Moondancer, Thank you so much for the link to Marea's interview with EW on West of the Moon. It was lovely. I'm so glad she asked him about the tatoo of morgul blade wound he has talked abou getting. I liked his answer along the lines of wanting something for himself. That it was for Frodo a wound that would never heal--and for him it would be a reminder that he would always have Lord of the Rings...

Is this Marea the same woman who interviewed Elijah after the charades benefit several months ago?? The one who talked about Elijah glowing?? As in a light for those who can see it?? I can't remember...but it seems as if I recall her name.

I've only had a chance to skim the last few days...so maybe someone has already asked that....

All of this talk about Lord of the Rings the book having had mostly male fans is puzzling to me. I guess I wasn't aware of the broader perception because a lot of my girlfriends in highschool read and loved it. I never knew we weren't supposed to ;) I don't get why anyone would think women wouldn't like it. Maybe because it was one of the books you could get young guys to read, and they may not be as broad in their reading choices as women. So it was placed on the "boys reading" side of the list, ignoring the fact that girls liked it, too. (I know, talking to a teacher a few years ago, that there was a perception that girls are interested in "girl" and "boy" stories, whereas boys only like "boy centric" stories. So in reading to a class teachers used to choose the boy centric stories knowing that the girls would also like them. Not very fair or healthy. Hope that has changed!!)

Oh!! And nice to see you again, CandyGirl!! :) :)

Thank you so much for the link to Marea's interview with EW on West of the Moon. It was lovely. I'm so glad she asked him about the tatoo of morgul blade wound he has talked abou getting. I liked his answer along the lines of wanting something for himself. That it was for Frodo a wound that would never heal--and for him it would be a reminder that he would always have Lord of the Rings...

Is this Marea the same woman who interviewed Elijah after the charades benefit several months ago?? The one who talked about Elijah glowing?? As in a light for those who can see it?? I can't remember...but it seems as if I recall her name.
I'm not 100% sure but I think it's the same Marea, Alyon.

I also liked Marea's question about the second tattoo. So many people now have asked him about the Fellowship tattoo he has and some asked him if he would want another tattoo. In his answer, he has talked about it but I always wondered why he would want a tattoo of a scar. So, I was glad to see Marea's question (not that it's that important but it's still interesting to read).

That question of 'pure evil' was also great and a topic that fascinates me. Does 'pure evil' exist? Personally, I don't think so. People can reach moments of pure evil but I don't believe that a person can be evil through and through.
And....like Elijah says, there are always different sides to every story and it's important to try and take the other side(s) into consideration.

That 'charades benefit' report of Marea is also very beautiful, isn't it?
Here's a snippit from that report (also on the 'west of the moon' site):
You know those images of Frodo’s face we have all seen on screen over and over... in scenes by firelight at Bag End or after Moria or in Lorien when encountering Galadriel... that "glow"? That aura of otherworldliness and Elvishness so beautiful to see that your eyes automatically get drawn into a hobbit face that looks like something out of Raphael or Caravaggio or one of the other Renaissance masters' paintings?.

Well.. of COURSE that is a creation of special effects (makeup, lighting, camera angles, digital enhancements). But it was during the late evening on Monday September 29th 2003 when I realized that these special effects amounted to... at best... 1/3 of the effect.

But… as for the rest... at solid 2/3 of it… Folks… that is simply Elijah.

:o that's an embarrassment smilie???
posted by serena
strč prst skrz krk
A sentence without vowels? How cool! :cool:

Before I forget... :) ...Welcome back, CandyGirl!

from Moondancer
the structure of the story is more typically male. It's got a complicated, vertical storyline ... He thought that woman prefered a horizontal storyline.
Ouch! Moondancer, I don't think I'd be doing your brother-in-law justice if I remotely touched this quote. (Sigmund Freud, stop pestering me!)

My sad story is the same as Alyon's. No one told me I was not supposed to love the book -- and I devoured it voraciously! And while we're talking movie vs. book, there are a lot of things that are not perfect for me in the movie. I find the book a tremendous comfort. So I do enjoy the movie for the spectacular scenery (two-legged or other), but the book will always be closest to my heart.

Are there really "boy stories" and "girl stories"? *shudders* When I was growing up, back in the days before movable type, I read everything -- adventure stories, animal stories, lots of fantasy (hello, Jungle Books!). I never had the remotest idea I was so "male" in my thinking. Whenever I see statements like this, I think of that book tour I took in Ireland, where one Irish author was stunned that we in America divide our books into *gasp* children vs. adult. She thought that was the most outrageous thing she'd ever heard. Aren't books meant to be enjoyed by anyone who's interested in the topic, regardless of age? The memory of that conversation always brings me cheer.

*waves to CandyGirl*

Heads up, gals! The May 21 Entertainment Weekly, Page 13. A pic and a quick mention of Elijah as the star of "Everything's Illuminated." And yes, he's playing Jonathan. :)

Hey again, CandyGirl. :) I envy those who can draw! Thanks for sharing.My favourite scene from the movie, this (http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cpsings4him2002/detail?.dir=/2f83&.dnm=951b.jpg)

I always knew LOTR was a boys' story so I always reacted with over-geeky (and no doubt scary) eagerness to any girlfriend who even acknowledged the existence of the books. :p I did look at books as boys' stories or girls' stories, with me reading mostly the former and very few of the latter. But that's just because my older brother was the one with the cash to buy books. I simply read whatever he had, so I grew up reading boys' books, basically. I don't know nothing about being analytical, and half the time I never understood Tolkien's war plans anyway, it was Frodo and the other hobbits that I was paying attention to. ;) Then again, I never had a problem with needing to understand what I'm reading, if you get my meaning. Which is why I can read the Patrick O'Brian novels that the movie Master and Commander was based on - I've read eight books now, still can't tell squat 'bout one mast or sail or the next, but what matters is that my characters are there for me and the stories are well-written: the characters' emotions inform me about whatever war tactics are working or not working for any particular manly battle. :)

As for message boards, I agree with tg and mel. I occasionally pop into a couple of movie message boards that are dominated by guys. I didn't follow any LOTR talk (too close to my heart; I didn't want to be getting riled up for any of the wrong reasons if they didn't agree with my opinions :p) but I keep up with current movie topics. Guys may get obsessed about Kiera Knightley in leather (and even less leather :D ) in the upcoming 'King Arthur', but they don't seem to have a great need to thrash things out character-wise, or acting-wise. Not to say they won't - there are posts that go in-depth on characterisations too - just that the guys seem happy to express their eagerness for less leather and then move on. :D

...So I do enjoy the movie for the spectacular scenery (two-legged or other), but the book will always be closest to my heart.
...Ditto, ditto. What I'm grateful for from the movies (besides the scenery) is showing me some sides of the characters I hadn't thought of before. One reason I prefer the theatrical edition version of the Lothlorien scenes to the extended edition's is PJ's "perilous elves"--I hadn't really thought of elves that way before, but as soon as I saw them on-screen, I thought--of course they'd have that element to them: they are perilous! I love snooty Haldir and distant Galadriel. (And, a bit OT, but the TE version of what happens at Lothlorien--regarding Frodo in particular--is much truer to the book, IMHO. It was Frodo who was expected. Haldir's eye-flash straight at Frodo as he says "Come. She is waiting." :cool: is spot on. The Fellowship not being allowed to enter because of Frodo would make absolutely no sense in the book, although I do realize it gives movie-Frodo one more thing to blame himself for :rolleyes: .)

And I've said before that what Elijah's Frodo does for me is show me the "inner Frodo"--what Frodo would have been feeling, even though in many situations he wouldn't have felt free to show it outwardly. I think Elijah's emotional acting at those times is subtle enough to somehow let me keep the sense that I'm seeing what's happening "inside" rather than outer emotional displays--even though, of course, all we can actually experience is the outward emotional displays--if that makes any sense. I still can't think of anyone else who could have done that as well as he did.

So, yes, if I didn't know the story (and back story) and characters from the book, I'd still think these were great movies, but they wouldn't have had nearly the effect on me that they've had. If I didn't already love Frodo, I wouldn't care nearly as much about seeing the part of him that Elijah taps into.

Are there really "boy stories" and "girl stories"? *shudders* When I was growing up, back in the days before movable type, I read everything -- adventure stories, animal stories, lots of fantasy (hello, Jungle Books!). I never had the remotest idea I was so "male" in my thinking.
When it comes to reading, I've been a human vacuum cleaner since I was three (I originally put that in past tense... :p ). And with two older brothers and two older sisters, to say nothing of parents who were both teachers but in different fields, there was a pretty eclectic collection of books to be grabbed around the house :) . There was only one occasion when I was lying on the floor reading that my mother saw the book and exclaimed, "Don't tell anyone you're reading that!" but she didn't tell me not to read it ;) . And she said that because of the "age level" of the book, not because it was a boys' book (which, actually, thinking back, it was). I was in first grade at the time.

...where one Irish author was stunned that we in America divide our books into *gasp* children vs. adult. She thought that was the most outrageous thing she'd ever heard. Aren't books meant to be enjoyed by anyone who's interested in the topic, regardless of age? The memory of that conversation always brings me cheer.
Tolkien would absolutely agree--he talks about this quite a bit in "On Fairy-stories," especially regarding how fantasy shouldn't be considered just for children--which it pretty much was until LotR. Interesting, though, that from what he says, the separation between books for children and for adults was very strongly practiced in the English culture that he knew--so it wasn't just an American thing. Maybe the Irish have a particular insight there :) , or maybe the folks on the other side of the pond have gone further in correcting the problem than we have.

Guys may get obsessed about Kiera Knightley in leather (and even less leather ) in the upcoming 'King Arthur', but they don't seem to have a great need to thrash things out character-wise, or acting-wise.
:D I just heard a female commentator say she was looking forward to seeing Troy because of "all the action... and Brad Pitt in a skirt." :D

MM--Thanks for the head's up on Entertainment Weekly. :) That's one I don't usually think to look at. Especially glad that it talks about Everything Is Illuminated.

So, yes, if I didn't know the story (and back story) and characters from the book, I'd still think these were great movies, but they wouldn't have had nearly the effect on me that they've had. If I didn't already love Frodo, I wouldn't care nearly as much about seeing the part of him that Elijah taps into.

I think that brings up the idea that there are all types and levels of "fans". I'm sure that's true of most things but seems particularly striking to me in this fandom. There are people who'd never read the book, never even heard of it, who became enchanted with M-E because of the films and went in search of the original source material. There are people who never read the book, etc., who loved the movies and still have not read the book. There are the "teenybopper"-type fans who have become fixated on one or more of the hunky stars and don't care about Frodo's internal struggle so much as how cute he looked in the curly wig (and oh yes, oh my, he surely did ;) ). At the other end of the spectrum are the purist fans, who've read the book many many times and hate the films because they don't view them as worthy adaptations (i.e., any change to the canon was an unpardonable sin on PJ's part). And there are probably permutations of fans I can't even begin to think of.

But then there are fans like many of the folks here, who can blissfully go on and on about the tiniest subtlety in character and acting because they loved Frodo before and are entranced with Elijah's portrayal of him (to the point that they have, in turn, become entranced with Elijah's talent). That's the category that I fall into. I read the book 25 years ago and loved every second of it and it stayed with me for the most part (I have an 11 year-old iguana named Frodo), but I never read it again until after the release of Fellowship. I never knew anyone else who read the book -- I picked up the fascination for M-E from Rankin and Bass' Hobbit cartoon.

What kind of astounded me when I saw Fellowship for the first time is just how well I remembered it, not having read it for many years. Don't know why I didn't ever go back and read it again -- I just didn't. So perhaps I was less of a purist than many, and according to PJ, I was more indicative of the typical fan the films were geared towards -- someone who hadn't read the book 10 minutes ago, but rather 10 years ago (which is the type of fan Pete is, I seem to recall him saying).

I've been back several pages and did I miss a link to an interview? Something about "West of the Moon"? What's this about another tattoo? :::: scrambling desperately to keep up ::::

~grumpy (:::: sigh ::::)(chores await, and Gandalf the Grey rides to Isengard, seeking - er - um - never mind :D)

There was no link, zkgrumpy (it's not a safe link to post here) but I'll send you the link through PM.



PS and totally off topic: I'm watching the Eurovision song contest on tv at the moment. Tacky, funny outfits, silly choreography, not one good song in the entire show...but fun to watch.
:D
and the voting is the best: nothing to do with the songs itself, but mostly political.

I think that brings up the idea that there are all types and levels of "fans". I'm sure that's true of most things but seems particularly striking to me in this fandom.
IMHO, one of Tolkien's greatest talents--especially in LotR--was the ability to write a story that could be read on so many different levels and from so many different angles. And I think it's something PJ was quite successful in carrying over to the movies. There's always enough information given that the story can be understood and enjoyed on first reading/viewing, but also things that make the reader/viewer very aware that there's more going on here than is immediately obvious. For some people that simply serves to make the story itself more interesting and realistic. For others ( :o ) it starts a lifelong search to find out more and dig deeper.

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

Regarding the "unlinked to" interview :p , would it be possible for someone to give just a quick statement on what Elijah said about the tattoo? I haven't heard him mention it since just after shooting finished (before FotR was released), and thought maybe the idea had gone by the wayside since he's gotten somewhat out of the emotional loop of channeling Frodo. Was this a recent interview? If so, is he still thinking of getting it?

[zkg--Early on, Elijah said he wanted to get a tattoo of the scar where Frodo's knife wound was, as he felt Frodo would always be a part of him and that wound would never have completely healed. So it's not a matter of you not keeping up, ;) but of a reversion to a topic that's 2-3 years old.]

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

Just took a minute's break there to do something that's had me blessing Mikey Carver for the last couple of months :p . Don't know if anyone remembers a l-o-n-g time ago when I brought a bottle of air freshener back from my mom's because I thought the label was funny--it reminded me so much of Mikey :) ! The label says that "the odor causing substance is attacked on a molecular level..." I just had the stuff sitting in the cupboard until I got a new neighbor who uses so much garlic it makes me nauseated. I mean, I like garlic, but this is :eek: :eek: !! [Edit: Oh, and I see those new "eek" faces give just the right effect :p ] It permeates at least two floors of the building, so it's hard to find the source in order to ask them to tone it down a bit, or open a window, or something. But after the first few bouts of this, lo and behold I remembered my bottle of "Aspen Aire Odor Eliminator." And I'll be danged if the stuff doesn't actually work! I just finished today's spraying. Thanks, Mikey :D !

Regarding the "unlinked to" interview :p , would it be possible for someone to give just a quick statement on what Elijah said about the tattoo?

Here's the 'second tattoo' statement:
Marea: You were once quoted as saying that you were considering getting a second tattoo… not the Fellowship tattoo but a simple line …a mark on your shoulder….

Elijah Wood (nodding): The scar from Frodo’s wound… yes…

Marea: Well...the first tattoo that you all got together was obviously all about bonding with fellow cast members…. but what would be the reasoning behind you getting the second?

Elijah Wood (pausing): Oh…just to have my own…because the Fellowship tattoo was all about the nine of us who had grown so close.

The idea behind getting a Frodo-specific tattoo was mainly because this wound that Frodo gets from the Nazgul - from the Morgul blade - would never heal. It never heals.

So there was this idea in my mind that this would be interesting… because just as Frodo would have a wound that would never heal, so also this movie - this experience - will be one that will be with me for the rest of my life. And so this [tattoo] would become in the same way symbolic of my own experience.

I think there must have been three of us simulposting there. :) Thanks to Moondancer and Mel. My original post is still here:

Moondancer, do you have any idea when that interview was? What Elijah says there is exactly what he was saying 2-3 years ago. He does use "was" in this snippet, which makes it sound as if it's no longer something he's thinking of doing. Is that what you understood from the interview? I'm just trying to put a timeframe on it.

When exactly?

At the beginning of her report, Marea writes this:
"On the weekend of January 10, 2004, I found myself in the lobby of the Lincoln Center feeling supremely lucky"

Edit: a couple of people are simulposting here :p :)
...and, as usual...Belgium ended near the bottom of the Eurovision songcontest league (the political voting is fun to watch but leaves us without much of a chance of winning it)

Moondancer, do you have any idea when that interview was? What Elijah says there is exactly what he was saying 2-3 years ago. He does use "was" in this snippet, which makes it sound as if it's no longer something he's thinking of doing. Is that what you understood from the interview? I'm just trying to put a timeframe on it.

I'm not Moondancer but I can tell you that this interview was this past January (either the 10th or 11th, I believe). It's my feeling that if he was going to get this tattoo, he would've already, so I guess he changed his mind. But then again -- who knows?


OOPS! Simulposted!

I've seen "Hidalgo" (Viggo), "50 First Dates" (Sean), "13 Going on 30" (Andy), "Van Helsing" (David Wenham), and now "Troy" (Sean Bean and Orlando).

And I missed "Eternal Sunshine" in the theaters. I couldn't find anybody who wanted to go see it with me (I don't know many Jim Carrey fans and I'm not one myself either), and I don't get really excited about going to the movies alone. I guess I'll just have to rent it.

*Oh dear, and she calls herself a fan* :eek:

BTW, the interview with the tattoo question had to be on January 10 because that's when the trilogy showing was. (WHY was I in my seat that night and not hanging around in the lobby?!) :(

:eek:

When did this place get redecorated? :confused:

OK I know I have to hang around here more.

:rolleyes:

I did a lot of Mikey Carver caps but I have to upload them.
And next week..endless ROTK Fro-caps. :D

Goes to catch up.

From The Yank yahoogroup:

Danny Dyer who stars in "The Football Factory" criticised the
forthcoming American version on soccer hooligans, which stars Elijah
Wood.

"He's going to be laughed off the screen. He's a Hobbit and at the
end of the day you can't put a Hobbit in a film about hooliganism. I
don't think he realises how serious it is over here and he looks
about 12."
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2906278


Dougie Brimson writer of "The Yank" fired back writing

http://www.brimson.net/

Sadly, I have yet to see The Football Factory but I'm delighted that
it's been getting good reviews. However, there has been one thing
about it's promotion that has been irritating me somewhat and that is
the fact that young Danny Dyer has seen fit to take the odd dig at
The Yank and particularly the casting of Elijah Wood. Given that he
knows little or nothing of the story let alone the journey the
character has to undertake and that as an actor he will never be in
the same league as Elijah Wood, I find this quite sad. Criticising
the work of a fellow professional is certainly not something I would
ever do despite having ample opportunity but I guess that's the
nature of the bloke. However, as someone who does know, the fact
remains that the casting of Elijah was inspired and he was and is
absolutely perfect for the role.

Dougie should be a Faculty member! Go Dougie!

I bring one Mikey cap.

http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/Hobbsy/Lij%20Odds%20and%20Ends/PDVD_101.jpg

Hi Hobmom,
Good to see you again.
:)
Edit: nice screencap :D


Achila, thanks for the Yank updates.

