). Funny thing was, from the appearance and reactions of the audience, I think about half of us were really there to see the trailer :p .

I didn't make the effort to see the other trailers quite that soon (although I always tried to see them the first weekend they showed), but that first one, and the chance to see what Middle-earth and Frodo and Gandalf and Bill the Pony and the rest of the Fellowship looked like on the big screen was too much to ignore.

I was bound and determined that I was going to see the trailer the first time it was shown onscreen

I missed the opportunity to see the FotR trailer in the theatre, since I was so bound and determined to avoid ever going near these movies :p :rolleyes: . But when the 'advance' trailer for TTT was released in March of 2002 at the end of Fellowship, I made arrangements to go with my sister to the evening showing (the first time that day she was available.) Then, that morning, I got a call from my only RL LotR friend, who was wondering if I wanted to head out to the matinee, since he had a sudden hankering to see Fellowship again before it left the theatres. (He wasn't even aware the trailer would be showing that day for the first time.) What was I going to say? No? :p

So I ended up going to see Fellowship twice that day, and seeing the trailer twice. Honestly, at the end of Fellowship, when the screen went dark, and then the music swelled again, I had a moment when I thought my heart might stop. My friend swears I didn't breathe through the whole thing, though I'm pretty sure I must have at some point, since I managed not to pass out from the excitement.

I know exactly how you feel, tgshaw, about not having to book a day off in December of 2004. It does fill me with a profound melancholy to think that there will never be another day of excitement that will quite match those which have passed. Though I will absolutely be taking off the day the ROTK EE comes out. (Since I have a source where I can get it five to seven days early, I can't book this day in advance, because I don't know exactly what day it will be. It's one of the small bonuses of being in management -I'll just be taking the day off, whenever I get my hot little hands on it.) And I plan on squeeing quite a bit when I watch it, to make up for not having a new movie in the theatre that month. :D

Since we are telling stories...... ( ;) at Mechtild)--

I first read LOTR long, long ago when I was 12, and I fell in love with it at once, the whole thing. I read it over and over during the next several years, finishing it only to start again.

It made a very deep impression on me that I could probably not have explained to anyone but was lucky enough to share with my sister and our HS classmates (girls, all). It's hard now to remember what it was like to have JUST the books, no Letters, no Tom Shippey, and of course no Internet or films. (Elijah wasn't even born.) So we had no clue about a lot of things I've discussed with such pleasure since then, like the meaning of the tale, the theme of forgivness, the inevitability of Frodo's fate..... it was just a great, enchanting story that captured us as nothing since, and our enjoyment of it was for a long time a very private thing.

I fell in love with Frodo at pretty much first sight, when he quietly got up from the chaos of Bilbo's party, drank his health, and went off to find him.

LOTR was always in the back of my mind over the years but I read it less often after college and finally stopped somewhere during building a career, buying a house, having kids, the usual distractions.

I had the very great pleasure of rediscovering it by reading it out loud to my two daughters several years ago when they were arguably too young but nice enough to be interested. They liked it quite a lot, so when I later heard, to my horror, that someone was making a film about it, I quickly read it to them again to sort of immunize them against the corruption that would surely follow from the movies since of course they wouldn't be any good.

And then, about a year before FOTR was to open, I saw the picture of Frodo holding the Ring in his hand--not the poster some of you have cited, but the one where he's just gotten away from that first Black Rider in the Shire, and he's standing on the hill, shocked out of his mind and with a bit of straw still stuck in his hair.

I was lost. :)

After work, I was looking for a birthday gift for somebody when I stumbled on a couple of old James Stewart DVD's:
Mister Smith goes to Washington
Harvey
I'm a big Jimmy Stewart fan (except the westerns, I don't like that genre).


Tg, I think you like 'Harvey' too if I'm not mistaken.
Didn't you mention that a movie like that would be great for Elijah?

Anyway,
Started to watch the extra's for Harvey. There's a photomontage with a special introduction by Jimmy Stewart from 1990.
First of all: I forgot that his character in that movie had Elwood as a first name. :)
Secondly, Jimmy was talking about the fact that this movie was first a play awarded with a Pulitzer!

Harvey is 1m90 tall in the play, but Jimmy said that he made him 2 meters because he's 1m90 himself and he wanted to look up to the rabbit. I was thinking that Elijah really would have to look up to Harvey or would he adapt the size of his friend to his own size?

Jimmy was talking about his experience, performing the play on stage in London before the movie was made. He did that 6 months. On saturdays, it was the usual matinee for kids. James said that he could imagine parents talking to their kid saying: "Son, we're going to take you to the theater".
So, they would go to the theater and they would be alright during the first act but (and it happened every time, Jimmy mentionned) those kids started fiddling on their chairs during the second act.
"At one point, a kid couldn't hold it anymore and he shouted at me: 'Where's your rabbit?'" :D
Doing the play was a good experience before shooting the movie, he said.
I didn't even know that James had theater experience.
Imagine Elijah Wood doing a fun play like Harvey on stage in London! That would be worth the travel!

James also said that after the movie came out, it happened quite frequently that people started to ask him about the rabbit when he was walking on the street. "Is Harvey with you?"
At first, James Stewart thought that they were only joking but they were actually quite serious! So, he started to make excuses: "Harvey's ill at the moment. He's home"
The reply would usually be something like: "Well, next time you see him, give him my regards".

He also said that people would write him letters, saying that they too have an invisible friend, somebody to talk to. Of course, they don't know if that friend is a rabbit or not but they recognize the feeling of having such a friend.
:)
It's great listening to James Stewart.

Now, I'm going to enjoy the movie.
http://www.trotterautographs.com/harvey.jpg
I hope it's OK to put an off topic picture in here for once but...just look at that.
A movie like that would be so great for our Elwood.

IIRC, Moondancer, Lij said that one of his favorite movies was Harvey, so you never know. If there's ever a possibility of it being remade, you can bet that he'd get in line!

{{{TG}}}

IIRC, Moondancer, Lij said that one of his favorite movies was Harvey, so you never know. If there's ever a possibility of it being remade, you can bet that he'd get in line!

:z: :) :z:



PS Did send you some positive thoughts earlier, tg. Hope it works. :)

I fell in love with Frodo at pretty much first sight, when he quietly got up from the chaos of Bilbo's party, drank his health, and went off to find him.
Y'know, Flourish, great minds... ;) This is from "Coming of Age with Frodo" (now in the "Tolkien Archives"). I wrote it almost exactly two years ago, on my 33rd anniversary of discovering Middle-earth--and Frodo :) :
Frodo had been mentioned early on, in the bit of Bilbo's history that opened the story as well as in the conversation among the regulars at The Ivy Bush. But I can isolate the moment he became a real person to me: "He gave orders for more wine to be served; then he got up and drained his own glass silently to the health of Bilbo, and slipped out of the pavilion." I suspected this was someone I could understand and--more importantly--who could understand me. The next 1000-or-so pages did nothing but confirm that.
I read LotR the first time when I was just turning 15.

----------

I've been called away from the computer several times since I hit "quote" on Flouish's post, and completely forgot about the Harvey info. Thanks, Moondancer. I only have the movie on VHS (have had it for years), so I've never seen or heard any of the commentary. I didn't realize it was originally a play--and Pulitzer prizewinning, no less. But, yeah, I've said several times I think it'd be a great part for Elijah. And the attitudes toward some of the things that come up in the story (such as mental health care) have changed enough that it's high time for a remake!

And thanks for the positive thoughts--The records I got today get me about two-thirds of the way home, so that's a good start. :)

--I can't tell you how glad I am that when I started working at the university I switched my accounts from the "mega-bank" I was with to the university credit union, "Where everybody knows your name." :) I don't even want to think about the red tape I'd have to go through at the mega-bank to get the help I'm getting from the credit union. (And, since I left the mega-bank, they've been bought by an even bigger bank! :eek: )

TG--I hope you get that last third of the way home really soon. Legal fights make my stomach churn. Hang in there.

I have a little personal thing to add about reading the novels--I've already made my comments about Elijah Wood (and no, Wood, don't change your name!).

I read the books when I was 14, I think. I know it was 9th grade. I loved them, and read them over and over, and when I didn't have time to read the whole books, I'd just read the Frodo parts. I loved them because here was somebody who was a hero for just hanging in there--not killling a bunch of bad guys or swinging from a rope or anything like that--and hanging in there is about the only strength I've ever had. So I identified.

Anyway, when I was 16, I was in a major car accident. I broke my face, basically. I lost all the bone between my nose and mouth, shattered 4 teeth, cracked my sternum, broke three ribs on my left side, and broke my left leg. I was a mess.

But I was young. The technology wasn't there for dental implants then, especially with that much bone loss, but I did have a bridge put it. The problem is, I was left with a lisp, and a bit of a stammer (the second was probably just from the trauma). How did I get over it? I read LOTR out loud to myself, a chapter per night. Mom said she used to cry listening to me read to myself.

Of course, after that, the books became almost like gospel to me. That's why I was a little nervous about the movies. And I must say, as much as I like the movies, I will probably always like the books more.

But the movies, and my girls' appreciation for them, made them want to read the books. So last spring I read LOTR out to them at night. Now that was a lot of fun.

Plus, I realized that whatever they paid Andy Serkis, it wasn't enough! Doing Gollum's voice just about killed me!

EE GAD! I have been exclaiming to persons elsewhere about the profundity and honesty of the posts that have been pouring into this thread. It is as if the "How I fell for LotR/Frodo/E.W. (if applicable) challenge" has produced a bumper crop of wonderfully written, moving and insightful posts. They all are "keepers!" I keep looking around me (virtually, that is) and thinking, "Whoa! How'd I get here?? How did I end up in the presence of such people!?" I am humbled and appreciative. And fascinated! There are many motifs that are shared by us all, but just as many that are unique to each person who has responded. I am gushing, I know, but that's part of the "real me." Just a terrible gusher -- when not being hyper-critical and picky picky picky. :D I suppose it's like being a manic-depressive, but about aesthetics rather than emotions. Or something.

I can't tell you how jealous of you, the initiated, I am! To sit there anticipating 'your' story on the big screen! I can hardly imagine it!

For me, I remember seeing the FoTR trailer on the big screen mostly because my husband suddenly started bouncing in the seat next to mine, and saying "Oh cool!" over and over, loudly enough that I shushed him. Me? I was thinking something along the lines of, "Oh great, :rolleyes: I'm gonna get drug to that one!" :rolleyes:

I'm also one of those who does not like hype. I've never seen Casablanca! If folks would just shut-up about how great it is, maybe I would someday! :p :D So I'd never read LoTR either.

In retrospect I don't know why, because I already loved Bilbo, and was familar enough with the illustrations of the books to recognize the Shire instantaneously, and with such immediacy that it became "Real" to me, and a place I would have happily made my home on first sight.

In fact I think those opening moments were what ultimatley "sold" the entire trilogy. If PJ hadn't quoted all those many paintings so faithfully that the sight of Shire had seemed as real as memory, the entire enterprise would have failed IMHO.

Ok, to put this on topic, it took me the third time round to really see Frodo. I think it was in Bag End when he was talking to Gandalf about the Ring, that I felt real fear from him. And then noticed how pretty he was by fire-light. :) Which got me watching him very closely from then on. Finally when he's standing on the banks of the Anduin, crying, I got goose-bumps because I understood his fear and loss. No other actor has ever done that to me, ever.

That it's all lead me here, to this lovely literary lively bunch is an un-looked for blessing! And, like TG and Mariole and others, I've learned so much about the 'net, and computers!

Honey!

Shireling: Wonderful picture of Elijah and Sean. So many Faculty members: Beautiful and very moving histories of “how I got to this point.” It seems that some started off as LotR devotees, some as Elijah fans, some as both, and some (like me) as neither. And here we all are, brought together by one grand, classic epic and one talented young actor.

I was interested to see the “being in love” comparisons from several people in descriptions of how they feel about LotR (whether book or films – usually both, it seems), and the comments about how people feel it changed their lives. So it’s not just me! (And many members of the cast, according to what I’ve read.) I also have to chuckle whenever I read some journalist’s apparently astonished remark that Christopher Lee has re-read the book annually for years. What’s so strange about that???

It also just occurred to me that another recent obsession of mine – the late, great, lamented TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer – has some things in common with LotR. (Don’t kill me, senior Tolkien scholars!) Both are fantasies set in recognizable landscapes. The stakes (no pun intended) are real, and high. The characters are people you feel you know better than your neighbors. And key to both works are themes of friendship, loyalty, and courage and dedication in the face of often overwhelming odds. Even the theme of redemption also comes up in BTVS (and iin its spinoff, Angel).

Alyon wrote:

So those who go around the internet a lot. Do the other actors/characters get this much studious analysis? Or generate this much interst beyond just swoonage?? Just curious.

I was wondering that myself. (I also wondered whether any other actor has fans who affectionately refer to him as “Geek boy”!) I mean, I adore Jude Law (a magnificent actor, eminently swoonage-worthy, and with six movies coming out between now and the end of the year); but I can’t imagine being involved in an online group about him. But then, JL has never played an iconic, beloved character.

Moondancer:

. . . you don't need to be build like Schwarzenegger (not my taste anyway...I prefer a more natural look than the body builder type with muscles almost bursting out of a shirt) to be muscular.
Elijah is wiry. He somehow just wouldn’t be Elijah if he were too buffed up.

TG: Good luck with your legal hassles. Defending vs. lawsuits is expensive, time- consuming, and gut-wrenching.

Actually, Pelagia, you may find that a lot of LOTR fans are also Buffy and Angel fans (those were the only shows I watched on TV, and my husband is as obsessed about those as I am about LOTR). In fact, tongue-in-cheek columnist Libby Gelman-Waxner of Premier had a comment about the interrelatedness of these two. In one of "her" columns, she has her friend Andrew comment:

People who can finish those Tolkien books are actually a third sex. They can reproduce just by rubbing themselves against the TV screen during Buffy reruns.

Personally, I haven't tried that yet. Although I've been tempted when Spike is on the screen!

Actually, Pelagia, you may find that a lot of LOTR fans are also Buffy and Angel fans

I know there are a number of Buffy / Angel fans on this board. (I am one, as well, just in a far more subdued way than with LotR.) If enough of you are interested, someone could start a Buffy and / or Angel fan thread here in the Cafe. (Just 'cause the shows are over doesn't mean it's over, if you know what I mean. ;) ) Or, if you're all too shy to start a thread but would like one anyway, I could start it. (To avoid overloading this thread with OT posts, perhaps you could PM me if you're interested - or just go ahead and start a thread!)

*Kumari de-lurks*

Since there have been so many interesting accounts of how people came to LOTR I suppose now is the right time to tell you how LOTR has affected my life.

I remember saying to one of my sons, after seeing some advertising on FOTR, that I wouldn't mind going to see that movie - it looked like it would be good. However, at the time it was released here (26 December 2001) I was unemployed (so no spare money to spend on going to the movies!). I did start a new job in the New Year, and my son and I went along to see the movie about 3 weeks after it had started. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the movie. In fact, after it had finished, I just wasn't sure how I felt, except that the character of Frodo really caught my eye (those blue eyes!). About a couple of weeks later, I had the urge to see it again, sure that this time, I'd be able to absorb more. Oh, yes! This time I really enjoyed it - and Frodo... Well, as time went by I started to find pictures accumulating on my computer's hard drive! (Mechtild knows which one was the first!) I bought the book (the 3 books in one) - and I just had to have an appropriate bookmark, which just happened to have Frodo on it. I had to admit by then I was hooked. (3 more visits to the theatre confirmed it!)

Well, that the job I had started turned out to be quite stressful. My solace was my lunchtime reading matter. I could escape to Middle Earth for an hour every day. After 7 months I found another job. Basically, I had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire! This job was even more stressful than the first. Guess which book helped to save my sanity! Every night I checked out websites to find news of TTT. Unfortunately I didn't find (I didn't know where to look) any friendly sites like this. Nevertheless I could escape for a couple of hours to forget my problems at work.

My elder son and I had made a date to see TTT when it came out. This time I was prepared for the scale of the movie (and I knew what to expect to a certain extent after reading the book). And I got to see more of Frodo - suffering! (More pictures added to my collection.)

Early in 2003 we learned that my husband had some major health problems. He was diagnosed both with diabetes type 2 and prostate cancer. He started hormone treatment, followed by Radiotherapy six months later. (I'm pleased to say he came through the radiation treatment remarkably well. He has another check up next month - it will be 11 months since his treatment ended, so we shall soon see where he's at.)

Around this time our younger son moved out of home (I didn't realise how much I was going to miss him!). My elderly mother-in-law hadn’t been well. She moved into aged care accommodation and we had to remove her belongings from her unit so it could be readied for sale (that's how we spent Easter).

My husband was out of work for a couple of months, so I couldn't leave my job at this stage. Things got very tight. Then our elder son left home!

Finally, in November last year after 15 months at the second job, I resigned without having another job to go to. I had to do it to retain my sanity.

However, I got some temp. work immediately, so was able to get to see ROTK on the opening night (with younger son). Yes!! Frodo was magnificent!

I'm pleased to say that from January this year my life has improved greatly (with the exception that my mother-in-law passed away about 7 weeks ago). I found a job I really enjoy. My husband's health has improved - and he's found a better-paying job. Then I found the messageboard at TORC and later here at KD. If only I had known there were such friendly and compassionate ladies around while I was going through my own personal trials. At least I've found you now! As you may have noticed, I'm mainly a lurker, but I really enjoy the discussions on this board.

The point I wanted to make was that through my troubles I had the movies look forward to and enjoy. LOTR helped to keep me sane.

Looking back at what I've written, I realise I haven't even mentioned Elijah's name once! I have to say now that I had known of Elijah in Forever Young and Deep Impact, but he hadn't made any impact on me then - well, he was a little young! However his portrayal of Frodo blew me away, and the age difference is still the same as it was before, but somehow it didn't matter any more to me. The fact that my sons are around his age had caused me to keep my obsession to myself until I found like-minded ladies that I could talk to who understood how I felt. Life is good - and my picture collection is, er, now rather large! :)


*Kumari re-lurks!*

{{{Kumari}}} Glad to hear your life's going better (sorry about your loss, though). It's amazing what a relief valve books and films can be, isn't it?

Pelagia's comment upthread about how Elijah just wouldn't be Elijah if he buffed up reminded me of a comment I saw on another board after RotK came out. The woman (in her early 40s, IIRC), had enjoyed the movie immensely, but asked if she would be considered a dirty old woman if she confessed that, in the Tower of Cirith Ungol scene, she looked at EW's bare torso and exposed navel and thought, "Play! Play with the pretty pretty boy!" He did look rather toned in that scene, I must admit.

Hmmm... Well, I hadn't planned on following a comment like that :p , but just dropped in to see if, by any chance, there might be some people here who aren't already bored to tears by the whole "classic beauty" thing ;) :

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/32d464d0.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/32e4d4f0.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/32f4f4e0.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/330594d0.jpg

*Gasp*

(That was for tg's screencaps. Were those supposed to demonstrate non-classical beauty? I think you failed....;) )

Sharpe's Girl, that was a very funny quote! Can't agree on the torso, though. However I might drool over those Cirith Ungol screencaps, the torso itself looks like your basic nice, normal, young, healthy-but-doesn't-go-to-the-gym type male torso to me. It is made remarkable, IMO, only by the remarkable fineness of the skin which covers it. And even that wouldn't make me pore over those screencaps if the torso's head was not included. No, I take that back. There are about five caps in a row in the Cirith Ungol sequence where only the torso and not the head are in frame and they make pretty darned good viewing, as I recall. Especially in slow-motion. With a magnifying glass. Hey, I was just evaluating the mirco-moments Elijah could produce with just his pectoral muscles. Pure research!

Alright, alright! This is not a swoon thread this is not a swoon thread this is not a swoon thread.

Anyway. Kumari, thanks for being another brave soul to step forward and tell the tale of how she/he Fell. Again, what a rich collection of testimony has been given here, all expressing how Tolkien's books and their film adaptation has made such deep, even visceral impressions -- emotionally, intellectually and spiritually -- on the people who love them.

(((Tgshaw))) I have forgotten to wish you luck with your legal issues!!! I hope they are turning out the right way for you!!!!

Thanks for the beautiful screencaps!!

((kumari)) Thanks for telling your story. I really love reading how important those books are to so many people and how it has helped them. Good to hear that things are better at your new job.

It was mentionned before that one of the earlier Frodo/Elijah related threads was started by a guy.
If there are guys lurking here (you never know):
please, do join us. We'll make room for you in the Faculty Lounge and we'd love to get a male perspective!


Tg,
What Mechtild says:
Were those supposed to demonstrate non-classical beauty? I think you failed....
:D


Off topic: I'm so horrified about what happened in that school in Russia. Seeing images on tv, on the internet, reading the story in my newspaper.
How detached are you really from humanity if you're capable of doing this?
In the last few years, we have seen the boundaries of terrorism being pushed further and further.
Just when you focus on horror like that, you need a bit of beauty to counteract it. When I was reading about it and seeing those pictures we've all seen, I was listening to Seal on the radio (I love that man's voice).
I had tears in my eyes because it's just too much to take in but listening to Seal reminded me once again that there's still so many fantastic things in this world to hold on to. That's really one of the most important roles of the arts for me: books, paintings, movies, music,... I can be in so much awe of the beauty of a great movie, a beautiful song, a fantastic drawing,...

Just adding this because it's a funny picture and appropriate after reading all those great stories about Tolkien's books, the movies and Elijah Wood.
http://img-fan.theonering.net/henneth-annun/actors/Frodo.jpg

I AGREE WITH ALL MY HEART,MOONDANCER!!!!!

IT`S REALY HORRIBEL!WHAT HAVE BE COME OF OUR WORLD??
WHEN I SAW THOSE THINGS IN THE TV,I WAS WONDERING ABOUT RIKKA?
IS IT ANYONE WHO KNOWS WERE SHE IS HAVEN`t HEARD OR SEEN HER IN
HERE IN AGES!!??

LOVE/WOOD

Wood, Rikka lives in Moscow and so is not likely to have been directly impacted by the devastatingly horrible events in Ossetia, I very sincerely hope,- except for being as shocked and sad and horrified as the rest of us. :(



It was mentioned before that one of the earlier Frodo/Elijah related threads was started by a guy.
Yes, the very first post in the very first Faculty thread was by a guy posting under the name of Nufurion. That was on the Imladris Board (now defunct) back in early January 2002. The thread has been going strong ever since, and has survived being chased around boards, being chased from a board, having a board die on it, a software glitch that made more than a thousand posts disappear in one go, at least one serious "kerfluffle", and several name changes. The fun and companionship, the considerate, enthusiatic posters and the interesting discussions far outweighed any of those things - this has been a great place from the very first. :)

I took a trip down memory lane in my computer to find my copy of Nufurion's first post, and looking through posts of nearly 3 years' time I couldn't but smile at all the enthusiastic speculations every time some TTT or RotK tidbit or pic was leaked, as well as all the other in-depth discussions and analysis on every aspect of Frodo, on EJW's various films, and all the spin-off discussions (and humour!) from that - about art, literature, cultural issues, filmmaking, child actor rights and much more.

It's nice to see that the Faculty is going so strong, with so many new posters contributing, and to celebrate that, here's the very first post that started it all:

Originally posted by Nufurion at Imladris when starting the then "non-swoony" discussion thread:


Anybody else think the guy stole the show in FOTR?

Quite a few people have described him as being 'wet' - but if anything I really bought into his acting performance.

Frightened, grief-stricken, vulnerable.

I can't be bothered with some of this super-hero types who seem impervious to pain and suffering.

Frodo had the look of a person who had been given the worst job imaginable in middle-earth and Elijah Wood made me believe it - to the point where I was fighting back the tears on **several** occasions.

Well done to a fellow who I didn't think could act.......

I, too, have been enjoying and crying and smiling over all the wonderful LOTR introduction stories -- Ereshkigal, Kumari, everyone. So touching. (Where's that "shed a tear" smilie?)

Moondancer and Maeg, thank you for the trip down memory lane. Not my memories -- I joined up late. But it was fascinating to see this early picture, and the first Faculty post! Wow, I got shivers.

from Nufurion
I can't be bothered with some of this super-hero types who seem impervious to pain and suffering.
That is one of my hot buttons as well. Frodo's suffering looks painful. And I am dead certain that it is his subtle, nuanced performance that will give these movies long live, able to stand repeated viewings because there is always so much more to discover. Rambo you can pretty much view once, and it's over forever. (Assuming anyone can make you view it once!) :p

Tg, those caps were unspeakably lovely. And how much his face did change over those 3-4 years. Definitely a young man now, not a teenager. *Sniff*

(I haven't been following the story, but my heart goes out to those poor people and their children.)