I have seen a couple of reports on The Football Factory and The Yank in the British press and most of it was rather silly. Why don't they wait until they actually see The Yank before commenting on it?
How on earth can they comment on a film that isn't ready yet and thus, they have yet to see?
How unprofessional is it from that actor (I have never heard of) Danny Dyer to talk about another actor like that?
As I don't know Danny, I can't comment on his ability as an actor at all but ... :rolleyes: ....referring to Elijah as a hobbit... :rolleyes:... he was ACTING, dimwit

at the end of the day you can't put a Hobbit in a film about hooliganism
Well, I could be wrong of course but I hardly think that Elijah is going to be wearing his hobbit feet, his hobbit ears,...in this movie.
Furthermore, I really don't think that the producers of The Yank chose Elijah Wood because he looks like an average yob, a typical hooligan.
Besides, from the little I know of hooligans...some of them do look like the stereotype, like 'tough' guys, but a lot of the hooligans do have a very respectable job in RL and you wouldn't think what they get up to on match day if you saw them during the week.
How on earth can Danny judge how Elijah is going to be perceived in The Yank if that Danny person has no idea at all what sort of role Elijah has in the movie?

Danny Dyer's just making a bit of a fool of himself by saying that in an interview (unless he was misquoted in the press of course)

Maybe he's just jealous of the media attention The Yank is getting, mainly because of Elijah Wood? :confused:
If that's the case, that's just stupid and silly. The Football Factory is probably enjoying more press attention than they would have had without The Yank, starring Elijah Wood.
/rant


I'm glad to see mister Brimson's reply.
Given that he knows little or nothing of the story let alone the journey the character has to undertake and that as an actor he will never be in
the same league as Elijah Wood, I find this quite sad. Criticising
the work of a fellow professional is certainly not something I would
ever do despite having ample opportunity but I guess that's the
nature of the bloke. However, as someone who does know, the fact
remains that the casting of Elijah was inspired and he was and is
absolutely perfect for the role.
:)
Good reply, mister Brimson!
" as an actor he will never be in the same league as Elijah Wood"... :D nah, come on, mister Brimson...don't make him more jealous than he already seems to be

Does this Danny person realize that Elijah plays an American college student in the film? That he becomes a "hooligan" (at least I assume that's the general direction of the plot) by association? So the fact that he doesn't look like a hooligan, and he looks young enough to have just been kicked out of Harvard is, like, not really a bad thing?

My goodness.

Well, there sadly was one comment Danny Dyer forgot to make, and that was "kill me now!" Sadly, I say, because it would have brought back many (by now) fond memories of people disapproving of Elijah's casting (and presumably having to retract their words later on) :D

Hi, Hobmom! :) Nice cap!

Ah, more of that lovely 1973 hair :) -- thanks, Hobmom.

....referring to Elijah as a hobbit... :rolleyes:... he was ACTING, dimwit
WHAT :eek: ?! :D LOL (I can't avoid the image of "Elijah Wood as Frodo" from the Saturday Night Live skit, in the middle of a football match :D .)

And, yes, methinks Mr. Brimson has fallen a bit under the spell. As well he should :) .

The only response I can think of to Danny Dyer that hasn't already been said is that, to my knowledge, in over two dozen movies Elijah Wood has never been laughed off the screen. Rather than talking him down, Mr. Dyer probably should have been out on the set learning something from him.

http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/Hobbsy/Mikey/PDVD_182.jpg

Mikey Caps (http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/Hobbsy/Mikey/?sort=descending) More soon. :)

i cant belive what i am reading!!!! :mad: :mad:

who is this danny ?i have never heard of him before,have you?

he must have misst something on the way,he cant have seen elijah
act,or he has and are very jelous of him becuse he understands he will never
come close. i dont know.there is something wrong with this guy anyway!!!
his got to have big problems with him self!!! :( :mad:

something elijah dont have :p maybe danny can learn something from him?? :D :D

of to work now!! talk to you all soon!!! :) :) have a nice day!!

Rather than talking him down, Mr. Dyer probably should have been out on the set learning something from him.
Well spoken, tg. I suppose if someone is going to be a dork, they will. Thank you, Moondancer, for providing my rant for me. I will try to allow Danny some leniency based on youth and possible misquoting. :rolleyes:

And, yes, methinks Mr. Brimson has fallen a bit under the spell.
This does seem to be an occupational hazard of working with Mr. Wood. *braces self for the trauma of it -- don't I wish!*

Hi, Hobmom! Nice to see you back. Thanks for the piccies!

Achilla, I really appreciate your updates. Thank so much!

Flourish, the only movie on your list that I have seen is ESOTSM! :D Of the others, did you have any favorites? I was planning to see Troy and Hildalgo, but no others.

Edited to say...

Well good grief, no wonder little Danny Whoever is complaining about Elijah! I just went to Dougie's web site and from there to BBC5 radio link and guess whose picture was right there in an article about "The Football Factory"? Not Danny Whoever. 'Lijah! Hah! So there! :p Danny's face must be as green as Frodo's in the Dead Hobbit Papoose scene in RotK! :p :p And doesn't the guy realize that youthful-looking little guys have to be a lot more scrappy in certain situations?

Here's the 'second tattoo' statement:

::: snipping statement :::

:::: ahem ::::

'Lijah oh 'Lijah
Oh have you met 'Lijah?
Oh 'Lijah the taaaaa-toooed Hob-bit....
He has lips that we adore so,
And those blue eyes even more so!
Oh 'Lijah oh 'Lijah
Oh have you met 'Lijah?
Oh 'Lijah the champ of them all!
He once took a Ring up the side of Mt. Doom,
He drives us all nuts when he enters a room,
And darned if he isn't much cuter than Bloom...

You can learn a lot from 'Lijah!

:::: running ::::

~groucho (sung to the tune of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady")

Ummmmm.....Danny who? ;) :D :D

The Ent Weekly blurb about Everything is Illuminated was a small item (but the lead item!) in their 'Deal Report' column. There was a full-length photo of Elijah wearing the green velvet suit and dark shirt :) , and a quote from the author confirming that Elijah would be playing him. Then the June 14 start date for filming in Prague. That was about it. Not having a scanner, I can't post it, but it will undoubtedly be online soon if it isn't already.

Hobmom, thanks for the Mikey screencaps! :cool:

ZK thanks for providing the ear-worm! :mad: :rolleyes: Those first three lines will be going through my head for the next week! (Sadly that's all of the tune I can remember.)

'Lijah oh 'Lijah
Oh have you met 'Lijah?
Oh 'Lijah the taaaaa-toooed Hob-bit....

'Lijah oh 'Lijah
Oh have you met 'Lijah?
Oh 'Lijah the taaaaa-toooed Hob-bit....

'Lijah oh 'Lijah
Oh have you met 'Lijah?
Oh 'Lijah the taaaaa-toooed Hob-bit....

hm-hm hm hm-hm....
AUGH!!!!!

Honey!

Mariole--

SKIP "Van Helsing"--the soundtrack is criminally loud. (Ainon warned me (((Ainon))) but nothing could come close to the truth.) If you want to see David Wenham in a quirky, funny role that is probably the best thing in the film (I'm sorry, Hugh!), wait to rent it and fast-forward with the volume turned down.

I liked "Hidalgo" and think it was underrated. It's an old-fashioned aventure story--doesn't pretend to be any more than that--and does the job well. My husband thought that if Westerns were still popular Viggo would have become a superstar on the strength. (But that would have disqualified him from being in LOTR, so..... :p )

"50 First Dates" was pretty silly, and Sean's role was kind of unattractive--he plays a steroid-addicted nitwit, basically, with a huge ego and a ridiculous lisp. In a serious film it might have been called a daring choice. I guess it paid some bills, and it certainly planted him far outside Middle-Earth which is obviously what he wanted.

For a teen rom-com "13 Going on 30" was actually very cute. (My older daughter drags me to all these rom-coms, and my younger one to all the adventure flicks. I've never gone to so many movies since they got old enough to choose their own entertainment. :D ) Andy was hilarious in it, but if you just want to see the part where he dances, there's a gif file on the Internet--I think in LJ-land.

"Troy" wasn't bad but should have been better (someone should have told Brad Pitt that when one yells the name of one's enemy outside the walls of Troy to summon him to a deadly battle, one should not use the Brooklyn pronunciation, thus: "Hec-TAH!" :eek: ). Sean Bean was wonderful and I wish his role had been much, much larger--his weighty presence was really needed though the story line didn't call for it. Orlando was perfectly cast as the thoughtless, pretty lover-boy, and his invitation to Helen ("Come with me") gave perfect expression to the old description "to make eyes at" someone. :D He also had to be a coward and then repent, and I thought he handled that pretty well--he's not afraid to lose his dignity. (The real star of the film is Eric Bana, not an LOTR-alum at all, but I mention him in fairness to the good work he did.)

I hope that helps!

On the topic of Elijah Wood ;) -- does anyone know whether the "Yank" scenes that take place at Harvard are actually being filmed there? I have a friend who lives not too far from the university.... I wonder how big a favor he'd do for me. :D

:::: strolling nonchalantly by wearing Groucho nose and glasses :::: :cool: :p

For anyone who can't remember the entire tune, here's a link.

http://www.barbneal.com/wav/marxbros/groucho/grouch62.wav


::::running ::::

~notsigningthisone

On the topic of Elijah Wood ;) -- does anyone know whether the "Yank" scenes that take place at Harvard are actually being filmed there? I have a friend who lives not too far from the university.... I wonder how big a favor he'd do for me. :D

My understanding, Flourish, based on the buzz, is that they were going to film the interiors for the Harvard scenes in LA. Don't know when Lij is going to Austin to do Sin City -- he was in LA last weekend and may be in Austin even as we speak. If I find out, you guys will be the first to know!

BTW, Grumpy, the song was wonderful! You have me sitting at my desk laughing. I used to have a student named Lydia, when I taught comparative anatomy, and I often serenaded her with that song.

Thanks, Achila! (How do you find this stuff out?!) Well, that's that, then. But as my friend in Cambridge is already getting me tickets for the LOTR exhibit at the museum in Boston this summer, I guess it's a good thing the temptation to push my luck has been removed.

On the other hand, I have family in the LA area....... :D

(No, I'm just kidding. They don't know how crazy I really am and I think it's better they don't find out. :cool: )

That's good news if Elijah will be filming Sin City in Austin. We're bound to get lots of spy reports from Harry Knowles. Harry ain't that bad, you just have to filter out all his self-congratuations and concentrate on the info bits.

"Criticising the work of a fellow professional is certainly not something I would
ever do despite having ample opportunity..." Dougie Brimson is a master of the back-handed slap, isn't he. :cool: Have Danny and Dougie worked together in the past?

Hello everyone,

Just dropping by to say that I've made a fansite for "Everything Is Illuminated." It's still under construction but here it is:

I have yet to post it over with a faster host but in the meantime, hopefully it's not too slow:

http://www.freewebs.com/everythingisilluminated/index.html

Call it my contribution to the Elijah fandom... ;)

This from an article in The Mirror; Danny appears not to be done with his particular rant against Elijah (I didn't include the link because a) I wasn't sure if it was a "good" one; and b) the rest of the article is about Danny and who wants to read about him? :mad:

******
A second football hooligan movie, The Yank starring Elijah Wood, is currently shooting in London. So does Danny think The Lord Of The Rings star will make a better thug than him? The whole café turns to look at us as Danny roars with uncontrollable laughter.

“Elijah Wood?” he scoffs, almost choking. “I’d knock him spark out. I’d go toe to toe with him any day of the week! That film, The Yank, is laughable. I had a little butcher’s at the script and I thought, ‘This is a joke’. I can see what Elijah Wood is doing as an actor – he’s trying to get as far away from Lord Of The Rings as possible.

“I just think he’s made the wrong decision and I don’t think he realises how big the football culture is here. He’s not going to get away with it in this country.

“Fair play to him for trying it on, but he’s going to make himself look like an idiot. I’m just really happy that our film is coming out first, so theirs is going to be compared to it. Ours is untouchable really.”
*********

We'll just see about that!

Edited to add this: This was tacked on at the end, in a discussion of various footie movies (such as Bend It Like Beckham, etc.):

THE YANK (2005)

Pint-sized hobbit Elijah Wood as a Harvard student turned hard-as-nails English football hoolie? Er, don’t make us laugh. Currently filming on the terraces at West Ham, he’s likely to be going home in an ambulance.


They're done...and he didn't.... :mad: :mad:

Thanks for the link to your "Everything is Illuminated" fansite, hobbityme. Wow! Looks really good. I've stored it in my favourites list. :)

Achila,
LOL
I’d knock him spark out. I’d go toe to toe with him any day of the week "
Classy! :rolleyes:

I really hope that this is another example of bad journalism of The Mirror and Danny was just misquoted.

In any case, I think it's safe to assume that Elijah Wood would show more class and would never stoop down to that level.

(((Hobbityme))), what a great site! Love the artwork ... dare not even guess how you did it. If I manage to get any first-hand info on the filmking (oops, Freudian slip? - I mean filming!!! :D ) I'll pass it on.

Danny Dyer: yes, he does sound just a tad miffed about the prospect of losing some limelight to lovely lithe luscious luminous Lij (started with 3 Ls, so thought I'd add a few more for good measure).
Hope DD's bad manners backfire by generating extra interest in The Yank :D :)
Also hope Dougie B. replied to The Scotsman, not just on his site (good though his riposte was! - yes, he clearly likes our Lij a lot, which for a leading aficionado of the macho football scene is quite something).

EDIT after reading Achila's simulpost: hmm. The Mirror now needs to redeem itself in more ways than one (you've probably heard about the fake pics it published of Iraqi prisoners being ill-treated ... not that I condone anything the UK has done recently to Iraq, but I don't condone forgery either). It could start by publishing an in-depth article about Elijah and his whole career, both before and after LOTR. It owes him that. If I get the time I'll write and tell it so. Maybe we all should!

lovely site hobbityme!! :) i realy looking forward to all news and pictures!!

about this danny guy,i cant belive what i am reading is he crasy or what? :mad:
i mean who does he think he is?in my opinion nobody!!!! i have never heard of him before, have you?
i wonder what elijah thinks about this if he reads it? :(
i hope, i mean i know he have so much selfkonfidens so he wouldent be
upset about it,but who knows when a so calld actorcolleg says something
like this about him!!!!
is there anybody who knows if elijah have sade something about it??

to me this movie seams to be more about violense and more like a
action movie
the yank looks more(to me)like it have a real story more deepth in it
if you know what i mean!?
the point is maybe this guy realy are afraid that his movie isent as good as the yank and who knows?the film isent even ready jet so what is he going
on about it fore?
oh godness i rumbeling again i realy hope where my point is!!?? :cool:

Hobbityme, your new site is brilliant! Beautiful layout, the colours and the artwork create a very apt mood. Thank you :) ! (I want the kiss smilie back :rolleyes: )


I'm sorry but I can't get upset by the "statements" of DD. If he hasn't been misquoted the poor guy suffers definitely from acute green-with-envy-syndrome. *shrugs*


i mean i know he have so much selfkonfidens so he wouldent be
upset about it,but who knows when a so calld actorcolleg says something
like this about him!!!!


You are right, Wood - our dear "filmking" (nice Freudian slip, Serena :D ) seems to be above that. And that's the best way to handle affronts like that.

Why do I have the feeling this Danny guy will be eating his words around ...oh....January 2005? He doesn't know our Elijah very well does he?

Also he sounds like a guy who's really into Hooliganism himself and is talking like one. All macho posturing and bravado with very little substance and less brains.

Elijah may be on the short side but he could certainly beat him at anything involving wit, intelligence, talent and class anyday.

This from an article in The Mirror;

“Elijah Wood?” he scoffs, almost choking. “I’d knock him spark out. I’d go toe to toe with him any day of the week!
Given the violent trash talking, it sounds like DD is playing himself in his movie. Maybe he doesn't realize that Elijah will be acting in "The Yank."

:p

Mel

ZK, thanks for posting the Groucho song! :D I haven't heard that in way too long! HoneyElf gingerly approaches ZK (who looks a little puffed from all the darting around) and gives her a [[[HUG]]] ...

Hobbityme, the EII site looks great! Love the artwork!

Candy, glad to see you back!

Honey!

Editted to add: "Homicide: Life on the Streets" is playing in my area again! YES! YES! YES! Lethal larcenous little 'Lijah! Bring 'im on! :D

godmorning my friends!!!

i thought of something last night when i was in bed!!
dd maybe was trying to get the part as frodo and as we all
know he dident get it! thank god for that! :D
and he is jelous of mr.beautiful becuse he get it and
played it amaizingli well!!! :p
know i am trying to let go of this.
i am trying to find some good news about elijah cant find anything?looking at wrong place as usally!

hobbityme--Ditto to everything that's been said about the Everything Is Illuminated site. A great look that goes perfectly with the tone of the story (IMHO). And I'm not going to try to guess how you did some of it, either ;) . There seem to be image maps involved, but I sure wouldn't know how to go about it.

i am trying to find some good news about elijah cant find anything?looking at wrong place as usally!
Well, Elijah recently finished shooting for one movie in the UK, came back to the US to shoot the US scenes for that movie, and is now getting ready to go back to Europe to start filming another one. He doesn't have time to make news :) (and I mean that as a good thing :p ).

Checked out Mr. Dyer at IMDb, and he's done some movies and quite a bit of TV--I'm guessing the Brits, at least, would know who he is? No photo of him on his page, though. Then I spent a few minutes at the discussion board for The Football Factory--and would need a translator to tell you half of what was said! Reinforced my feeling that the two "hooligan" movies are aimed at two different audiences.

The Football Factory seems to be aimed at people who know that world--not necessarily hooligans themselves, but ones who know that "scene" and (not sure how to say this) seem proud :( (?) of it--and want a story told completely from within it. I'm just judging by the posters on the discussion board, which might not be fair, but the comments Danny made sound as if he's trying to be "tough" himself. I'm wondering if it will be shown in the U.S. at all--it just doesn't seem to be made for an outside audience. If they showed it in the U.S. without changing the title, they'd have an awful lot of confused movie viewers, that's for sure :p ("Hey! I thought this movie was about football!" ;) ).

OTOH, The Yank (as if its title didn't say it already) should be better at giving outsiders a look inside that world--following an outsider as he gets initiated into something new is a typical way of doing that. (Maybe we'll even learn the language along with him :confused: ?)

From what I could understand of the posts on the discussion board, there seemed to be a real range as to whether they liked the movie or not. It evidently has some great fight scenes, but there were a few people who said they would have liked a plot, too :eek: .

Anyway, if it makes anyone feel better:


Spoiler for The Football Factory to end of post








...at the end of the movie, Danny's character "gets shot in the toilets"--and you can "see his blood hit the wall." Hey, sounds like a good time to me :eek: !

i agree with you!it is a good thing!
i just meant that i enjoy so much to read about what he is
doing and look at new pics of him!
i mean no gossip! just what he is up to, you know what i mean!! :rolleyes: ;)

i mean no gossip! just what he is up to, you know what i mean!! :rolleyes: ;)
I know--I was just trying to give you something positive to think about :) . Didn't want you feeling down about Elijah, as I'm sure there's a lot more positive "buzz" out there than there is negative!

THE YANK (2005)

Pint-sized hobbit Elijah Wood as a Harvard student turned hard-as-nails English football hoolie? Er, don’t make us laugh. Currently filming on the terraces at West Ham, he’s likely to be going home in an ambulance.