*Gasp*

(That was for tg's screencaps. Were those supposed to demonstrate non-classical beauty? I think you failed....;) )
Sorry... I just re-read my sentence and it wasn't very clear... :rolleyes: I was trying to say that I hoped there were some people here who weren't yet bored by the "classical beauty" stuff, so wouldn't mind seeing a bit more. :p

Thanks for the appreciation, but, as usual, I didn't have much to do with what you saw ;) . I didn't even have to "tweak" those--the lighting in that scene is wonderful.

Anyway. Kumari, thanks for being another brave soul to step forward and tell the tale of how she/he Fell. Again, what a rich collection of testimony has been given here, all expressing how Tolkien's books and their film adaptation has made such deep, even visceral impressions -- emotionally, intellectually and spiritually -- on the people who love them.
Ditto--to Kumari and all those who've shared. IMHO, it says a lot about the story's power that we can come from so many different beginnings and end up sharing so much. :k

Maeg--"Thanks for the memories" :p . Y'know, I'd remembered that quote about "the worst job imaginable," but my mind was placing it in a published review. Didn't remember that it was from "here."

from Moondancer:
I had tears in my eyes because it's just too much to take in but listening to Seal reminded me once again that there's still so many fantastic things in this world to hold on to. That's really one of the most important roles of the arts for me: books, paintings, movies, music,... I can be in so much awe of the beauty of a great movie, a beautiful song, a fantastic drawing,...
There are a lot of people who'd think what I'm going to say is silly, or even delusional, but somehow I don't think many of them are reading this thread ;) . My belief is that even those moments of awe and appreciation of beauty and good (in whatever form) tip the scales a little to the better. There has to be a positive effect every time someone admires the unbelievably good things we human beings are capable of, to counter those who admire the unbelievably inhuman things we're capable of (and what makes things like this incident all the worse is that there are people who will admire it).

I guess that's my rationalization for the time I spend on JRRT and EJW appreciation. Even little moments like last night when I was trimming and tweaking screencaps and found myself "face-to-face" with the ones I posted earlier. As so many people have said, if it wasn't for Elijah's inner beauty, his physical beauty wouldn't really move me--there are a lot of actors I've thought were fantastic looking, but who haven't touched me in any other way. But I'm very glad the combination exists. Like people who read (or watch) LotR because it's an exciting adventure story, and then find themselves being drawn to its deeper levels of love and hope, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people who notice Elijah first because of his physical beauty don't start noticing other things about him as a person and as an artist. Every little bit helps...

----------

I don't know if anyone who's reading this is being affected by hurricane Frances, but if so, take care :z: ! [And this is completely on-topic, because watching the way Florida has managed this massive evacuation just shows all the more how stupid some of the Deep Impact scenes are :rolleyes: ! (Leo's not stupid, of course... ;) )]

(((tgshaw))) Good luck with the legal battle. :k Ooooh. Angsty pics. :z: :)

(((Kumari))) :k :)

Welcome back, Alyon!

And thank so much to all who shared their stories. (((Faculty)))

I'm suddenly reminded of this quirky little thing I did back when I was in school - I think I was 16 or so. I first read LOTR a couple of years before that, but never really knew anyone else who'd read it too and would want to talk about it. Anyway, my English teacher assigned me and two others to write an essay about the first manned space flight to Mars for an international competition. I don't actually recall now what we wrote, and even if I were to ever find the original essay again I probably wouldn't want to read it - I'm sure it must have been chockfull of every painful scifi and soap opera cliche ever known to a kid who grew up watching American TV shows in the '80s :p - but I do remember the name I gave to the shuttle that would land the first humans on Mars' red earth. 'Mithrandir'. Neither friends nor teacher ever asked where the hey a name like 'Mithrandir' came from. Anyway, I think we won a consolation prize or something like that. I like to imagine that somewhere out there, a judge was reading through our essay, cringing though it :D and then the judge saw that the shuttle was named Mithrandir, and the judge figured that if we kids had the fine taste to make sure that a bit of Tolkien wizardry would be what would land the first man on Mars, then we couldn't be half bad. ;)

Now, I would have definitely preferred to have named the shuttle Frodo, but I really don't think a shuttle could be named 'Frodo', y'know? This being years before New Zealand painted hobbits on their national plane. :p

Honeyelf - yeah, sure, Casablanca is great. But you know why it's great to actually watch it? Which I actually only did recently, myself. Because like, hey, so that's where all those quotes really come from! ;) :D

Maeg!!! *hugs* And tg, I still remember that story about the deer crashing into your car. :D That old Imladris board did a spectacular crash and then just disappeared and it took a while before the new Council-of-Elrond board could be set up from scratch. The great thing was that I think we actually did manage to bring everyone back to the Faculty after that Imladris crash. We managed to find each other again. And here we are still, with even more folks finding us and joining us, and never running out of words to say. ;)

Flipper is available here in Asia in Region 3 format. That's a pleasant surprise. As for Radio Flyer - if it is coming out on DVD, I hope it'll have the director Richard Donner's commentary, at the very least. The best deal will be if Richard Donner can do for Radio Flyer what he did for Goonies: record the commentary with his now grown-up cast. Elijah's yet to do a commentary on a non-LotR film. :)

Oh, tg – those screencaps! Not bored! Not bored!!!

Yesterday I started reading "Everything Is Illuminated." I can really envision Elijah in that role. I can see him trying to get away from that dog in the back seat of the car! But does anyone know whether the film will have the historical flashbacks to Jonathan’s great-great-etc. grandmother, and to WWII? I’d think the book would be difficult to adapt for a screenplay, in view of the novel’s use of Alex’s letters, Alex’s narrative, and Jonathan’s historical pieces. Should be interesting.

About the Tower of Cirith Ungol scene: I confess that I found it sort of disturbing at first, because I had been thinking of Frolijah as this sort of genderless, almost childlike being (physically at any rate). And all of a sudden, here was this indisputably young-male body. I had to rethink really fast.

(For some reason, I can't make any of the formatting buttons -- bold, italic, etc. -- work today.)

Yesterday I started reading "Everything Is Illuminated." I can really envision Elijah in that role. I can see him trying to get away from that dog in the back seat of the car! But does anyone know whether the film will have the historical flashbacks to Jonathan’s great-great-etc. grandmother, and to WWII? I’d think the book would be difficult to adapt for a screenplay, in view of the novel’s use of Alex’s letters, Alex’s narrative, and Jonathan’s historical pieces. Should be interesting.


What we know, Pelagia, is that Liev Schreiber adapted the script from an excerpt of the book that was in New Yorker magazine, not the book itself. So my sense is that there won't be a lot of the "interior life" of the novel. Liev also said that it would be somewhat "Terry Gilliam-esque" and based on that pic of Lij (Jonathan, sorry) with Hitler, that tells you that it will be quite surreal.


About the Tower of Cirith Ungol scene: I confess that I found it sort of disturbing at first, because I had been thinking of Frolijah as this sort of genderless, almost childlike being (physically at any rate). And all of a sudden, here was this indisputably young-male body. I had to rethink really fast.

Most of us had seen "Not" Try 17 (aka All I Want -- lol) prior to ROTK, and Lij's chest was softer and less muscular in it. So that was my shock -- I was not expecting those well defined pecs. This is not a guy who works out, obviously, but he did down in NZ (and must have quickly lost the definition thereafter).

Thank you, Sharpe's Girl, Mechtild, Moondancer, Mariole, TG & Ainon for your kind words. This is what I meant when I said it was nice to find so many compassionate and friendly people here. It really is amazing how so many people have been able to find strength in LOTR which has helped them to carry on. I've enjoyed reading everyone's stories too.

TG - The second pic in your "classical beauty" group was my wallpaper up until a couple of days ago. It's truly beautiful. I'm glad PJ left this scene till the end of filming. It showed off Elijah's maturity, which to me, made the scene more "real". He looks older and carries off the portrayal of a careworn and depleted Frodo so well. I'll never be bored by these objects of "classical beauty"!


Kumari

Ditto on the observations of the group re: the horror of recent events in Russia


In the last few years, we have seen the boundaries of terrorism being pushed further and further.
Just when you focus on horror like that, you need a bit of beauty to counteract it. When I was reading about it and seeing those pictures we've all seen, I was listening to Seal on the radio (I love that man's voice).
I had tears in my eyes because it's just too much to take in but listening to Seal reminded me once again that there's still so many fantastic things in this world to hold on to. That's really one of the most important roles of the arts for me: books, paintings, movies, music,... I can be in so much awe of the beauty of a great movie, a beautiful song, a fantastic drawing,...

Touche' Moondancer ........I think we listen to the same music from my observation of your love of Music :k
A beautiful song or a beautiful movie and OK..... :o a beautiful man :cool:
can cause my heart to Still believe there is beauty in this world
Remember Sam's speech at the end of TT
Touche'... Sam....Touche'

(((Kumari))) :k

ABOUT THIS CHEST DISCUSION,I FOUND
THIS ONE!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/hotlij1.jpg


SORRY GIRLS,COULDENT HELP IT!!! :p :D


LOVE/WOOD

Honeyelf - yeah, sure, Casablanca is great. But you know why it's great to actually watch it? Which I actually only did recently, myself. Because like, hey, so that's where all those quotes really come from! ;) :D
:D Yep, must be the most quoted movie in history (among the general populace ;) -- that is, people who don't go around calling things "My Preciousss"). Two more reasons it's a great movie: It's the only one I know where Claude Raines gets to show off his impeccable comic timing ("I'm shocked! Just shocked..... thank you." :lol: ). Why did he always end up playing insane bad guys? Short-actor discrimination if I ever saw it :mad: !. Second, there are things about the story--especially the ending--that remind me of LotR. Since I know there are people reading this who haven't seen the movie, I'll say no more about that. For anyone who does watch it for the first time--if at all possible, be sure to get the original black-and-white film, not the colorized version. Black-and-white cinematographers who knew what they were doing could get more out of a shadow than those "colorizers" can get out of the entire rainbow--and this one knew what he was doing.

As for Radio Flyer - if it is coming out on DVD, I hope it'll have the director Richard Donner's commentary, at the very least. The best deal will be if Richard Donner can do for Radio Flyer what he did for Goonies: record the commentary with his now grown-up cast. Elijah's yet to do a commentary on a non-LotR film. :)
Definitely--the quotes that were posted (or linked to) from the director were really interesting regarding the changed ending, and I'd sure like to know more. And having the two "grown-up boys" and any other members of the cast participating would be great. -- Has anyone heard any definite news about a DVD of Radio Flyer?

----Kumari, I agree with you about the mature Frodo/Elijah in the scene with the Red Book. Even the fact that he looks thinner changes the mood, IMHO.

-------------------

I knew this had been a tough week, but my body must have been hit by the stress more than I thought. I woke up early this morning, so right after I posted here, I lay down for a "little nap"--which I just woke up from 6 hours later :eek: ! That's almost two nights' sleep in one and I feel like I could lie down right now and do it all over again. Of course, I haven't accomplished anything else today. Glad it's a three-day weekend; I've got a lot of old records to sort through (along with all the "normal" stuff that has to be done). I am trying for some September updates, but they'll be almost all visual rather than written, since the former are quicker and easier on the brain (yes, I can hear all those sighs of disappointment out there ;) :p ).

So, in closing, let me just say: Here's looking at you, kid. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship because we'll always have Paris. Out of all the gin joints in all the world, you'll understand that the problems of two little people don't matter a hill of beans (...play it, Sam) :p .

I am trying for some September updates, but they'll be almost all visual rather than written, since the former are quicker and easier on the brain (yes, I can hear all those sighs of disappointment out there
I love your written analysis and interpretation of screenscaps and stuff but....visual is always good!

I think we listen to the same music from my observation of your love of Music
Oh, music is crucial in my life. I listen to a wide variety of music though: from Vivaldi and Beethoven to good old Motown soul music to Rammstein and Metallica.
All depends on my mood really. I have been listening to a Seal CD in my car today and his voice is really a beautiful gift.



Sometimes, I just like to type in a combination of words in a search engine and see what it can come up with.
I love to see reports from the earliest Tolkien fans (as long as they are no stubborn purist nitpickers...not a problem if they are really...it's just not my style).
Anyway, I was looking what I could come up with if I typed in "Frodo lives" and I found this interesting review of the movie FOTR with a reference to that old 60's slogan.
It was November, 1969, and I and some friends were coming home from an anti-war protest march in Washington and we were all jubilant, having just seen a large, human peace sign on a hillside by the turnpike exit. As people got out of their cars and headed to the restrooms, everyone was talking about the peace sign. I found myself standing in line next to this tall scruffy guy with the "Frodo Lives!" button. I had not yet read Tolkien, so I asked., "Who the heck is Frodo?" "Man, don't you know Frodo? He's what this march was all about--he is the peace sign, man! Read The Lord of the Rings, man, and you'll know. Frodo Lives!" This guy's exuberance was catching. I was game for reading nearly any book, and if Frodo was the peace sign, then I was surely going to find out about Frodo.
Later in that essay, he (Michael Allen) write this:
Roger Ebert says the film is more about "the big people" than the hobbits, and when I think of how the roles of Sam, Merry and Pippin were cut down--probably to make room for that silly squid-monster at the Gates of Moria--I have to agree. However, there are two hobbits which are treated brilliantly by the film--Bilbo and Frodo--and for those two characters alone the film is wonderful. Ian Holm is everything Bilbo should be: a bit stuffy and pretentious, and still subject to the lure of the Ring, but basically good humored and full of affection for his "nephew" Frodo: their scene together at Rivendell is one of the high points of the film, as it should be. But I cannot say enough good things about Elijah Wood as Frodo. He is everything I had imagined "my" Frodo would be: full of life, a bit fey with those poetic eyes, loving, committed, and surprisingly resilient. He's not as salt-of-the-earth as Sam, not as funny as Merry and Pippin, but full of love for his family and his home. He has an impossible task, he "does not know the way," but he knows someone has to destroy the madness which is the Ring, even though he also knows, or learns, that he is also not immune to its madness.
and this:
And so the film succeeds because its cast is as close to perfection that a film could get, not the least of which is Elijah Wood, whose Frodo truly brings to the screen the Frodo whom so many of us imagined back in the bad old days of Sauron--I mean Nixon.
Why don't I just post the entire essay, I wonder
But it is Frodo I remember, as it should be: the little guy with the impossible task, doing the impossible for love of his family and his home. There's not much from the book's chapter "The Council of Elrond" that makes it to the screen--indeed, there couldn't be; all that talk would have talked the movie to death. But when Frodo says, '"I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way," the film has its emotional climax: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir join Frodo (as, of course do the hobbits). The scene perfectly captures the emotional heart of the book--or rather Elijah Wood, as Frodo, captures the heart of the book . It's one thing to create a fantasy in film--any special effects studio can do that; it's quite another to do what Peter Jackson has done: make the impossible decision seem possible: that a small person could undertake an impossible task is something we don't see much of in our world, or in Hollywood's world. That we can even believe it can be done is the kind of fantasy we need. Frodo Lives!
:)

I enjoy reading the opinion of all sorts of fans. It's great to see a fan from the 'Frodo lives' days embrace the movies like this.

Here's the rest of his essay:Frodo lives! (http://my.richnet.net/~msallen/msallen/lotr/review.html)

So, in closing, let me just say: Here's to you, kid. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship because we'll always have Paris. Out of all the gin joints in all the world, you'll understand that the problems of two little people don't matter a hill of beans (...play it, Sam) :p .

Don't forget to round up the usual suspects!

Moondancer--I just caught your post when I was ready to go offline. What a great story! November 1969--I'd just finished reading LotR for the first time. I was a bit too young to travel to any of the big peace rallies, but was "involved" in whatever way I could be without leaving home... from baking cupcakes for a bakesale to sponsor some people who were old enough to be more active, to helping with mailings for political candidates, and wearing my homemade black armband to school on moratorium days. (And, of course, at that time, getting labeled a "Communist"--or worse--for most of it.)

I'd been involved in the peace movement (funny, I never thought of all of it having a "label") for at least a year before I met Frodo, so he didn't get me started, but it's probably one reason he resonated with me. I can very well see why this particular group of people adopted him. Not only his perseverance in facing impossible odds, but the way his story said that power isn't the way to solve the world's problems. -- Boromir as the military-industrial complex, you might say. And the way things are going in the world today, IMVHO it's the perfect time for people to think about him again.

And what Michael Allen says about Elijah is wonderful to read, although I can't think of any comments to add right now. The review sounds like how a lot of "old codgers" feel about the movies (myself included): they aren't perfect, as he points out with the time spent on things like the "squid monster" :rolleyes: , but they somehow manage to capture the spirit of the story (instantaneous weird thought: the way Galadriel's mirror can capture the essence of the light of Eärendil?). A fair number of the die-hard purists are in my generation, but I've seen an awful lot of people from my generation at the midnight shows and repeat movie viewings, too.

I do notice (and appreciate) that Mr. Allen quotes Frodo's "I will take the Ring" line from the book and not from the movie. The addition of those two extra words in the movie makes an important change in the meaning of the line, IMHO, and it's not a change I'd choose to make if I were doing the choosing.

------------

ETA: Thanks, Sharpe's Girl. :) I knew I'd forget something (and there are probably more). But I'm quite disappointed in myself that I'd forget one of Claude's lines :o !

-- Has anyone heard any definite news about a DVD of Radio Flyer?


I pre-ordered the DVD from amazon.com, the release date is October 12th. It doesn't say anything about commentaries though.

Success, I got the box around the quote! I don't think I'll tackle pictures since everyone puts up such awesome ones to look at. Thanks!! :D

I'm trying an edit to a post...

IMVHO

I'm not sure what some of these abbreviations stand for. Could someone do a little Internet Post Lingo 101 for me. Also, tgshaw, does AATF stand for Arwen at the Fords? That was awhile ago but I'm curious.

TGShaw said:
My belief is that even those moments of awe and appreciation of beauty and good (in whatever form) tip the scales a little to the better. There has to be a positive effect every time someone admires the unbelievably good things we human beings are capable of, to counter those who admire the unbelievably inhuman things we're capable of (and what makes things like this incident all the worse is that there are people who will admire it).

You said it so well. You need to give power to the beautiful things in the world to get sustanence to meet the bad things--and so that you don't fall victim to despair. That truly is a huge reason for why I love Lotrs---the book, the movie, Elijah!!

My heart goes out to those in Russia dealing so closely with this tragedy. It is so horrible.

Moondancer quoting Michael Allen:
"Man, don't you know Frodo? He's what this march was all about--he is the peace sign, man! Read The Lord of the Rings, man, and you'll know. Frodo Lives!" This guy's exuberance was catching. I was game for reading nearly any book, and if Frodo was the peace sign, then I was surely going to find out about Frodo.


Oh!!! That makes me want to cry!!! It's the way I like to see it, too!
It's another reason, for me, why these movies and my own re-finding of LotRs came at such a good time--when the world is in such a mess. It lends me hope and strength . Inspiration and sustenance!! Thanks for posting that!!! :cool:


Congratulations, Shelbyshire on getting your quotes boxed up!! Well done!!

Wood, you definitely have gotten the hang of picture posting!! Nice shot!!

Alyon Waves to Ainon Nice to see you back too!! :k

Thanks for de-lurking and sharing your story, Kumari. And to everyone else, well. It's great to know everyone a little better and realize what a collection of interesting lives there are here.

Shelbyshire. I had to ask, too. IMVHO: In my very humble opinion :)

Quote from tgshaw, on Frodo and the 60s/70s peace movement:

I can very well see why this particular group of people adopted him. Not only his perseverance in facing impossible odds, but the way his story said that power isn't the way to solve the world's problems. -- Boromir as the military-industrial complex, you might say. And the way things are going in the world today, IMVHO it's the perfect time for people to think about him again.
All I can say to that is, amen.

Quote from Achila:

Liev Schreiber adapted the script from an excerpt of the book that was in New Yorker magazine, not the book itself.
Liev must be making a lot of stuff up, then, to come up with enough material for a feature film. (Judging by that Hitler pic, he IS making a lot of stuff up.) I like the suggestion that several people here made, that Elijah might play Jonathan’s various ancestors as well as Jonathan himself. They ARE going to have the dog, aren’t they? What would the story be without Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior?

Shelbyshire -- AATF is, indeed, "Arwen at the Ford" :) [:( ]

And thanks for the great news about Radio Flyer--I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for some commentary. I've evidently been slacking off on my usual amazon.com vigilance--usually I'll catch something like that! But, my mistakes are many here, today :o -- I actually came back primarily to fix an earlier post. Bad enough that I missed the most famous line of one of my favorite actors ("Everyone comes to Rick's" would be up there, too, I suppose :) ), but I also misquoted one of the other quotes! -- I've fixed it in the earlier post. -- It should, of course, be "Here's looking at you, kid," instead of the boring, "Here's to you, kid." Everyone's so nice to not have pointed it out :p .

OOooh, Casablanca, don't even get me started on that one, one of my all-time favorites. Bogart also has wonderfully entrancing eyes, especially in black and white.

In fact, that is my "get-lucky" movie with the hubby, our international sign that we're feeling romantic.

Claude Rains is wonderful, as well. He truly does have wonderful comic timing, and is much better as a charming little lech than a scary invisible man.

Thanks so much for all the stories, everyone. This thread is quite uplifting.

love you discusion about Casablanca its a realy good movie
i think humbhrey bogart is a very classic actor and did you know that ingrid bergman comes from sweden!!!

i`m trying to get on-topic here but it is little early!! :lol:

i hope everything will be okej for you TG!!!! :)

I WILL THINK ABOUT THE ON-TOPIC THING AND RETURN!! ;)

LOVE/WOOD

I find this Spooky.

In "North" what do we see but a picture of Young Elijah looking at an airplane that has his backside painted on it. In the movie, he looks like Normal Elijah.

In real life Frodo was painted on an Airplane! And Elijah's face was a character, not his face! :eek:

I'm just loving all the personal stories being posted here...and I'm definitely at one with you, Honeyelf, when you said you are really envious of all those people who had read, and were familiar with, the novels from way back when...and were in on all the pre-movie excitement/apprehension ...

This is something I missed out on too, because the first time I became aware that they were even making a movie of this well-known-but-as-yet-unread-by-me novel, was when we went along to see the first Harry Potter movie, and we saw the trailer for FOTR for the first time in the cinema...

Adam said, when we came out, that this was something we had to see, because it looked as if it was going to be a decent adaptation...something he didn't have much faith in before seeing the actual trailer !! He. being, of course, very familiar with the books himself, having had his own copies since the 1980's...( that, of course, means that we did have copies of all three parts sitting on our own bookshelves since I have known him...they were there all along, and I could have read them anytime... :rolleyes: :D

When we did get to see the film, we were with a friend who was also familiar with the story himself...( this is the friend who, when he went through his old stuff from his schooldays, in his parents garage, came across a beautiful Anniversary Edition of LOTR, in one very slim volume, in its own leather slipcase, with the original Tolkien illustration on the front, and all the pages were made of rice-paper, like an old Bible...which resulted in the entire novel being about one inch thich :eek: ...absolutely gorgeous...this edition is now selling on E-bay for untold hundreds of pounds !!!...I keep trying to persuade Chris to donate it to my LOTR collection, but he just won't :rolleyes: !! )

Anyway, we came out of the movie, and went off to the pub for a drink, and to digest what we'd just seen...to say we were all gobsmacked would be an understatement...Adam just said " Yes, I'm very happy with that...that was good !!! " ( Now this is praise indeed from Adam, who isn't given to being gushy about anything, ever !!!) We spent the next hour analysing everything about the movie...and as far as I can remember, I was determined to read the book as soon as possible...

So, "Fellowship of the Ring" came with me on the tube to work the next day, and for all the next week, I spent an hour and a half each day engrossed, while I travelled to and from work...to be quickly followed by "The Two Towers" and "Return of the King" in very fast succession...and then I started to find out all I could about the movie itself online...something I had never even tried out before...I had to have a lesson or two from Adam to learn how to go about searches etc...and even how to save, C & P, and post on various messageboards...and I've never looked back since...

Elijah as Frodo, of course, is the magic touchstone for me, in terms of bringing the story alive...he really got to me, with his gorgeously expressive eyes and emotional acting...I don't think I've ever been that drawn in to an character' persona before...

( course, it helps that I fancy the pants off him :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: !!!...)

So with me, there was no great saga of any life-changing moment being defined by this book, but the simple fact is that I saw it onscreen, then read it, loved it in both formats, and have been a die-hard fan ever since...