Two words. HUMPHREY BOGART!!!! Little skinny guy; married a very tall woman (did you ever see a picture of Bogart and Bacall standing next to each other?). Played some of the toughest roles in the movies. Fans always thought he was a tough guy; he was actually mild-mannered, educated and articulate.

James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Richard Dreyfuss, Dustin Hoffman - I'm sure I could go on and on. Most or all of those guys could actually *act*, Fairbanks was about as close to an acrobat as you could get in the movies, and Astaire and Cagney could dance up a storm (Ginger was about as tall as Astaire, too). Also, there was *nobody*, but *NOBODY* who looked better in evening dress than pint-sized Astaire.

In my own family, until my nephews, nobody passed 6'. My dad was 5'4", my brothers are about 5'6" - 5'9", except for my oldest brother, who hit 5'10". Two of my brothers married women as tall or taller than they were. Remarkably, my pint-sized (well, a little *wider* than pint-sized ;) ) brother served in the Air Force, my dad was in WWII, and all those short ancestors served in the military, too.

Pint-sized indeed. Harrrumph.

BTW, I wrote to Dougie. Told him Elijah had already survived the worst: Tolkien purists. ;) Used my "rampaging hordes of middle-aged women" line, I did. ;) I told him I'd go to see it and cover my eyes during the scary parts, and promised to not go out and beat anyone up afterwards. :p

Hey! I just checked and I heard back from him!!! Here it is:

Hi [insert real name here],

I think you're pretty much on the money with your thoughts! I'm thinking the
time is fast approaching when young Mr Dyer gets some of his own medicine!

Have to tell you, The Yank is very violent though!

D.


~grumpy (:::: fondly remembering Merry and Pippen tipping Boramir and Aragorn on their respective backsides :::: )

thanks tg for the thought!!it was very nice of you!!
it did make me feel better!!! :rolleyes: ;)

BTW, I wrote to Dougie.

That was probably his chuckle/make me smile e-mail of the day. :D I *loved* his response to Mr. Dyer.


Maybe [Dyer] doesn't realize that Elijah will be acting in "The Yank."

That was my chuckle of the day. ;)

Thankee for the quickie movie reviews, Flourish. And the piccies, Hobmom. And the news, Achilla and Moonshadow and all.

hobbityme,
How spoilerish is your site? I read 'most everything on the thread, although every once in a while I skip something longish, particularly if there's a spoiler warning. Past experience indicates I can forget the spoilers if I don't get too focused on them before hand, so I haven't braved your site yet.

Sheryl

Goldie, your use of Ent Weekly gave me quite a start -- this being Middle Earth territory, and all.

from zkgrumpy
Danny's face must be as green as Frodo's in the Dead Hobbit Papoose scene in RotK!
What a delicious laugh this gave me! I also very much enjoyed your pint-sized list. I had no idea Fred Astaire was small. What a gorgeous dancer. (But could he go "toe to toe" with Danny, is what the Mirror wants to know. "Danny will wipe the floor with Astaire," the Mirror reports, forgetting to mention that Astaire, at this point, won't be putting up much resistance.)

Way cool about Dougie's answer. I love it!

Ooh, Sheryl beat me to it. I love your quote, Mel! Yes, all this trash talking makes Danny sound the proper thug, doesn't it? Perhaps he's doing appropriate marketing for his movie -- violence, thuggery, and stupidity. If that's the audience, he's spot on.


Thank you for the movie rundown, Flourish! It looks like I'll add "13 Going on 30" to my list.

hobbityme, what a pretty web site! Although I will echo Sheryl's question about spoilers. I like to avoid them, if I can.

Thanks everyone for the news. I feel as if I have my finger on the pulse! *feels grateful*

Quick update -- someone on Lij's imdb board reported that he'll be in Austin some time this week to do his scenes for Sin City. So does that mean that The Yank filming here is complete? Dunno.

Goldie, your use of Ent Weekly gave me quite a start -- this being Middle Earth territory, and all.


:D All the Middle-earth entertainment news that's fit to print!

grumpy, it's great that you wrote to Dougie and he answered so promptly. Sounds like all of us who go to see this film will be wincing and covering our eyes.....often. :eek:

What ho!

Love how this thread is so busy! There are new posts every time I log on (which is fairly regularly *cough*).

Well, I eventually got to see ESOTSM. SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Ah, what a great film, and what a cool vehicle for EW. I was however feeling a bit miffed there wasn't enough of him, and philosophised that at least his role was the most important - cos if Joel hadn't heard him talking about going out with Clementine, he never would've started rebelling against the programme. So eh. I also loved how the film made you so curious about what he looked like, hiding his face or only letting the audience hear his voice - so that, if I was an unknowing cinemagoer, I might start thinking 'I really want to see what Patrick looks like... ooh! it's the hobbit guy! Huh, he's good.'

END SPOILERS.

Only can repeat what others have said. Yay Dougie, booh that other fella. Yay hobbityme for gorgeous looking website. Only a week til ROTK!

Hey, nice to see that Dougie Brimson replied to your letter, zkgrumpy!

On the A&F message board, Rafferty Rulz posted this:
Mon May 17, 8:00 PM ET
Online Staff, STAFF

Senator Intl. has completed deals in several key territories for Odd Lot Entertainment's football drama "Hooligans" starring Elijah Wood (news), Charlie Hunnam (news) and Claire Forlani (news).

Pic has sold to Audiovisual for Greece and Romania, Box Office Entertainment for Thailand, Cinemedya for Turkey, CP Intl. for CIS and Baltics, Gulf for Middle East, Lemo for Israel, Lusomundo in Portugal, Metropolitan in France, Nordisk in Scandinavia, Nu Metro in South Africa, RCV in Benelux, Roadshow in Australia, Sam Film in Iceland, Shaw Renters in Singapore and Wise Policy in Japan.

Pic was penned by Dougie Brimson and Lexi Alexander and directed by Alexander. Pic was produced by Gigi Pritzker, Deborah Del Prete and Donald Zuckerman

Benelux... :) ...this means that we will get to see it in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg.

Edit: Rikka, if you're reading this: somebody posted a scan of a Russian article on the A&F site.

Wood- There is some 'news' about Elijah in this recent Danish magazine article found at A&F.

Danish Elijah article (http://always.ejwsites.net/Vi_unge.html)

The magaizine site is HERE (http://www.viunge.dk/default.aspx?action=viewitem&ItemID=6&GroupID=393)

Pic has sold to Audiovisual for Greece and Romania, Box Office Entertainment for Thailand, Cinemedya for Turkey, CP Intl. for CIS and Baltics, Gulf for Middle East, Lemo for Israel, Lusomundo in Portugal, Metropolitan in France, Nordisk in Scandinavia, Nu Metro in South Africa, RCV in Benelux, Roadshow in Australia, Sam Film in Iceland, Shaw Renters in Singapore and Wise Policy in Japan.


All these places, but NOT the US??????

thanks hobmom for the link!!!! :)
Achila, i dont think you have to worry about it!
it will for sure be a reales in the us to,will there be a reales
in my small country(sweden)why wouldent they reales it in a big
country like the us? ;)
talk to you soon!! :)

Wood (and others), there are some great pictures (I haven't seen most of them before) from The Face photoshoot (as well as photos from another shoot).
You can see them on the elijahfan site.
:)

I saw the movie Van Helsing yesterday.
For those who still want to see it and enjoy it...look away NOW:




That movie is proof that special effects isn't enough to create great cinema.
Most of the time, the acting in it was BAD, in my opinion (especially Dracula and that woman, the princess...whatshernameagain?). Some of the bad acting is probably because of the silly things the actors have to say or do but...OMG! I feel sorry for Hugh Jackman.
The only acting performance I could appreciate was that of David Wenham. Please, somebody in Hollywood (or...), give that man a great script. I'd like to see him do more interesting stuff.
The characters in this movie were not interesting enough. No special effort was done to give them a bit more depth, to give them more than one dimention.
All in all, it made me appreciate the LOTR movies even more: great special effects + great script + great acting.


/ Van Helsing



Edit: didn't we talk about the size of actors a couple of posts ago? In my newspaper today, there's a little article (just an article to fill the space, nothing special) "size doesn't matter". It's about artists in Hollywood (but also in the music world) who are rather tiny but still very succesful.
Biggest example (no pun intended, mister Pacino): Al Pacino, who's as tall as Elijah Wood, btw. They almost didn't cast him in The Godfather because they thought he wasn't tall enough. His nicknames during The Godfather shoot were "midget Pacino" or "that little dwarf". Nobody can deny that Pacino can play a tough guy. Length doesn't really matter, does it?
Others mentionned in the article: Michael J. Fox, Danny De Vito, Prince, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kylie Minogue.
They forgot a few, didn't they? Dustin Hoffman to add just one name. Mel Gibson isn't tall, Tom Cruise,...

I'm getting this terrible desire to see Danny Dyer meet Kevin :eek: ! (Not to have any part of him eaten ;) , but to hear him say, "Damn! The guy was acting!" :p )


ESOTSM Spoiler






...I also loved how the film made you so curious about what he looked like, hiding his face or only letting the audience hear his voice - so that, if I was an unknowing cinemagoer, I might start thinking 'I really want to see what Patrick looks like... ooh! it's the hobbit guy! Huh, he's good.'
In an interview before ESOTSM was released (on the Today Show, IIRC), the interviewer asked Elijah if that really was him in the bookstore, when all we see is the back of his head--thinking, it seems, that stand-ins are likely to be used whenever the actor's face isn't seen :confused: . Elijah said that yes, it was him, and the idea was that Joel's thoughts are dreamlike, and it's a common occurrence in dreams to not be able to see someone's face even when the dreamer is trying to see the person's face. I thought it worked well.







End of ESOTSM Spoiler




Comments on reviews of Troy and Van Helsing





Moondancer--I haven't seen Van Helsing, but wondered what effect would come from trying to stuff so many stories into one movie. So I'm not surprised to hear that the characters didn't have much depth--but it's too bad, because it could have been a good opportunity for some good storytelling about some interesting characters (with at least some good actors).

I've read similar things about Troy. Peter O'Toole has gotten some good reviews for his Priam, and I've seen one review of Orlando's Paris that said he was perfectly cast as the self-centered "pretty boy" who's behind the start of the war. The only problem I had with that statement is that I got the feeling that Orlando was facing one of the things Elijah sometimes does: the reviewer not realizing he was acting. Orlando may be "pretty" but from all I know of him he certainly cares about more people than himself. Everything else I've read about the acting in Troy has been negative.

BTW, I was looking for the Entertainment Weekly--haven't found it yet--and saw that Orlando is on the front of at least half the current magazines aimed at pre-teen and teenage girls. He was the solo "cover guy" on only one magazine--most of those mags fill the cover with small pictures of lots of popular celebrities.

And I'll agree that what I've read about both of those movies makes me that much more grateful for everything that came together in the LotR movies. I'm sure there will be a lot of would-be imitators because of their success, but it won't be easy. PJ & Co. showed the others what to do, but it takes skill, creativity, and a heartful of love and dedication--from everyone involved--to do it right!!






End of comments on reviews of Troy and Van Helsing




Regarding the U.S. release of Hooligans/The Yank: Isn't it being made by a U.S.-based enterprise? In that case, the plans for distribution in the U.S. might not show up in a list of foreign distributors. Interesting that the article--which is dated May 17--still calls it "Hooligans." I'm still wondering if that title might not be used in the U.S.

Regarding the U.S. release of Hooligans/The Yank: Isn't it being made by a U.S.-based enterprise? In that case, the plans for distribution in the U.S. might not show up in a list of foreign distributors.


Well, all I can say to that is three words: All I Want. That too was made by a US film company and it ended up being released direct to video. So I guess nothing's certain with these things. But you're right in that that was a list of foreign distributors and I wouldn't have expected to see the US listed there -- that wasn't really what I meant -- sorry -- but we've still heard relatively nothing about their US plans for the film.

--Yes, AIW had its U.S. premier on a cable channel that paid enough for the honor of showing it exclusively for a few weeks, then to DVD. That could certainly happen again.

thanks for the pics!!!they are lovely!!!
but i do hope his not going to begin with
nuddpics, i dont think i would handel it to good!!! ;) :rolleyes:
bytheway the pic nr.22 i think it dident look like
elijah i dont know how he dose that change the face
completly!!!! :) :cool:

from tgshaw
PJ & Co. showed the others what to do, but it takes skill, creativity, and a heartful of love and dedication--from everyone involved--to do it right!!
I think of this list, the "heartful of love" is hardest to come by. Were the Van Helsing or Troy people in love with their movie and characters? Or were they trying to make a buck, riding on PJ's coattails for this astonishing audience that no one had realized was out there? I honestly don't know. Movies are such a collaborative venture, that a good shoot can be atrociously presented (so they say), and on and on.

But I do think the extra effort of everyone involved does show -- much to the dismay of the bean counters who only want to come out richer. People respond to what is genuine. Regardless of what your final feelings might be about the success of the LOTR movies, the people involved in making them did have honest and fervent feeling for their work. That's why it was a success. (With Tolkien's vision, of course, providing the solid ground upon which to stand.)

Tg-I'm getting this terrible desire to see Danny Dyer meet Kevin :D :p

I'd REALLY like to see that! Tastey! :rolleyes:

i just ccouldent help my self!!!
oh i just started to cry when i saw this one!!!
he looks so sad!!! :(

Asia's Disney Channel now has 'Adventures of Huck Finn' on its playlist. And I don't subscribe to the Disney Channel. :rolleyes: Okay, so I have the movie on DVD, but I would have still liked to see how Disney Channel is promoting 'Huck Finn' - whether it'd be Elijah Wood's 'Adventures of Huck Finn' or somesuch. ;)

There's another LOTR alumnus with a summer movie, btw. Ian Holm will be in 'Day After Tomorrow'.




ASSORTED MOVIE SPOILERS


ESotSM


Ah, what a great film, and what a cool vehicle for EW. I was however feeling a bit miffed there wasn't enough of him, and philosophised that at least his role was the most important - cos if Joel hadn't heard him talking about going out with Clementine, he never would've started rebelling against the programme. So eh. I also loved how the film made you so curious about what he looked like, hiding his face or only letting the audience hear his voice - so that, if I was an unknowing cinemagoer, I might start thinking 'I really want to see what Patrick looks like... ooh! it's the hobbit guy! Huh, he's good.'

Yep, and it built on some expectation within the story that this is a guy Joel should probably be worrying about, competition-wise. ;) Anyway, this was one movie where I was happy with less is more: EW did a brilliant supporting job, as did the other supporting actors - the story was about Joel and Clementine and the supporting storylines didn't distract from the pair.

There was a suggestion at a movie message board that EW's role could have been totally excised from the movie. :eek: :eek: I wouldn't say that the fellow was wrong for stating that -- any movie's supporting storyline can be excised in favour of the main plot and the major stars, but then it wouldn't be a well-rounded story anymore afterward, would it. It'd be like suggesting that Merry & Pippin needn't go along on the Quest because they're two hobbits too many. Not wrong to say that, but what would LOTR be without those two dears? :p



Van Helsing

While I can't say it's a bad movie, I can't say it was good either. It was, for me, ultimately ... tepid. And yes, it was loud. IMHO, studios should just stop throwing money at director Stephen Sommers - he being the director who had done a fine job with 'Adventures of Huck Finn', and who should be our Faculty visiting lecturer. Sommers went way over the top with effects in 'Mummy Returns', and with 'Van Helsing' it's become even more tiring. I say force him to go back to the basics in movie-making: it's about the characters. And the characters' characterisations. It's not about how many characters can be CGI-ised to swing about on CGI ropes :rolleyes:


Troy

I'll come clean and say it was not possible for me to be fair to 'Troy' at all - lots of scenes reminded me of 'Gladiator', lots of other scenes reminded me of LOTR. When there were scenes that did not remind me of either 'Gladiator' or LOTR, I'd be wondering when the big horsey was gonna appear in the plot. Or I'd be missing Sean Bean and wondering why couldn't this be a story about the Odyssey instead, because like, Sean Bean ROCKS and he should be in more scenes, thank you. :p :D

So I'm the worst person to actually give a review of 'Troy' (and I know, wrong thread anyway! ;) Narya) but I can share a bit of info I read off the movie message boards -- 'Troy' suffered from movie studio interference: the original composer's score was scrapped at the last minute, and the replacement composer had one month to come up with a full score for the movie. The original composer had done what our Howard Shore had done - research, discussions with the director, hiring of singers - and the studio rejected his work at the last minute. Overruled the director. Just. Like. That.

We can count that as another example of providence smiling upon our LOTR - New Line seemed to leave PJ & co well enough alone to do whatever was right for LOTR. Oh, there were the hints of the studio wanting this and that, but it seemed like PJ could deal with them and still do things his way.






END SPOILERS ABOUT MOVIES




Grumpy, that reply from Dougie Brimson is just way :cool:. Enough things have been said about Mr. Dyer and I agree with y'all. :D And so long as 'The Yank' gets released somewhere I'm sure there'll be enterprising piratical for me to get to see it. ;)

Just popping in to say hello, and welcome back to Hobmom and CandyGirl.

So Elijah has left our shores - :( but it was lovely to have him here. :)

I was sad to learn that all was not well behind-the-scenes on The Yank. I hope Elijah was not involved in any of the ‘artistic clashes’ or whatever the problems were, and that his performance wasn’t affected. As if!!!

As for Danny Dyer - Who?
I loved Dougie Brimson’s response. Good for him!

It was great to hear Elijah’s interview on Jo Whiley’s show live on Radio 1 a couple of weeks ago. I recorded it to the computer for posterity. I really hope the John Peel stand-in spot materializes. I guess it will depend on Elijah’s availability when John Peel decides to take his holiday, but Elijah seemed really excited about doing that. I think he would do a great job - not that my tender ears would appreciate all of the music he might play (being an old codger!) but I would listen to it. I will keep a check on the schedule.

Originally posted by wood:
bytheway the pic nr.22 i think it dident look like
elijah.
__________________________________

Do you mean the pics from The Face magazine, wood? I looked through those, and was struck by number 38. Now that just does not look like Elijah. That is the most un-Elijah picture of him I’ve ever seen!

also from wood:
i just ccouldent help my self!!!
oh i just started to cry when i saw this one!!!
he looks so sad!!!
__________________________________

That is beautiful. One of my favourite Frodo moments from the FOTR EE. He is leading The Fellowship from Rivendell, and he looks so lost and uncertain, yet determined to do what he must. Thanks for that, wood.

Tg - did you sort out the problem with the hot C key on your Power DVD? Just wondered.

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED SPOILERS











Hobbityme. I’m so pleased you set up the site for Everything Is Illuminated. It’s in My Favourites and I’ll be keeping a close eye on it. Reading through your film notes, it was interesting to see that the director and author say the film will concentrate mainly on the contemporary aspect of the story. No Trachimbrod? I had wondered if the film would cover all three time periods - the 1790’s,1930’s-40’s and the 1990’s. I even imagined that perhaps Elijah would be called upon to play THREE characters - Jonathan, Safran, and The Kolker! :eek: (I admit the blade in the head and the hole in the bedroom wall was a little too weird for me!) But surely the WWII section would have to be included in order to explore the contemporary characters’ motives and feelings about events that happened in Trachimbrod. I must read the book again - there were far too many questions left unanswered for me - or perhaps I’m just not very perceptive and they went over my head - but it is a funny, fascinating and often harrowing read.

I’m a little worried on Elijah’s behalf that Jonathan is another quite internal character, but I think there are some wonderful opportunities for Elijah to shine both in the comedic sense - in that deadpan way he has - and emotionally. I wonder if the hero will wear glasses - doesn’t Jonathan wear glasses? I love Alex, and will be interested to see who plays him. I’m surprised that casting (apart from Elijah it seems) has been left so late - there are only three weeks to go until June 14th, and filming is due to begin then?

Talking of casting. What I want to know is - are they holding auditions for the role of Sammy Davis Junior, Junior? I ask this because I’m sure that our Jack Russell Terrier, Holly, would be perfect for the part, and she would need me there with her of course, a sacrifice I‘m quite prepared to make…. What’s that? A Jack Russell is too small? OK - I could don a doggie costume if they want a larger dog - I’m no actress, but I think I could manage to get up close and personal with Elijah… er, I mean Jonathan. Not convinced? Oh well, it was worth a try!












END OF EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED SPOILERS

This time next week we will all have the ROTK DVD in our hot little hands. Happy days!!! :)

Talking of casting. What I want to know is - are they holding auditions for the role of Sammy Davis Junior, Junior? I ask this because I’m sure that our Jack Russell Terrier, Holly, would be perfect for the part, and she would need me there with her of course, a sacrifice I‘m quite prepared to make…. What’s that? A Jack Russell is too small? OK - I could don a doggie costume if they want a larger dog - I’m no actress, but I think I could manage to get up close and personal with Elijah… er, I mean Jonathan. Not convinced? Oh well, it was worth a try!


Wow -- hadn't thought of that...hmmm...well...I bet one of my iguanas is almost as big as your dog and could probably look the part provided the costume's right.... :D He's a method actor (AND his name is Frodo!)!

Tg - did you sort out the problem with the hot C key on your Power DVD? Just wondered.
No, last time I used it, I was still screencapping one-handed. Thanks for reminding me of that, though--I've been concerned about a lot of other things, and had completely spaced off the fact that I haven't heard back from the support people.

...I’m sure that our Jack Russell Terrier, Holly, would be perfect for the part, and she would need me there with her of course, a sacrifice I‘m quite prepared to make…. What’s that? A Jack Russell is too small?
Hey, we've got close to 300 pages here based on the belief that intelligence and acting ability are more important than size... right :p ?

I’m surprised that casting (apart from Elijah it seems) has been left so late - there are only three weeks to go until June 14th, and filming is due to begin then?
I ran across a "coming attractions" site yesterday (one I've never heard of, so I have no idea how much stock to put into this) that was already listing a release date for EII of August 12, 2005. Seems a bit premature, but maybe it's what they're aiming for. The site had no mention of Hooligans/The Yank, though.

I have two cats who are each larger than many small dogs. One of them is quite the comedian. Where can I arrange an audition for him? I'll bet Liev Schreiber is willing to be creative in casting the role of Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr. :D

Blossom!!
i have checked all the pics and we mean the same picture!! :)
here it comes!! is this realy elijah?! :eek:

Well, here's the mystery man at 220% (as big as I can make the pic wood posted before it starts breaking apart). I'd say there's a resemblance :) :

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/off topic/theface-220.jpg

i have look very close at the picture!! :)
and you can see the likness around his mouth and eyes
but the eyes isent that big and blue as they jusely are!!
but can anybody tell me how he can change so much in
a picture so you hadly can see its him?

and then there are people who are saying that he only has
one expresion!!! :confused: :mad:
to me he can look in so many ways!! :)
(cute,handsome,gourges,sexy,hot,i can go on for ever but i
wount becuse the you probebly throw me out!! :( )

i have a rader silly quostien :( i have thougt of for a time now and i really dont understand what it means!in the beginning of fellowship when frodo(elijah) jumps up at the tree i thinkits dom or billy who sade oh here comes the money shot Wat does that mean???!!! :( :(
sorry for asking but i dont understand it

Well, here's the mystery man at 220%

He looks like... Cary Grant? Some black and white pic of a movie star I liked from the thirties, anyhow. :cool:

Sheryl

Here ya go:

http://www.elijahfan.com/gallery/gal/Magazines/The_Face/theface-038.jpg



Thanks for all the compliments on the site. :) It sure was fun designing it!
But at the moment, it's down as my host is so very persnickety with their allowable bandwidth. :( I am currently looking for another host, and the site should be back up in a couple of days.

Life is also getting to me... I'm in the process of finally moving out of parents' house so here's to a year of fun adventures!

Odd picture, that. His eyes look so different than usual.

Anyway, Empire Online says that the casting for Sin City has finished:
Benicio Del Toro and Clive Owen are the final additions to this impressive ensemble, joining Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood, Leonardo DiCaprio, Josh Hartnett, Kate Bosworth, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Nick Stahl and Jessica Biel. Now, we're the first to admit that a great ensemble cast has failed to save many a sub-standard film (too many cooks and all that), but trust us, this is going to be great!
So, no Johnny Depp or Christopher Walken but still...what a cast!
Benicio Del Toro! :cool:

You can find the rest of that Empire article:here (http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=15863)

Edit to add a link to this:
http://comingsoon.net (http://comingsoon.net/news.php?id=4804)
If you follow this link, you'll get a small clip of a first look behind the scenes of Sin City!

Edit 2: that Empire Online mentions DiCaprio in the cast but other articles say Leonardo is not.

Just popping in to say hello, and welcome back to Hobmom and CandyGirl.

So Elijah has left our shores - :( but it was lovely to have him here. :)



Ah, yes - he went "Into the West" :::: bawl ::::

::: ahem :::

I was sad to learn that all was not well behind-the-scenes on The Yank. I hope Elijah was not involved in any of the ‘artistic clashes’ or whatever the problems were, and that his performance wasn’t affected. As if!!!

From all accounts, the Thousand-Year-Old-Soul in a 23-Year-Old-Body is a consummate professional and would pull off to the side and let the others exhaust themselves fighting it out. He might try to smooth things over but I'm sure it would depend on the situation. He seems to have a very good grasp of his place in the whole movie-making thing and would probably approach artistic differences differently than the others. Like, y'know, *talking* to people?


Do you mean the pics from The Face magazine, wood? I looked through those, and was struck by number 38. Now that just does not look like Elijah. That is the most un-Elijah picture of him I’ve ever seen!

Oh, dear. I'm lost again. Is this a Link that Cannot Be Posted? :(


I had wondered if the film would cover all three time periods - the 1790’s,1930’s-40’s and the 1990’s. I even imagined that perhaps Elijah would be called upon to play THREE characters - Jonathan, Safran, and The Kolker!


If that were true, it's easy to see why he would take the part.


I wonder if the hero will wear glasses - doesn’t Jonathan wear glasses? I love Alex, and will be interested to see who plays him. I’m surprised that casting (apart from Elijah it seems) has been left so late - there are only three weeks to go until June 14th, and filming is due to begin then?

If he *does* wear glasses, it could throw a whole different light on his acting. If it took me 5 times through FotR till I could tear my gaze away from those eyes, then if the eyes are partially hidden by glasses, it may draw attention away from them to the rest of his face. It might be a revelation to some people. :)

Talking of casting. What I want to know is - are they holding auditions for the role of Sammy Davis Junior, Junior? I ask this because I’m sure that our Jack Russell Terrier, Holly, would be perfect for the part, and she would need me there with her of course, a sacrifice I‘m quite prepared to make…. What’s that? A Jack Russell is too small? OK - I could don a doggie costume if they want a larger dog - I’m no actress, but I think I could manage to get up close and personal with Elijah… er, I mean Jonathan. Not convinced? Oh well, it was worth a try!

Hmmmmmm... ::: looking sideways at Molly ::: She's got some of the same coloring as a Jack Russell, isn't much smaller, and is very perky...she might be able to pull it off. Whatcha think? They probably won't notice that she's a cat... ;D

On Troy: I've been listening to LotR on audio cassette and am struck again and again on how vivid Tolkien's writing is. I can picture the Barrow Downs, Tom Bombadil's house, the fog, the standing stones, feel the dampness of the fog and Frodo's terror groping blindly in the fog trying to find the others. The makers of Troy didn't have a monumental book backing them up, though they did have about 6,000 years of legend to work from.

Casting on "Illuminated": Remember that Viggo came waltzing into LotR and immediately started waving swords and torches around. ;) Of course, that was Viggo.

~grumpy

Is this a Link that Cannot Be Posted?
I don't think it's a bad link. :confused:
The pictures from The Face photoshoot are posted on the elijahfan site (and on other sites, but I think that this a good link)
http://www.elijahfan.com/

That pic of Elijah looks like a digital mix with James Dean.

If this is what his face is going to evolve into as he ages, his range of roles will widen. Right now Elijah still has that tendency to be funny-looking. Now it appears that he will morph from funny-looking to leading-man-who-needs-a-box. Lookin' good, btw IMO. :D

p.s. Am I seeing things, or is he developing facial blemishes? :eek:

Hobbityme - my bad, but I forgot to thank you for the work you're putting into your site! So from me now, a most heartfelt Thank You! :) :k Much appreciated. And that pic ... if I were to have just glanced at that, I would have never thought it was EW! :o

Posting additional 'Sin City' news which includes a description of the clip that Moondancer's linked to:


from chud.com

5.20.04
By Dave Davis
Contributing sources: Variety, The Movie Box

It's official, Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's noir comic series Sin City has one of the best casts of our generation.

The ambitious project has now added Benicio Del Toro and supercool blackjack dealer Clive Owen to the cast, which already includes Jessica Alba, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Jessica Alba, Carla Gugino, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Jessica Alba and Jessica Alba. Band of Brothers paratrooper Rick Gomez is also now part of the film's rogues gallery. Owen and Del Toro will appear in a segment of the three-part flick based on Miller's "The Big Fat Kill" story arc.

The film is, apparently, being shot entirely against green-screens, with backgrounds to be added in post-production in the style of Attack of the Clones (*shudder*) and Sky Captain. A brief clip of filming (a scene with Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba) is now online ...

...but can anybody tell me how he can change so much in
a picture so you hadly can see its him?
wood, IMHO that's one of the major "How does he do it?" mysteries. After all the screencaps I've done, I still haven't seen Elijah Wood in any of the LotR movies. A few shots have gotten close, but even at times you'd expect Elijah to show through the character, he just doesn't. I think he actually does some physical things with his face that change the way it looks--changes the way he holds his features, etc.--for different characters. My guess would be that this is related to how he "becomes" the character. Still trying to figure out how to word this, but I'd say it's not that he decides, say, "For this character I'll do [whatever]," but that the differences are actually ways the characters would be different. Even if, for example, Huck Finn and Mark from the Good Son were identical ( :p ), their faces would look different simply because of who they are as people.

And, as we've talked about before, even in the photo shoots Elijah seems to be acting a particular character.

i have a rader silly quostien :( i have thougt of for a time now and i really dont understand what it means!in the beginning of fellowship when frodo(elijah) jumps up at the tree i thinkits dom or billy who sade oh here comes the money shot Wat does that mean???!!!
sorry for asking but i dont understand it
One of those "slang" expressions you don't think are hard to define until you actually try to do it :) . It basically means that the shot's very important--that whether the movie succeeds (makes money) rides on it. That shot's the first time we see Frodo's face straight on, so I'm guessing Dom was saying that the way the audience sees Frodo for the first time is very important to the movie. (And since he actually called it "the money shot," it seems he thought it was successful. :) )

----------

The makers of Troy didn't have a monumental book backing them up, though they did have about 6,000 years of legend to work from.
I haven't seen the movie, but I read one review that said one problem was that in ignoring the parts of the legend that involved the gods, the story became less 3-dimentional (I'm wondering how they dealt with Achilles' heel--was every supernatural element deleted?). So, in at least one way, they didn't use those 6,000 years of legend for all they were worth. The defense, I suppose, would be, "Well, it didn't really happen that way," but that was the way the makers of the legend understood it. So, even if the movie didn't want to show the gods actively intervening, the characters should, at least, perceive things that way. I may have to see this movie simply out of curiosity as to how this was handled ;) .

OTOH, even though PJ & Co. managed to excise Elbereth, and even though they might not share many of Tolkien's personal beliefs, they respected the story enough to leave much of Tolkien's spirituality intact. IMHO, if they hadn't, the story would have completely fallen apart, because it's the POV from which the story is told. I could go into specific examples, but that would be getting even more off-topic.

And some of the other things said about Troy are telling--My heart aches for that composer, as it sounds as if he was one of the people who really put his heart into the movie. Maybe someone can release his soundtrack, so people can play it while they're watching the video :rolleyes: . Better yet, maybe he can get some jobs with PJ ;) . Even though I haven't seen the movie, and don't know the composer (maybe he's really crappy--but I doubt it), if I think about this too much, I get :mad: ! I want to yell at those "studio executives": You dimwits! Howard Shore and PJ showed you how to do it! Your composer was paying attention--obviously you weren't! :mad:

And if things had been really done right, IMHO there would be more positive and fewer negative statements about the acting. I think one reason the LotR movies scared some movie folks is that they destroyed the claim that you "can't have it all." The excuse that if you're going to have a big epic, well, you just can't expect the acting to be any good, has been shown to be just plain untrue. And I think some of the reviews of Troy (and even Van Helsing) reflect that; the reviewers just might not cut "blockbusters" the slack they used to.

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

Speaking of "blockbusters" (Attack of the Clones :eek: et al.), I'm curious about those green screens for Sin City. Word is that the movie is going to be shot to look exactly like the graphic novels (translation: comic books ;) ), so might the characters be shown against backdrops mimicking that? And, wow, that is turning into an amazing cast (which says not only that the acting might be pretty good, but that the entire project must look interesting/good enough to attract people who can basically pick and choose their roles). And I like Jessica Alba, Jessica Alba and Jessica Alba, too :p !

Finally, methinks that either we need to set up an open casting call for the non-human cast member of EII, or someone needs to write a script that Elijah would love that also involves a Jack Russell Terrier, an iguana or two, and several BIG cats :p . Hey, it'd be something Elijah hasn't done before, right? ;)

wood, IMHO that's one of the major "How does he do it?" mysteries. After all the screencaps I've done, I still haven't seen Elijah Wood in any of the LotR movies. A few shots have gotten close, but even at times you'd expect Elijah to show through the character, he just doesn't.


I'm sure you've all seen the clips/caps of Lij as Lij being interviewed in his "Frodo clothes" or even moreso, the shot being blocked on the extended TTT of Lij kneeling, wearing his Frodo wig but dressed in regular "street clothes". And suddenly you see Elijah and not Frodo, and it's almost shocking because it really does point out just how much he disappeared into that role.

Just gotta share -- just got tickets to see Howard Shore and the Philadelphia Philharmonic performing the LOTR symphony! And with respect to Troy, that really is SO sad that the original composer was not able to have his work be a part of the film after giving so much of himself. The original score was supposedly awesome (and I believe you can listen to it from a link off Aint It Cool News).

If this is what his face is going to evolve into as he ages, his range of roles will widen. Right now Elijah still has that tendency to be funny-looking. Now it appears that he will morph from funny-looking to leading-man-who-needs-a-box. :D

ROTFL, erendis! :p But who you callin' funny-looking? :mad: ;) I think it has something to do with his not-very-wide mouth and very wide forehead. It will require much more analysis to be absolutely sure, however. :o :D

As for the blemish question: I don't see any. Your query took me back for a moment to the One Zit discussion after Fellowship came out. Ah, good times, good times. :)

Hey, the kissy-face smiley is back! Hooray! :k :k :k

Edit to add: After carefully scrutinizing all those outtake photos, it is more of a mystery than ever that Elijah has never been among People magazine's Most Beautiful. :confused:

Achila's right. You can listen to the rejected :mad: Troy soundtrack from Gabriel Yared.
Here's a direct link to Yared's site:
Gabriel Yared's Official Website - Troy! (http://www.gabrielyared.com/flashsite/index2.htm)
You'll find it on the News section. I had a listen to some of it and it sounds amazing!
I have yet to see Troy and I don't know if it's such a good idea to hear this soundtrack and then having to listen to a rushed sountrack for the actual movie.

The ROTK DVD comes out on may the 27th here. I know that it's very silly to get impatient now but... :mad: ...that's two days after the general release. :rolleyes:

posted by erendis
Now it appears that he will morph from funny-looking to leading-man-who-needs-a-box.
:D

Totally Off Topic, but I can't help myself: my eldest Godson from Germany (he's almost 18) was here for a visit. He's very tall, handsome (I'm his aunt and I'm very biased but...he is! :p ) and I can't believe how fantastic he is. Besides being very friendly and intelligent, he's always been very keen to help others whenever and where he can. I'm always a bit afraid that others may take advantage of his kind and generous nature, but he's smart enough not to be taken for a fool.
Now, my youngest Godson (he's 4) shows the same qualities. His big sister couldn't go out to play until she'd finished eating her lunch. She was tired and you know how kids get...she started to cry. Her little brother saw this, ran up to her and started to eat her lunch for her. He's adorable.
My Godsons are the best and I love them a lot

thanks for the ansewers tg!!i know what you mean,some times you know
what to say or translate but it can be realy hard to put it in to words!!
and for elijah and mysterie i think it is whay we all are so attracted to him
he is not a reguler guy or a reguler actor it is something mysteri over him!!
and not to mention his looks but that we all know atleast what i think :rolleyes: ;) :p :k
and for someone who becomes so famous i really think he has his feet
to the solid ground!! its not many actor or actresses who is that his not
near to become a diva thank god!! :cool:

From zkgrumpy
The makers of Troy didn't have a monumental book backing them up, though they did have about 6,000 years of legend to work from.

You aren't serious, are you? Because there was this guy Homer who allegedly wrote two poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, and both are nothing if not monumental. Then, a couple of centuries later, a bunch of guys called Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides penned up some pretty competent fanfiction, in the form of stage tragedies, filling in a few gaps in the canon. Later still, a Roman named Virgil produced The Eneid, a truly monumental if somewhat AU sequel to Homer's work. In addition, someone Aristophanes mercilessly ridiculed the work of the aforementioned fanficcers in his comedies, and an anonymous writer spoofed the canon itself in Batrachomyomachia (The Battle of Frogs and Mice).

So the makers of Troy should have been suffering from an overabundance of monumental books. To avoid saying something harsh about the outcome of their efforts and to stay on topic, let me just say how glad I am that EJW has not been involved in Troy :D.

Totally detouring off topic for one little moment. We watched the Beatles movie Help! (for like my 100th time--but not in a number of years) again last night. Another story about a BAD RING, :D and a Fellowship!! :D :D And the pursuit of a Ringbearer :D :D :rolleyes: No wonder I'm so attracted to hobbits--I adored the Fellowship of the Beatles. ;) ....and Elijah Dom Sean Billy are as fellowshippy outside of the movie as the Beatles were. How very very nice!! :) (alright, we'll let the Beatles do the brilliant singing part. And we'll let our hobbit actors do the brilliant real work of dealing with a serious ring. Thats a deal. Casting wrapped). :D

But back to Elijah (topic topic topic). The Money shot for me in LotRs--was just seeing the Frodo/ring poster for the first time. Frodo just hit me in the head.... ;). From then on my hopes were high...

zkgrumpy, check your pm's this week sometime, thanks.