But, like Honey, I do wish I'd read it back in the seventies, when all my Art school friends were in possession of copies of this book, and it was generally deemed to be a Hippy Bible, along with "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" , "Supernature" by Dr Lyall Watson, and "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, ( that well known old hippy !! )...

Shortly after I saw FOTR at the cinema, I started to post in various messageboards, including the LOTR thread at Empire magazine's website...I posted this by way of a review...all the things I loved about FOTR, at the time I saw it for the first time...in other words, my first impressions:-


50 THINGS I LOVED ABOUT “THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING”

 The sheer beauty of the whole look of the film, from the verdant greenery and rural tranquillity of the Shire, through the autumnal Art Nouveau artistry of Rivendell, to the ethereal midnight blue glow of the Flets of Lothlorien…absolute magic!

 The perfect casting of the different characters, just as we all imagined them, and just as we wanted them to be, from the benign wisdom of Gandalf, and the pure innocence of Frodo, to the malign evil of Saruman.

 The moments of emotion throughout the film at certain points serve to underline the feel that these are real people that we are dealing with, and the survival of the lead characters is by no means certain…witness the death of Boromir, and the fall of Gandalf ( for anyone who hasn’t read the book, he was as good as dead at the end of the film )

 The friendship of Frodo and Sam is a bond that we very rarely see these days, the unconditional love of one person for another, without the sexual element present…this is being portrayed extremely well by Elijah Wood and Sean Astin…. And anyone who sees their relationship as somehow gay, is judging it by prurient twenty-first century standards, and is clearly not getting the point!

 The lavish attention to detail in the set and costume design, and the well-documented trouble the whole team went to in order to attain a level of accuracy to the text practically unheard of these days …the sheer love of the participants in this whole project shines through on every level.

 The Elves…. who’d have believed in the existence of elves before this?

 The Hobbits…. a wholly invented race that come over as totally real, from the tops of their curly heads to the tips of their hairy toes!!!

 Rivendell…hands up all those who really want to live there…

 Lothlorien…and hands up all the rest of us who really hanker after one of those tree houses?

 The Shire…rural England, as Tolkien remembered it, perfectly realised, with the addition of circular hobbit-holes…. who didn’t imagine Bag-end that way ?

 The use of helicopters really gave a feel of the sheer scale of the landscape…I personally like the overhead circling shot device…really adds to the sense of drama, especially when the camera plunges down into Saruamn’s dungeon, like some crazy rollercoaster ride…love it!

 The little nods to Tolkien’s chapter titles…”Concerning Hobbits” as the title of Bilbo’s book for one, and “A Shortcut to Mushrooms” for another, in the dialogue between Merry and Pippin…

 The closeness to Alan Lee and John Howe’s paintings for the book was a masterstroke by Peter Jackson…how else to endear the fans of the book? Just look at the Tower of Orthanc, the great Hall of Moria complete with the shaft of sunlight, and Treebeard himself! These illustrations portray all these images in people’s minds and so the film capitalises on that by copying them to an incredible degree.

 The casting of Frodo…whoever was going to portray this lead character would have to carry the emotional core of the film, and therefore had a huge responsibility. In Elijah Wood, they found an actor more than capable of carrying this off…far from being only able to do one facial expression, over the course of three hours he manages to portray: - mischief, happiness, wonder, awe, apprehension, dread, fear, terror, agony, loss, disbelief, and desperation…no mean feat for an actor of just eighteen.

 The clunk of the suddenly heavy-as-lead Ring on the floor of Bag-end.

 Gandalf’s smoke-galleon sailing through Bilbo’s smoke-ring.

 Gandalf’s fire-breathing Dragon firework…just breathtaking!

 Frodo’s big shut-up line at the Council-of Elrond – creating sudden silence all round in the middle of all the bickering.

 In the Hall of Moria, all the orcs skittering down the columns like a horde of rats.

 The sight of Legolas running up the chain of the cave-troll in Moria.

 The whole look of the Ringwraiths…evil and threatening, they have more than a suggestion of the traditional figure of the Grim Reaper about them.

 Our first glimpse of Gollum, in his cavern…just a silhouette and the gleam of light in his eyes.

 The visualisation of the Balrog…a lot of people were worried about how good, or bad, this was going to be…we needn’t have worried, Peter Jackson’s Balrog was really scary, a fire-breathing monster wielding a lashing whip.marvellous!.

 And Gandalf’s command…uttered with conviction and anger… “You shall not pass !!!” a breathtaking moment…

 The whole look of Saruman’s dungeon…fiery and threatening.


 The shadow of the Warg, thrashing around in the pit behind Saruman, as he gives orders to the chief Orc…later on, in TTT, we learn what the wargs are, but here in FOTR, we have no idea…

 The creation of the Uruk-hai, being nurtured in boiling, seething cauldrons of mud…evil Creation of monsters, perfectly realised…

 The Tower of Orthanc…made out of shiny black obsidian, terrifyingly ominously beautiful in its own way, just as in the book.

 The depiction of Mount Doom..with its fiery eye of Sauron atop the tips of the Tower of Barad-dur, surrounded by crackling lightning and rolling thunder…you just know that this is housing the epitome of Evil…not a good place to be stuck…


Later on, I added to this list for TTT and ROTK...

Lady Wendy, most of your favorite FotR moments are on my list, too. You mention, among other things the "clunk" of the Ring when Bilbo drops it on the floor as he leaves. I also like the “Ring’s eye view” of Gandalf after he comes back inside after saying goodbye to Bilbo. And I’m sure everyone has noticed how, when Gandalf takes the Ring out of the fire and drops it into Frodo’s hand, the hand “sinks” a bit as if under its weight.

On Casablanca: Louis (Claude Rains) is my very favorite character there; he has most of the witty lines. Ingrid Bergman was never more luminous (to use an overworked word that is nevertheless appropriate here). There’s a novel called Remake (by the talented and quirky Connie Willis) that is set in a future where all new movies are remakes of old ones, using the original actors (through the wonders of technology). And all the remakes have happy endings (e.g., Rhett stays with Scarlet, etc.) – except for Casablanca. They can’t figure out how to give that one a happy ending, because somebody has to lose out.

Last evening, I continued my backwards progression through Elijah’s filmography by watching The Adventures of Huck Finn. It certainly played fast and loose with the book (see below), but it’s very enjoyable. And of course, Elijah is a marvel, though his character here isn’t nearly so complex as Stu (who I guess was just over the horizon at that point). I was so impressed by how he could be poignant without ever being saccharine, and adorable (that face!) without being “cute.”

I was also struck again by how much I could see, in “baby Lij,” of the current model. Many kids just seem to disappear into their adult selves, but not this one. Maybe that’s in part because he was so mature beyond his years, as an actor? I started to jot down “Frodo looks,” but found that too distracting because there were so many of them. (One example: a scene where he does his “thoughtful” look, with eyes down and to the side – shades of The Prancing Pony.) And he was always physically very flexible, wasn’t he? There’s even one of those “balletic” leaps that people here were talking about a while ago.

Two favorite funny bits: The way he looks at Jason Robards, Jr., after JR closes the corpse’s mouth; and his “Thank you for the compliment, sir!” to the man who accuses him of being a good liar.

I looked up some reviews, and found that Janet Maslin (NYT) described him as “the precociously self-assured Elijah Wood,” and Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) as “Elijah Wood, who mercifully seems free of cuteness and other affectations of child stars.”

tgshaw (on her website) wrote, of the scene where Jim is about to be lynched:

When I replayed this scene several times in succession it seemed overacted, but when seen in the context of the story I believe the emotion's appropriate: Huck is in great physical pain and he and Jim are caught in a life-or-death situation neither of them is capable of doing anything about.
I thought that Elijah handled this scene very well. It is intense, but as you point out, the situation is intense. I found him quite believable. On the less believable side (and these are quibbles): wouldn’t the recoil from that rifle have knocked him over, in the early scene with Pap? And that steamboat that mowed down the raft looked like the bow of the Titanic!

As for deviations from the book – thank you, tg, for your book-into-film essay. It’s been ages since I read the book, but I realized that the film makers had taken quite a bit of license with it. I agree that the elimination of Tom Sawyer was an improvement. (I had forgotten that he was even in the book, so obviously I didn’t miss him at all.) But I did miss Huck’s “Well, then, I’ll go to hell” (there in spirit, but not in words, unless I overlooked it). And surely, he could have mentioned “lighting out for the Territory”! Although in our sadly ahistorical age, most people wouldn’t have known what he was talking about. Again, it was there in spirit.

JUST SAW THE NEWS!!!!
HOW ARE OUR FRIENDS FROM FLORIDA!!!
HOPE THEY WILL BE OKEJ!!!!! :z: :z: :z:

LOVE/WOOD

What I find funny is the crude drawing of Frodo. He looks like a characture of Charles Bronson! How funny that the pic of Elijah next too looks like "Deep Impact" as Leo. :D

What kind of Frodoshadowing can be found in "Deep Impact?" :confused: Plus as a watchable movie, too bad it didn't get good reviews as a decent sci fi flick, (when you think in terms of "Day of the Trifflids.") :haha:

There are also some pictures I saw on the "Flipper" picture page and one of them looked exaggerated. :lol: In one shot Elijah's chest looks normal. In another shot, he's sitting on the dock and it looks like a body double ( :eek:) because he looks more muscular there. ( :eek:) Which is Normal for a 14 year old boy? Plus that keychain pic with the Burger King logo, saying "Got the Urge." Is that supposed to be a Homerotic photo. (Camille Paglia's "Beautiful Boy" picture)? It sure looks like it. I find it funny, but too disturbing for a 14 year old boy to be thought of this way. (:eek:)

Shadowcat, I am a little confused. I must have missed a post back there somewhere during my last lurk. To what are you referring in this paragraph about these photos that had disturbed you? I've seen Flipper, of course, and have seen shots from it posted at an E.W. fan site, but can't think which one you are referring to. What's the Golden Boy shot? (I can think of plenty to which I would attach that description.) What's the Got the Urge shot? Are these well-known or something?

There are also some pictures I saw on the "Flipper" picture page and one of them looked exaggerated. In one shot Elijah's chest looks normal. In another shot, he's sitting on the dock and it looks like a body double ( :eek because he looks more muscular there. ( :eek Which is Normal for a 14 year old boy? Plus that keychain pic with the Burger King logo, saying "Got the Urge." Is that supposed to be a Homerotic photo. (Camille Paglia's "Beautiful Boy" picture)? It sure looks like it. I find it funny, but too disturbing for a 14 year old boy to be thought of this way.

Wendy, thanks so much for adding to the archive of histories that has been accumulating these past few days. I have loved reading them. Pelagia, you brought to my notice even more reasons to like Huck Finn, which I hadn't liked at first viewing at all. Thanks! And everyone, I have loved the Casablanca remarks. Such a tear-jerking film. Lots of angst. But never mind Rick's angst, what about Elijah's?

[Edited to remove Ridiculous Thoughts caps, but you may see them via this link to my "photobucket" album; there are 12 of them in there]:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/

Mechtild- Those caps are gorgeous! May I 'borrow' them? If you'd like an easy way to make online photo albums try http://www.photosite.com/ . If you want to make large albums of caps..you need large albums for caps!.... there is a monthly charge. But it makes the nice albums pretty much automatically.

If you want a free place to make albums but work harder putting in hundreds of caps and get a sore mouse-arm :( ;) try http://photobucket.com/ .


Happy capping! :)

Edit: Ah! I see you already use Photobucket. So I guess you know what I mean. ;)

Those are beautiful Mechtild! I have seen the video, but his beauty and variety of expressions are so much more astounding when you look at every image separately like this. Thank You!

I wonder very much how to make those cool slideshows with music. Anybody on here has half a clue? :confused:

Thanks Eandme and Hobmom! I am thrilled with them myself.

You talked me into it: here are six more!, but showing his positive emotional range, from pleased to exhilarated to ecstatic.

Hobmom, I would be happy to send the 140 caps to you. The various sequences would make terrific slide shows. (...) tg, are you interested? He isn't acting in a role, as such, but it is definitely acting. It certainly doesn't look like his Leno or Conan self, now does it? No way!

Edited to remove Ridiculous Thoughts caps. But you may see them in this link my "photobucket" account; there are 12 of them in there:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/

Beautiful, Mech, Beautiful!

I was going to buy this on e-bay, but because of a paypal incident, the deal fell through. After you told me the shots were only seconds long, that was probably for the best, although I don't mind the Cranberries' music.

The Flipper pictures I saw were on Elijah Forever and the picture was him sitting on the dock with a ball. There are two frames: One he is just simply holding the ball, nothing special here. The second he is throwing it or something. It's just the contours of his body looks like the second throwing the ball picture, is another guy's body and not his. The angles are too muscular for a nNormal 14 year old boy. I loved those pictures though.

The keychain pic was on the same Flipper picture page, and that whole idea of his topless self next to words like "Got the Urge" and he's omly 14. :rolleyes: That's what I found innapropriate.

Mechtild, those caps of "Ridiculous Thoughts" Elijah are wonderful! I too sprung for the dvd, though this was no sacrifice as I really kinda like the Cranberries, but you're right;the bits with Elijah in them go by way too fast to really enjoy. I particularly love the thing he does with his right hand on that horn, just after your cap #101 I think. Just marvelous. How old was he when he did this? 14ish, I think? Amazing!

TG, I'm sorry for your legal woes. (But selflishly relieved that apparently PJ isn't sueing you for capping his movies!) Hoping you get it all sorted out with the least pain possible.

Wendy, enjoyed your early observations on FoTR.

Just saw "Vanity Fair" with Hubby. Would love to see our Lij in one of those neo-classic hair-dos, and satiny get-ups! In fact my husband was really distracted by the young gentleman who played George Osborne ("with an e!") because, to quote hubby, "he had Lijah hair!" :D :lol:

Last night my husband and I stopped by the book/cd store, always a dangerous place for the pocket book. In my meanderings I came across a little thing called "In Tribute" an cd which purported to be Dave Matthews Band music, but played by Bluegrass musicians. Now I happen to Love DMB, and adore really good bluegrass. So of course I sprung for it. It was dreadful! So bad in fact that I think I'm too embarrassed to even sell it on e-bay! That BAD! Oy! Now how do I get this back on topic? Ummm....well, it can only be compared to Bakshi, in shear potential, and devastating dissapointment, given the material and the medium. Guh! That was a dreadful try wasn't it? Alright let's just call this an off-topic rant, and have done! [/rant]

Honey!

Shadowcat--If you look really fast, you can see a Froshadowing from Deep Impact here (http://www.frodolivesin.us/elijahwoodintro.htm) (left border, below the CofF screencap). It'll be gone later today when I make the September changes--to be replaced by the first "echo" I've used--knew I had to use this one immediately when I first saw the frame.

My favorite astronomer at http://www.badastronomy.com actually gave Deep Impact pretty good marks as a science fiction movie. Not perfect, but hugely better than Armageddon!

On the keychain--I don't know if that would have been on purpose by the filmmakers or not. It was a pretty ubiquitous Burger King slogan, and I don't know that people automatically attached "the" other meaning to it. And I wonder--IIRC, Elijah wore his own t-shirts for that movie (with the different bands on them). Maybe his own keychain??

-------------

Mechtild--Congratulations on the screencaps! :) :) It's nice to know there are some happy shots in that video :) .

Yes, I'd say those are definitely acting ;) -- certainly not from his personal life, anyway. I'd be glad to put some of them up on my website, if that's what you meant. I don't really make slide shows, but I know some people copy them and watch them that way. Blossom's the one who makes the moving .gifs, which I wouldn't have a clue about!

------------

from Pelagia:
But I did miss Huck’s “Well, then, I’ll go to hell” (there in spirit, but not in words, unless I overlooked it). And surely, he could have mentioned “lighting out for the Territory”! Although in our sadly ahistorical age, most people wouldn’t have known what he was talking about. Again, it was there in spirit.
IMHO, a couple of the many losses from having such a young Huck (and from being a Disney movie :rolleyes: ). I guess it's okay for him to use "Hell" as a swear word, but they didn't want him to actually say he'd go there. And some people didn't even like Huck running off by himself at the end of the movie, because he was so young (not realizing, I guess, that he'd been living on his own as a "street kid" before the two sisters took him in :confused: ). So "lighting out for the Territory" might have been a bit much for those folks to take :eek: ! In the book, Huck's about 13/14, which wouldn't have been considered too young to set out on his own in those days. It'd be really interesting for someone to make a movie with Huck as mature as he is in the book, so a lot of those things wouldn't have to be thrown out. Only problem is that the chance has passed to have Elijah play the role :( .

Honey--No, I haven't heard from New Line's legal department (maybe if they see September's RotK additions :p ). Just two credit card companies--had an account with the first one (years ago), and while I was making payments all their accounts got sold to the second one. Evidently the second one didn't bother to tell the first one that I'd been making payments to them, so now the first one wants its money :rolleyes: . One of the most frustrating things is that, since it's in "litigation" not even the customer service phone-answerers are "allowed" to talk to me, which makes it a bit difficult to even sort out what the problem is! I was hoping to be able to take care of this on my own (I've pretty much rounded up all of my records from the disputed payments), but I may have to get enough legal help to at least have an attorney's name on the paperwork to get a foot in the door. We're up to interrogatories now, and I'm afraid the questions I'd like to ask them are probably not the questions I should ask them :mad: -- may need an objective eye.

tg, Hobmom has asked that the caps be sent in batches, for downloading ease. I will do that, some time today. I had made 5 little slide shows out of them last night, which could be emailed, but the caps will be what you want to work with, to make your own project. My, they're lovely! I wish more of the shots had been in focus or I would have done many more. I did very few of the long shots, though I threw in a couple just to give a feel for them.

Shadowcat, thank you for replying.

Mechtild--You've hit on the very reason I do concentrate on his acting. Can we just say that different people have different reasons for appreciating a "non-swoony" atmosphere?

hallo to you all!!!

maybe this is the reson why there is diffrent threads about
Elijah:One,this one wich most of the time its discution about
his acting wich i love(he is the best!!!!! :) ;)
two:elijah hugs haven which is more a swoon thread.am i right??
wich i also love (beauty,sexy and so on) :p :D
some times i feel it can be hard to know wich one i should post in,
its some times cross one and another if you know what i mean!!!!! ;)
i love elijah and that is the main reson i am here at all, both his acting
and looks!!!! and of curse i also care for you my friends. all the tolerants
in here even if we have diffrent resons why we all are here!!!! :k
i hope you understands what i am trying to say here i hope there will not be any misunderstandings!!!!!
love you all!!!! :k :k


LOVE/WOOD

tg, point taken. :)

If anyone would like to have access to those twelve Ridiculous Thoughts screencaps that were posted above, they are in my "photobucket" album, made available through this link:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/

Forgive my laxity in maintaining my boundaries in these matters! :z: I do have a sorry history of letting the zeal for one thing wash over into the another. I will made a better effort.

If you want those caps, however, please PM me your email address. Thanks!



-- Mechtild

I didn't want that to sound like a complaint, although I guess it did :o -- I think I said it mostly because sometimes it seems as if people might get the impression I'm asexual or something, which I assure you I'm not (although it would make life a lot easier :( )! But I'm pretty good at skipping over things if I need to, so it really hasn't been a problem :k .

---------

I don't have the updates for the main part of the site posted yet (so there's still a little time to catch that Froshadowing from Deep Impact ;) ). But the main addition is in the RotK section, and it is up and available at: http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/id17.htm . Very slow downloading, I'm afraid--I had to use the refresh button on several pages. But it was so hard to break up into smaller pages without losing the flow. I hated to split the last two pages (10 and 11) from each other, but as one page it just would have been too much. Lots of pics, no commentary (if I got started, I wouldn't want to stop, and with time as short as it is, I figured I'd better just not start :eek: !). But I "reserve the right" to add some later on :p .

Mechtild,
thanks for posting that photobucket link.
Too bad I'm not a big Cranberries fan. I'd love to see this videoclip on a big tv screen one day instead of on my small computer screen.
I don't mind the Cranberries and I enjoy some of their songs but not enough to buy a DVD.


Tg,
as always, thanks for the updates from your site.
I see that the next two months are going to be more stressful.
Take care of yourself!
:k
This is one of my very favourite LOTR screencaps and exactly this screencap (not the previous or the next but this one)
http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/413204f0.jpg
I don't really know why I love this particular screencap so much.

Taken from your site, tg - hope you don't mind the link. If not, I'll take it down. No problem

Moondancer, I'm not a Cranberries fan, either. But that's what's nice about the caps. You can look at them without having to listen to the music! I've just sent copies of the whole lot off to Hobmom per her request, so let us see what she can make in the way of a slide show that everyone can look at -- and watch while playing the music of his or her choice!

tg, you said,

I didn't want that to sound like a complaint, although I guess it did.
Looking back at your post, I noticed something interesting. I think I subconsciously applied that little Frodo picture you have to what you said, while I read. In that picture, his mouth is opened in what looks like impassioned or angry speech. I think, mentally, I "heard" what you wrote said with that expression on your face. :D :rolleyes: :D

DOH!

Quote from tgshaw on Huck Finn:

I guess it's okay for him to use "Hell" as a swear word, but they didn't want him to actually say he'd go there.
That had occurred to me. I forget how sensitive some people can be about things like that.

Moondancer: That screencap is from the sequence that I mentioned a while ago as the one that made me first really pay close attention to Elijah’s performance. DK why I like it so much either. Maybe because he looks so desperate and worn out, and yet those eyes are still so grimly determined.

I got all the caps from Mechtild and will endeavor to get them all posted today.
I'll post the link when they are up. :)

tg, Looking back at your post, I noticed something interesting. I think I subconsciously applied that little Frodo picture you have to what you said, while I read.

Well, considering the little guy comes from this picture :p :

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/TTT/lotr_new.jpg

Maybe it's time for me to put feisty Fro back on the shelf for awhile and bring out a "kinder, gentler" Frodo again :) . It was the discussion on anime that made me nostalgic for the old one.

Moondancer and Pelagia--I know that's why I like that screencap. But I think it's the reason I like this one even more:

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/42920510.jpg

Sam's just had to pull him upright after he's fallen "as one struck [stricken?] mortally" (according to the book), but he looks even more determined to go on.

---For some reason my internet connection has been horribly slow today, no matter what I try to do. It took close to 2 hours just to publish the RotK section, when it should have maybe taken a half-hour. The main part of the site usually takes about two hours to publish. I may not attempt it today!

[It's fine to link to my website. If I ever get to a point where I have bandwidth problems, I'll let you know. Maybe don't hotlink to it from TORC or TORN ;) ]

OK! All Mechtild's caps are in an album here...

http://rp.photosite.com/RidiculousThoughtsCaps/

So pretty! :k

TG:I just loved the news on you site!!!!

you are sweety!! they are beautiful!!!!! :k


LOVE/WOOD

Just to let everyone know...As I'm trying to complete my Elijah collection on DVD...
Elijah on Frasier (as caller)...Season One Disc 3
And Homicide Season Five Disc 2...available Sept.28...same release date as Eternal Sunshine!!!!

Ylla,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind on DVD in the US in september?
:mad: é@$*!%€?! :(

I promised not too whine too much about this but the movie only comes out here in Belgium in november (the 3rd, I believe). I have no idea when the region 2 DVD will appear.
This is rather frustrating for a person with not a lot of patience (like me).

http://www.jmfanclub.com/images/rf.11.jpg
A promotional picture from Radio Flyer with Elijah, Joseph Mazello, Richard Donner and Lauren Schuler (who?)


Hobmom,
thanks for the link. It makes a wonderful slideshow!
Does anybody know the meaning behind that videoclip? I looked up the lyrics but they're not much help.
I agree that Elijah is not just posing in this clip but really acting.

To me, this videoclip is apocalyptic. The world has seen some major disaster without many survivors. Elijah's character has been walking around, trying to find a sign of life but without results until he finds this radio installation. He manages to listen to music and to hear a human voice is fantastic ( I know, a post-apocalyptic world doesn't have any electricity...let's just assume that it runs on batteries or something like that just to keep my fantasy going)
He also tries if he can find any radio stations but can't (hence the frustration on his face in some of the screencaps).
OK, the real meaning of the videoclip is probably very different but that's the impressions I have every time I see it.


Remember the 'Frodo lives' topic?
Here's another review from a self-proclaimed hippie:
Frodo Lives - by Scott Edelman
...
But most importantly for the subject at hand, I often wore a dented metal button on which was printed one of the more popular catchphrases of the day: "Frodo Lives."