They're going to shoot Sin City to make it look like a comic book? Talk about bringing back good memories :D ...anybody remember that incredible MTV music video for A-ha's "Take on Me"? It involved the Lead Singer and the Love Interest wandering in an out of Comic Book Land, with real life back alleys morphing into comic sketches of back alleys. I believe the video is STILL considered the #2 of all time by MTV (behind that awful "Thriller" video :rolleyes: ). Ah, the days of pre-bling-bling music videos. *reminisce*

I would love for Sin City to have the comic book feel. Sounds like another Art movie for Elijah. I hope they just draw the backgrounds, and don't over-CGI it.

You aren't serious, are you? Because there was this guy Homer who allegedly wrote two poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, and both are nothing if not monumental.

ROFLMAO!!!! Geez! Where was my brain!!! Oy!

~grumpy (sensible shoes are obviously cutting off circulation to brains)

One of those "slang" expressions you don't think are hard to define until you actually try to do it :) . It basically means that the shot's very important--that whether the movie succeeds (makes money) rides on it. That shot's the first time we see Frodo's face straight on, so I'm guessing Dom was saying that the way the audience sees Frodo for the first time is very important to the movie. (And since he actually called it "the money shot," it seems he thought it was successful. :) )


Ummm, I think Dom was being a little cheeky with this phrase. The term "money shot" is usually associated with films that are rated far beyond the PG-13 level of this board...and usually references an ...er... climactic (!) event... He's wicked is that guy. :D

Oh, dear...I haven't been able to contribute anything to this lively discussion for a good while, but now I have to come in and drag the level of discourse down! :rolleyes:

Hobbityme, I got to pay a quick visit to your EII site before the bandwidth crashed. Looks lovely. Thanks very much.

Sin City sounds v. interesting, too, even without Johnny Depp. :(

Haven't seen Troy yet (this weekend!) but from the buzz, it seems to me the only thing the production got right is the casting, which still amazes me. (Well, except I haven't seen BP as Achilles yet, so must withhold judgment there.) As I understand it, the script did away with the gods, but kept in Thetis, Achilles' mom, who is sort of a demi-goddess. And she's played by Faye Dunaway (or is it Julie Christie?). Another great casting idea. How could they mess this up?

Having seen "Troy" I want to repeat that it wasn't great but it wasn't horrible, and I'm not sure too many parallels to the making of a three-part epic like LOTR (starring Elijah Wood, topic topic topic :) ) should be drawn--not serious ones, anyway, though any and everything is always up for purely intellectual consideration, of course.

Brunhild, right on about the sources. ;)

As for Achilles' heel, if you weren't going to see the film I'll save you wondering about it--SPOILER!!-- he simply gets an arrow through it that lames him and leaves him open to the deadlier shots that follow. His legendary invincibility isn't mentioned at all as being a gift from the gods or anyone else. I thought I could infer a partial, but purely earthly, reason for it in the highly acrobatic fighting style they gave him for the duels and battle scenes. He'd clearly seen a few more Jackie Chan movies than anyone else in the Aegean world. :p END SPOILER

Now to really get back on topic here, there's a question about "Sin City" that's been tugging at my mind for a while now and I must ask it--does anyone not like the idea of Elijah Wood playing a character who kills and eats women? I gotta tell you, this is the biggest turn-off I've ever come across in a film. Whether he can do a "good job" of it (however one does that) is immaterial to me.

Just finished watching Spy Kids 3 with our boy (how fun to see him in an uncredited role like this!), and it's obvious that Robert Rodriguez is quite good with the green screen bit. Based on this (and RR's kind of wacky sense of humor (which must've gone very well with Lij's)), my take is that Sin City will be somewhat tongue in cheek (and in Kevin's case, perhaps that should be tongue in mouth!). So perhaps, Flourish, a role like Lij will play in it won't be so bad if it's not exactly taken seriously.

It's funny but under "normal circumstances", I too would be a bit...er...what's the best way to put this...nauseated by this new role of Lij's. But it's such a wonderful opportunity for him to stretch himself and really show all these naysayers that he's more than "just Frodo" (and yes, I DO realize how stupid that actually is -- Frodo will most likely be the most multi-dimensional role Lij will ever play).

Edit: Simulposted with Achila, and I'll say that I'd like it if Sin City is done somewhat tongue in cheek, but I'm not too hopeful about it. As far as RR's handling of darker stories, has anyone seen his "El Mariachi" movies with Antonio Banderas (I haven't)? RR had a much freer hand in those movies, though. I believe the author is very involved in how the Sin City movie will be made, and with all the effort being made to have it look just like the graphic novels, I doubt if even RR will stray from them very much.

Now to really get back on topic here, there's a question about "Sin City" that's been tugging at my mind for a while now and I must ask it--does anyone not like the idea of Elijah Wood playing a character who kills and eats women? I gotta tell you, this is the biggest turn-off I've ever come across in a film. Whether he can do a "good job" of it (however one does that) is immaterial to me.
What bothers me most is the overall tone of the story, which seems to be dark and despairing (hmmm... where've I heard that phrase before ;) ?). As long as the movies he's in have something positive about them, I don't mind Elijah playing the antagonist/bad guy/villain: someone has to, after all, if there's going to be much of a story. And some villains are worse than others. But I don't like the idea of him being in a movie that is so dark that there's no spark of hope in it. I don't care for dark fantasy stories where it's impossible for the good guys to win simply because there are no good guys, and I'm afraid Sin City will qualify for that. IMVHO it's not a healthy or truthful way to look at the world.

I'd say the only movie Elijah's been in so far that qualifies for the hopeless label is Black and White, and at that time he didn't have nearly the influence and following he has now--there are a lot of people who will be seeing Sin City simply because he's in it, something he didn't have to be concerned with in the past.

Of course, I haven't seen the script, and with the big names it's attracting maybe it has more going for it than I'm giving it credit for. Sometimes very dark stories can point to the light, if you know what I mean. But I'm afraid I'm not expecting that to be the case with Sin City, as I am with The Yank.

I dunno, maybe two movies out of 30-or-so isn't a bad record, especially for someone who seems to like "artsy" films. But I hope he doesn't make a habit of it and is doing this one, at least in part, to show his versatility. Having Sin City sandwiched between Everything Is Illuminated and Happy Feet will certainly make that point loud and clear!!

Sin City may be the first of Elijah's movies that I don't watch, and I'm definitely not going to see it until I get some reports on what it's like.

(But, then, he could have taken the part in hopes that wearing the l-o-n-g fake fingernails every day would break the nailbiting and smoking habits ;) .)

Has any Faculty member here read the Sin City comics?
Maybe they can tell us whether this movie is really going to be darker than dark with no spark of hope.

Today, in an excellent comic book store in my home town, I went looking for the Sin City series. The owner of the store told me that this is really an excellent series.
He didn't have any Sin City books in stock and he has ordered a new load but they have to be shipped in from the States (it'll be in the shop in three weeks time or more). I bought other fantastic comic books instead :rolleyes:

I don't mind seeing really dark movies or reading dark stories on the condition that it's a strong story. To me, life has dark and light sides and I like to explore both sides in movies, books and art in general.

One of the reasons why I like some of the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles so much is that it's very dark and her Vampires are indeed dark creatures but she manages to portray her characters with subtlety, giving them depth,...
The Vampire Lestat is still one of my very favourite book characters (even if Tom Cruise's portrayal did hurt my Lestat quite a bit :( ). Lestat is indeed evil but there's more to him than that.
Especially the book Memnoch, the devil is fantastic in my opinion. In that book, the devil is seeking an assistant and he asks Lestat if he wants to work with him. Lestat is at first horrified. He asks the devil why he chose him, is he so evil? From all the evil beings that have roamed the earth, the devil chose him? Is he so much more evil than Hitler, Napoleon, Hannibal,...? To explain it and to explain why there's a heaven and a hell and how things have evolved, he takes Lestat on a journey through space and time.
It's a fantastic tale and it really makes you think about things.

From what I do know from Sin City, if Elijah does indeed play Kevin (I haven't seen an official confirmation of that yet), what attracks me in this part is the combination of Elijah playing a mute, who's very innocent looking but who's in fact very, very evil. This is a very intriguing combination indeed. I'd like to see him pull this off and use his talent for 'subtlety' in portraying Kevin.
I haven't really seen Robert Rodriguez do subtle yet but the fact that Frank Miller is also involved in it, is a very good sign.


Edit: according to contact music, Orlando Bloom's girlfriend is also in Sin City.
Bosworth is currently filming Sin City with her boyfriend's Lord of the Rings co-star Elijah Wood.

I dunno, maybe two movies out of 30-or-so isn't a bad record, especially for someone who seems to like "artsy" films. But I hope he doesn't make a habit of it and is doing this one, at least in part, to show his versatility. Having Sin City sandwiched between Everything Is Illuminated and Happy Feet will certainly make that point loud and clear!!

Sin City may be the first of Elijah's movies that I don't watch, and I'm definitely not going to see it until I get some reports on what it's like.


Interesting comments by several people about nauseating roles etc...

I don't know the "graphic novels" (PC expression for comic books? ;) ). Don't know what the story or tone is.

I don't go to many movies -haven't even been to see ESOTSM, or Hidalgo (and I *LOVE* horse stories! Horse stories with Viggo - even better). There are some movies that give me the creeps just looking at the posters: Silence of the Lambs was like that. I was taking Metro downtown to work at the time, and there were posters all over the place with Jodie Foster with a moth over her lips. Ick. Hate bugs, I do. Except for cicadas, which are out in force in their first appearance since 1987 (17 years between hatchings!)(How did I get on that subject?)

Anyway, there are some movies that creep me out just hearing about them, and that I won't watch on general principle because of the blatant exploitation of women as the plot (oy if *that* doesn't sound kneejerk liberal! ;D). One was back in the 60's - I think Samantha Eggar was in it - "The Collector". It's about a man who kidnaps and keeps a woman captive. She actually escapes, and then *goes back to him*. I don't know how the movie ended, but in the book, he let her die of pneumonia. Another, I think, was in the 90's - "Boxing Helena" it was called, I think, and had - um - one of the women from Twin Peaks. That movie was so hideous in its subject matter that I don't even want to think about it. :::: shudder :::: Twin Peaks was another one, btw, though it definitely had its redeeming qualities.

Sin City may be another one - I don't know. We'll see. I wouldn't count on it being a bad move on The Lad's part, though - he's a few years older than B&W, and this may turn this into something good for him. His instincts (and/or his agent's) seem to be pretty sound, and there's got to be a reason why he signed up for this one. Who knows - I may be a fan who cheers from the sidelines, if I end up not seeing many of his movies.

He's already done creepy, though - not just ESOTSM. I'd have to look a long way to find scenes creepier than Frodo's love scene with the Ring in TTT, or Ring-Frodo walking out to meet the Nazgul in Osgiliath. That scene, apocryphal though it may be, knocks my socks off every time.

(Shelob was in a creepy class all by herself, as was Frodo stuck in the cobweb)

BTW, I was listening to the Prancing Pony chapter this morning on the way to work. Butterbur repeats a description of Frodo that Gandalf gave him, along with some other descriptions elsewhere - taller than some, fairer than most, red-cheeked, neither fat nor timid, with a bright eye and a cleft in his chin. Sound like anyone we know? :D

:::: sigh ::::

~grumpy (I even saved a cicada from certain death this morning)(They roll on their backs and can't seem to flip over again)(I think this document that I'm working on is making me absolutely squirrely)

As I understand it, the script did away with the gods, but kept in Thetis, Achilles' mom, who is sort of a demi-goddess.

That's my understanding as well, and a few people griped about the fact that this means no Odyssey, because Sean Bean's Odysseus knocked them out despite his limited time on screen and lack of brilliant script. I'd have to say the "Memorable Quotes from Troy" at IMDb are... painful. :rolleyes: Holy Kabolie, Trevor Eve is in that! Haven't seen him in years.

I'll probably catch the video. :p


...anybody remember that incredible MTV music video for A-ha's "Take on Me"? It involved the Lead Singer and the Love Interest wandering in an out of Comic Book Land, with real life back alleys morphing into comic sketches of back alleys.

I do. I've got in on video somewhere around here - hated the opening to the sequel with a passion, so if you haven't seen it I won't describe it. (Kinda liked the tune, actually. I have a weak spot for teeny pop.) And that was in black-and-white, memory serves. The comic Sin City is black and white, although a much "blobbier" feel than the sketches in that music video. Lots of fat dark lines and chunks of black. But Rodriguez is not animating the actors, is he?

As far as RR's handling of darker stories, has anyone seen his "El Mariachi" movies with Antonio Banderas (I haven't)?

I have. El Mariachi was serious, but not humorless, and Antonio Banderas wasn't in it - the violence in the two sequels with Banderas was often so OTT we were laughing, which I think was the intent. As to darkness... they are dark, but I didn't find them depressing. "He's lost everything but hope" type of endings on two of them.

What bothers me most is the overall tone of the story, which seems to be dark and despairing...As long as the movies he's in have something positive about them, I don't mind Elijah playing the antagonist/bad guy/villain: someone has to, after all, if there's going to be much of a story.

That's how I feel - I'm less concerned with the details of Elijah's role and more worried about the "feel" of the movie as a whole. I like dark, so long as it isn't deadly dark. :p I don't like finishing a movie (or any other piece of fiction) feeling as if there's no hope for humanity. :( I'd be surprised if Rodriguez did a movie like that, but I suppose he might.

Frank Miller, the author of the Sin City comics, wrote the scripts for RoboCop 2 and 3, if anyone's seen those. I haven't. I've read some of his comics, years back, and although his stories were dark, there was usually hope at the heart of them. Reading the Amazon reviews of the book it doesn't sound like he's changed much - your favorite characters die, the bad guy's really evil, the main character fights on for right and for the sake of those despised by society no matter what happens. :D

Sheryl

Edit:


I don't know the "graphic novels" (PC expression for comic books? ).

"Graphic novels" are comic books, but typically tell one long story that (supposedly) has more depth than you usually run across in comic books. IMHO a good graphic novel tells one tale, about something that truly changes the main character or characters (I still haven't reconciled myself to the numerous sequels to the original Elfquest saga, even though I read them all). There are graphic novels with series characters like Batman but personally I often find those less satisfying.

Sheryl

On Elijah in Sin City...

Hasn't he said that he would like to play a part that is 'pure evil' ? Kevin sounds pretty close to that. I really want to see what Elijah does with this. And i hope his part is more than just a short cameo. From what I've heard Kevin is the favorite villain in this series. So I hope this means Elijah's part is long enough to allow him his chance to play a really bad bad guy.

I think Kevin sounds really creepy but intriguing in the way a really interesting villain can be. The love to hate him kind.

AS for his three new movies I have the highest hopes for Illuminated. It sounds like it has everything in it. Humor, love, pathos, etc. And I like Liev Shrieber and hope he's as good a director as he is an actor.

The Yank could be the dark horse if there is more substance to Elijah's character than his getting beat up or beating up others. I'm sure Dougie intended it to have more to it than that. Let's hope Lexie directed it with those parts of the story intact. We've only seen shots of what was filmed outdoors and they were the violent fight scenes. There must be interior shots where the characters actually talk and interact in other ways. Those are the scenes Elijah can shine in.

Sin City is getting terrrifically good pre-production buzz and this COULD be the role..if it gives Elijah enough screen time.... to make people realize that Elijah is an actor of the highest caliber and earn him the respect he deserves for his talent, range and adaptability. It should if Robert directs this thing the right way. And I think he realizes Elijah's potential as much as PJ did.

And we thought we wouldn't have anything to look forward to after LOTR? :eek:

Lotsa good thoughts lately!

I still haven't seen Elijah Wood in any of the LotR movies. A few shots have gotten close, but even at times you'd expect Elijah to show through the character, he just doesn't. I think he actually does some physical things with his face that change the way it looks--changes the way he holds his features, etc.--for different characters. My guess would be that this is related to how he "becomes" the character. Still trying to figure out how to word this, but I'd say it's not that he decides, say, "For this character I'll do [whatever]," but that the differences are actually ways the characters would be different. Even if, for example, Huck Finn and Mark from the Good Son were identical ( ), their faces would look different simply because of who they are as people.

I remember in about June of last year. I'd seen LoTR of course, as well as "Huck Finn" and the "Ice Storm." Maybe a coulple of others. Anyway, there was that "Glick" interview, and for a couple of minutes I was actually sort of taken aback, even a little confused. Because it was the first time I'd ever seen Elijah being himself, and it was like watching a totally other person. The features were the same, but as if they were inhabited by a wholly other being! It was really amazing. After I got over the initial shock, and had a earful of what my husband call's Elijah's "outrageous giggle," I was completely enchanted!

Honey!

Just zooming in here quick to say that I'm now watching Robert's commentary on Spy Kids 3D, and he obviously thinks the world of our Wee Lad. He went on and on and couldn't say enough about how great he is. Don't buy the film just for this, but it's worth renting to watch it. And it's cute that they didn't even have a suit for Lij to wear, so they cut up the one made for one of the kid actors. It doesn't even fit all the way around Elijah's chest. He apparently loved the low tech aspects of that.

Also, RR filmed him to look about 8 feet tall as a direct play on his 3'6" role as Frodo. Very very cool.

Just dropping in to say that I've switched hosts so the new address for the Everything is Illuminated Fansite is:

http://illuminated.125mb.com

I've added a forum there and cleaned up some stuff!



Regarding the discussion of Elijah the real person being vastly different from Elijah in his movie roles, I just had to say that I remember when I was in high school and I saw a picture of Elijah in a mag and passed him off as another one of those heartthrobs like Jonathan Jackson or Devon Sawa.

Haha, look at me now.

godmorning girls!!! :)
i think its realy gone be exaiting to see what elijah can do with this caracter
kevin. i dont know the story i have never heard of sin city before! :rolleyes:
but what i heard i think elijah is perfect casting who else could do this evil
roll but on the other hand i am not very objektiv!! :rolleyes: ;)
is there anyone who knows if there is a speciell site for
sin city as it is for other movies? :)
i have lookt but as alwayes i cant find anything i think it is
becuse i spell words wrong when i seach!! :D
i am glad you got your site alright its look realy good hobbityme!!! :cool:

The film is, apparently, being shot entirely against green-screens, with backgrounds to be added in post-production in the style of Attack of the Clones (*shudder*) and Sky Captain. A brief clip of filming (a scene with Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba) is now online ...

This made little alarm bells go off in my head. Anybody remember a Bakshi film called "Cool City?" I think the same team who animated the aforementioned
"Aha!" video worked on this one. In this movie live actors crossed back and forth from "real" world to cartoon world. It bombed.

IMVHO the most successful live action movie of a "graphic novel" to date has been "Road to Perdition." It was very stylistic, and it's roots definitely showed, but not to the extent that special effects overwhelmed the story.