I'm not entirely sure what I meant by that message. The signals being sent by my "War is not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things" patch or any of the other slogans with which I adorned my body were far more obvious - I had a political point I wanted to convey. But why, buried in the midst of such clear statements as those, would I make a pronouncement about the existence of a fictional character?

<snip>
How could it be that an Oxford don, writing decades earlier for an audience of his own era, managed to reach out and touch a wide-eyed hippie like me and others of my generation? Had we met, I would probably have seemed far more alien to Tolkien than his hobbits, orcs or ents. And yet, I saw nothing alien in him, or in the product of his imagination.

Most tales fail in their attempts to be timeless, and have nothing to offer any audience beyond their contemporary one. And yet, teetering between childhood and adulthood, I was Frodo. I guess I felt that my friends and I were the fellowship, ready to embark on great deeds on which the fate of the world depended. Perhaps all college students standing on the brink of the future see the world in that way, but thanks to Tolkien, I was one of those who had been given a model. And so, as I pinned that "Frodo Lives" button to my chest, a part of me had to be thinking, "I live!".

<snip>
As it turned out, the film indeed brought me to tears, though not for the reasons I feared. At my first glimpse of The Shire, I was able to relax. And with each passing instant, I nodded and thought, "Yes, yes, that's it, he's nailed it." Jackson's obvious love for Tolkien filled the screen, and I was transported to many places - not only back to Hobbiton, but back to my childhood dreams as well.

"Frodo does live," I thought, misting up.
The rest of it is here (http://www.skiesofrohan.com/frodo.html)
In my search for 'frodo lives', I naturally get a couple of links to your site also, tg.

To me, this videoclip is apocalyptic. The world has seen some major disaster without many survivors. Elijah's character has been walking around, trying to find a sign of life but without results until he finds this radio installation. He manages to listen to music and to hear a human voice is fantastic...He also tries if he can find any radio stations but can't (hence the frustration on his face in some of the screencaps).

I think you probably hit it on the money, Moondancer. In fact, in the director's cut of this clip, Elijah is heard crying in frustration, "I can't hear it!" and pounding his fists, so my guess is, this' exactly what the clip is about. However, what it has to do with the song is exactly nothing. Apparently, it was originally filmed without Elijah's bit and the band didn't like it, so this' what the director (whose name escapes me at the moment) came up with.

Elijah is heard crying in frustration, "I can't hear it!" and pounding his fists
Really? :( Poor thing.
I saw the videoclip quite some time ago. I'll rewatch it tonight (I have it on file somewhere, I believe)

Thanks Achila.


Honeyelf, you've posted an essay on frodoandsam.net, didn't you?
I've read it some time ago, but you seem to have updated it. :)


Yesterday, I saw a bit of ROTK.
Now, I know what happens in Shelob's cave and I can see the creature coming up to Frodo and still...I jump up when Shelob stabs Frodo in the back
:rolleyes:

I'm agreeing with Achilla, Moondancer! Great analysis. I don't really analyze things so much as just look at them and absorb the mood :o so I'm indebted to you for putting a story to this. I also loved the Scott Edelman report you shared. I was too young for Frodo Lives, but I did catch the tail end of the hippie movement, and Viet Nam was of course an issue for me and my classmates. I still march periodically for various causes -- I like showing up and being counted.

What beautiful pics of blue-eyed dirty!Fro collapsing from the eye. His expression and eyes are just magical there -- the extraordinary color does not come out on my monitor, although I can see it on the DVD. Just amazing. I can't help thinking that the people who were filming this were saying to themselves constantly, "Whoa! That's just unreal. We gotta get more of his eyes in this one, because that is just friggin' unreal." Even the make-up guy (or was it Andrew Leslie?) said, the dirtier you got Elijah, the bluer his eyes became. I always mentally follow that up with the unspoken sentence, "And it was just so friggin' weird! But we liked it!"

...here's a less combative avatar :p . No one's using this one at KD, are they? It's kind of funny thinking back to post-FotR when so many people were specifically looking for "feisty Fro" avatars to counter the "Is Frodo a pansy?" threads :p . I'll probably change back to the pic from the credits soon--but looking through all the avatars I have sitting on my hard drive has given me itchy fingers ;) .
A promotional picture from Radio Flyer with Elijah, Joseph Mazello, Richard Donner and Lauren Schuler (who?)
I'm glad to know there's such a thing as "www.jmfanclub.com"--he did an amazing job in that movie.

Remember the 'Frodo lives' topic?
Here's another review from a self-proclaimed hippie
Now, that is a big name "self-proclaimed hippie" in the specfic world! A well-known author and editor. Thanks for the link to that website, too. Besides looking like a good JRRT site, it's a branch of the Tolkien Society; I've been in contact with "headquarters" in England, but am glad to find a contact in the U.S.--and closer than the East or West Coast groups I was expecting to find.

--The renowned Mr. Edelman did make one *cough* mistake *cough* . LotR was published in 1954/1955, so not really "decades" before he was reading it. (I suppose we could stretch things and say Tolkien was writing it a couple of decades before Scott read it, but it wouldn't have been in its final form.)

Aside from that, everything he says just completely rings true. (I'm thinking I should put links to these great essays on my website "links" page.)

In my search for 'frodo lives', I naturally get a couple of links to your site also, tg.
Thanks--that's nice to know :) . All I've come up with in searches is my old site, which hasn't been updated for a full year (it does have a redirect to the new site). I had to stop and think that out just now as I typed it--it seems like so much longer than a year. But last month I did my pre-pay for the second year of webhosting, so that's all it's been. -- The old site doesn't have the "Frodo lives" theme so it wouldn't show up there, but it pops up (usually along with several pages from this thread ;) :cool: ) whenever I put "Elijah Wood" and "screencaps" together in a search.

-----------
ETA: Ah, vanity, vanity... I shouldn't have looked :rolleyes: . Those links are to a website that never actually existed--my final attempt to get enough space on a freebie site before I gave up and started paying the exhorbitant amount of $4.00/month :eek: ;) for webhosting. The really frustrating thing about that attempt is that it never published properly--and then refused to let me in to edit or delete it. So it's "dead in the water" and I can't even put a redirect on it. I didn't worry too much about it, 'cause I didn't think anyone would find it--but if it's showing up on Google searches, I'd better try to get it down. I've tried everything with earthlink except to cancel the email "identity" it's connected to--maybe that would work.

...But the very same quote is on the new site! And on the new site I've even done some of the things you're supposed to do to rank higher on search engines. Why can't they find it? :confused:

I mean... not that it really matters... but it just seems odd. :confused: Guess I'll have to keep getting my "online vanity" strokes by looking up my name on PubMed ;) .

--------------------

Mariole--I'm pretty sure it was Andrew Lesnie who remarked about Elijah's eyes looking bluer and bluer as his face got dirtier and dirtier.

tg, A much less intimidating avatar! :) (--So that's what people mean when they talk about "avatars.")

Achila and Moondancer, thanks for your reports and remarks about this "director's cut" of the music video. I did wonder and wonder what could be the scenario behind the E.W. footage. As you say, it appears to have nothing to do with the song's lyrics.

For another thread, I have been scrounging kid pics and I ran across this print. I call your attention to this old pub shot because, look: he's being billed above that right hand shot as "actor, model, dancer". No wonder those balletic leaps were so darned good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/Elijahkiddancer.jpg

Moondancer:

Honeyelf, you've posted an essay on frodoandsam.net, didn't you? I've read it some time ago, but you seem to have updated it.


Nope. I assume you mean the part that goes:
'...It's August 2004..."
But it's just a typo in the original. That's what I get for composing in the wee hours of the morning! :o

me, who hasn't got much to say lately

I can't help thinking that the people who were filming this were saying to themselves constantly, "Whoa! That's just unreal. We gotta get more of his eyes in this one, because that is just friggin' unreal." Even the make-up guy (or was it Andrew Leslie?) said, the dirtier you got Elijah, the bluer his eyes became. I always mentally follow that up with the unspoken sentence, "And it was just so friggin' weird! But we liked it!"

IIRC, it was an interview with Lesnie in American Cinematographer magazine from January 2004 or so (probably still archived at TORN). It was an amazing natural effect--darken the skin with dirt, darken the sky behind him through digital grading, and the whites of his eyes just pop out of all those dim color tones. It must be because his eyes do have so much white visible, and not lost in the recesses of the sockets like Sean Astin's (and most of us!).

I had to go out and buy TTTEE again (Disc 1 on my original set was scratched--my multi-disc player has a tendency to get jammed while switching discs if it's really humid out, and I've ruined a few discs during the summer), so I've been listening to some of the commentaries for the first time in a while. I've been wondering what the commentaries on the RotKEE will be like (much as I like Sean, I'm hoping we get less of him and more of Andy and Elijah this time around!).

I really hope that the scene on the slopes of Mt. Doom get proper accolades by all the commentators, and that both Sean and Elijah go into detail about what it was like to film it (actually, I'd like to see this addressed in one of the documentaries, since it was picked out by most of the cast members as their favorite scene in the entire trilogy).

Sharpe's Girl:

I really hope that the scene on the slopes of Mt. Doom get proper accolades by all the commentators, and that both Sean and Elijah go into detail about what it was like to film it (actually, I'd like to see this addressed in one of the documentaries, since it was picked out by most of the cast members as their favorite scene in the entire trilogy).

Me too!!!! And maybe it will be since we've heard that Ian McK. and John Noble have both wondered publically why that performance was not given more notice.

And because I live on the West Coast Of the US, most of you will be getting up before I do. I'm sending my (okay, not "my") coffee boy your way for a morning pick-me-up. Enjoy! :D
http://bagendinn.com/elijah/images/candids/COLOUR10043074.jpg

I didn't know Our boy liked iced coffee. I always thought he took his black. :lol:

Also, what was his last teen movie? was it TBFA, Ash Wednesday, or All I Want? :confused:

Ylla,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind on DVD in the US in september?
:mad: é@$*!%€?! :(

I promised not too whine too much about this but the movie only comes out here in Belgium in november (the 3rd, I believe). I have no idea when the region 2 DVD will appear.
This is rather frustrating for a person with not a lot of patience (like me).

Amazon.co.uk have the Region 2 release date as 4th October, so you could buy the DVD before the film gets to the cinema's with you!

Amazon.co.uk have the Region 2 release date as 4th October, so you could buy the DVD before the film gets to the cinema's with you!

No kidding!
:k Thanks for that information!


that is a big name "self-proclaimed hippie" in the specfic world! A well-known author and editor
Really? A big name? Erm... :o ...never heard of him.
I looked up his official site and saw this comment for one of his books (a vampire story)
The Gift
"If [Anne] Rice's recent efforts have left you out in the cold, Mr. Edelman's book will surely light your fire. ... icy fingers will tap-dance on your spinal cord."
:) Sounds good! I do think that Anne Rice's latest vampire books are not as good as they used to be. Did anybody in here read this and if so, is it a good? Maybe I'll see if I can find it in the library before I buy it (I have a growing list of books to check out anyway).
This book got rave reviews but Scott had trouble finding a publishing company for it because it has a gay couple in it. They advised him to change them into a straight couple. :rolleyes: He found a small publisher for it.


Tg, you're right. Most links are to your old site.
I always thought that this link list is a natural result of the most clicked on sites :rolleyes: until somebody explained to me that you can influence that list so that your site is one of the first results if somebody types in certain words in a search engine (but you have to pay for that)


Remember that bookpal link?
Is Junior a little cranky? Is he pouting? And demanding a story? Actor Elijah Wood, of "Lord of the Rings" fame, is eager to help. He'll appear at a moment's notice to calm any toddler tantrum with a tale of cats, witches and magic spells.
His fee? Free.
:D
From: here (http://newsobserver.com/business/story/1614383p-7824108c.html)



Other topic: on TORN, somebody posted this link:
TORN's creative talents (http://www.freewebs.com/tornscreativetalents/visuals.htm)
Some of the art work is better than the others of course. I like several artworks there but one drawing specifically got my attention: "eyes" by Hot Air Nobility.

from Shadowcat:
Also, what was his last teen movie? was it TBFA, Ash Wednesday, or All I Want?
Well, it would probably be LotR, which he started filming when he was still in his teens. I think by the time he did Ash Wednesday and All I Want, he had passed the 20-year-old mark.

Really? A big name? Erm... :o ...never heard of him.
...probably more "important" (i.e., more influence on the "business") as an editor than an author, although he has written quite a bit. He's currently editor-in-chief for SciFi.com's Science Fiction Weekly (where I just saw a planned release date for PJ's King Kong as December 14, 2005, but that's from a back issue so may not be news to a lot of people). He does more than that, but it's the one that first comes to mind.

I always thought that this link list is a natural result of the most clicked on sites :rolleyes: until somebody explained to me that you can influence that list so that your site is one of the first results if somebody types in certain words in a search engine (but you have to pay for that)
There are other things you can do, too, as far as key words, how your pages are set up, etc. That's what I've tried to work on a bit--I don't pay any money for it (you can always tell those, anyway--they'll say something like "sponsored site" in the list)! But the engines are always changing what they look for, for the very purpose of keeping sites from just feeding them what they want. I've added key words (which aren't visible--just in the code) and changed some things people may have noticed--such as spelling out the names in some places that previously had JRRT and EJW, because the "spiders" from the search engines read your content for words people might search for. Incoming links from other sites is one of the most important things, especially if your site and the other one have related topics, so a lot of sites are into "reciprocal linking" (you link to mine and I'll link to yours), which I do with "Hobbits for President" as well as my webhost and the users' forum for my site-building program. And places where I get freebies (GRsites.com, cutandpastescripts.com, etc.), ask you to link to them if you use their stuff, and I'm happy to oblige--since I avoid free stuff that brings ads with it, the linking is the only "benefit" they get from me using their material. That's all for the search engines.

Hi Faculty,

*rushing in*

I'd like to thank you, Moondancer, for another wonderful artwork link -
apropos artwork... Kumari, I've seen your sensitive Frodo portrait over at the Harem... may I call the attention of my dear Faculty colleagues to Harem post #17607? You've done a really great job, I like especially the fine shades of light and shadow around eyes and mouth. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work! :) There cannot be too much good Frodo portraits. N e v e r.

Mechtild, beautiful avatar!

Tg, I hope, things turn out well for you :k

*rushing out*

Other topic: on TORN, somebody posted this link:
TORN's creative talents (http://www.freewebs.com/tornscreativetalents/visuals.htm)
Some of the art work is better than the others of course. I like several artworks there but one drawing specifically got my attention: "eyes" by Hot Air Nobility.

Harrrumph. Very nice - got the color right, anyway, but can't hold a candle to our one and only Whiteling's offerings to the One Lad. ;)

:::: hopefully gathering a bunch of lines to send to Whiteling... ::::

That picture of the One Lad innocently carrying two cups of something: Does anyone know when that was taken? Does it strike anyone else that he no longer looks like a kid, but a full-fledged adult? :::: sniffle ::::

~grumpyandbrainistotallyfriedfromtheweekend (taxes are done)(Took all 3 LotR movies plus appendices)(So I'm late! Tppppbbbt!)(My Preciousssssssss.....)

That picture of the One Lad innocently carrying two cups of something: Does anyone know when that was taken? Does it strike anyone else that he no longer looks like a kid, but a full-fledged adult? :::: sniffle ::::
I believe that was taken just last Saturday in Brentwood, California, if memory serves. :)

I agree with you grumpy!!!

he is not a kid any more!!!!
it`s kind of sad! :(

he has realy grown to a very very handsom,
good looking man!!!!! :D
i will stop here or else will go on for ever!!!!! :p :D

LOVE/WOOD

Umm, scrolling back a bit, you were talking about the possibility of Elijah having worn his own clothes and keyring in Deep Impact. I always wondered if he also wore his own Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt in Flipper. Seems feasible no? :rolleyes:

Umm, scrolling back a bit, you were talking about the possibility of Elijah having worn his own clothes and keyring in Deep Impact. I always wondered if he also wore his own Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt in Flipper. Seems feasible no? :rolleyes:
The t-shirts that were his were those he wore in Flipper--sorry if that wasn't clear.

The fact he was allowed to wear his own T shirts for the movie "Flipper" is facinating.

Since when do Adults listen to and then do what 14 year old boy (or girl) has to say? He must have really been impressive as teenager. :eek:

Since when do Adults listen to and then do what 14 year old boy (or girl) has to say? He must have really been impressive as teenager. :eek:
It probably saved them some money on his wardrobe ;) . But, seriously, I'd guess they were glad to have him on board--if it hadn't been for the dolphins, he might not have taken the part.

Come to think of it, the t-shirts actually make sense for the character, since he's a big enough music fan to sneak out before sunrise to make it to a concert. But maybe Elijah even had some input into what kind of music Sandy likes. :)

----------

Okay, rest of September site changes are up--finally. The RotK pages were the biggest addition, but now the guestbook is connected to the rest of the site, there's one new book review on the JRRT side, and an LotR "echo" instead of a Froshadowing on the main EJW page (http://www.frodolivesin.us/elijahwoodintro.htm). It's not an unexpected echo at all, but it's more graphic than I was looking for. IMHO, it makes quite a statement about the difference in tone between FotR and RotK.

And, a bit off-topic, but if anyone wants to see some of the special effects from Deep Impact, you can go to More of Going Back for Sarah 3 (http://www.frodolivesin.us/id260.htm), scroll down below the last screencap and click on the rotating earth. A little "Easter egg" that's actually a birthday present for the brother who gave me the PowerDVD program--but it won't lessen his gift if other people look at it, too :) . I put it at the bottom of that particular page because he and I have shared a lot of laughs over the phone about the ridiculous scene on the freeway; this way he can look at the caps from that scene and then go straight to the special effects (although he's the most supportive of my sibs about my own fascination with Elijah's acting, he wouldn't be interested in the several pages of facial expression comments that follow ;) ).

Just a quickie -- just had to zoom in and thank tg for her stunning ROTK screencaps. T, those are some of the most gorgeous caps I've ever seen -- thank you thank you -- they're helping to make a rough time just a little bit easier (and I hope that making them eased your burdens a little too). :k

Kumari, I've seen your sensitive Frodo portrait over at the Harem... may I call the attention of my dear Faculty colleagues to Harem post #17607? You've done a really great job, I like especially the fine shades of light and shadow around eyes and mouth. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work! There cannot be too much good Frodo portraits. N e v e r.

Thank you Whiteling. I think your drawings are amazing, so I'm flattered that you like my work. I'm particularly pleased with how the mouth turned out. I've often found that can be most difficult part to get right.


Kumari

And here's something cute -- Hallmark's 2004 Keepsake Ornament. It will be available in October. Something tells me this one will go fast.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aquila0212/frodoornament.jpg

For details and for ordering, go to www.hallmark.com and then, "Gifts and Collections", and then "Keepsake Ornaments/2004 Keepsake Ornaments". Frodo is under "Pop Culture".

I'd say the ornament is better-looking than a lot of the action figures :) . Interesting that they picked the pre-Lorien cloak (maybe there will be follow-ups over the next few years :p ?) I've never been tempted by any of the toys, but now there's a set of the 5 hobbits dressed as they are at the Grey Havens, and Frodo's wearing that gorgeous light-blue waistcoat... :cool:

ETA: I was picturing a Christmas tree covered with nothing but little Frodos--but at $15 a pop, it would have to be a small tree ;) .

Added mini-rant: How come Star Wars gets its own category, but we get put under "pop culture" :rolleyes: ?

I'd say the ornament is better-looking than a lot of the action figures :) . Interesting that they picked the pre-Lorien cloak (maybe there will be follow-ups over the next few years :p ?) I've never been tempted by any of the toys, but now there's a set of the 5 hobbits dressed as they are at the Grey Havens, and Frodo's wearing that gorgeous light-blue waistcoat... :cool:


Hmm, I'll have to check those out -- they sound nice. I agree with you about the action figures. Most look nothing like Elijah. I have three -- Frodo and Sam in orc armor and Frodo with light-up Sting. These look marginally like Lij, but since the one in orc armor has a helmet, you don't notice too much!

In February, when I was in Hollywood for the TORn party, my friend and I went into Hollywood Toys (I think that's the name of it), and they had a very large collection of LOTR toys. We were discussing how little most of the action figures looked like who they're supposed to, when the manager came over and told us that Dom and Billy (he called them the "two comedian hobbits" -- LOL) had come in for costumes last Halloween. They ended up going as Batman and Robin. So see, even the ugly action figures are good for something! (He also said that they were great guys -- :))

ETA: Where did you see those figures, tg -- online somewhere?

...(he called them the "two comedian hobbits" -- LOL)...
I guess that's better than the "interchangeable hobbits" which I heard Merry and Pippin called even before the movies (totally unfair to the characters, of course :mad: !).

ETA: Where did you see those figures, tg -- online somewhere?
They pop up on the group of LotR toys that's at the bottom of the main EJW page on my website--the set-up is totally run by amazon.com; I just picked "toys" and "Lord of the Rings" as keywords and let it go. Every time you refresh the page the selection changes. Kind of fun, in a way, to see what's going to come up :p . (The lists of DVDs on Elijah's movie pages work the same way, as do the lists of Tolkien books on the homepage and the JRRT pages.)

The easiest way to spot that particular group of toys is that there's a "replica" of the movie's Red Book with them (I think it has about 4 pages :rolleyes: , but the cover looks like the "real thing" ). Anyway, if you see (on my site or directly at amazon) a group of hobbits standing around a book, it's probably them. ---- Bilbo has his "Rivendell head" instead of looking the way he does at the Grey Havens. One kid wrote a "customer review" and said he thought that was a good thing because the old, wrinkled Bilbo would probably "scare little children" :lol: .

Ah -- there it is -- "There and Back Again Gift Pack". Hmm...may just want to go for it...could use a little treat.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008YSIC/qid=1094763741/sr=1-12/ref=sr_1_12/104-7908686-1243121?v=glance&s=toys

Been quiet here...

But now it's time to wish Eandme a Very Happy Birthday!

Hope the day gives you a real lift...

http://www.frodolivesin.us/9d5e9db0.jpg

...and the coming year's so bright you need shades :) :) !

http://www.frodolivesin.us/966b5830.jpg


(Yeah, I know--awful puns :rolleyes: . But I'm still on my first cup of coffee :p .)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EANDME!!!http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/lesej07.jpg

agree with you tg any news someone!!!!
we can`t bee out of subjekt can we not with this guy!!!! :p :D


LOVE/WOOD

Tg,
Deep Impact is certainly not one of my favourite EJW movies, but I loved your screencaps series.
There are several movies I can rewatch and enjoy (like The Faculty...also not exactly an historic movie but still fun). I wanted to rewatch Deep Impact some time ago but I had trouble staying away from the 'fast forward' button on my remote control.


I read this in Dutch Eowyn's LiveJournal (an Orlando (The Calcium Kid) - Elijah (The Bumblebee Flies Anyway) connection):
I watched the second half of 'The Calcium Kid'; really a very funny and cute little movie, with a puppy dog sweet Orlando. There's a man, who walks into Jimmy's (Orlando's) dressing room right before the main fight, and recites the theory on which the title of 'The Bumblebee flies anyway' is based, and when he walks out everybody looks at each other all 'What was he on about?!'.
:)

OK...this is silly perhaps but I'm tempted to go out and rent this movie to see this scene.


There are new pictures from Elijah doing the rounds on the internet. You can see them in the Always & Forever site and in Patsie's LJ (she has several great, big pictures...the man has such a perfect skin!)
There's lots of very weird speculation (funny to read how people get worked up about it, but weird nonetheless) on various sites about one of the people accompanying him (he's with his sister and with another girl) but that's more something for the Hugs haven and frankly...I'm not into speculation over his private life. I don't understand the fuss.


Great picture, Wood.
I love birthdays in this place. The presents from everybody are usually a joy to watch.
Happy birthday, Eandme
See attachment, please. :)

Quote from tgshaw, about the Frodo Christmas ornament:

I'd say the ornament is better-looking than a lot of the action figures.Yes, at least it resembles “Frolijah.” I have the “Two Towers Frodo,” action figure (I can’t believe I bought an action figure at my age!), and while it has an attractive enough face, it doesn’t really look much like him.

tg, going back to your screencap (in post #8887) – Yes, Frodo’s determination is even more evident in that one than in Moondancer’s (#8883). I love the way that, when Sam helps him up, he (Sam) holds him so gently around the middle. Thinking more about Moondancer’s screencap, the other thing I really like about that one is Frodo’s haunted look.

Have finally acquired The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. That will be this weekend’s Elijah movie. (OT: Saw Garden State last night, and highly recommend it; but beware if you’re sensitive to four-letter words. Great soundtrack, too.)

Congratulations, Pelagia.

Do tell what your impressions are about The Bumblebee Flies Anyway.
That's always fun to read.

I first saw this movie quite recently actually. In the beginning of this year, I did a search for a couple of EJW movies and wrote down my impressions.
If you're at all interested in reading it, you can find my first opinion of TBFA on page 249 of this thread (post #6209). But if you do, do it after you've seen it. It contains spoilers.
isn't that 'advanced search' function great?

i must say i like most of elijahs movies!!!!
even if there is no good in them eccept elijah!!

and thats enough for me!! :p :D

ofcurse there are movies i realy like
ice storm,the war,bumbelbee,faculty,try seventeen,huck finn
and then there are movies i don`t like very much but i love seeing them becuse of Mr.beautiful!!! :k

And of curse the lotr trilogy and those i realy love!!!!!!!!!!!!!


LOVE/WOOD

A heads up to anyone here, lurking from the UK...

"Deep Impact" is being screened on UK Gold at 10pm tonight !!!

Don't miss it if you don't own this already on DVD...it has some good Elijah stuff in it, ( as beautifully illustrated on our very own Tgshaw's website :D )

Sorry this is a little late in the day. but...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EANDME!!!

Here's a little something for you (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/Eandme.gif)

Hope you've had a lovely day!

Blossom,
what a great gif(t)!

Josh Hartnett (the Faculty) is on the Jonathan Ross show tonight (BBC).
Edit: he's looking very good these days!
Also Tim Robbins, who is a classy actor IMO.



The "Ain't it cool news" site has new Sin City updates.
Keep an eye on that site for the trailer.
Harry Knowles starts the Sin City report with "How hot is SIN CITY, hot enough to boil yer sweat!"
Well, you know how enthousiastic he can get about certain projects.
http://img36.exs.cx/img36/9796/sincity-3.jpg
http://img36.exs.cx/img36/8752/sincity-2.jpg
There's one more like that on that site.

Josh Hartnett (the Faculty) is on Jonathan Ross' show tonight (BBC).
Josh Hartnett's also in Sin City--some news on that, possibly??

Josh Hartnett's also in Sin City--some news on that, possibly??

Not really.
There was an interview with him in some newspaper. IIRC, he explains that, Rodriguez contacted him because he wanted to sell this Sin City project and he wanted to do some shoots. He asked Josh if he wanted to help him with that and it ended up staying in the film but he only has a minor part in it (the beginning and the end, I think). It was kind of nice for him that the shoots with him helped to sell the deal.

Btw, his voice is great! He says that he's only doing one movie a year because he's not been happy with how some of his movies turned out and he's rethinking his career.
Jonathan Ross: "Pearl Harbour" (after the 'not happy with how some of the movies turned out)
:D

Also, Jonathan Ross remarked that Josh is a tall man and that Hollywood's leading men are usually rather small. Do they have a problem when they have to stand next to him and the difference in height becomes clear.
Josh smiled and said that they dig trenches when he has to stand next to a small guy to make the difference less apparent.
Now, maybe it's too late here and I need to go to bed but I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. I mean, I hear that tiny actors sometimes stand on boxes so why not the opposite, right?

OK, the interview with Josh is over and no mention of Sin City. :( Wasn't expecting that because he's there to promote his new movie but it would have been nice to hear something about it.


One more edit:
Patsie (a fellow Belgian) is really coming up with some fantastic pictures in her LiveJournal. In the attachement is one example (and that's not even the best one she posted IMO)

Happy Birthday, EandMe!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/honeyelf/latimes-023.jpg
They're so darn cute, the both of 'em! (and I kinda enjoyed the fauxhawk days!)

Patsie (a fellow Belgian) is really coming up with some fantastic pictures in her LiveJournal. In the attachement is one example (and that's not even the best one she posted IMO)

Who is this Patsie person, and where does she come up with this stuff? She's a Belgian! :eek: I'd come to the conclusion that she was an Angeleno, and had a source. Wow!

A friend of mine's daughter is in a little movie just hitting theaters today, name of "Evergreen." The girl's name is Addie Land, and if the movie is in a theater near you I recommend you go see it, because she's very good, and the movie is getting some good press. (I got to see it at a film festival months ago.) Anyway, the funny bit: They are naturally reading the newspaper for reviews, and to see what the newspapers are doing with the interview material (the interview process was a thing requiring a post of its own! :eek: ) One newspaper comes out, and some of the quotes are entirely made up! This one interviewer asked her how it was being in her first movie, and then he quoted her as saying that this movie was so great that she could see no reason why she'd ever want to be in another movie! :confused: :eek: :confused: She'd, of course, never said any such thing! I suppose we can take this as a lesson that interview quotes aren't all they are presented as!

Honey!

lovely gift at alwayes,Blossom!!!!!!!!

thanks for the news of sin city Moondancer!!!!
just wish there was something about elijahs
caracter but i guess it comes!!!!


LOVE/WOOD

Good Morning

Okay you folks in the U.K....have you picked up this coffee table book from the GiveGet campaign..with Elijah's photo in it.
It's being sold at TK Maxx
Gotta see that photo
How fantastic that he is involved with a fundraiser for cancer research. :k

Hullo Ylla!

Here's the picture. I found it at The Site Which Dare Not Speak Its Name.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/honeyelf/elijahmaxx.jpg

He is a sweetie, no doubt!

Honey!

:) Aaww, thank You all! I'm still in a state of shock, it hadn't crossed my mind that people would actually remember my birthday!That's so nice of you! :k

I feel ok being 31 - and a day.

The gifts were....yummy!!!! :D Lemme go through them just one more time....

Found in LJ-land:
Dining and wining with film festival stars

Over at Pangaea, Geary says Elijah Wood dropped in recently, along with other cast members from The Lord of the Rings. Wood was enjoying his mushroom risotto so much, he went back into the kitchen to talk to the chef. Soon, he was stirring pots, learning the secrets of the slow-cooked Italian dish.

"It just became a party," Geary remembers. "The guys in kitchen were all big Rings fans so they just loved it."
From here (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/mini/CTVNews/1094613612951_6?s_name=filmFest2004&no_ads=)

The guy sure gets around if this 'recently' is true.
After leaving Prague, he was seen in Ireland, Los Angeles (I think), Canada and didn't he say that he was going to visit the King Kong set in New Zealand (and maybe do a cameo)?

I had to watch Bumblebee a second time to really appreciate it. It’s so low-key, and so much driven by dialogue and character rather than by action, that I missed much of its impact the first time through (and besides, I was tired). Did somebody say that this was never released theatrically in the US? If so, I can see why: no big stars, downbeat subject matter, leisurely pace, touches of gallows humor. But in some ways, a life on TV and video seems more appropriate for this movie. Its scale is so intimate, its world is so enclosed (with Barney as yet another enclosure within that world), that it might have been lost on the big screen.

My two favorite Elijah scenes are wordless (I don’t think the following includes any spoilers):

First, the scene when he finds the car. The way he leans on the covered hood, you can almost see that little rock of memory on which he’s been teetering, now beginning to turn to quicksand. As he takes the cover off, his face and body are full of dread; he almost shrinks when he finally sees the “whole” car. When he’s sitting at the wheel, his powerful emotions are so evident, and yet conveyed with such beautiful restraint: this character isn’t the type to lose control, even now. The way he bangs on the wheel just twice (instead of pounding on it violently in rage or frustration). And that move where he ducks his head. Brilliant.

The second favorite is the shower scene. No, not because of his body, but for the body LANGUAGE: the way he sort of throws himself despairingly under the spray, the way he puts his hands against the wall, and the way he rubs the water (or tears?) from his face.

Most touching moment, for me: When he wrote “Barney Snow was here” on the wall.

I also found the book and read it. It’s quite different from the film, darker and sadder, and yet ultimately, somehow, inspiring. One quote, from Barney’s final scene with Cassie, just after she kisses him (possible spoiler; select to highlight):

"He stood before her in the faded hospital clothes, burning with fever, duped and deceived by the Handyman, certain to die. Yet this was the one great moment of his life."

I’d love to have seen Elijah play that! I also wish the film makers had carried over Barney’s “Tempo, rhythm” mantra from the book.

Moondancer, thanks for the reference to your own comments on this movie, including:

It moved me, it brought tears to my eyes....
Me, too.

Wonderful pix from honeyelf (he likes that tan jacket, doesn’t he?). Happy birthday, Eandme. Wish I were 31 again!

Over at Pangaea, Geary says Elijah Wood dropped in recently, along with other cast members from The Lord of the Rings. Wood was enjoying his mushroom risotto so much, he went back into the kitchen to talk to the chef. Soon, he was stirring pots, learning the secrets of the slow-cooked Italian dish.

I know how to make mushroom rissotto! I'll show ya how to stir somethin' up! :D

Did I just say that out loud?

Moondancer, thanks for the Sin City piccies! :k I didn't know Clive Owen was gonna be in this one. I really liked him in the "Second Sight" series on PBS. I also liked him as "The Driver" in those BMW internet shorts! :D He was pretty good as King Arthur also; too bad the rest of the movie was such a stinker!

Honey!

On stirring up mushrooms ;) :
They had supper in the kitchen on a table near the fire. 'I suppose you three won't want mushrooms again?' said Fredegar without much hope.

'Yes we shall!' cried Pippin.

'They're mine!' said Frodo. 'Given to me by Mrs. Maggot, a queen among farmers' wives. Take your greedy hands away. and I'll serve them.'
Just how much in touch with Frodo did Elijah get? ;)

Moondancer, I wondered about that "recently," too--especially with "other cast members from The Lord of the Rings," involved. So, do you know what film festival the title might be talking about--and where Pangaea is? (I mean, I know what Pangaea was, but this sounds like a restaurant :p .)

Honey--Clive Owen is playing Dwight, who I think is the main character in one of the non-Elijah storylines, so he should have a lot of screentime. IIRC, Kevin goes up against Mickey Rourke (Marv). And Bruce Willis is playing Hartigan, the main character in the third storyline (a cop putting himself in danger on his last day before retirement--somehow sounds like a proper Bruce Willis role :p --and we learn that on the first page of his story, so I don't think it's much of a spoiler :) ).

Ditto to everything Pelagia said about the impact of TBFA. -- My interpretation of movie-Barney's ball bouncing is that it's an attempt to show book-Barney's mantra externally. I may be completely off-base with that, but the "rhythm" idea seems to fit. (IMHO, that "spoiler" quote from the book would be awfully hard to show in a movie, too. Talk about internal characters!) And, yes, that restrained anger in the car is so absolutely perfect to the character.

I didn't realize I was going to write this entire story when I started, but I guess I did:

On Bumblebee--Spoiler for endings of Book and Movie








I'm very, very, very,...... etc., very, glad the ending was changed in the movie. But it wouldn't move me so much if I didn't know the darker ending from the book, because I think much of the impact for me is in the contrast between the two. Poor book Barney dying alone, his mind losing touch with reality--and movie Barney, who has at least some hope ("without guarantee," certainly) for a life with love in it. And us knowing that, even though he doesn't remember it, he made a terribly courageous decision to get to that point (from his dialogue with the two doctors, IMVHO what "tipped the scales" in his choice was the chance that the research might help others).

As with The Ice Storm, I'd seen the movie first, then read the book, then watched the movie again. My second viewing of TBFA (twice in the same day, IIRC, crying through a lot of it both times) was somewhere in the summer or fall before FotR--I just remember it was a cloudy, rainy Sunday afternoon/evening and I couldn't imagine how I was ever going to go to work the next day. It's actually one of my little "memory hooks" from a year or so that I don't have much recollection of, because I was fighting through a major depression. (This lack of memory, BTW, is not making the current legal stuff any easier, since it involves some of that period.)

For newer members who may not know, I work in cancer research. Nothing big: I edit research papers and book chapters and help write grants . Even though our department works on cancer prevention rather than cure, and we've never done anything with bone cancer (and, I have to say, even though I consider the research being done in the movie to be totally ridiculous, scientifically speaking), there was something about that change from hopeless book-Barney to movie-Barney with the chance of a life ahead of him that made me able to get dressed the next morning, and walk to work without purposely stepping in front of a truck, and sit down in front of that computer... again... even though I still felt totally worthless.

It's not a field where you can very often see the results of your work. Believe me, the big breakthroughs that make it onto the news don't happen very often (and, usually, even those aren't as big as they might seem, after you factor in the "in this study" and "limitations" and "tentative" and "maybe clinically useful in five years," etc., etc). But, somehow, [i]fictional Barney Snow, being given a new chance at life by this totally implausible research :rolleyes: , gave me something to hang onto when I needed it. Did it help that Elijah Wood was portraying him (that is, besides the fact that I never would have watched the movie otherwise ;) )? I'm sure it did, for the reason everyone here knows--he disappeared into the character in a way not many actors could have. Frolijah has certainly touched my life (I was still in the depths of that depression when FotR came out), but if I had the chance to tell Elijah one story of how his acting has helped me, it would be as Barney Snow.





End Bumblebee Spoilers





...and his last line in the movie--still the best delivered "mundane" line I've ever heard--carries so much of the character in it that it still puts me in awe of Elijah's ability to do, well, that.

After reading people's thoughts on TBFA, I need to go back and watch that again... Thanks for the idea! :)

A lovely morsel that y'all might be interested in: the Sin City trailer. I was going to post a link, but the material is definitely rated R/PG15 for nudity and language.

Not really very spoilery (and no Elijah), and it gives a great idea of what the film is going to be like. It's visually stunning. :cool:

PM me for the link!

My two favorite Elijah scenes are wordless (I don’t think the following includes any spoilers):

I love the scenes Pelagia mentions. My very favorite moment is watching Barney's eyes fill with tears, but the tears do not spill over, as he encourages his friend to let go. We all know that Elijah the actor can cry on queue, and beautifully. Barney doesn't cry - both book and movie Barnie gave that up long ago. But as per usual, who we see isn't EJW, it's Barney Snow. And even tho the Iceman is melting (how I wish the script had used that work play just a little more!) he doesn't quite melt that far. A moment to savor.

chattegrise

Bunnie,

Found the SinCity trailer on your LiveJournal, did the right-click-save thing and....nothing. :(
It keeps asking me to download the proper software for it but without result.

The Ain't It Cool News site promised to show the trailer so I'll just wait until they host it there. I can usually watch trailers and clips there.

It's Ian Holm's Birthday!http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/honeyelf/frodobilbo.jpg
A perfect excuse to post this picture!
(Which I borrowed from TG's loveley site! :k )

stumbling back to bed....

Great thoughts on TBFA everyone!

Honey!

Bunnie,

Found the SinCity trailer on your LiveJournal, did the right-click-save thing and....nothing. :(
It keeps asking me to download the proper software for it but without result.

The Ain't It Cool News site promised to show the trailer so I'll just wait until they host it there. I can usually watch trailers and clips there.

That's odd, but you're not the only one who had trouble with it. :confused: It should download and play as a Quicktime file. You might try updating your Quicktime installation (if you haven't already) and try downloading again.

But, like you say, I'm sure it will turn up other places, and one of them is bound to make a version that you can download. I wish I could do the screecap thing, and I'd grab a couple of choice shots! It's just so... pretty. How odd to apply that word to something that's going to contain so much violence... :eek:

On stirring up mushrooms ;) :
Just how much in touch with Frodo did Elijah get? ;)
LOL!

So, do you know what film festival the title might be talking about--and where Pangaea is? (I mean, I know what Pangaea was, but this sounds like a restaurant :p .)
Toronto, apparently. So some of the other LotR guys are there too? I wonder who... And when was it?

So I haven't seen anything to indicate that the One Lad is in Venice, but -- I just saw a few minutes of an interview with Clint "It's all special effects" Eastwood from the Venice film festival, presumably from Venice, Italy, and not Venice, New York or somewhere like that. Clueles - er, um, I mean *Clint* was talking about Mystic River, of course. I switched it on just as the interviewer was asking him about his comment about LotR. He said, very condescendingly, that although he loves special effects, he unfortunately grew up in a time when films were character-driven. How clueless could someone get? Was there ever a doubt in viewers minds that it was Sean Penn pretending to be the character? Was there ever a doubt in LotR viewers minds that Gandalf was several feet taller than Bilbo, or that Elijah "Who's that short kid with the big eyes?" Wood was three foot six with big hairy feet and madly in love with a ring? Did Sean Penn ever disappear into his character (I'm sure that he *felt* like he did, but did he)? Would he ever have the talent and strength of identity to allow himself to let go and do that? Could he ever pull off both a pre-and-post-apocalyptic Hobbiton Frodo? Would Clint ever have the courage to stop a story in its tracks for a few minutes to show overpowering grief (like outside of Moria) when the grief itself was not a major plot point? Would there ever be a time when he would say, like Phillipa Boyens on the commentary, that "...Viggo went surfing with the hobbits...", unconsciously acknowledging the way that the characters overshadowed the actors?

Fortunately, LotR was a set of story-driven films. There wasn't any part of the production that I could see that was not serving the story. There were no standout performances, because they were all serving the story. Peter Jackson reading a scene from the book in the morning before filming it is a good indication that even he was subordinate to the story. Nobody's name appeared in front of the titles at the beginning, not even Peter Jackson's or for that matter Tolkien's! Would Eastwood ever have the courage to bow to the story in that way? So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Clint!

Harrrrumph. He thought the score was good, btw.

tg again:
My second viewing of TBFA (twice in the same day, IIRC, crying through a lot of it both times) was somewhere in the summer or fall before FotR--I just remember it was a cloudy, rainy Sunday afternoon/evening and I couldn't imagine how I was ever going to go to work the next day. Like me after reading the Gray Havens last fall.

It's actually one of my little "memory hooks" from a year or so that I don't have much recollection of, because I was fighting through a major depression. Oy, I hear you! I can well imagine the impact that TBFA would have at a time like that! I tend to avoid wrenching stories at those times (except for LotR, of course, and I saw how I reacted to *that* story!) The difference is that in the times that I've fought through, I tend to remember e v e r y s i n g l e a g o n i z i n g m o m e n t, and there's no relief during or after, not even in dreams. Were it not for the legal stuff, I'd really wonder which way is better. In any case, {{{{{ tg }}}}}.

(and, I have to say, even though I consider the research being done in the movie to be totally ridiculous, scientifically speaking)The premise was a thread of reasoning that I find particularly annoying and just downright dangerous sometimes: the "mind over matter" philosophy of health care. I won't get started on my "health care for women" rant, but I will say that way too many times, I've seen docs pat women on the head and encourage them to have a positive outlook on life. In certain religious circles, I call it the "Gospel of Prosperity", where, if you just have the right kind of faith, things go well, with the corollary being that if you are visited by disaster or misfortune, it's because you've sinned. Gee - the entire island of Grenada, the Caymans, Jamacia, and Florida must have *really* screwed up! Ooops. Sorry. I seem to be ranting wildly today. ;)

:::: wandering off to feed cats and forage for food ::::

~grumpy (laundry)(Mountains of laundry)(So, where can I find some good Mystic River f*nf*c? :lol: )

Of course IOMVHO....but Sean Penn was only being Sean Penn in Mystic River and it is so annoying for Bostonians to hear very bad Bostonian accents.
If you can't do the accent....please don't even attempt it :haha:
Anybody who saw The Perfect Storm may also have noticed George Clooney didn't even attempt to do the accent....Thank You George....and Diane Lane....although I find her to be a good actress she murdered the voice too :(
I've been told our accent here in Beantown is one of the more difficult ones to master....betcha I know someone who could probably pull it off :D
Until then I would suggest they just cast Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon in every film shot in Boston.....notice I didn't suggest Ben Affleck...because again IMVHO...he may be able to naturally do the voice...but lacks any great skills as an actor....sorry that wasn't kind...but I tell it like I see it (in case you've forgotten Remember: Pearl Harbor and Gigli :eek: )

Dear Clint... sounds like sour grapes to me...Mystic River....although I thought is was a well written script and adequately directed...it so can't hold a candle to RotK.
The eleven awards it won speaks for itself....maybe you should hang out with Elton John who also said some nasty things about "Into the West" Can you imagine how much worse his comments would've been had he been nominated the same year.So where did Mr. John's anger originate from :confused:that night ?

Again the only actor I feel deserved the award that night from Mystic River was Tim Robbins....who was pretty good also with the Boston voice.
Giving best actor awards to those who only use their own RL intensity to project their roles I frankly find somewhat unworthy....I voted for Bill Murray that year although Johnny Depp would have pleased me also :cool:

RotK of course was penalized in not gathering acting awards because they had too many dead on brilliant performances....Thank God some of the other award shows have catagories for ensemble cast awards.

Okay I'm finished with the rant...but I just can't stop myself when I read interviews where supposedly mature profession people are singing sour grape songs. I Always have to cry out....Deal with it Clint and Elton :haha:

...maybe you should hang out with Elton John who also said some nasty things about "Into the West"
I'm not crazy about Annie Lennox's voice; I would have loved to hear what someone like Moire Brennan would have done with a song like that.

But as for its impact: is everyone who bawls their eyes out when they hear even a few bars from that song crying because it's so bad? :lol:

~grumpyandstillsteamed

I wondered about that "recently," too--especially with "other cast members from The Lord of the Rings," involved. So, do you know what film festival the title might be talking about--and where Pangaea is? (I mean, I know what Pangaea was, but this sounds like a restaurant :p .)

Orlando Bloom is in Toronto for his movie 'Haven'.
Edit: Viggo Mortensen is there also.

I like Annie's voice very much. It's strong and powerful. I especially love her Eurythmics period. I've been to a Eurythmics concert and to hear that voice live is quite something.
Now, this may be controversial here (I don't know) but... :o ...I don't like Enya's voice.
put those rotten tomatoes and eggs DOWN...don't you dare throw them...It's just my own taste...jeesh! ;)


PS I like Clint the director (I don't have to look at him or hear his voice that way) but I don't like him as an actor at all.
I agree that Tim Robbins was the only one who really deserved that oscar. I like Sean Penn as an actor but his role in Mystic River was not his best role (but...is oscar about awarding the best performance of the year and has it done so on many occasions?)

great post grumpy!!

i have not seen Mystic river so i will not say anything about it,
but i have never liked clint as an actor and if he directes as bad as he acts
i will agree and i will not see this movie!!! Sean penn i have seen in one movie
and that one was very good i think the name of it was I Sam!!!

and to say that rotk was only speciell effects!!! bull""""""" :mad: :mad:
did he ever saw the movie ??? then maybe he haden`t say those things
I mean all things in the movie,the country,all the work they did to pull
this throu.every thing they made by hand the clothes,wepons,masks
i mean everything!!!!AND THE ACTING MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!
if the oscars had an award for best ensambel i bet a penny the rotk
cast got that one too!!!!!!
i think he just been jelous!!!!!!


"Into the west" i have to say i love that song and it makes me cry everytime
i hear it !!i see thoose little hobbits before my eyes saying godbye! :(
well that`s me folks!!!!!! :) I know it is not that song in that part,but for some reson i see that anyway!!

EDIT: read the post an i saw all the rumbeling!!!
i hope you all understands what i trying to say here!!!! :z:

LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD

Tgshaw, that article was about the Toronto Film Festival. I would give my left hobbit ear to have been there... :)

Seriously, lemme comment on this. I think it's a wonderful thing for Elijah to be into food!! He says he always was "a big foodie". I think it's easy to get detached from all the ordinary things in life when you have the chance of living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. But that might be really destructive. I think that when you start to lose touch with things like cooking, baking, cleaning your house, playing with your animals, and going for walks in the woods, you are losing touch with the reality of what it means to be human. That's also why Hobbits are such a great image of the good life. We are bodies, and when we start to have contempt for the needs of our bodies we are infact nurturing a contempt for ourselves, our very essence.

okaydokey. This should so have gone in the Hugs Haven but it just didn't..... :rolleyes:

Quote from tgshaw, about Bumblebee:

My interpretation of movie-Barney's ball bouncing is that it's an attempt to show book-Barney's mantra externally. I may be completely off-base with that, but the "rhythm" idea seems to fit.
I think you’re “on base” with that one. The ball does serve the same function as “tempo/rhythm.” Plus it provides a poignant moment, when Janeane Garofalo puts it back in the sleeping Allie’s hand, and his fingers touch hers, and she gently strokes his.

Bumblebee spoilers







I liked both endings (book and movie) in the sense that I thought each was appropriate for the tone of its particular version of the story. It would be very difficult for the book to have a happy outcome, even in the short run, given that book Cassie didn’t really love Barney, and that his physical condition was worse than film Barney’s. And to use the book ending in the movie would have been horrible. But even though book Barney was, as you say, alone, and had lost touch with reality, the fact that he still had the memory of the Bumblebee – “always beautiful, always flying, always his” – and had achieved some sort of peace, somehow made that ending not entirely devastating.