Isn't Bakshi the one who sort of threw a royal snit fit when PJ's LoTR was so successful? Won't he be :mad: if Rodriguez can pull off something similar to "Cool City" with equal success? :eek: :rolleyes:

As to the whether the actors will be represented by animations as well, I doubt even Elijah Wood can pull of playing a MUTE cartoon character! ;)

Honey!

Editted because I can't do two things at once at midnight!

Also because I wanted to say thanks to everyone for your thoughts on which of Elijah's movies would persuade a non-fan. Mel Headstroung, your thoughts were really spot on! I can't wait till he makes a movie that will make people look back at RoTK and say "Wow! That young man can act!"

Re: Troy soundtrack from Gabriel Yared.
<snip>
I have yet to see Troy and I don't know if it's such a good idea to hear this soundtrack and then having to listen to a rushed sountrack for the actual movie.

Well, the final soundtrack is by James Horner, best known for 'Titanic'. His 'Troy' soundtrack sounds overly familiar, as though the music had been cobbled and culled from an assortment of previously scored by James Horner movies. (going way off-topic while already off-topic: as it is, I find that Horner's music tends to have a familiarity to it - I don't know anything about music so can't explain what I'm saying, but a Horner score tends to sound like a Horner score. Kinda like John William of late. Howard Shore, Thomas Newton and Hans Zimmer are the composers who always seem to come up with something new every time) Before I knew about Gabriel Yared I was thinking that Horner's really gone off the deep end if he's plagiaring himself so shamelessly ... now that I know about Yared I feel bad for Horner too. It couldn't have been easy stepping in at the last minute, and on top of that he's got this lacklustre piece stuck on his resume. :mad:

Back on topic to 'Sin City' - I hadn't heard of it either before all this movie talk began but the little bits and pieces I'm reading from movie message boards seem to imply that EW's Kevin actually fits in very well with the kind of company that populates that story, so .... :eek:

I was gonna mention 'Road to Perdition' too, as an example of a graphic novel turned mainstream movie. :)

I thought this was way :cool: Total Film ranked the Top 20 Epics of all time (http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_929401.html?menu=entertainment.films). Our epic is at number 4.

And our hero is standing tall with these tough guys. ;)

http://img4.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ainon/greatest_epics.jpg

image from UK Film Review Epics Special #51

Ainon, thanks for my new desktop image! LOL :D Little Frodo amongst all those big 'toughs!' Well, that just proves what tough little guys hobbits are!

I'd have to agree with you about Horner's scores; very self-referrential. Danny Elfman is another you can spot from the next theater over!

Honey!

Is there anyone out there with Elijah's episode of Homicide who would be willing to copy it for me? I've never seen it and I'm trying to head myself off at the pass -- when Season 5 is released on DVD, I'm just fool enough to buy it for that one episode. All expenses paid, of course. Please PM me if you can help out!

Thanks!

LOL
Thanks for that picture, Ainon!


It's been a bit quiet during the weekend in here.
The webmaster of ElijahFan.com has posted some new(ish) pictures if anybody's interested (in seeing a wet Elijah ;) )

i agree moondancer!! it has been very quiet herethis weekend!
have you already get you copyes of rotk? :D

lovely pics of elijah!! :)
i love seing him dry or wet! :rolleyes:
but somehow wet is kind of sexy dont you think? ;) :rolleyes: :cool:

Since it has been kind of quiet, I thought I'd send along a little treat. This is a transcript of Robert Rodriguez' commentary during Elijah's scene in Spy Kids 3D:

*******************
This whole idea about The Guy...I used to call my son "Little Guy" cuz he was born with a lot of hair -- he looked like a little guy from Day One. But I wanted to call this character "The Guy". They're always talking about "I'm the guy", "You're the guy", "You're not the guy". And in the script originally, it even said, "When the real Guy shows up," it says, "It's Elijah Wood." And there's Elijah. And everyone said, "You're really getting Elijah?" So it was another one of those like with George Clooney. I call him up. He came down to Austin to visit for something else...and look at the suit he's wearing -- that's actually Juni's suit -- it barely fits on him -- we carved it up, painted it silver. Cuz we shot the kids a month before, two months before -- and Elijah came in for one day, and I wanted to do this whole reverse "Lord of the Rings" thing where...Elijah's actually looking at the ground. That's how tall I made him seem -- so that he'd just be towering over the children. Here he comes out of a "Lord of the Rings" shot. Now, y'know, they're the hobbits, looking up at him. He's just towering over them. See, look how small Juni is compared to him. And so I had them looking up at like an 8 foot tall pole, and I had him looking down at the floor where the camera's really low to just give that sense that he's just huge. And...uh...I think he liked that. But if you look close, that suit, it's just taped on. You see how it doesn't really go all the way around him cuz it's not built for him. It was built for the kid and we just recycled it, put some motorcycle gloves and boots and Elijah was just tickled about the low tech we were doing.

(Elijah's line) "Cake."

Great line reading there. At one point there, that was a good fall by him. And...uh...he's really funny. Elijah's a great guy. 'Course all the kids worshipped him. They had to come back just to meet him. And I wanted Elijah because I thought for a kid, y'know, seeing this movie, he would be as heroic a character as he could get would be, y'know, Frodo. And I worked with him on a movie called "The Faculty", so he's been, he's just a great kid, just very much reminds me a lot of Daryl here -- they got the same sort of personality -- they're just really good people
***********

The Daryl he refers to is Daryl Sabara, who plays Juni. A cute movie, not to be taken too seriously. But good from the perspective that it was shot almost entirely on green screen (like Sin City will be, supposedly) and you can see that Robert's pretty experienced with it.

Thanks, Achila.
:)

After your first Spy Kids post earlier, I actually thought about renting it just to hear Rodriquez' commentary :rolleyes:

I'd just like to echo Achila's plea for a copy of Lij's "Homicide" episode. (Since, as it turns out, CTV was only playing ONE episode of "Homicide" because it dovetailed with a "Law and Order" storyline! *pout*)

Saw "Troy" last night. Peter O'Toole's scene with Brad Pitt was awesome! (Still don't get Mr. Pitt, though :confused: ) Mr. O'Toole rocks! I have a new reason to live to a ripe old age; I want to see Elijah be this cool when he's a very handsome old man!

Mr.Bloom, on the other hand still has a ways to go (IMVHO.) He could improve his acting alot, I think, by working on his voice; he just isn't capable of expressing much emotion with it. He made me very grateful for Elijah's lovely tenor, and his command of his voice.

Just watched FoTR for the umpteenth time (Tuesday is almost here! :D ) and I was particularly struck by EW's reading of the line "I will give you the One Ring if you ask it." He puts so much strength and vulnerability at once into it!
His voice is such an asset! That lad is blessed, and no mistake.

Honey!

editted because I can't spell after midnight, either!

We thought you'd like to know that we shipped this portion of your
order separately to give you quicker service. ...

The following items were included in this shipment:
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Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal
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1 The Lord of the Rings - The Re



WOO HOO!!!!!! :D :D :D

:::: happy dancing ::::

~grumpy

YAY Grumpy!

In "Yank" news, this was posted on The Yank yahoogroup, concerning the problems between Dougie Brimson and Lexi Alexander (remember that this is gossip, but sounds very plausible, considering what we've heard):

************
The rift between Brimson and Alexander apparently began when she took exception to some comments he made about changes she had made to the script without his knowledge or approval. Things got worse when he visited the set and pointed out things that were clearly wrong, something she took as a personal insult although according to my source, he was only voicing concerns that had been rumbling amongst the cast and crew for days. I was also told that she had huge rows with both Charlie Hunnam and Marc Warren on set and also fell out with the producer and a few of the crew the majority of who have said they would never work with her again. I was also told rather strangely that the bulk of the directing was actually carried out by the guy in charge of the camera team because she apparently isn't up to it. Did anyone hear anything else about this?

As for Brimson, there is a feeling that although he seems to have been the
wronged party, there were almost certainly other things going on behind the
scenes that may have been a contributory factor to what happened. This could include another hooligan related movie which might explain why she was pissed at him and why he didn't do more to stand his ground. The interesting thing is, since he is one of the first people the press call when it comes to anything hooliganism related in the UK, there are concerns that this rift will cost the movie dear when it comes to it being released which is possibly one reason why there has been no news of a distributor either here or in the US.

One thing is for sure, this isn't over yet!
*******************

All I can say is that if this' even half true, poor Elijah!

Achila, all that Yank news is worrisome. I've imagined such a smart, intense little film. But if people were feeling great about the movie, you'd think there would be less fighting on set. :( :confused: But maybe I'm wrong to think that. She's a first time director, isn't she?? Maybe she just couldn't handle the intensity of a three week shoot, or four weeks or whatever it was. Probably working on very little sleep, lots of responsibility, and raw nerves. Hope that is all it is. And I hope Dougie's objections weren't about a huge message change.... Wish we could hear Elijah's take on this....

Ainon--thanks for the cool pic. Frodo looks so adorable among all those way too big hunks :k

EDIT: HEY!!! Put the curser over the little green squared at the upper right again. It's gone from calling me (and everyone else I tried) way outta sight to "not nice enough yet!" alright!! Who is in charge??!

I've been learning some very, very basic things about how search engines operate, and did a kind of "test search" on Google for "Elijah Wood, screencaps." There were 893 results. The top 10 included pages from the "big hitters" that you'd expect: A&F, Elijahfan, TORN, Versaphile. But guess what was sitting at #10? Page 287 of this thread! What a deal, eh? #15 was page 5 from this thread, all the way back to October 2002. What Google did, as I understand it, is look for pages with both "Elijah Wood" and "screencaps" on them (the 893 total), and then rank them by amount of traffic, number of other pages that link to them, and the position of the moon at the autumnal equinox ;) . I'm guessing that page 5 rated highly because it was while we were still "settling in" here, so there was a lot of traffic and probably a lot of linking going on as people found the thread. But that the recent page made it (barely) into the top 10 is pretty cool, IMVHO :) .

Beneath each of our two entries, there was a link to "more pages from Khazzadum.com"--which, of course, I had to try. Not really any surprises, but kind of fun: The top 8 pages were all in this thread, and 9 and 10 were in other threads but the key words were in posts by Faculty members. Nine was in "KD Tech Questions" because of a post by Honey, and 10 was in Brandy Hall as a joint effort between ainon and me :p (her post had "screencaps" in it and mine had "Elijah Wood"). Along with other things, that means those pages in KD Tech Questions and Brandy Hall were read by a lot of people.

----------

Back on the main Google search list for "Elijah Wood, screencaps," I was shocked to see that #21 (out of 893!) was "For Elijah Wood Geeks". Only trouble is, when I looked at it more closely, it turned out to be the page on my old website :( . I can still access the site, so I went in and made more emphatic and easier-to-see "please join us at the new place" notices. (And I'm glad the site's not active there anymore--Tripod had annoying ads on their freebie sites before, and now they're three times as bad!)

Because Google weights incoming links pretty heavily in their page rankings, I'm concerned that the high rank might mean that people are still following old links to the site. Could I ask that anyone who's reading this who has a link posted to either my Tripod site or the "stillborn" one at earthlink, to change it to http://www.frodolivesin.us ? (The earthlink one is particularly frustrating--it stopped publishing before the entire site was up, and when it did that it also stopped letting me edit or delete it, so I can't even go in and make a redirect message.)

It's not that I care one whit about Google page rank :rolleyes: , but I'd hate to have people "wandering in the desert" instead of finding the new site. Thanks. :)

Lol...what a geeky thing to do, tg...that Google search. ;) :k I'm one to talk...I love doing Google searches

Oh dear, the gossip, rumors about the rift between Brimson and Alexander :( that doesn't sound that good now, does it? I hope that this is an exaggeration and if it's true I hope that it doesn't affect the final result too much.

Totally random: I'm a lurker on the A&F site and message forum and somebody posted a little article that appeared in a UK magazine (NOW).
Normally, I'm not that interested in little articles like this (it contained a "what's my favorite..." list)
But amongst other things he mentions this:
CELEBRITY PASSIONS - Elijah Wood
The Lord Of The Rings star Elijah, 23, adores Radiohead, tapas and collecting Star Wars action figures...
...
You can't beat a cold beer on a hot day. My personal favourites are Stella Artois; a Mexican beer called Pacifico; and Shiner Bock, which is a brilliant beer from Texas.
Stella Artois! Belgian beer! Good boy! :D

Btw, that article has been posted by Gramsywoll on A&F, there's more but...it's not that interesting, really. :rolleyes: If you want to read the rest, you'll find it on the A&F forum unter the title 'Elijah in NOW - UK mag'

So, you guys are going to be buying the ROTK DVD tomorrow? I only have to wait two more days after that but...it's going to be a difficult two days for somebody as impatient as me.

Edited to respond to something:

And as for Himself saying anything now that it's over, it's very unlikely that he will, unless it's a situation where he's overheard telling a friend or something like that.

I was actually wondering if anyone had heard any comments on the experience overall - interviews, whatever - since he's finished. He could say whether it was enjoyable or not without commenting on anyone personally.


In "Yank" news, this was posted on The Yank yahoogroup, concerning the problems between Dougie Brimson and Lexi Alexander (remember that this is gossip, but sounds very plausible, considering what we've heard):


I'm not sure I believe all of it. After all, Elijah was said to have been in a major snit because PJ gave Andy Serkis a Ring as a keepsake.


The rift between Brimson and Alexander :::: snip :::: Things got worse when he visited the set and pointed out things that were clearly wrong, :::: snip :::: something she took as a personal insult although according to my source, he was only voicing concerns that had been rumbling amongst the cast and crew for days. I was also told that she had huge rows with both Charlie Hunnam and Marc Warren on set and also fell out with the producer and a few of the crew the majority of who have said they would never work with her again.

TV/screen writers tend to see their stories as their dearly begotten children. When they get to a set and find that the director and other creative beings have their own interpretation of the story, they seem to lose it. :) I'm going to shake a whole lot of salt on this one.

Not to pull the gender card or anything (riiiiiiiight... :rolleyes: ), but this movie is about what seems to be a very male activity. A woman is directing it. Why would Dougie think that she was in any way qualified to do so or to make any sort of changes or interpretation of his story?

I was also told rather strangely that the bulk of the directing was actually carried out by the guy in charge of the camera team because she apparently isn't up to it. Did anyone hear anything else about this?

I think this one earmarks the whole thing as gossip, the kind that seems to follow woman directors around. Directing is traditionally a male occupation and is very hard for a woman to get into, be taken seriously, or succeed. An easy and cheap shot is to say that some guy had to help her out because she couldn't do it.

I've known of directors having screaming fits on the set and they're considered brilliant and artistic. A woman doing the same thing, or even objecting in relatively mild terms, would be labeled as incompetent and hysterical.

All I can say is that if this' even half true, poor Elijah!

He seemed to be enjoying himself in the pictures that we saw. :) Has Himself said anything since it's over?

~grumpy

The only reason I don't think this' entirely all made up gossip is that Dougie himself (on his website) alluded to problems on the set and with the various personalities, which were also picked up by other sources (including our "bud" Ted C, etc.). My guess is that this' a fairly reliable source of information, considering that a) he was an extra and saw what was going on, and b) knows a bunch of insiders.

I wonder if part of the reason there were SO many pictures of Elijah smoking (off-camera, I'm talking about) is that he was anxious about what was going on. And as for Himself saying anything now that it's over, it's very unlikely that he will, unless it's a situation where he's overheard telling a friend or something like that.

this thing about the yank does worries me a bit!!!
it would be to bad if this hole thing is destroying
this film wich can be very good and it still can be.
maybe this sort of things is more common that we know about,
i mean this maybe happens realy often when writers and directors
work together!i dont know anything about this sort of thing this is
just my thougts! :) and i do hope this dident affect elijahs acting
but i realy dont think it did.
but i agree with you Achila,this is maybe a reason why elijah was
smoking so much.i mean in almost all the pics we saw from that
set he was smoking!!

well i just hope things worked out well and the movie turns out to
be a big succes!and that this dident affect elijah!! :rolleyes:
and i dont think he will talk about this in the press atleast not untill the movie
is realest!!! :rolleyes:

Dougie Brimson's comments on his website are just enough to to raise some concerns without explaining anything:
First off, I know that there are a variety of rumours circulating about some of the things that went on both on and off set but despite the numerous mails asking me to comment, as of this moment I have absolutely no intention of spilling any beans. Of course the time may well come when that changes and I do decide to speak out but that will be my decision and mine alone.

What I will say however is that those who need to know the truth, know the truth and that is good enough for me. At least for the time being.
I wonder if his decision in the future will depend somewhat on whether or not he's happy with the movie when it's finished?

The difficulties could make the movie less good than it could have been without turning it into a bad movie. Reports say that there were similar problems with Bumblebee, and it's still a good movie (IMHO). But there are some "huh?" moments that I suspect show the seams between two different visions. Some of the "huh?" lines/events are in the book, but in the book they have a context, while in the movie they don't (knocking on the door "for luck"; mention of the medication's "aftermath"; why Barney's handgrasp with the patient who's getting "fried" with microwaves is important; even a parallel for the ball bouncing). Maybe a difficulty in joining a vision of the movie that's closer to the book with one that's more different? Just a surmise. Bumblebee is one movie that I'm glad is different from the book, which is unusual for me, so I'm glad the "let's make it different" opinion won out (if that was, in fact, the source of the problems), but those few hanging threads are still there.

Also interesting, I think, that Bumblebee is one movie where--as far as I know--we have no past or present comments from Elijah about the filming. IMHO, that tends to support what others have said about problems, since he's usually seemed happy to talk about the filming of movies even as far back as Radio Flyer.

i dident know there have been problems with the filming of bumbelbee
on the other hand i havent heard of this movie untill i saw lotr and my
eyes was open for a surten mr.beuatiful. i havent reed the book.
but i think bumbelbee or memory as it is called here in sweden is a
very good movie and i cant tell if it would have been diffrent if there
wasent any problems with the set but i dont think its showes (oh my
problems with spelling and finding the right words but hope you understands)

maybe thats whay lotr becomme so very good movies i mean peter and
phillipa realy are big fans of tolkien and wanted to do justes to the books
and to fans of the books.and also they become close friends with the actors.
also the actors realy wanted this to be good.and idont think they have sucsede so good if it not have been such passion for the projekt of all involved thas this makes any sens i hope it does!!!! :k

Well, here's one little piece of good news re: The Yank. This' from The Yank yahoogroup, as usual, and is early buzz from Cannes:

***************
"We're truly impressed with the footage Odd Lot provided for Cannes and the care they have taken to produce a realistic hooligans experience.., With the compelling performances and strong direction we're seeing on screen, we expect the film to go the distance in the marketplace." said Senator International president Joe Drake.

Senator International is handling much of International Distribution

thanks achila that is realy sounds good!
that realy cheered me up a bit as you know i alwayes a bit worrid when it comes to elijah!! :rolleyes:
and they was impressed by the acting to!?
i am not surprised about that are you??? :D

Oh, my. This back and forth about "The Yank" has me worried. My fingers are crossed that the film sees the light of day and turns out to be strong.