BTW: My impression is that, in the book, the purpose of the memory-wiping experiments was not to induce remission (as in the movie), but simply to get rid of cripplingly painful memories, and not necessarily just in terminally ill patients. Barney was chosen as a subject because he had never reached the “acceptance” stage with regard to his own condition: “You mean, I was going to die anyway and climbing the walls about it?” Or am I wrong on that?

And at the end of the book, whose was the “voice that was familiar, but he could not identify it. Is there anything I can do to help, Barney?"







End of Bumblebee spoilers

Both tgshaw and zkgrumpy made comments about reading or watching things like Bumblebee while depressed. I sometimes find that something like this (or RotK) can actually be cathartic when I’m depressed. I can at least have a good cry over it.

zkgrumpy wrote, about “Into the West”:

I'm not crazy about Annie Lennox's voice; I would have loved to hear what someone like Moire Brennan would have done with a song like that.
In the theater when I saw RotK (the first time), they had the volume turned up so high that Annie just blasted your eardrums; and thus I hated the song, until I heard it on the soundtrack. But even better, I think, was Sissel’s performance of it at the “LotR Symphony” in Philadelphia.

Awhile back I posted a blurb about ROTK EE spoilers on a website that I visited every so often. I was told that the particular person reporting that was unreliable. That's fine, I will believe your advise. However, I hope I can trust TORn to report what they believe is accurate and if they do, I for one want to see all the scenes related to the Tower of Cirith Ungol such as the following,

**Spoilers** (maybe?)









19. Gorbag is shown taking Frodo’s possessions from him.

22. More footage of Frodo and Sam in Mordor, including their marching with orcs and Sam discarding his pots and pans.

23. The long-waited Mouth of Sauron comes out of the Gates of Mordor to confront Aragorn and his forces, displaying the items taken from Frodo. The Mouth character is blind, just a mouth. (This presence of this scene helps explain Aragorn’s battle cry, “For Frodo!”)

24. Merry and Pippin despair on the battlefield after seeing Frodo’s clothes and mithril vest.






**End spoilers**

IMVHO, the whole Tower and Mouth of Sauron sequence is, well, beyond my ability to describe in words. Everytime I "read" that part my whole heart and soul just sinks into a pit of hopelessness with the rest of the fellowship. Back when I read that as a teenager I even put stars on them pages to mark them because they affected me so much. I may just cry a little more come December... The movie will then be complete for me if these scenes are in there. :z:

And we all know that Elijah's acting will be mind boggling as always (there, I mentioned his acting too!)

Sorry, I'm just so into that sequence of events! I was crushed when it was edited from the theatrical version. :(

There were two scenes in the extended version of ROTK that I didn't get. 1. why was Frodo blindfolded when he was captured by Faramore(?) on the way to Mt. Doom? 2. When Frodo looked at the ground there was a man/hobbit that looked like him lying on the ground. :confused:

You can find the trailer for SinCity as it is shown in ComicCom on the site of the moviebox on the 'trailers' page.

I posted the link earlier but it's apparently got a bit of violence (I haven't seen it yet, waiting for lunch time) so I deleted it.

You'll find the link on the Ain't It Cool News site (or go directly to the moviebox site of course)

1. why was Frodo blindfolded when he was captured by Faramore(?) on the way to Mt. Doom?

Shadowcat, in the book we learn that he and Sam were blindfolded to keep the location of Faramir's cave a secret. In both the book and the movie Faramir thought they might be spies, so it would make senes to deprive them of information in that way. As to the second part of your question, I'm stumped! Maybe you should go back and watch that scene again! :)

Moondancer, the Sin City trailer is violent, and contains implied nudity. It looks really cool though. Like for the first time a movie might really look like a comic book. My favorite parts of "Road to Perdition" were where it looked most like its comic book roots, but I don't think any of the movies of that genre have yet truly suceeded in blurring the lines between the two media. Sin City just might get there.

Bought a copy of "Oliver Twist" the other day. I had to laugh when I found it on the shelf; the spine of the dvd case is black with the words "Oliver Twist" in yellow. Otherwise it is un-adorned except for a tiny picture of ....not the eponymous orphan, but The Artful Dodger. Do these Disney folk know who's buttered their bread for them in this particular case, or not!? :D

it is so annoying for Bostonians to hear very bad Bostonian accents. If you can't do the accent....please don't even attempt it :haha:

Ylla, when I was on the Cape a couple of years ago I was so dissapointed that I didn't even hear a Boston accent until the third day I'd been there!

But as for Mr. Penn in "Mystic River," that was definetly one of those "see me act" roles. You're right that Tim Robbins was the best thing about that movie.

Besides which, I was hungry for a movie where Characters got each other through the bad stuff because they had brotherly love. Instead Mystic River started out with a man whom I at first thought I understood - God, country, friends, all that- who'd completely unraveled by the end of the story, and reknit himself as an amoral monster, trying to form his part of the world by force of his own will. yech!

Reminds me why I instantly fell in love with the Flick Filosopher last winter, when she said this of "Cold Mountain:"

But mostly, the problem is this: I've seen Samwise Gamgee carrying Frodo Baggins up the slopes of Mount Doom. I've seen Faramir, captain of Gondor, ride to what he believes will be his death merely to earn the love of his father. I've seen Peregrin Took leap onto a burning pyre to save a dying man he doesn't know in repayment for a debt owed that man's dead brother. I've seen an entire world shrink into molecules of fading hope and acts of selfless love. After that, how can the troubles of one Confederate soldier and one Southern belle amount to even a hill of beans in this crazy world? Nothing they can say could upset me.

And now I shall hope any of this makes one shred of sense in the morning, as I diminsh back to that rack known as my bed and attempt a few hours sleep before a new day dawns.

Honey!

the Sin City trailer is violent, and contains implied nudity. It looks really cool though. Like for the first time a movie might really look like a comic book. My favorite parts of "Road to Perdition" were where it looked most like its comic book roots, but I don't think any of the movies of that genre have yet truly suceeded in blurring the lines between the two media. Sin City just might get there.
OK...Just saw it and... :eek: :) ...WOW! I love this trailer. What a great atmosphere with a really interesting collection of actors!
The comic book look seems to work in this trailer but I'm curious how they're going to succeed doing this in the entire movie.
If we can only find out what Kevin looks like.
I hope they're holding those images back because Wood's portrayal is both surprising and excellent and they want to hold back on this to tantalize people for the release of the film in 2005 (but this might be wishful thinking).

But as for Mr. Penn in "Mystic River," that was definetly one of those "see me act" roles. You're right that Tim Robbins was the best thing about that movie.
Agreed!
Sean Penn was better in Dead Man Walking IMO. Not that he did a bad job in this movie but it was a bit 'see me act', yes.

Besides which, I was hungry for a movie where Characters got each other through the bad stuff because they had brotherly love for each other. Instead Mystic River started out with a man whom I at first thought I understood - God, country, friends, all that- who'd completely unraveled by the end of the story, and reknit himself as an amoral monster, trying to form his part of the world by force of his own will. yech!
Well, everybody looks for different things in movies, I guess.
This was one of the things I loved about this movie.
The line between good and bad was a very fine line. In most of the commercial movies, there's a clear distinction between good and bad. That's fine in some movies but in RL, the distinction is less clear also.

In Mystic River, you start out with a more or less clear idea of Sean's character but you have to adapt it when the movie progresses. I like that in a movie.


PS: I was visiting my sister yesterday and I had a talk with my 8 year old niece. I saw the DVD of ROTK on the table near the tv and I asked her about it. She said that she had seen the three movies 6 times now and she was simply going to watch it again and again until she understands it all.
:) Persistant little girl!
Later we went to see some sort of 'middle ages festival' in our city and when we were watching different sort of archers practicing (with regular bows, impressive cross bows,..) and my niece was whispering to me "legolas!".

Bumblebee book spoilers




BTW: My impression is that, in the book, the purpose of the memory-wiping experiments was not to induce remission (as in the movie), but simply to get rid of cripplingly painful memories, and not necessarily just in terminally ill patients. Barney was chosen as a subject because he had never reached the “acceptance” stage with regard to his own condition: “You mean, I was going to die anyway and climbing the walls about it?” Or am I wrong on that?
When I first read the book, I thought, "Is this doctor completely stupid, or what?? He finds a treatment that might possibly have sent someone's fatal disease into remission, then not only doesn't use it when the person's disease re-asserts itself, but doesn't even seem to think about taking the research any farther!! :confused: It was someone who'd read more of Cormier's books (dreamweaver, possibly?) who clued me in to the fact that the guy wasn't stupid, he was bad!! That really put the pieces together. Private research on memory control--kept completely secret, so even an accidental finding that may be disease curing can't be announced; the only "employee" we see is also terminally ill. None of the research has anything to do with the children's diseases; they're simply used as guinea pigs because they're terminally ill; some of the drug reactions are horrible (the source of the one side-comment in the movie about an "aftermath"), and at least one of the kids is killed by the experiment he's undergoing. And worst of all on a personal level--the doctor just lets Barney die rather than use the treatment that might have helped him.

---One N-a-a-s-s-t-y man :eek: ! ---And, as I understand it, an example of why Cormier's books are called "dark"-- I guess!

I found Cassie's final scene in the book awfully interesting, though. Did she die when her twin did? IMHO, the scene could certainly be interpreted that way--or not (which isn't easy to pull off--some good writing there, IMHO). So if the "familiar voice" Barney hears at the end is hers, it could be on "this side" of death, or on the other side. Most of me hopes that she did die, actually, because otherwise she broke her promise to Barney to find him at the new facility he was being sent to. Even if she didn't love him in a romantic way, she should still have kept her promise (IMO), although, of course, with this n-a-a-a-s-s-s-t-y doctor in charge, she might have tried to find where he'd been taken and not been able to.

I'd love to hear some commentary--even an argument--from the writers/director/anyone else who decided how this movie was going to be approached. (It's been talked about here before that there was quite a bit of disagreement while the movie was being made.) It seems to me that the movie basically lifted the one sentence out of the book that said the treatment was possibly responsible for Barney's remission and built an entirely different type of story around it.





End of Bumblebee book spoilers



Both tgshaw and zkgrumpy made comments about reading or watching things like Bumblebee while depressed. I sometimes find that something like this (or RotK) can actually be cathartic when I’m depressed. I can at least have a good cry over it.
After reading zkg's post, and then this one, I realized I must not have been very clear... This was a good crying-through-most-of-the-movie. The movie, as far as I'm concerned, has a completely positive, hope-filled ending (all the moreso because I'd read the book). It was before I watched the movie that I couldn't imagine how I'd manage to go in to work the next day. I already knew how the movie ended, and wouldn't have watched it in that state if it was going to send me further down. It has the complete opposite effect on me; but I don't think that would be as true if I didn't have the book to compare it to--I think it's the very fact of the book's ending being turned into the movie's hope that's positive for me.


quoted by Honey:
After that, how can the troubles of one Confederate soldier and one Southern belle amount to even a hill of beans in this crazy world?
Following the recent discussion about the movie "that all those lines are from," I felt it to be my duty to point out a Casablanca allusion. :p

Following the recent discussion about the movie "that all those lines are from," I felt it to be my duty to point out a Casablanca allusion.

Thanks TG! That explains why I kept hearing Humphrey Bogart's voice every time I read that line! :rolleyes: Also explains why I'm still in no hurry to see Casablanca; I think I've seen all the good bits already, plucked out by well meaning movie afficionados for everything from biographies to fin de sicele "100 best" lists! :(

Besides which, I was hungry for a movie where Characters got each other through the bad stuff because they had brotherly love for each other. Instead Mystic River started out with a man whom I at first thought I understood - God, country, friends, all that- who'd completely unraveled by the end of the story, and reknit himself as an amoral monster, trying to form his part of the world by force of his own will. yech!

Moondancer replied:
Well, everybody looks for different things in movies, I guess.

What I really meant by that was that I was really "jonesing" for more LoTR. In fact it's been a bad couple of years for movies for me, always comparing everything to a certain nine + hour saga, and every actor to a single talented blue eyed one! :eek:

Anybody else a fan of a british 60's series entitled "The Prisoner?" We've all been fans at my house for years. Patrick McGoohan could almost rival our lad for eyebrow/forehead acting!

Honey!

I am de-lurking to ask a question.

Naaah. Never mind, I should go look it up myself. But thanks, anyway.

There were two scenes in the extended version of ROTK that I didn't get. ... 2. When Frodo looked at the ground there was a man/hobbit that looked like him lying on the ground. :confused:

:::: ~grumpy's eyes pop out of her head :::: :eek:

Do you know where this is supposed to be? Is it perhaps an allusion to what bookSamwise saw in Galadriel's mirror, where he saw Frodo, lying with a pale face asleep under a cliff, that was the reason for the line "Not asleep - dead", which made no sense otherwise harrrrumph?

~grumpy (lovely shade of green, he was!)(Ancestry: With his fair skin and reddish highlights in his hair, I'd say there's some Celt in his background)

Do you know where this is supposed to be? Is it perhaps an allusion to what bookSamwise saw in Galadriel's mirror, where he saw Frodo, lying with a pale face asleep under a cliff, that was the reason for the line "Not asleep - dead", which made no sense otherwise harrrrumph?

ZK, I think Shadowcat was actually talking about TTT, and not ROTK. I have no idea what scene she's referring to, however, because I remember nothing of the sort. I guess we'll have to wait for her to clarify it for us. :confused:

ZK, I think Shadowcat was actually talking about TTT, and not ROTK. I have no idea what scene she's referring to, however, because I remember nothing of the sort.
The only thing that comes to my mind is when Faramir's men capture the hobbits, there's about one frame where Frodo looks possibly like a scale double with Elijah mask on--in a shot that's much closer than usual. If my guess is right, it's the double when the man is holding Frodo before throwing him down--but it's Elijah who hits the ground. But I don't remember ever seeing both "Frodo's" at the same time. I have a screencap of it, can post it when I get home if that sounds like the right place in the movie?

I am de-lurking to ask a question.

Naaah. Never mind, I should go look it up myself. But thanks, anyway.
Mechtild,

Not much is known (at least not by the public) of this, I believe.
I saw a thread once where people were discussing this but they were just guessing and nobody in there could bring in any facts.

In an interview in Prague, he talked about Poland but he was not sure.
"Wood says he believes he has some ancestors in Poland, but isn't sure. "It's a curiosity to me."
http://www.praguepost.com (http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2004/Art/0819/featu1.php)

I was trying to find something more about this and I came across this little thing about nail biting on a science forum:
i'm guessing genetic, because to me its just natural, i start doing it without thinking. Both my parents are nail biters.
If you think this is gross, i'll have you know that some very respectable people are nail biters---- Elijah Wood for one. And he didn't stop for the filming of LOTR, if you look at his nails when he holds the ring, they are very short. :lol:

You really find the weirdest things on the internet:
this guy is a famous Canadian skater and people often say of him that he looks like Elijah Wood.
http://www.figureskatersonline.com/johnnyweir/graphics/profilepic.jpg

But....still nothing much on Elijah's roots.
Somebody with the same surname found out that the Wood's used to be boat people.


Honey,
I know what you mean. I have the tendency to do the same thing. I like the epic genre but Peter Jackson really set a higher standard. Troy, King Arthur and others didn't even come close.
Before LOTR, I loved The Gladiator (both main actors Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe are excellent in it) but I haven't watched it since the trilogy so I don't know how it mesures up.
As far as acting and a certain blue eyed actor is concerned. *sigh* I know what you mean. How often do I see an actor give a certain performance and do I think "Elijah Wood could probably take that scene to a higher level".
It's silly, I think because I should just enjoy that movie and stop the endless comparing.

WELL HONEY ELF, I`M GLADE I`m NOT ALONE WITH THIS!!!!!
it seams very hard for me this dayes to find a good movie
i alwayes compere with lotr trilogy!!!
why?? don`t ask!!!!
well anyway i did saw a very good movie the other night
THE LAST SAMURAJ that was one of tom curise best movies! IMO!!!!

MOONDACER:i often think the same! i don`t seam to find any good movies if not elijah is in them!!
if we are going to see a movie here at home i alwayes say that the others
may chose otherwise it alwayes ends up with an elijah movie and i know they
don`t like that!! :confused: :confused:

I alwayes look at his movies at night when my husband are at work and the kids cone to sleep!!!just me and a guy with blue eyes!!!

LOVE/WOOD

I mentioned this in Hugs but some of you may not have seen it.

I've got a whole new Elijah site up and running here...

http://elijahwoodnow.com/

My galleries have all the caps I've done lately and lots of newer pics and good versions of older Elijah pics. I also try to update as soon as there is any news.

Check it out and let me know how you like it. :)

What happend here? Two posts in a road!
Sorry, it will not happend again!!!

love/wood

Moondancer, thanks so much! I had a feeling nothing much was known. If it had been, surely it would have come up last month during the period when I first started lurking here in any consistent way; you all were discussing E.W.'s upbringing and how that might have influenced his life and his career. Just curious, once I was asked the question.

Hobmom, I bookmarked your site immediately! I love your screencaps, already. I will take a look at it perhaps tonight after work. Thanks!

wood, hi! That's called a "double post." I don't know why they happen, either. At TORC, I've done it because the response is so slow on that board, technically speaking. You hit "submit," and wait, and then start to wonder if you ever hit "submit," hit it again, and end up with a double post. But the response of the system at K-D is so much faster, I haven't yet experienced it that posting here.

Hi Mechtild!

I guess you diden`t read my older posts,
they was full with dubbelposts!!! ;)
It`s a wonder they diden`t kick me out! :)

As i hade write in the harem i now know that
i have found my second home that is full of
friends i now know this ladys woulden`t
kick anybody out in the cold, not for that anyway!! :)

love/wood

In an interview in Prague, he talked about Poland but he was not sure.
"Wood says he believes he has some ancestors in Poland, but isn't sure. "It's a curiosity to me."
Sounds as if he's probably at least fifth generation American, as it takes awhile to lose track of those things (unless a family was ripped apart somehow, which certainly did happen and still does). I'm fourth generation on my mother's side (great-grandparents immigrated) and mine is the first generation to not speak German at home. My father's paternal side, OTOH, came to America when it was still the colonies, and if it wasn't for a great-aunt who was very determined to keep track of family history, we'd have no idea of their background.

I know what you mean. I have the tendency to do the same thing. I like the epic genre but Peter Jackson really set a higher standard. Troy, King Arthur and others didn't even come close.
The reason a lot of fantasy readers (including me) read very little "European medieval/pre-technological" fantasy--no one can measure up to Tolkien. I took a chance on C.J. Cherryh's "Fortress" series because I loved her science fiction, and it was pretty good. She does have a tendency in both her sci-fi and her fantasy to allofasuddenwindthingsupreallyfastinthelastcouple ofpages :p that's a bit annoying. OTOH, she has a real talent for young, male, intelligent, good-looking, psychologically angsty main characters, and I really liked the "star" of that series :) . (In Cyteen there are two major characters who fit that description.)

But other than that, I tend to read urban/contemporary fantasy, and fantasy based on mythologies and "worlds" other than pre-technological Europe.

After Elijah came back from New Zealand (I don't remember how soon--it may have been after some pick-ups had been done already), he was talking about scripts he'd received and he said, "No one has had the ***** to send me any fantasy." :p He said he'd already done the best fantasy story there is, so why would he want to do another one? -- I'm assuming he was using a fairly strict definition of fantasy, as IMVHO some of his "surreal" movie choices have fantasy elements about them.

Quote from tgshaw:

The reason a lot of fantasy readers (including me) read very little "European medieval/pre-technological" fantasy--no one can measure up to Tolkien.

One of the things that annoys me about a lot of fantasy novels is the ubiquity (? is that a word?) of magical powers. In the ones that I’ve tried, everybody seems to be a wizard or a witch, or an apprentice in training to be one, or owns some magical item, or has a magical animal, or whatever. One of the things I like about LotR is the sparing and judicious use of stuff like this. We have Gandalf and Galadriel (and Sauron and Saruman, of course); we have Sting, and the phial; we have the eagles. But basically, the key characters -- the hobbits -- have to get by with what they’ve got; and that usually takes the form of courage, determination, loyalty, etc.. And that makes the story more “believable” and the characters more sympathetic.

Also, tg, thanks for pointing out the amorality of the doctors in the book Bumblebee. I had noticed the frequent references to rules and procedures that supposedly kept them from helping Barney more, after he discovered what was going on; but I hadn’t thought through the implications of that.

Bumblebee book spoiler:









So if the "familiar voice" Barney hears at the end is hers, it could be on "this side" of death, or on the other side.

I don’t think that the voice is Cassie’s, since Barney thinks, “But the voice couldn’t help. It was the wrong voice, anyway.” And then the text goes on to describe Cassie’s voice as the one he was looking for, but couldn’t remember. I assumed that Cassie lives. She thinks, at one point, “I don’t want to die. And I won’t die.” I thought that “choose life” attitude went along with Barney’s decision, on the roof, not to be resigned – “Not willing to accept it all without struggling, fighting.” The only idea I had for the voice was that they had kept him at Monument after all, and the voice was the terminally ill nurse. Interesting, to have so much ambiguity in a “young adult” book.









End spoilers

Quote from honeyelf:

Anybody else a fan of a british 60's series entitled "The Prisoner?" We've all been fans at my house for years. Patrick McGoohan could almost rival our lad for eyebrow/forehead acting!

Ah, “The Prisoner”! What a great puzzler! I used to try to get friends to watch it, and after one episode, they would all look at me as if I were nuts. I think it was ahead of its time, in many ways.

What happend here? Two posts in a road!
Sorry, it will not happend again!!!

Wood, I bet you just hit 'reply' instead of 'edit' when you wanted to add something else to your post. It's easy enough for me to fix for you, but if you notice it in the future, all you have to do is this:

a) copy the information from the second post
b) hit the 'edit' button at the bottom of the first post
c) 'paste' the information from your second post into the first
d) and then delete the second post (it will still show up with nothing in it, but then I come along and remove it permanently for you. :D)

If there's anything here you don't understand, just PM me, and I'll try to explain it better.

It`s a wonder they diden`t kick me out!

Wood, we'd never kick you out! We like you too much! :D

tgshaw, I have to agree with your take on pre-medieval fiction. No matter who the author is, I tend to get about a chapter into it and start snarling about everything they've 'stolen' from Tolkien. When the snarling gets too loud, I have to quit reading. I was incensed with whatsisname for weeks after I tried to read Sword of Shannara (or whatever it is called - I tended to call it the Sword of Shananananana, like a really bad derivative song from the fifties...:D ) I try not to think about it to much, thus the successful blocking of the author's name from my memory. :p

And to wander back on topic (nice thing for a mod to say, eh?), that Elijah Wood. He's pretty good, isn't he? :D

Hallo girls!

I just wonder if it is anyone here who
has seen The Paradise? I am thinking about buying
it. So i just wonder!

love/wood

I have seen 'Paradise'. What do you want to know?

Hi Bohemian!
I guess i just want to know if it is anygood.
How old Elijah was when they did the movie.
Well i guess i will buy it anyway, i`m just
curiose i guess. What did you think about it?

love/wood

Hi Wood,

That movie is a remake of a French movie. I wanted to see the original, just to make a comparison but I haven't done so yet.

Anyway, the movie is with Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson.
Not exactly two of my favourite actors. Don was OK in this (not great but OK) but Melanie....well, let's just say that I'm really not a fan of her and leave it at that.
On the other side, the acting performances of the two main kids, played by Elijah Wood and Tora Birch, were excellent and it was a joy for me to watch them.
I'm not sorry to have bought this movie, though but I still wish that the two lead adult parts were played by other actors.

Let me put this in another way:
movies I would certainly buy before Paradise are:
(note: this is just my own personal preference)
The War (of course)
The Ice Storm (no question)
The adventures of Huck Finn
The Bumblebee Flies Anyway
Chain of Fools
Radio Flyer
Avalon

Other great ones to consider buying before that movie (IMO of course)
The Faculty
The Good Son
Forever Young

Then I would buy Paradise, Try Seventeen, North and Oliver Twist
Then Deep Impact (I really didn't like this movie),

Only after that: Flipper and Child in the Night

I wouldn't bother with Ash Wednesday

I haven't seen Black and White yet (or that animated movie that shall not be named). I have pre-ordered ESOTSM (it got excellent reviews so the DVD should be worth it).


The Day-O movie is still very high on my own 'wanted' list.
Just now, I saw this review in a biography:
He moved on to Day-O, a well-received TV movie where Delta Burke played Grace, a woman who has long suffered her father's failure to show her any love. Now desperate, she is re-visited by Elijah, playing the imaginary friend who comforted her in her youth. It was an excellent part for Wood, whose precocious intelligence allowed him to easily play a character wise beyond his years. It could even have been viewed as a step backwards when he became a mere kid again when appearing alongside Mel Gibson in Forever Young
*sobs* Why is it so difficult to buy this movie?

Btw, the rest of that biography can be found here (http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/elijah_wood_biog.html)


*waves at Witheling* I hope you're OK!
*winks at Serena* Miss your comments in here!
*hugs Achila* I hope everything is well or at least bound to get better.
I hope I'm not forgetting any regular Faculty poster who hasn't posted in a while. Sorry otherwise - don't take it personal, you know my bad memory for names
*waves at lurkers*

Hi Moondancer!

I think we posted at the same time!
Well it realy sounds intrested, for some reson i
realy don`t care so much for the other actors in
movies any more i just want to see elijah even in his early parts.
(sick,i know)
Don Jhonsson,yeh, i thought he was so sexy in 80 when Miami Vice
was screen on tv ,jesus what opinions can change!!!!
Melanie Griffith i never liked her thats my opinion.
Wasen`t they married in real life i mean or am i wrong?

I guess it is my little hobby to get his movies,all of them even the bad once,
but for some reson it is very hard to find them here in Sweden!!! :confused:

Thanks for the tip on the other movies!!

love/wood

from Narya:
I was incensed with whatsisname for weeks after I tried to read Sword of Shannara (or whatever it is called - I tended to call it the Sword of Shananananana, like a really bad derivative song from the fifties... ) I try not to think about it to much, thus the successful blocking of the author's name from my memory.
Far be it from me to puncture that blocking ;) , so I'll just say that there's a new Shannara book titled Tanequil. Hmmm... sounds vaguely familiar... :rolleyes: The one-sentence blurb from Science Fiction Book Club is "Can Grianne Ohmsford escape the Forbidding?" Aaaaaaa!! (Running away screaming!)

Okay--It took me awhile to find this just now--I've bookmarked it so that won't happen again. It's one of the funniest Tolkien-related spoofs I've ever seen. From the April 1 ;) 2002 edition of Locus Online: "Batman Books Announces Major Tolkien Venture" -- announcing a forthcoming 21-volume rewrite of LotR by Narya's "unnamed author" :p (identified by his initials only), because the original isn't long enough for today's audience :rolleyes: . Since this was published just a few months after FotR was released, there were a lot of people reading it who were new to Tolkien, and some were honestly concerned by it and had to be reassured that it was only a joke. Because it's long, and because I wouldn't want to jar anyone's memory blocks (even by initials :) ), I've posted only the link. And, Pelagia, I'm not ignoring your comments on ubiquitous magic--that's given a skewering here, too:
http://www.locusmag.com/2002/News/News0401b.html


from Pelagia:



Bumblebee book spoiler:








I don’t think that the voice is Cassie’s, since Barney thinks, “But the voice couldn’t help. It was the wrong voice, anyway.” And then the text goes on to describe Cassie’s voice as the one he was looking for, but couldn’t remember...
Thanks for the addition. I'd forgotten that part, and to be honest I couldn't tell you right now where my copy of the book is. :o From that quote, certainly, I'd agree that the voice isn't Cassie's.

---I think one reason the nastiness of the whole affair is so hard to spot is that we're seeing it through Barney's totally clueless point-of-view. That's probably why it took someone familiar with more of Cormier's books to catch the parallel (anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it ;) ).






End spoilers





Quote from honeyelf:
Ah, “The Prisoner”! What a great puzzler! I used to try to get friends to watch it, and after one episode, they would all look at me as if I were nuts. I think it was ahead of its time, in many ways.
I loved it, too--such absolute lack of in-for-mation :p . It's out on DVD now and I'm waiting for the day I can afford to buy it (there are still some others that have to come first :) ). Now that's surreal!

ETA: I see Moondancer's already given a more complete rundown on Paradise than I have, but I'll leave mine here, anyway... along with the mentions on the acting, IMVHO the story is pretty predictable. And, yes, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson were a couple when they made the movie (married, I think, although I'm not absolutely sure of that).

Wood--If you mean Elijah's movie Paradise with Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, IMVHO it's one of those movies where Elijah's acting is just about the only spark of light (along with that of Thora Birch, who plays his friend). Elijah made it around the same time as Avalon but Avalon is way, way, way better. Unless you want to own Paradise just because Elijah's in it (like me :rolleyes: ), you might want to rent it before buying it, if it's available to rent. It's worth watching just for Elijah, but it may not be something you'll want to watch multiple times. (That's JMHO; some people like it more than I do.)

Thanks,TG!!!!

It`s alwayes fun to know what other people thinks about a movie!!
And so far i think you and i have the same taste, almost anyway!!
I guess it is the case, i want to own every movie Elijah is in even the bad once,not that Elijah can do bad acting can he? NO WAY!!! ;)

Well i am not the one to say anything here about that!! :p :D

love you all/wood

*hugs Achila* I hope everything is well or at least bound to get better.


Thanks, Moonie luv -- much appreciated. :k Well, don't know if things are better exactly, but settling down to a dull thud, at any rate.

Well Faculty members, guess what movie I finally had the "pleasure" of seeing???? A certain animated concoction so hideous, it can't even be named on these pages....All I can say is UGGGHHHHH...tg, you were absolutely right. FOUL! Luckily someone...gasp!...copied it for me -- I didn't buy it or even pay to rent it....and this was one time that even Elijah's acting couldn't save the day. So now I've seen everything except the elusive and precious Day-O. I guess there's something to be said for completing a collection but....

Suddenly, there's talk from NZ about an Extended Extended DVD being released in 2007 to coincide with the ten year anniversary of LOTR's inception. Supposed to have a huge blooper reel as well. Does this mean that the upcoming EE DVD will not have a blooper reel? Dunno. As for that, New Line is keeping the release date for it a big secret for some reason. Dec 14 was originally announced, then it was recanted. Don't know what the deal is, except that maybe the holdup has to do with whether or not the EE will make it to the big screen prior to its release to home video. Again, dunno.

Have i miss something??

What animated film? Have i been sleeping or?? :eek:

Have i miss something??

What animated film? Have i been sleeping or?? :eek:

Well, there are some things it's good to sleep through. You may have seen this mentioned in the thread as "The Animated Movie That Shall Not Be Named" (or TAMTSNBN). It is, in truth, the one bad movie Elijah has made, and since it's animated there isn't even the redeeming quality of being able to see him. In order not to besmirch these hallowed pages, I'll just post the link to my review. If you really, really want to know...

TAMTSNBN (http://www.frodolivesin.us/id144.htm)

Condolences and thanks to Achila for having braved the monster. There have to be some people who carry the memory of this movie in their minds, in order to remind us that [i]anyone can make a bad movie (yes, even Jennifer Love Hewitt!! :eek: ;) ). I bought the video before I started buying DVDs and have so far rejected any idea of buying the DVD--the only thing it'd be useful for is screencaps, and since Elijah's character doesn't even look like him... what purpose would screencaps have? :confused:

---------

No big deal at this point, but just so no one feels left out :) , there's one more page of screencaps from Shelob's Lair posted with what's still a "commentary in progress." A question came up in the Guest Book about something that was in the part of the scene I was ready to screencap, so I went ahead and posted it. The question is on "mouth acting," BTW. :p

screencaps here:
Shelob's Lair 10 (http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/id33.htm)

discussion here:
Guest Book (http://www.frodolivesin.us/Pics)

Well, I saw Paradise a long time ago. But I remember that I didn't like it much. Might have been because of the two grown up main characters. But Elijah was good I think. I saw it when I was about 12 so that didn't really matter to me that much. (yes, yes, contradiction, I know). And Elijah was about 9 when they filmed it. See it if you have nothing else to do. Not good enough to miss something else because of it.

Okey! Thanks again!!

In this case i think i pas this movie! Even thow i love
listen to his voice!!!! It is his face i love so much!!!

love you all/wood


Edit: Thanks Bohemia!! i think it will slipp in to my little collection anyway!!
Can`t help it,must have them all!! that animaited thing, maybe for my little girl then who is four! i can alwayes listen to him!!

Tg, "besmirch" is definitely one of my favorite words. Thank you for showing such restraint, both in TMTSNBN, and in Mr. No Initials. I loved your link to that article!

But today, three books simply aren't enough to satisfy the average reader's appetite for total immersion in an alternate world based loosely on medieval Europe.
The only flaw in this reasoning is the phrase, "But today." There was never enough Tolkien for the fans - JRRT got letters immediately from people wanting more!

the first book, Escape From the Shire, will be roughly 800 pages long, and cover the first five chapters of The Lord of the Rings (which from now on will be marketed as The Lord of the Rings-TOT, for The Original Trilogy).
LOL at TOT! Oh, nice cutting humor. I love it!

Narya, I am so with you about "Sword of Shannara." I shrieked in outraged horror and threw my copy across the room, IIRC. And this was after reading one page in the bookstore. :p ;) They even used the the brothers Hildebrandt for the illustrations -- the swine!

Now, if only I could get the complete Sackville Baggins set of action figures...

This thread is moving so fast that whenever I feel like commenting on something, it's two pages behind already. Now, I'm left with that Sword of Whattevvah :D.


I have to agree with your take on pre-medieval fiction. No matter who the author is, I tend to get about a chapter into it and start snarling about everything they've 'stolen' from Tolkien.

It's all relative, you know. I always felt that LotR was a rather boring Merry England variation on some of my favourite Norse themes :p.

I reread LotR after taking a class on early and medieval Brit lit in college, and had a completely different take on the book. Learning about the standard medieval plot devices and seeing how JRRT utilized them (and twisted them around, as well!) made me appreciate his genius even more.

One of the more amusing comments I read on another board after TTT was released was from a woman who hadn't read all of LotR, but was a big fan of the first film. She really criticized the writers for "ripping off Terry Pratchett" when Gimli was talking about dwarf women. It fell to those of us who were LotR book fans to gently break the news to her that Pratchett actually ripped off Tolkien! She was a bit redfaced after that.

To keep this post on-topic, I'll post my support for Deep Impact, if Wood is considering seeing that film instead of Paradise (I agree that Elijah and Thora Birch's performances are the only thing that make Paradise worth seeing). Deep Impact was, IMO, much better than the other "end-of-the-world" film that came out that summer (Armageddon), and had a rather gentler, quieter approach than you usually see in a disaster flick. It wasn't very memorable, but not bad for a nothing-better-to-see-I'll-watch-this night at home with some popcorn on your lap!

One of the more amusing comments I read on another board after TTT was released was from a woman who hadn't read all of LotR, but was a big fan of the first film. She really criticized the writers for "ripping off Terry Pratchett" when Gimli was talking about dwarf women. It fell to those of us who were LotR book fans to gently break the news to her that Pratchett actually ripped off Tolkien! She was a bit redfaced after that.
Oh, good!!! I haven't had an excuse to post this one for a long time :D !

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/outtakes/pvponline-lotrcomic2.gif

---And I'll ditto SG's comments on Deep Impact. :)

TG and Sarpes girl!!! Thank you both!!!

I have seen Deep Impact many times i have borrow it from
my brother and will buy it. I think it is more close to reality
than Armageddon did! And i think it is a good movie.

love/wood

I read somewhere that Elijah had people camping on his front lawn even before Lord of the Rings. Why did that happen and when was this?

It sems silly to me. :D

Well i woulden`t mind camping on his lawn if i
hade the chanse!!!! :p :D :lol:

love/wood

Learning about the standard medieval plot devices and seeing how JRRT utilized them (and twisted them around, as well!) made me appreciate his genius even more.

...Pratchett actually ripped off Tolkien!

That's where relativity rears its ugly head again. Quite a few people believe that Pratchett utilised the standard fantasy plot devices from LotR and twisted them around in a most satisfying way :).

Back on topic, though: Has anyone heard anything about EJW's post-EII projects?

That's where relativity rears its ugly head again. Quite a few people believe that Pratchett utilised standard fantasy plot devices from LotR and twisted them around in a most satisfying way :).
I have to say that I don't know what the "standard fantasy" take is on dwarf gender :confused: . But "ripped off" isn't always the right term--using an element after someone else does isn't necessarily ripping them off (accusing the LotR screenwriters of "ripping off" Pratchett regarding dwarf women was certainly off the mark; whether Pratchett can be accused of "ripping off" Tolkien on the same element is a little more difficult to say--but given the first accusation I can understand the urge to use the second as a response :p ).

Pratchett's a bit of a special case, I'd guess, since most of his fiction is arguably a parody of "standard" fantasy, which is a bit difficult to pull off if you don't allude to other authors' material ;) -- and, in the U.S., at least, parody is even immune from copyright infringement rules. OTOH, the Tolkien Estate did manage to legally force Wizards of the Coast to change some specific things in their role-playing games, which IMHO adds an extra layer to the cartoon I posted yesterday... :D (I know they were required to do a bit of tweaking on their elves--I don't know if anything about dwarf women was involved in the lawsuit ;) .)

In a Mythopoeic Society email discussion group I mostly lurk on, it was pretty much a consensus that the definition of a "Tolclone" is a fantasy that uses surface elements from Tolkien's work, but doesn't bother to understand the underlying basis he gave them (or that he brought with them from earlier traditions), or take the trouble to develop its own. IMVVHO, that's evident in a lot of "ubiquitous magic"--good and evil talismans (and/or wizards) run riot, without any clear understanding of where their power comes from, or what makes them good or evil. The term doesn't apply to every high/epic/pre-technological-European-setting fantasy, but there are some... :rolleyes:

Back on topic, though: Has anyone heard anything about EJW's post-EII projects?
I think that's what we're all waiting for... Is he reading scripts as he's running all over the globe? :z:

I can`t find anything about this man!

Has he become an elution( i don`t think the spelling is right i just
hope you all know the word i mean)

Suddenly he pops up and then disepers again,i know he is magic
but this is silly.It has to be some news somewere.

On the other hand as you sade Tg, he did go around the worlde, maybe his up to something new good prodjekt i guess we
just have to wait and see. But i hate to wait i want to know now!!!!!

love/wood

EDIT: Forgott to ask,you all are talking about the trailer to sin city,
what about the trailer for the yank! just asking

The only book I've read from Pratchett is the one co-written with Neil Gaiman: "Good Omens". Great book!
I'm trying to get a hold of the first book in the discworld series but that isn't an easy thing to do in my library.


Found on www.boxofficeprophets.com:
Elijah Wood is set to star in this Liev Schrieber directed/written story about a young Jewish American who sets out on a search for the woman who saved his grandfather during WWII from a village that the Nazis razed.

Based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, the protagonist is, in fact, a gentleman named Jonathan Safran Foer. As he journeys on his quest, he is aided by a man named Alex Perchov, who assists the Jonathan by translating the Ukrainian language for him. Also along for the ride are Alex's grandfather, Alex, and a flatulent mutt named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. The group uncovers unsettling facts about Nazi atrocities and the extent of Ukrainian complicity in the horrors that has implications for all of the wanderers.

Believe it or not, the story is actually a comedy, though it also has plenty of dramatic/tragic elements. And since the tale largely focuses on a group of wanderers, hobbit extraordinaire Wood is already naturally suited for the role. With his wide-eyed naïveté, he should be able to portray a man in unfamiliar surroundings with ease. Schrieber's debut looks to be a film that captures some positive attention upon its release from Warner Independent Pictures. (Kim Hollis/BOP)


Wood, Elijah does have the tendency to just 'disappear' from the public eye, doesn't he?
Back on topic, though: Has anyone heard anything about EJW's post-EII projects?

I think that's what we're all waiting for... Is he reading scripts as he's running all over the globe? :z:
Let me join you there, tg. :z:


PS They're showing Flipper on tv this sunday and the review for it in my tv guide is adorable. Clearly written by somebody who is quite smitten by our blue-eyed actor.
PPS Just found out that they're making a movie out of my favourite youth book. The working title of the movie is "Crusade in jeans", based on the book "Kruistocht in spijkerbroek" by Thea Beckman (her books have an historical setting) This book is about a boy (15 or 16 or so) who volunteers to do some time travelling. It's supposed to be quick trip to the past and back, but due to circumstances (IIRC he's attacked by a group of people because he's clearly very odd to them) he misses his 'flight' back and he's stuck in the middle ages and ends up joining a crusade - in jeans.
It's a fantastic book and I hope they don't mess this up! The book is translated in English but I've read on amazon that the translation isn't that good.

The only book I've read from Pratchett is the one co-written with Neil Gaiman: "Good Omens". Great book!
When I first saw that combination of authors, I thought... "Huh??" :confused: But, hey, if it works, it works... :) I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that someone like Gaiman who deals so much with the darker side of the imagination also has a sense of humor--he'd probably need it to survive! But unlike a lot of "dark fantasy" writers, I like what I've seen of Gaiman's work--although he tends to show a dark, dangerous, uncertain world, he doesn't deny the presence of heroism and good within it.

I've read a couple of Pratchett's Discworld books, and found that was enough for me--the humor started getting kind of predictable after awhile. But some people love them all!

Thanks for the write-up from BOP. I hope their "prophecy" ;) that EII will "capture some positive attention" is correct.

But I'm hoping that some day statements about Elijah's acting won't be required to include things like: "...hobbit extraordinaire" and "wide-eyed naïveté" :rolleyes: .

Well,Tg I `m afraid that untill all this movie people can see

realy good acting and realy see how good actor he is, he will
alwayes be the blue- eyed hobbit. It`s realy nothing that hurts
as long as they stop saying that he is naiv!!
And as long it doesen`t hurt Elijah!!!!

He realy shoulde do a movie that knocks them down,but
if the acting in ROTK diden`t i don`t know what movie it should be!!

love/wood

A little OT, but some of you may have already seen the news that it's going to be Sony to acquire MGM, not Time Warner. That could have serious consequences on The Hobbit ever getting made. And in other news, it looks like Pete has slimmed down a bit and started to make some changes to his appearance. Guess he decided that looking "hobbit extraordinaire" was not to his liking afterall!

To keep this just a bit on topic, this past weekend's Lij viewing included The War and the first half of Avalon (I keep seeing the second half, when it's shown on cable, so I wanted to see the beginning parts again). My own heritage is Eastern European Jewish, and I can totally identify with Michael's (actually, Barry Levinson's) family. I had an Uncle Morris who was so like Uncle Gabriel ("You cut the turkey without me??!") that I howl every time I watch this movie. Since we're experiencing a little slack time here, I thought I'd throw out a question to my fellow Lijah pundits -- is there a character that Elijah has played that you especially identify with?

The worrying thing about that Box Office Prophets info is that the site says EII will only be on limited release... :confused:

What exactly does that mean? Just in America? Or only in a few Cinema's?

He realy shoulde do a movie that knocks them down,but
if the acting in ROTK diden`t i don`t know what movie it should be!!

Yes, I'm sure we all remember this scene of "wide-eyed naïveté" :rolleyes: :

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/49c204d0.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/49d204d0.jpg


------Just saw Achila's question. Will have to think about that one. Off the top of my head, I'd say Mikey Carver, but that could change if I give it some more thought. (Actually, I may hold out for Mumbles :p .)

ETA----My goodness, it's busy here considering we don't know anything ;) ----quicksilver, I'm afraid "limited release" can mean just about anything from showing only in NY and LA, to showing on one screen in most cities, like ESOTSM, to showing in "art house" theaters (possibly even outside the US), to just about anything except "now showing everywhere." Hopefully, there will be more specific news as time goes on.

Well i too have to think about that one!!

I have found some pics that maybe i say it again maybe
will change there why of thinking,they are not from ROTK
but still there is no naivitet in his eyes here even if it is from a behind scen!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/bhyank21.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/bhyank22.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/bhyank23.jpg


love/wood

The Hooligans pics:

This may have been discussed at the time, but does it seem to anyone else that they were between takes and Elijah was still at least partially in character? (or else he was really annoyed at the photographer) Are there times when he seems halfway between, and that's where the term "FroLijah" comes from? His expression is consistent with having just had the cr*p beat out of him, which is hopefully makeup. ;)

I had an idea about that movie that nobody can find (Day-O?). Of all the channels in the US, the one most likely to show a movie with Delta Burke is Lifetime. We (at least on this side of the puddle) might consider writing to Lifetime and ask them if they have it in their library or can get it, and would be willing to show it. Whatcha think? It should not be a "letter-writing campaign" - TV is pretty savvy about those by this time (though Sci-Fi *did* bring back Daniel Jackson last year as a result of a massive campaign) - but maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I, too, am anxiously awaiting word about his next project. :::: bouncebouncebounce ::::

~grumpy (of all the things I've lost, it's my mind I miss the most)(It's very annoying that we have to wait till *NEXT YEAR*! to see any of his new stuff!)

I very much apologize for jumping in here after several days and just skimming messages and leaving the following comment. But here it is. Elijah has been working hard. Next project?? Doesn't being rich and famous allow allow a person the luxury to buy some rest time? :D :D Okay, my philosophy of life is surfacing. ;) I truly believe in time over career--- :D :D .

I run away before I get bopped on the head!!! :k (of course my personal interest is that I'd love to see more more more...but practically speaking..I'd love to think the lifestyle buys some siesta time for the hardworking!) ;)

About the recurring critical references to Elijah’s "wide-eyed naïveté" -- tgshaw’s “The Ring is mine!” pictures address that perfectly. Some people apparently weren’t paying attention during LotR! I guess that’s another reason that (as I mentioned in an early post) I felt his performance had been underappreciated. I also remember getting very annoyed with a critic (I think it was in either the UK’s Guardian or Independent) who said that Patrick in ESOTSM seemed like a hobbit who had wandered into the wrong movie. Huh?? (I’m really looking forward to the DVD of that film, since I saw it back before I fell victim to Elijah’s charms.)

Quote from the Locus Online spoof mentioned by tg:

Co-marketing for Escape From the Shire alone will include no less than 72 new action figures, including every attendee of Bilbo's 111th birthday party, as well as the complete Sackville Baggins.
:lol:


Going back several pages to a quote from tgshaw on Bumblebee (book):

I think one reason the nastiness of the whole affair is so hard to spot is that we're seeing it through Barney's totally clueless point-of-view. That's probably why it took someone familiar with more of Cormier's books to catch the parallel (anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it ).

That makes perfect sense.

Added later:

Quote from Achila:

is there a character that Elijah has played that you especially identify with?

At the risk of losing all credibility here, I’m going to say Casey, from The Faculty. Not that I was the “class wuss;” but I was definitely part of the out-crowd, and, I now realize, pretty nerdy. (I was probably lucky not have realized it then!)

Now, if you had asked which of Elijah’s characters I would most like to meet: Frodo, of course; and then Stu.

I find myself giving a lot of thought to Achila's query over which EW role I can identify with.
Immediately I thought it would be Stu..as I grew up in the South and can identify with the fact that we had a tree fort in my neighborhood...thinking about that brought back some great childhood memories.. as I think children today, may have lost the ability to "role play"...instead of using their ability to use their imagination..they sit in front of the TV (my Dad was quite fond of the term...the boob tube).
But thinking about the query even further, I realize the role I really had identification with is Jones Dillon...for many reasons.
I think Jones was a keen observer of human nature...but suffering his own identity crisis. I too, had an imaginary world that I called up almost on a daily basis..It got me through some rough times as a child. I also wrote letters to people but never mailed them....it might have been smarter to have a journal or diary ;) I wish I had kept those letters...they might have given me a greater insight when making some bad decisions as a young woman :z:
You know I really,really liked that movie and only now do I realize why I have such affection for that film....Thanks Achila....I learned something new about my own self today...and that's always good....lots cheaper than a psychiatrist :k

Well grumpy,

I think it is betwen takes and i also think that he is
still in his caracter. For some reson i don`t think he
would show so clear if he was annoyed to anyone! ;)

But that is my thoughts! :rolleyes:

It`s seams like i can`t find any caracter i can identify with,
but i will think again i haven`t seen al movies yet :( :(

Alyon,i too wish him some time of,he surly desurves it!
But not to long!! :lol:


love you all/ wood

Alyon said:Elijah has been working hard. Next project?? Doesn't being rich and famous allow allow a person the luxury to buy some rest time? Okay, my philosophy of life is surfacing. I truly believe in time over career--- .


Alyon, you know how I love your life philosophy, and how I admire your life choices. And yes, I want Elijah to have time to enjoy his personal life.

OTOH, when I don't hear that he's at least "reading scripts" I become anxious that directors are passing him over because they don't see his talent. Or maybe they are afraid the "Skywalker" curse has touched our lad, and think it's contagious! I want to be watching his work for years to come, and I don't want him to fade away. He's far too good for that!