Honey, I saw Troy this weekend, and my biggest complaint was that there was not enough Sean Bean! I thought Brad Pitt did Ok. And Peter O'Toole was terrific. Orlando better watch the eye-squinching, though. He sure did a lot of it, to try and convey what Paris was thinking. There is a certain Master of the Eye Squinch he could take lessons from.... :)

Thanks for that positive bit of news Achila!

But let's look at it this way, tension on the set could have contributed to a more hostile setting for the actors to act in, which could be a good thing since they're supposed to be feeling agitated and frustrated, as hooligans.

That's a possibility... I thought about our "cultural translations" discussion when a friend was complaining about the "hooligans" at her apartment complex. They're a group of kids from about 10-14 years old (about a half-dozen of them), and they run all over the place and make lots of noise. That's what the term means to an American mind (such as we have ;) ).

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

Well, I have It :cool: . I'd normally wait til evening, but I had to go to the post office before work, and Target is just across the street from the post office and opens early in the morning, so why not save myself a trip later on? :p Very efficient, you know. And I can start screencapping right after work. :) There are some specific shots I want for June website updates, and that may be all I have time for this week--that will take awhile, because there's a fairly large project involved ;) . But if there's a scene just crying out for discussion, I'll see what I can do :) .

Looking forward to the June update of your site, Tg!
Edit (can't be bothered to use a new post):
on the TORN message board, Ringer Larner posted this comment after watching the ROTK DVD:
It's about the moment when Frodo claims the ring:
In spite of the sly smile that mirrored that of Isildur when he did the same, Frodo was weeping, and in the midst of that sly look as he started to put the Ring on his finger, he gave Sam one last look of what looked to me to be terror and regret, as if a core of him was saying, "Sam! What am I doing?! Take my hand again! Stop me!"

Talk about magnificent acting! I was practically standing this time on top of my television screen when I noted this look--was going to turn it off and go to bed, but found myself caught off guard by the fear followed by the sly triumph.
Tg, I have no idea what sort of screencaps you want to make exactly and in what order and you'll probably be studying this scene as well, but this comment makes me curious. :)
A tear + a wry smile? I didn't notice a tear (mind you, last time I saw the movie was in december...tomorrow can't come soon enough)

A link to the thread on TORN: Some jumbled thoughts after today's viewing (http://www.theonering.net/rumour_mill/rpg/viewer/moviediscussion/40B44E3600053842.html)



I just saw this on a LJ. Since you can't link to it, I'm going to link directly to the article she posted but credit to Bunniewabbit for finding it. *waves to Bunnie* (I know she reads in here from time to time):

Video Review: The Return Of The King (http://www.turnto10.com/entertainment/3343363/detail.html)

One interesting quote from that article:
As brilliant as the special effects are in "King," they never overpower the actors' performances. In fact, watching the film again made me realize how much of a travesty it was that it didn't receive an acting nomination at this year's Academy Awards.

While Astin's performance -- and deservedly so -- was singled out as the frontrunner for such recognition, but it really could have gone a number of actors in the piece. McKellen, for example, once again brings subtle depth to Gandalf while Wood continues to amaze as Frodo. Beaten and bruised yet determined, you can feel his exhaustion and iron will as he moves ever closer to Mount Doom. It's an inspiring performance that punctuates an inspiring film.
:cool:



One more day until I can get my hands on a ROTK DVD copy. One more day!

I got IT yesterday too. Happy.. happy... happy! :)

I watched the film last night - what can I say? I don't believe I'll ever be able to watch the Grey Havens dry-eyed. The moment we see Frodo wandering through an empty-looking Bag End, and we hear those beautifully spoken words, 'How do you begin to pick up the threads of an old life...' (he's American, you know!!!) my stomach starts to knot up.

Tg - I look forward to your 'large project' at frodolivesin.us. There are a lot of Frodo scenes I would like to see your take on. Are you going to work on your own favourites first, or are you planning to start at the beginning and work your way through? Can't wait to see your 'Don't Let Go,' but of course EVERY Frodo scene deserves lengthy and detailed analysis! So get capping already, Tg!

I just saw your post, Moondancer. What a wonderful quote:

Originally posted by Moondancer:
Wood continues to amaze as Frodo. Beaten and bruised yet determined, you can feel his exhaustion and iron will as he moves ever closer to Mount Doom. It's an inspiring performance that punctuates an inspiring film.
__________________________________________________

At last! Tim Lammers - I think I like him.:)

Shame about all The Yank rumours. I guess all we can do is wait until the film surfaces - which it will, hopefully. But that's an encouraging report from Cannes, Achila, particualry the 'compelling performances' part. Thanks for that.

Enjoy the DVD, ladies.

A tear + a wry smile? I didn't notice a tear (mind you, last time I saw the movie was in december...tomorrow can't come soon enough)
IMHO, that scene is full of Elijah's too-complex-to-name mixes of emotion--as it should be! I haven't watched it yet on the DVD, but I last saw the movie a couple of weeks ago (it's still in town, at the second-run theaters). There are tears in Frodo's eyes throughout, but I don't think that means he's crying throughout; he's crying as he holds the Ring out over the fire, and the tears don't dry up immediately when the Ring takes over, but I'd have to watch it more closely (oh, such a duty ;) ) to decide if he's still crying then. I haven't seen the nuance the reviewer talks about in Frodo's emotions at that point (begging Sam to help him), but it certainly sounds valid and could very well be part of the "mix" that I just haven't caught hold of yet. Will have to watch it with that idea in mind and see if it seems to fit for me. That's what makes those complex emotions so wonderful--different people can see different things, or one person can see different nuances each time they watch it--and Frodo is such a fantastic character for that, since complex and mixed emotions are really his "stock in trade."

I didn't get as much screencapping done last night as I was hoping to (and it's all Sheryl's fault ;) ;) ;) !), as I spent too much time laughing uncontrollably over a book that was linked to in the Cathedral. But today's another day (and, boy, I'd love to stay home from work today :rolleyes: ).

I watched the movie all the way through last night, and then went back and did some frame-by-frame advance during the Cracks of Doom sequence. Amazing! I especially liked the pivotal moment when Frodo is finally taken over by the Ring. This time, it's not immediately visible in the eyes, but instead in the way he holds his mouth and jawline. I can't describe it in words, but it's almost like the resolve in his jaw and lips disappears and he goes slightly slack, and you know that Frodo Baggins is gone.

Dad-gummit!!!! The mail just came - knock at the door indicating that the postman left a package - Package from Amazon, good, good (I sound like Treebeard), opened it - It's not The DVD!!! I also ordered Everything is Illuminated but they sent the DVD first so I'd get it more quickly - but it hasn't come yet! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well, I don't have IT yet. ::: sniffle ::: That's ok. I took 3 days off from work (plus the weekend, plus Memorial Day, makes *SIX* whole days off from work!!!) and have a lot of stuff to do. If I'm a reaaaaaallly good girl and get lots done, I can watch it when it gets here.

Re: tears: My sister, a pediatric nurse for 32 years, pointed out that if Sam and Frodo were that dehydrated, they wouldn't have had tears to shed. Or sweated. Killjoy. ;)

:::: going out to check mailbox once again even though I know it won't be here till about 3 :::: Nope. Not yet.

Very cool review!!! I still think it was a travesty that none of the actors were recognized. They were subtle when the story called for it, explicit when it did, emotional, angry, devious, grief-stricken, whenever the story needed it. There were more layers to those characters than you could shake a stick at. It was so well done that it fooled the reviewers into thinking those guys weren't acting!

I've been doing a review (oh the burden!) of FotR and TTT to find the little moments in The Lad's performance that we often don't notice because something else is going on. It's the beauty of frame advance, and of DVD's and videos in general - the next time around you get to look at something else in the scene. Examples: Frodo's expression when he squeaks "How far to the next crossing?", his actions and expressions when Sam is cooking the rabbit stew - hanging over Sam's shoulder and practically diving into the pack to get the plates. It's a brilliant addition to the scene without grabbing attention from the main action between Gollum and Sam. It also provides a good transition from one scene to the next, and from Sam/Gollum as primary characters in a scene, to Frodo as primary character. There's also his expression(s) (when did the kid ever have *one* expression in a scene?) when Aragorn yanks him out from under the table in the Prancing Pony and then not-too-gently throws him against the fireplace (nice posterior shot there, btw, focusing on the purely physical for a second). There's also his expression(s) in the "Here! Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me!" scene in Rivendell, and when Pippen was going on about quests and things. There's also his ability to hold one expression in his big, beautiful, glowing, blue, eclipse-like, bottomless - :::: looks around at Faculty staring strangely :::: - ahem - er - um - eyes while expressing something entirely different with the rest of his face. He did that in the Rivendell scene during the struggle before "I will take it!" I can't wait to see the CoD scene - I suspect that's what he's doing. And is there a sweeter, more beautiful shot in the movie than when he jumps off Gandalf's cart (with that adorably squished-down corduroy) and half-turns and waves? Lovely shot from both aspects. ;)

:::: digging out 3-pack of giant-sized tissue boxes in preparation ::::

~grumpy

Yay! Multi-expressions a go go!!

(Not sure why I'm always in such a good mood when I post to the Faculty - must be cos all the posts make me so happy and I have soaked up a gazillion Elijah avatars.)

Anyway, STILL haven't got DVD cos Mr Random and I have a tradition of getting em from WH Smiths (UK shop) to get a free mug (woohoo) and I haven't had a minute to spare to pop to town yet, alas.

SO! TG (not to nag) you must sharpish get all the fifty million vissicitudes of Frodo on your site pronto so we can revel in all the EW goodness! In particular that bit I mentioned ages ago, when Fro enters Shelob's cave and says 'Oh Sam', and it's so peculiar and wonderful.

No pressure! ;)

Good news about Yank (the Cannes review, I mean). And what great film hasn't had much behind the scenes angst. Didn't Casablanca have about fifty million rewrites? And what about Apocalypse Now? (So glad it's hard to get dysentry in North London, though!) and, well there are about a million examples.

Now, I am however a bit worried about post Sin City. I haven't heard anything about what the lad's doing after that (which shall be summertime ish, shan't it?). Is he going to take the summer off? How shall we cope!? :D

Methinks a nice little project, since he's been doing lots of quirky modern stuff lately, is a nice full-blown classical pic with nice hair and plenty of billowy shirts. Something Romantic or Victorian. What are your thoughts?

Oh, I was going to reply to TG!

I thought about our "cultural translations" discussion when a friend was complaining about the "hooligans" at her apartment complex. They're a group of kids from about 10-14 years old (about a half-dozen of them), and they run all over the place and make lots of noise. That's what the term means to an American mind (such as we have ).

Actually, in the UK we use the expression in the same way, as a semi-humorous definition of rowdy kids. (UKer will correct me if I'm wrong.) I guess we just differentiate that from the more serious term we use for grown-ups.

Now, I am however a bit worried about post Sin City. I haven't heard anything about what the lad's doing after that (which shall be summertime ish, shan't it?). Is he going to take the summer off? How shall we cope!? :D

After Sin City, which he is rumored to be filming right now, he is supposed to be off to Prague to film Everything is Illuminated. After that? I have no clue. But maybe he'll get some time off -- bad for us, but good for him. ;)

Grumpy, my sympathies for Amazon not coming through for you. My FOTR EE was put on backorder (remember, back at the first movie, they didn't make a lot because they didn't think anyone would want them?) :p -- anyway, I didn't get it until the day before TTT, and had to cram it all in that night, so I could watch TTT with the all-important "Gimli loves Galadriel" aspect covered (which I was sure would be covered). I'm just a big nut, is all I can say.

My sister, a pediatric nurse for 32 years, pointed out that if Sam and Frodo were that dehydrated, they wouldn't have had tears to shed. Or sweated. Killjoy.
Your sister is so right. The tears have always bugged me in this part, because they wouldn't have enough water to do anything water related. However, in the fiction of Hollywood, tears are special, I guess, and so I will say that Frodo does indeed weep when he struggles to cast away the Ring. Poor baby! But he looks so amazing, and the lighting is so strobed and fantastic, that it's easy to miss. I must replay that part soon.

from Random SO! TG (not to nag) you must sharpish get all the fifty million vissicitudes of Frodo on your site pronto so we can revel in all the EW goodness!
I think this is an entirely reasonable request and support it fully. I would like to add, "Please include brilliant commentary, that's a good girl." *sigh* You're just going to have to give up your day job! :p

a nice full-blown classical pic with nice hair and plenty of billowy shirts. Something Romantic or Victorian.
Okay, I'll vote for this as well. And long hair, please. Thank you!

And thank you, BunnieBugs and Moondancer, for posting the link to the article and the quote. I have to admit, I checked right away, and was delighted to learn that the author was a man. Somehow it seems more meaningful, perhaps a bit more objective tribute to the power that is Elijah's Frodo. *happy sigh*

SO! TG (not to nag) you must sharpish get all the fifty million vissicitudes of Frodo on your site pronto so we can revel in all the EW goodness! In particular that bit I mentioned ages ago, when Fro enters Shelob's cave and says 'Oh Sam', and it's so peculiar and wonderful.

No pressure! ;)
I think this is an entirely reasonable request and support it fully. I would like to add, "Please include brilliant commentary, that's a good girl." *sigh* You're just going to have to give up your day job!
Believe me--if I could figure out a way to pay the rent by making screencaps of Elijah, you wouldn't have to persuade me :p !! I'm open to suggestions ;) . I have made a whole $9.40 over the last three years through the amazon links on my website, but I haven't seen it because they don't send you anything til it reaches $10.00. $3.33/year is just a tad below my standard of living, I'm afraid :p .

Now, I am however a bit worried about post Sin City. I haven't heard anything about what the lad's doing after that (which shall be summertime ish, shan't it?). Is he going to take the summer off? How shall we cope!? :D
After reading BB's Sin City rumor, I figured if anyone would know the scoop it would be Harry (aka "Mr. Knowles" in The Faculty ;) ), so I headed over to AICN. The search engine wasn't working :( so I had to just putz around the site seeing what I could find. The only thing I found about Sin City is the following brief note from the summary of last week's news (and I think we knew this already, didn't we?):
Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro and Rick Gomez have been added to the cast of Dimension's SIN CITY for director Robert Rodriguez..
Seems that if they were still announcing cast members last week, it'd be a bit soon to be shooting the movie (although, of course, we are dealing with Robert Rodrigues here, so who knows ;) ?). Since Elijah's character is in one of three storylines, I suppose they could shoot his scenes either before he starts filming EII on June 14, or after that shoot is over?

But I still have the feeling Harry would let us know on the front page if the gang was in Austin already (not that Harry ever engages in name dropping :rolleyes: ).

One thing I got from listening to Robert's commentary on Spy Kids is that he's really good at juggling schedules. He gets the stars in, works them fast, and out they go. That's why he can get these unbelievable casts -- he's very accomodating when it comes to schedules (he even shot George Clooney's SK cameo at George's house!). Not to mention that this movie (like Spy Kids) is being filmed on green screen, so technically no one need be there at the same time.

That being said, Sin City has actually been filming for months now, and the scenes with Josh Hartnett are already complete. I do think it's odd, though, that Harry Knowles has reported so little about this film, considering that he's a) a pal of Robert's and b) he's right down there in Austin with them.

*waves to Bunnie* :)




re: Google for "Elijah Wood, screencaps."

... 10 was in Brandy Hall as a joint effort between ainon and me :p (her post had "screencaps" in it and mine had "Elijah Wood").

cor. You and me in Googled fame! :cool: :cool: And uh, yeah, the rest of KD and the Faculty too, of course. I ain't one to hog the whole limelight. Not I. :D

Looking forward to your screencaps, tg, when RL time lets you get at 'em. ;) And Blossom, might I trouble you for gifs? Plural, you'll note. I am shameless. Gifs. Multiples. I'm not beneath begging. You don't want to see me begging. Really. You don't. :k


Thanks for all the Yank Hooligan news, Achila, good and bad. Well, the movie's in the hands of the editor now and let's hope whatever went into the creating of the story, there'll be great stuff to cut into the final product. RL current news - heard on BBC last night that known hooligans in the UK have been instructed to turn in their passports: they will not be allowed to travel to Euro2004 in Portugal.


To all those who've got their RotK DVDs -- enjoy! As I'm sure you all are. You don't need me wishing you that, after all. So I'll just sit here and simmer with pent-up jealousy while I wait for mine. Sit and simmer. Nah, don't mind at all. :p :D

Yep - this is a good week. I got the DVD on Tuesday and watched the film Tuesday evening. Strange to say, but I hadn't seen the film since February and I forgot just how good it was. It was almost like watching it for the first time again - I was just blown away by it.

Saw some of the documentaries last night. Very interesting too!!

Lovely to see you, EE. You should visit more often.

Ainon - Congratulations to you and Tg on your Google fame! As for gifs - I am giffing away as fast as I can! :) No need to beg - gifs will be forthcoming. Any requests?

Often when working with pictures, something comes out that wasn't quite expected. Here are three glimpses of pure beauty that were always there, but, IMHO, stand out all the more after trimming (see, I have been working ;) ):

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/RotK/PDVD_18700.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/RotK/PDVD_18800.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/RotK/PDVD_20300.jpg

Tg, those are wonderful teasers! Especially that one on the bottom (the green one).

Btw...I have IT... *does happy dance*...I have the DVD...my precioussss...
I have only seen the ROTK twice in december.
PS I think that most people in the US get the DVD at around $ 15, right?
Here, the DVD costed me € 21,95 (and I've seen it more expensive at other places), so that's about $ 26,56! :eek:

PS I think that most people in the US get the DVD at around $ 15, right?
Here, the DVD costed me € 21,95 (and I've seen it more expensive at other places), so that's about $ 26,56! :eek:
The actual list price is something like $28.95, but when a popular movie like RotK is released, a lot of stores sell it at cheap prices, hoping you'll buy something else in the store when you come in to buy the movie ;) . I got mine for $14.95. I saw it listed for that at a few stores, but at one of them you had to buy the batteries at the same time in order to get that price (the batteries being the ones we get a $5.00 coupon for on the DVD package). Best Buy is selling it for $15.99. Borders has the DVD advertised for $17.95, along with some kind of a discount if you buy three other DVDs at the same time. Amazon is selling it for $17.97. One store in town that's famous for its "strings attached" is advertising it for $9.99, but everybody figures there's a catch (which there probably is). Except for that store, the lowest price I've seen this week is $14.95.

Once it's been available for a week or two, the prices will rise. Something like Spy Kids 3-D would probably cost around the $28.95 price now, but would have been on sale for less when it was first released. Then when the demand for a movie goes down, they'll start selling it for less again. Ah, the joys of American free enterprise :rolleyes: . Sometimes you have to "play the system"--know where to shop and when.

Ainon, I'm so sorry about the enforced wait! Is ROTK hanging out in any theatres there at the moment, to tide you over? And there are many lovely screencaps being put up. I'll send you a link to one on LJ.