I owe you an e-mail, don't I? I'm gettin to it. My guys have been upgrading my "machine."

Achila, I suppose the character of Elijah's that I identify most with is Sandy, which is maybe why I don't like him much, the sullen part of him I mean. OTOH, the I'm also quite resourceful, and I do rather enjoy that about Sandy. So yeah, I suppose I most identify with Sandy. Odd that! What an interesting question you've posed! :k

ETA: with a large dash of Mikey Carver thrown in!

HUGS to all my faculty sisters,

Honey!

Honeyelf:

For some reson i don`t think Elijah will end up like Mr.Hamlin

Nr One: He hade made so many movies before LOTR
Nr Two: He is the best actor in the world no way that they not gone
see that(not objektiv here i know)
Nr Three: He has many movies going on.

In my hopes i think one day Elijah will get his oscar and will be well
respected wich he very much deserves!!!!! :z:

love/wood

Wood, the rational part of me believes you. The worry wort in me gets carried away. I've never been any good a waiting.

Where's the smiley drumming it's fingers? ;)


Honey!

Honeyelf.

I`m too is a worryed soul when it comes to Elijah!!! :(

Just glade if i can make my fellow sisters feel a little better!
It`s make me feel better too!! :k


love you all/wood

Achila,

Your question isn't an easy one. I don't think I really identify with one character in particular. It'll have to be a combination:
- Michael Kaye in Avalon: not that I come from a family of immigrants. To look for immigrants in my family, you'd have to go back to the French revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte. My family worked for the royal family (gardners) and they had to run from the country (at least, that's how the story was told to me). No, my identification with Michael has to do with the sort of family he has. Warmth but tension at the same time. In my family, there are lots of rather dominant characters (people call me dominant too even if I think that I'm reasonable compared to certain members of my family) and that tends to create tension now and again with arguments over the most silly things (You cut the turkey without me? You CUT the turkey withouth ME???)
- Casey in The Faculty: not that I was the school geek but I wasn't a member of the 'popular' crowd either. I was painfully shy as a kid and that does make you an easy target for bullies (so, I recognise certain things in the movie like the very beginning) but as I got older, I changed because I figured that being a target wasn't my thing. :D I learned to stand up for myself and when I say to people now that I'm still a bit shy, they tend to laugh in disbelief (the dominant side in me had/has problems with the shy side in me)
Casey goes from being the 'geek' to the 'hero'. My change wasn't that dramatic but I do recognise parts of it.

Question with perhaps even a little spoiler about the Faculty:






Was anybody else also a bit disappointed with Casey getting the cool girl in the end? I mean, it's great that he did 'get the girl' but when I first saw it I thought: "come on, Casey. You can do better than her"

or is that just me thinking that?


end spoiler and silly remark


- Mikey in The Ice Storm: this has to do with Mikey's apparent view on things and the way he seems to interact with things and people in his environment.



. Elijah has been working hard. Next project?? Doesn't being rich and famous allow allow a person the luxury to buy some rest time?
Agreed!
But, still...while he's on a much deserved break, I still hope that people send him good scripts and that a couple of really great opportunities turn up.
It's so great having to look forward to new projects. At this moment, there are no big or small new movies he's signed up for (not that we know anyway) and this tends to make me very curious about the direction he's going to take and even a bit nervous (Is he getting the sort of scripts he likes or is the vast majority of the offers boring, bland and predictable? Just one golden opportunity...that's all I'm asking. :p )
Silly, I know but there you have it. :)

De-lurking to rise to answer Achila's question, now that you are done with the Bumblebees movie which I have never seen. :)

From Achila:

Is there a character that Elijah has played that you especially identify with?

Two; perhaps at the same time. Note: my perception of these characters (or any characters) is highly coloured by my own projections, I am sure. But I will try to give an honest answer.

1. Mikey in The Ice Storm, is the strongest identification. I warmed to him right away, sensing a similarity in the way he seems to perceive and think, which seems out of sinc with those around him. I thought I recognized in him a tendency to become totally engrossed in immediate perception, alternated with a launching off into intense, sometimes very remote reverie, which made use of all this perceiving. It took years, maybe decades under the tutelage of my adamantly "SJ" parents to learn to behave in a way that worked better for interacting in real life. The gift of a Mikey, though, is a capacity for wonder, for aesthetic awe. Another "gift" perhaps, which is the flip side of his greatest liability, detachment, is the way he seems able to find respite within himself, through his imaginative world. His desires are mental and aesthetic and can be fulfilled in this realm.

2. Patrick in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the other character to whom I most respond. Watching the film, even though I knew he was a pathetic, geeky character, I think I couldn't hate him because I identified with his desperate sort of neediness to connect with others, a desperate desire that made him willing to do foolish, even dishonest things to attain what he couldn't have -- and probably couldn't receive anyway -- because he is too odd and too desperate. What if Kate Winslet had responded to him? What would he have done? That would have lasted less than five minutes, unless she actually loved him, to help him respond in a fruitful way. And why would she ever do that? -- for he was a difficult character to love. But the gift of a Patrick (to me) is precisely this drive to connect, which Mikey doesn't have. This strong impulse of Patrick's, in me, has made me able to learn to conform enough to get along in life and develop real relationships with other people. If I only had the Mikey side, purely fantasy relationships would have sufficed. But Patrick's desires are emotional and bodily cannot be fulfilled in a fantasy world, only in real life.

- Casey in The Faculty: not that I was the school geek but I wasn't a member of the 'popular' crowd either. I was painfully shy as a kid and that does make you an easy target for bullies (so, I recognise certain things in the movie like the very beginning) but as I got older, I changed because I figured that being a target wasn't my thing.
Thinking about this, I can identify very well with Casey at the age he is in the movie, because it was probably right around that age that I started to change, thanks in large part to one teacher, who I thanked some years later--he was surprised that he'd had such an impact. A new thought at this moment--he also had some impact on a few of the kids on the "other side," which probably helped me more than I realized at the time. I was never part of the "popular crowd," but I did have a few friends in it by the time I graduated from high school, and they were ones who'd been influenced by him. -- I think those of us on "both sides" learned from him to do what was important to us, and be who we wanted to be, without worrying about how it was seen.

But IMHO Casey's a geek in the positive sense of the term, too, focusing his curiosity on interesting things and following up on them, and hopefully I've kept that part :p . Going from high school to college was a huge liberation for me, because all of a sudden I was surrounded by people who saw learning as an important part of life, instead of that attitude being "uncool" (I didn't identify with the football player character in The Faculty, but I really felt for him when his girlfriend responded as she did to his decision to concentrate more on his studies.)

Mikey in The Ice Storm: this has to do with Mikey's apparent view on things and the way he seems to interact with things and people in his environment.
Edit:Simulposted with Mechtild, so I'd written the following before I read her comments on Mikey. Ditto--somewhat of a more extreme focus than Casey's. To the extent of people sometimes looking at you funny and saying, "Huh?" Been there :p -- Now if I could take that and throw in Wendy's political views, I'd just about have myself in 1973 :) . The one aspect of Mikey that I don't identify with is those moments that the script called "white noise" when he blanks out from everything going on around him. I was--and remain--a klutz, though; I can certainly see myself pouring wine all over someone's lap :p .

That leads me to thinking of Jones learning to uncork wine bottles. One thing that Mikey and Jones had in common (and even Casey, now that I think about it) was having to teach themselves how to deal with life, and if I had to pick one defining thing about my growing-up years it could very well be that. Even though my parents were "there," there wasn't any "parental involvement." Jones with his wine bottles reminds me very much of me trying to learn how to do "sociably necessary" things.



Question with perhaps even a little spoiler about the Faculty:






Was anybody else also a bit disappointed with Casey getting the cool girl in the end? I mean, it's great that he did 'get the girl' but when I first saw it I thought: "come on, Casey. You can do better than her"

or is that just me thinking that?


end spoiler and silly remark


Faculty spoiler continued




Yeah, even the first time I saw the movie I hoped it was just a phase... and it very well might be. She'll probably get bored and dump him pretty soon, and with his new-found confidence he'll find someone better. Maybe because she was "taken over" so soon, IMHO she didn't seem to change as much as the other kids did; I didn't see anything from her in that last scene that said she wasn't still pretty shallow (except that she evidently didn't mind her lipstick getting messed up ;) ). Casey's become "cool" now, so the fact that she doesn't mind being seen with him doesn't really mean anything.

The first time I saw the movie I was hoping Casey would end up with the science fiction fan (can't think of her name, although it's on the tip of my brain). He seemed to have some real affection for her, especially when she wakes up after it's all over.





End Faculty spoilers



...and this tends to make me very curious about the direction he's going to take and even a bit nervous (Is he getting the sort of scripts he likes or is the vast majority of the offers boring, bland and predictable? Just one golden opportunity...that's all I'm asking. :p )
I'm hoping that a big part of the "problem" ;) is that he's being very, very picky, which he can now afford to be. I'd rather see him occasionally in great movies than more often in "okay ones" (especially since I can always watch the great ones over and over while waiting :p ).

Thanks to all for taking a shot at my little question -- some very interesting and thoughtful answers!

Thought I'd show you this -- apparently, Sean Astin's book is already available in places (won't be released here until Oct/Nov), and this was posted on an LJ by someone in the UK. There were several other pics with Lij in them -- none great quality but all very cute. Her LJ name is salogel42, if anyone has the desire to see the rest.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aquila0212/seansbook05.jpg




ETA: Sorry for the shorthand -- LJ is indeed live journal -- livejournal.com. Since many are much higher rated that PG-13, I didn't provide a link. To get to an individual LJ owner, you need the following: www.livejournal.com/users/, then plug their name into the URL after the slash.

Hallo!!

I must ask you something!
All this Lj you are talking about i guess it is livejournal
or something but were to find them?

Not just over here i have seen this its poping up on other places to
little questien from little me!! ;)

love/wood

Achila, I honestly think that's the first time I've seen a picture that's partly Elijah and partly Frodo--instead of 100% one or the other. Almost as if he's trying to be Frodo, but can't because he's doing something he knows Frodo wouldn't do. V-e-r-y interesting from an Elwood acting research angle :) . Maybe a hint of what Elijah's Frodo might have been like if he didn't have that gift for becoming the character?

And, yes, your "little question" :) has brought some interesting reflections. It's probably one we should ask every six months or so.

Thanks Achila for the help!! :k

Intresting thought about that picture Tg,as alwayes!!

love/wood

But IMHO Casey's a geek in the positive sense of the term, too, focusing his curiosity on interesting things and following up on them.

Yes, indeed...very recognisable for me too. I sometimes seemed to have a different view on things than the 'popular' crowd and that was the cause of a couple of conflicts. In discussing things, it was enough to just make one 'odd' remark to get them going.
Now, in the period when I was really too shy for my own good, I just tried to hide and disappear (not to attract their attention). The problem is that I never succeeded in the 'disappearing' act. I have a friend who's very good at that - getting lost in a crowd but I can't do that. So, the popular crowd reacted to me anyway.
Even these days, in boring reunions where I try to hide myself - I can't do it. Somehow, when people talk, they have the tendency to look straight into my eyes with me wishing that they would look at the eyes of the person sitting next to me.
So, in a group of friends, when a stranger comes up to us to have a talk about some serious matter, they tend to focus on me. Which is no big problem unless they approach us to have a complaint and then it gets annoying with lots of friends behind me grinning and laughing (because they know that this tends to happen to me).
My friend says that I can't do the 'disappearing' act largely due to my eyes. They're rather big and full of life - she says - and that's usually an attention grabber.
When I was a kid, people noticed my eyes constantly. My mum's and my favourite teacher's nicknames for me had to do with my eyes although they're nowhere near as special as Elijah's eyes. My eyes are still rather big but it's not such a big feature anymore in my adult face. Somehow, they have remained a big feature in Elijah's face. :)


To the extent of people sometimes looking at you funny and saying, "Huh?" Been there :p
Yep! I know the feeling.
After you've said something...you get the 'Huh?" look on lots of faces. When I was in my shy period, that was enough to make me cringe and mentally kick myself ("now, see what you've done").
These days, I just see this as the start of a potentially good conversation.



Achila,

Does that LJ from Salogel have many spoilers from the book? I placed my order when I ordered my copy of the ESOTSM DVD and I want to be suprised by the book (or the movie...tried to stay away from spoilers there too)

Achila,

Does that LJ from Salogel have many spoilers from the book? I placed my order when I ordered my copy of the ESOTSM DVD and I want to be suprised by the book (or the movie...tried to stay away from spoilers there too)


Nope -- she just got it and hasn't even had a chance to do anything with it except scan the pics. There was one pretty stupid comment she got from someone, asking if there were other pics and whether or not it was worth it to buy it (i.e., just for the pictures). My thought is that Sean's book will be very interesting, especially from "our" point of view. But many know Sean's story so my guess is that it won't be that eye-opening.

ETA: Just checked on Amazon -- US release date is Oct 14.

But many know Sean's story so my guess is that it won't be that eye-opening.
Yes, that's probably true.

Still, I don't want to read too many bits of it or read opinions because that'll give you the impression of having read most of the book before you even get the chance to start reading page one.

Btw, didn't I read somewhere that Sean plans to write several books and that the more interesting stories (= how the various actors relate to each other) are going to end up in his second book?

I very much apologize for jumping in here after several days and just skimming messages and leaving the following comment. But here it is. Elijah has been working hard. Next project?? Doesn't being rich and famous allow allow a person the luxury to buy some rest time? :D :D Okay, my philosophy of life is surfacing. ;) I truly believe in time over career--- :D :D .

I run away before I get bopped on the head!!! :k (of course my personal interest is that I'd love to see more more more...but practically speaking..I'd love to think the lifestyle buys some siesta time for the hardworking!) ;)

Rest time?!? For a 23 year old? *Is* there such a thing!? Shocking! Horrible! :eek: He should be chained to a camera and be forced to work year-round! (and I have some lovely seaside property in the Florida panhandle for sale this week - wanna buy some? ;) )

The "rest time" seems to be when he disappears from our sight between projects (*), and it is, of course, assumed that he is entitled to his privacy, which is why I'm on this forum and not on others.

However, from his work over the past year, especially since he's probably been pretty restricted in the past few years because of LotR obligations, even after he was done filming, he seems to be making sun while the hay shines (or something). I wouldn't doubt that he'll make a fair number of very interesting, if small, movies over the next few years, if for no other reason than to establish himself as an adult actor without big hairy feet. So I say again:
I can't wait to hear about his next project!!! :::: bouncebouncebounce ::::

Re: being "rich" - compared to the Big Stars, EW is probably not "rich". He (hopefully) makes more than most of us per year, but then, his work (hopefully) makes millions for those who make the movies and provides jobs for lots of people. Also, because the work is sporadic at best, an actor gets paid on an irregular basis, in a lump, so it's skewed.

~grumpy
(*) this reminds me of an interview where the interviewer said that The One Lad closed his eyes briefly during the interview, and it was like the lights went out.

I totally agree with you Grumpy!!!!!!!

I to whant to hear about his next prodject!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, were can i find that interview,please!!!

Oh, one more thing how can i change colour and sice in the text
i have tryed but don`t know what to write instead of textprompt
what on earth is that????????

love/wood

...he seems to be making sun while the hay shines (or something).
:D Actually, he seems to, doesn't he :D --per the following?
...this reminds me of an interview where the interviewer said that The One Lad closed his eyes briefly during the interview, and it was like the lights went out.
So, Elijah makes the sun, and everybody else makes hay :p :
...but then, his work (hopefully) makes millions for those who make the movies and provides jobs for lots of people.
See, it all fits together. ;)

I wouldn't doubt that he'll make a fair number of very interesting, if small, movies over the next few years, if for no other reason than to establish himself as an adult actor without big hairy feet.
And those "very interesting" movies aren't always easy to find. But IIRC, he said one reason he keeps acting is that if you keep looking long enough, you find them. (He also seems to be recovering a bit from LotR overload, as he originally said he wouldn't want to do another "blockbuster" type movie, but recently said if the role was interesting enough he'd take it.)

Re: being "rich" - compared to the Big Stars, EW is probably not "rich". He (hopefully) makes more than most of us per year, but then, his work (hopefully) makes millions for those who make the movies and provides jobs for lots of people. Also, because the work is sporadic at best, an actor gets paid on an irregular basis, in a lump, so it's skewed.
I know PJ gets a nice percentage of all the LotR income, but I don't know about the actors. That wouldn't be unheard of, especially in a project with a big risk involved ("Okay, we can't pay you much now, but if the movie makes any money, we'll give you 0.0xx% of the profits," or some such thing). I have a hunch there's something of the sort, just because of Sean A's story of finding out his wife was pregnant on FotR opening night--he did seem to believe his finances were dependent on whether the movie was a hit or a flop. IIRC, there's also some kind of a "cut" from the action figures to those they're supposedly made in the likeness of. So, although he's not in the same league as, say, Julia Roberts, I hope Elijah has enough steady income that he can wait for roles he really wants to do (and Julia Roberts has never been an action figure :haha: ).

I know PJ gets a nice percentage of all the LotR income, but I don't know about the actors. That wouldn't be unheard of, especially in a project with a big risk involved ("Okay, we can't pay you much now, but if the movie makes any money, we'll give you 0.0xx% of the profits," or some such thing). I have a hunch there's something of the sort, just because of Sean A's story of finding out his wife was pregnant on FotR opening night--he did seem to believe his finances were dependent on whether the movie was a hit or a flop.


Well, basically, everything hinged on FOTR being a success. The other two films would have gone straight to video, buried New Line, and probably Pete along with it. Whether it would've doomed the actors to anonymity is anyone's guess but luckily, we'll never have to know that (shudders).

After the success of the first two movies, New Line gave them bonuses, and of course, there were all those stories a year or so ago about Viggo fighting for their honors (how kingly!). So while none of them got excessively "fat" on LOTR in terms of straight salaries, they certainly did very well after the fact. And you can't discount the obvious bonus of having this trilogy on your resume -- can you, Orlando? :)

And here's another new pic from Sean's book:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aquila0212/seansbook15.jpg

Is there anyone who knows if this book will be
realest worldwide!! If it does come over here i just have
to add that one to my little collection!!

Orlando: Well i guess i`m belong with the few who dosen`t
get exatited when people are talking about him,well fair enough
he hade done some pretty good stuff after lotr,but nothing i will buy
becuse he is init.Well it comes ,maybe,with the time he is rather new in this game isen`t he?? Don`t knock me down!Thats just mine opinion!! :k :k

love/wood

Well, basically, everything hinged on FOTR being a success.
I'm surprised we didn't all turn blue holding our collective breath until that first weekend was over :eek: ! Even the big opening night wasn't quite enough to calm all fan-fears.

Well i can edmit that i trough my self over all the
magasin to see what they wore writing!!!

And then i came ín the stat of mind that i was on the net all the time.
but not as much as i am know when i have found this lovely place :k :k

love/wood

Hi, for those of you that might just happening to be coming back to our beautiful city of Seattle, or visiting for the first time, over Halloween weekend, please check out this thread :)

RingCon Is Coming! (http://www.khazaddum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=253115#post253115)

Would love to have you! Please PM me for any questions/further info.

EvFrodo

tgshaw said:

But IMHO Casey's a geek in the positive sense of the term, too, focusing his curiosity on interesting things and following up on them, and hopefully I've kept that part . Going from high school to college was a huge liberation for me, because all of a sudden I was surrounded by people who saw learning as an important part of life

Oh, I can identify with that! I spent my teens writing what was meant to be an epic historical novel set during the American Revolution, and listening to opera, and exploring odd topics that caught my fancy. All of this was considered extremely weird in my blah suburban high school. And I had the same feeling as you, when I went to college: all of a sudden, I was with people who were like me, and who understood what drove me.

And I agree that Stokeley (the sci-fi fan) would be the best match for Casey.

As for Elijah’s future projects, I’m like honeyelf in that I sometimes worry about his career running of steam because he gets overlooked. But I think his versatility – he really is a character actor – should at least keep him going with leads in smaller movies and independent films. I'd like to see him do some comedy, and some more extrovert roles; and get away from ingenue-geek. He's still very young, and I think it will be fascinating to see what directions he does go in.

Thanks for the invitation, Ev, although I don't think I'll be coming :( . But I wanted to add how much I like Peter Beagle's writing--fiction or otherwise. He wrote an Introduction to LotR that was part of the "boxed set" Hobbit/LotR for years, although I don't know if it's still being used. Fiction-wise, he doesn't write as many books as some fantasy authors [ ;) ;) per recent discussion of Mr. No Initials and Company :p ] but the ones he does write are wonderful--and each one very different from the others (I think he's written two somewhat-related books).

And I want to borrow part of Ev's sig to bring up another totally unfounded theory I've been mulling over :p :
"Frodo dragged himself to that point and failed. And another power intervened. He ultimately surrenders to that power at the end of this movie, which is one of the most beautiful moments in the movie."--Phillippa Boyens, LOTR screenwriter

I was watching Frodo throughout that last scene again recently, and am wondering if perhaps he didn't know for sure if he was going to be leaving (in the movie). He looks as if he's watching for a sign from someone--Gandalf or one of the Elves? He looks down twice, once just after the Elves have gone onto the ship, then again after Gandalf turns and starts walking away, almost as if he's realizing he's being left behind. Gandalf's "It is time," would have a deeper meaning than it does in the book, where Frodo already knows that it is time for him to leave Middle-earth. (Somehow I can't imagine Frodo running down the wharf shouting, "Wait! I'm coming, too!")

And a brief aside--IMHO the hobbits don't know Gandalf is leaving, either, but think they're just there to see Bilbo off. That would make even more sense since he's standing behind them most of the time instead of by the boat, and since their tears don't start until he says good-bye. But that's book canon, while the same situation with Frodo wouldn't be.

I don't think Frodo was surprised by Gandalf's call. He seems to know that he might be leaving, or he wouldn't have been watching for a sign--and wouldn't have brought the Red Book with him. OTOH, his tenderness with Bilbo in the cart would be even more touching if Frodo thought it might be their last time together.

The whole idea of invitation might be one reason to play things this way. We know from Frodo's words to Bilbo that it's a "special honor" to be given a place on the ship (and that line is added almost awkwardly, IMVHO, so the screenwriters apparently considered it important to get it in there). In the book, Frodo really receives an "invitation" when Arwen gives him her jewel (although Tolkien says he didn't completely understand it at that point). Also in the book, Frodo and Elrond have long talks at Rivendell that we're not privvy to, when the Travelers stop on their way back to the Shire, and it seems Elrond used that occasion to talk about leaving. We don't have either of those events in the movie, but if it's a "special honor," we need to see it being offered to him, which is what Gandalf does when he calls him and holds out his hand. I'm wondering if those enigmatic looks on Frodo's face as he's walking toward Gandalf (which we've talked about before) aren't what Phillippa refers to as his "surrender" at the end of the movie. I think there's something more going on than "just holding hands" when Gandalf holds out his hand and Frodo takes it. It seems like an offer, and the acceptance of that offer.

------------

And, also from that scene, here's a question for "old-timers" :) . Watch Frolijah's eyes change from the first pic below to the second. Really looks to me as if in the second picture he's gone into a "real smile"--the kind that can't be faked, because some of the muscles around the eyes that are involved aren't under conscious control. Anyone remember that bit from the micro-expression research (the real research , that is, ;) not ours :p )?

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/5d6204d0.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/5d7204e0.jpg

And if anyone wants to look at the pics I was talking about above, they're towards the bottom of page 10 and the top of page 11 in this month's RotK "tour"--here's a link to page 10: http://www.frodolivesin.us/RotK/id31.htm

Simulposted with Pelagia--Oh, yes, Stokeley--thanks. I knew there was a one-syllable nickname Casey called her sometimes, and now can say it was "Stokes". :)

Wonderful post, tg. And I can never see those caps often enough! My apologies to anyone who posted before if I seem to be ignoring--I have not had time to read all the way back yet, but I did want to respond to something that tg said before I forgot.

I'm quite sure film Frodo knew quite well he was leaving with Bilbo. He brought the Red Book with him as a special token to give to Sam.

But I do sense some hesitation there, when Gandalf begins to walk away. To me it's as if Frodo is thinking, "Wait! You mean I have to tell them *myself*?" And then there's relief, mixed with all the sweet sorrow, when Gandalf turns back to say "It is time" and gives him the opening he was waiting for.

I think it's very much in his gentle, tactful nature not to have wanted to start that last painful conversation himself, the poor thing.

(And Mechtild thinks I don't swoon! She just doesn't recognize it when I do. ;) )