Tg, thank you for providing a bit of beauty. All this, for only $3.33/year. I am truly getting a bargain -- and I know it! :p

Blossom, I'm eagerly awaiting the gifs. The Frodo belly-breathing gif remains one of the best ever. *waits*

The actual list price is something like $28.95, but when a popular movie like RotK is released, a lot of stores sell it at cheap prices, hoping you'll buy something else in the store when you come in to buy the movie ;) . I got mine for $14.95. I saw it listed for that at a few stores, but at one of them you had to buy the batteries at the same time in order to get that price (the batteries being the ones we get a $5.00 coupon for on the DVD package). Best Buy is selling it for $15.99. Borders has the DVD advertised for $17.95, along with some kind of a discount if you buy three other DVDs at the same time. Amazon is selling it for $17.97. One store in town that's famous for its "strings attached" is advertising it for $9.99, but everybody figures there's a catch (which there probably is). Except for that store, the lowest price I've seen this week is $14.95.

Which, I think, was Target, wasn't it? Actually, Best Buy's deal was even a little better. The movie was $15.99 but you got a free pack of batteries (whatever size you wanted, a $5 value) and a free commemorative issue of Entertainment Weekly (VERY nifty). Supposedly that issue will be available to buy at $9.99. So essentially, when you add all that up and subtract it from the price, the DVD was free!

A

Was trolling around the IMDB forum just now and saw a report that EW has completed his filming in Sin City and left Austin. Can't swear to its veracity, obviously....

If he has returned to LA, will he take part in the MTV movie awards next weekend? Has anyone seen anything about the show? I wonder how they will send up Return of the King?

If he has returned to LA, will he take part in the MTV movie awards next weekend? Has anyone seen anything about the show? I wonder how they will send up Return of the King?
Maybe this info has been posted before, but I couldn't remember reading anywhere who/what the nominees were so I went looking on the MTV site.

For these nominations to have any connection to reality, you have to remember that we're talking about MTV! This isn't the American Film Institute--or even the People's Choice Awards :rolleyes: .

MTV chooses nominees from movies that have been released since their last awards show, not by calendar year, so some of these are for 2004 movies.

RotK has nominations in two categories: Best Movie and Best Action Sequence. (Yep. That's it. 'Nuf said?)

Its competition for Best Movie is Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean, 50 First Dates, and X2: X-men United. So Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, and Ian McKellan (I assume: I haven't seen this X-men movie) are competing against themselves in that category. That's not too bad... Didn't we have anyone in Finding Nemo to make it a clean sweep :p ?

For Best Action Sequence RotK is nominated for "The Battle at Gondor" :rolleyes: -- Yep, that's what they call it. Competition is from Terminator 3, Charlie's Angels, and Bad Boys II. (I didn't take notes on the specific scenes.)

The MTV folks seem to have really taken a shine to Pirates of the Caribbean. Besides its Best Movie nom, Johnny Depp is up for Best Male Performance, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom are up for Best On-Screen Team (the award won by EJW, SA, and AS last year), and--uhh--someone whose name I didn't write down :o is up for Best Villain. Probably the best aspect of this entire thing is Johnny Depp getting some recognition.

--BTW, the only other LotR connection I saw in any of the nominations was Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving being nominated for "Best Fight" in one of the Matrix movies.

Okay... Down to the nitty gritty... Are you ready for this? The weak at heart may want to skip to the next post.

Nominations for Best Male Performance for the 2004 MTV Movie Awards are....

Last warning!!



**Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ (Interesting choice from a movie that won't be up for other awards until next year)
**Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean (Yay, Johnny!)
**Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (Maybe, but...?)

It gets better:

**Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (Well, he did work so hard at learning how to use his sword.)

And... This is the absolute so-help-me-Eru truth.... Ready? This is MTV, now... :rolleyes: Here we go...

Okay, one more warning...... :eek:

...the final nominee for Best Male Performance is...


**Adam Sandler in 50 First Dates


:eek: How do you even react to that (besides remembering that it is after all, MTV)?

I'm feeling a bit of "cognitive disconnect" here. Supposedly some of these voters saw RotK, right? Considering it's up for Best Movie. Even if Elijah's performance went over their heads (which is entirely possible), couldn't they at least have nominated Viggo, or Orlando, or Billy, or that guy on the mountaintop who waves his torch around after he lights his beacon?

Well, okay, that last one was unkind :o -- He didn't have to carry the movie the way the nominees did.

----The only consolation (I guess :( ) is that for representing LotR's "Best Picture" noms, each of the three years MTV has used a picture of Frodo. So maybe something's getting through subliminally? :confused:

But... but... :confused: (Must keep repeating... "It's only MTV. It's only MTV. It's only MTV...")

Its competition for Best Movie is Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean, 50 First Dates, and X2: X-men United. So Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, and Ian McKellan (I assume: I haven't seen this X-men movie) are competing against themselves in that category. That's not too bad... Didn't we have anyone in Finding Nemo to make it a clean sweep :p ?

Actually, we do! Bruce Campbell (Gamling) was the voice of one of the sharks. Those LOTR boyz be everywhere!!!

But... but... :confused: (Must keep repeating... "It's only MTV. It's only MTV. It's only MTV...")

There, there, luv (patting your hand sympathetically). I guess the Saturn Award is all our lad's gonna get for Frodo. Pfft....we've been snubbed by better awards than MTV's (she says, trying to find a witty rejoinder for MTV and failing miserably).

Actually, we do! Bruce Campbell (Gamling) was the voice of one of the sharks. Those LOTR boyz be everywhere!!!
Oh, lovely :) ! Those sharks were my favorite part of the movie :D :D !

Actually, we do! Bruce Campbell (Gamling) was the voice of one of the sharks. Those LOTR boyz be everywhere!!!



Er... actually, his name is Bruce Hopkins, and he didn't do the voice of a shark. That was Bruce Spence. Sorry! *sneaks away*

OOH! Sorry sorry sorry -- DUH! Wrong Bruce. My mistake. It's Bruce Spence (not Campbell, as I said earlier), who is (will be, in the EE) the Mouth of Sauron. He was the voice of Chum. Sorry -- tho a LOTR boy still! BTW, as an aside, one of the other sharks was Orlando's Troy pal, Eric Bana (and the third was Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna).

Sorry, Narya :) -- didn't mean to chain. Also btw, Elijah was at E3 in LA last weekend, so I guess he was only in Austin for the week (or a part of a week). It seems that Kevin's not a big part after all :(


And YES Bunnie, you're right -- it's Hopkins -- geez -- I'll go away quietly now...promise....


PS -- LOL -- we all simulposted! I knew that sounded wrong the minute I walked away from the computer. What a smart Faculty we have!

Actually, the actor Bruce who voiced one of the sharks was Bruce Spence, who is going to be in the extended cut as the Mouth of Sauron! (He probably better known as the gyrocopter pilot in Mad Max 2 and 3.) So, we almost had a lock on the category.

Eric Bana (Hector in Troy) and Barry Humphries (better known as Dame Edna) play the other two sharks.

ETA: Oops--x-post!!

Tg - Pure beauty indeed. Thanks for those caps! :) As for MTV - are they all mad?


Blossom, I'm eagerly awaiting the gifs. The Frodo belly-breathing gif remains one of the best ever. *waits*

Mariole, which belly-breathing gif is this? :confused: Is it one of mine? Has it already been posted - I'm thinking of the behind-the-scenes Ring-wraith swirly-robe gif with frightened Frodo behind it - or are we talking Frodo in the Tower of Cirith Ungol naked belly-breathing, which, of course, could be easily arranged! :)

hi ladyes!!

i rented the dvd yesterday and found out this,there
were no speciel features on it,no behind the scens
of elijah and his last shot nothing, why? :( must
i buy this one too?i was thinking of waiting until ee!! :eek:
is there anyone were i can find this on the internet or must i
open the pers and buy this one to?
i would just fore elijah but if i did they realy would think i am cracy!!!!!

i think the dokumenteri is the quest fullfilld anybody heard of it?
can i find it on the internet?

wood. Sorry to hear the extras aren't on the rental DVD.

Here' a little taster gif of that behind-the-scenes last shot:

Elijah's last shot (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/ElijahPJHug.gif)

I'll PM you about the documentaries.

Speaking of Bruce Spence reminds me that I heard a radio interview with him just before Finding Nemo was released here - on the process for voicing the shark. As an animated film and with Elijah doing the voice work for Happy Feet I don't think this is off topic here. Bruce said that the voicing was done before the animation although he was given some sketches of what his character would look like. He was filmed while he did the voice recording so that the animators could refer to that adding the characteristics which he gave the character into their work.

At that time I was thinking that somewhere there existed film of Elijah playing a penguin :) :) :) Happy happy thought.

[O/T] The interviewer also asked Bruce about his work on RotK - this was before its release and we didn't know he wouldn't make the TE - he spent 2 days filming and went through very lengthy makeup sessions.[/OT]

And Blossom, naked belly-breathing Frodo in CU is fine with me thank you. As much as possible. Strictly for analysing Elijah's acting techniques of course.

Thanks to all for info on The Yank, Sin City and Everything is Illuminated.

MTV - oh dear!

Goes back to lurking.

(((Faculty)))

Moondancer, yes! You have it too! :)

My sympathies to all who yet have to wait for the DVD. Ainon, how long do you have to exercise patience? I've read in some countries exists a mandatory period of 6 months between the release on big screen and the release on DVD. The poor French won't get the ROTK DVD before 17th June.

Blossom, the belly-breathing gif was the Ring-wraith swirly-robe one (Mariole, correct me if I'm wrong) - it was the very gif I'd like to build a museum around. Could stare at it for hours and hours. And thanks so much for Elijah's last shot. :k It's hard to watch. So much wistfulness.

MTV - it seems it is the abbreviation for "Mainly Thought Void"...:rolleyes:

Hi, Merewyn! :)

Watched the precious yesterday evening. Hubby asked me if there are people who get over the Grey Havens with dry eyes. He really needs more tissues than me. (Oh, and I heard IT! The "I love you" is there!) :cool:

(((Faculty))) - thanks for all the info and for being here :) !

Actual list price for RotK DVD is 28.95 US dollars? So far, the LOTR theatrical version DVDs retail here at around 99.00 Ringgit which is about US$26.00 thereabouts. Probably some kind of special bargain. Other Region 1 single-disc movies retail at 139.90 Ringgit (US$37.00). The Extended Edition LOTR DVDs retail at 160.00 Ringgit which is about US$42.00 thereabouts. These LOTR DVDs are Region 1 DVDs imported direct from the US - we have multi-region players here so the DVD region code of origin is of no significance to us except where it really hurts: the wallet. :(

Thanks for the sympathies, guys. :) Mariole!! :k :k Well, whiteling, my waiting time will be related to how long it takes for the DVD to travel from wherever it's setting off from to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I guess I'm fortunate that there's no mandatory waiting thingy or anything like that - that I know of. The poor French! :o Meanwhile, there's always the summer movies to keep one vaguely entertained. Those arrive promptly. :p Have you guys seen Shrek 2? Spoiler image of the cutest thing ever to be seen on a movie screen bar none (http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/dreamworks_skg/shrek_2/pussbigeyes.jpg).

Well, sure, he's not the same as a hobbit, nor does he come even close to inducing the love that goes for Frodo, or for Pippin, say, but look at that and don't tell me you don't go all cooey. :D

Thank you :k to Blossom and tg. So these are the sneak peeks? You two are gonna slay us all when you get to real show. :)

Hey there, Merewyn! I was watching Shrek 2, knowing that that was Antonio Banderas there being the cutest four-legged furball the animated world has ever known, and thinking that hey, if EW's even half this cute as a penguin then I won't even complain if he bursts into a falsetto 'bout how the sun never rises in the poles. ;)

I don't post for ages, and now I've gone mad - three times before 10a.m. I'll make this the last one today.


And Blossom, naked belly-breathing Frodo in CU is fine with me thank you. As much as possible. Strictly for analysing Elijah's acting techniques of course.

Hi Merewyn. Now don't go lurking again. Now I know Whiteling - Hi Whiteling :) - said that the belly-breathing gif IS the Ring-wraith swirling-robe one ( I thought as much) I wondered whether I should cancel the naked Frodo in Tower one - but since you asked so nicely!

Belly-breathing Frodo (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/Belly-breathing.gif)

Blame Mariole - she brought the subject of belly-breathing up! And he is doing some interesting things with his face...

Originally posted by Whiteling:
(Oh, and I heard IT! The "I love you" is there!)

Yes, I still hear it too! :) I've tried very hard NOT to hear it - but it's there every time! Since I started all this 'I love you' business in the first place, and a lot of people haven't heard it, I wasn't going to say anything. But it's very :cool: that you heard it!

ainon - just saw your post. Yes That's VERY cute! :)

:) <------- supposed to be a big grin (after watching my beautiful DVD)


Now, I know that a lot of the book readers/lovers don't like the 'Frodo sending Sam away' scenes and I do get a "don't do it, movie!Frodo...book!Frodo doesn't" reaction but I understand why they had to do it but largely thanks to the way Sean Astin and Elijah Wood acted in it, it works for me.
I always like it when I read posts in which others express my feelings about it (because to me, in my third language, it's not so easy to express what I think), but somebody on the TORN message board wrote that the book is quite internal. You can read Sam thinking about Gollum and his efforts to control Frodo,... you can read how heartbreaking it is for him to see Frodo getting weaker because of the one ring. We can feel the heartbreak because Sam thinks it and we get to read it.
In the movies, Peter Jackson and his crew hat to find a way to show us how Sam struggles with the situation and how heartbreaking it is for Sam to see Frodo having not just the struggle with the ring that's getting more and more control but also Gollum who's using the situation.

It still hurts a bit to see Frodo actually sending Sam away and Sam actually going away but if you get past that, the scene works really well (for me anyway)

The poor French won't get the ROTK DVD before 17th June.
And here I was, complaining about having to wait two days. :rolleyes:
I hope you get your copy soon, ainon.
Wood, have you asked them or other video rental stores if they have a DVD with the extra's?


Ha, the belly-breathing scene. Thanks, Blossom. :)
In some LOTR related message board, somebody posted a comment they found elsewhere on a SM message board. stop looking at me like that....I DID find it in a LOTR message board and not directly on a SM message board, honestly... :p
A SM master gave advise to all slaves out there to have a good look at the Cirith Ungol scene. Elijah acted this perfectly, (s)he said and if you think it's easy just go and stand in front of the mirror and practise it. The way Elijah used his entire body when he was tied up at the wrists was just perfection. Look at his facial expressions, look at the way he breaths. Just watch and learn because Elijah is fantastic in this and that SM master thought it should be teaching material for all slaves. :D

no moondancer i dident think of that! do you think
they can have both? on the copy i get it stood for rental only
and that one was the last they have in but i will check it out
when turn it back!! thanks for the tip!! :k

I don't know if you can rent the DVD with extra's in your video store, wood, but I have seen the LOTR video's with extra's here so I assume that some do have them.

Speaking of Bruce Spence reminds me that I heard a radio interview with him just before Finding Nemo was released here - on the process for voicing the shark. As an animated film and with Elijah doing the voice work for Happy Feet I don't think this is off topic here. Bruce said that the voicing was done before the animation although he was given some sketches of what his character would look like. He was filmed while he did the voice recording so that the animators could refer to that adding the characteristics which he gave the character into their work.

At that time I was thinking that somewhere there existed film of Elijah playing a penguin :) :) :) Happy happy thought.
I really did love Finding Nemo, and I'm so glad Elijah's next animated movie is coming from them instead of... well... from somewhere else :rolleyes: . (Didn't Pixar do the Shrek movies, too, or am I remembering that wrong?) I've read that one condition the Professor gave Saul Zaentz when he sold him the production rights to LotR was that he never give Disney a license for it. The appreciation for the man's intelligence just keeps growing, doesn't it :p ?

ainon--Oh, my, yes, cute kitty :) . Gave me a bit of a flashback to those ubiquitous pictures of big-eyed children and kittins and puppies during the (early?) 1970s. If they meant it to be a take-off of those, they made it much cuter than the originals :) --and gave it even bigger eyes. Hmmm... animation... cute little animal... big, beautiful eyes... why am I suddenly thinking about the South Pole ;) ? Are the same animators working on Happy Feet? :p

----------

wood--In case it helps to know this when you talk to the DVD rental place, the complete RotK version is a two-disk set. The movie itself is on one disk, and the extras are all on a second disk. So I guess the question would be whether they have that second disk available (if they don't, I'm guessing that after enough requests from paying customers they might just find one). Good luck!

---------

Moondancer--Gee, you just never know where good research material is going to come from, do you? :D I never expected to read a critique of Elijah's acting from an SM POV, but what it says doesn't surprise me. It's simply one more piece of evidence of Elijah projecting himself so well into the character that he moves just the way the character would under the circumstances, right? If his body can react perfectly to getting shot in the back when there's no bullet, and to an imaginary knife stabbing it and then coming out, it should certainly be able to handle trying to escape from real ropes--and those big, ugly orc ropes again, that just emphasize how small and vulnerable hobbits are :( . This might also be an answer to the question of why Frodo's grunting and groaning there, instead of trying to be quiet. If your whole body is involved, it seems that would be a natural result.

(And I'm looking forward to the Gif, Blossom--I always have to wait til after work for those goodies because the download takes awhile. But that just gives me something to anticipate :) .)


Now for something completely different... I'm attaching this because I can't imagine cutting it down or shrinking it--be sure to maximize the window for the full effect ;) . From the fight between Frodo and Gollum after Shelob's lair. This is one angry Fro!

Edit: I just tried an experiment with our new board program. On the old one, you could only have one attachment per post, but if this works like it should, there's a second pic here--of Frodo at the moment he's stung by Shelob (before he gets goofy looking and foams at the mouth).

Well, it arrived yesterday. I had a lovely post all written and ready to send last night and Molly, bless her little pink paw-pads, rubbed against the "Power" button on my keyboard and shut down my computer. Talk about subtle hints!! Do I need to say that it's as phenomenal on small screen as it is on big? And that I bow down before Viggo for his portrayal of Aragorn? Or that I got chills during the "lighting of the beacons"? Or that I blubbed hopelessly from Cirith Ungol to the end?

OK. We have nostril acting, eyebrow and eyeball acting - now belly-button acting??!? :o

I always think that enraged hobbits look a little bit like enraged Peeps. Can't help it. Or enraged bunnyrabbits. ::: running :::

Edited to say: I did notice on the enraged bunny - er - hobbit picture that The Lad is acting with both sides of his face again. Two separate emotions or states of mind - each expressed by a side of his face. One side shocked and scared, the other side pure homicidal fury.

I did not hear the "I love you" at GH, but something was going on there, because Frodo's eyes slid sideways toward Sam, like he was about to say something, and then Sam got quieter and straightened up and almost stopped crying - like it was something comforting and very important. :::: bawl :::: :::: diving for tissue box ::::

I think I'll turn it on and listen while I clean up for company...

~grumpy (posting in my jammies, I am)(Love days off)(Love 'em)(haven't done a thing but who cares?) :D :p (SM? I am shocked, shocked, I tell you!) ;)

There's some thought that what Sam is listening to, that comforts him when Frodo is holding him, is what you hear in Frodo's voiceover as Sam returns to the Shire ("Dear Sam, you cannot always be torn in two..."). That's possible, I suppose. But obviously something is said that helps him to understand.

I spent part of last night and this morning watching the "original" Lord of the Rings -- the animated version. Ooh boy...what a piece of ****. Had to keep reminding myself, though, that it was made in 1979, and was a first attempt at adapting a very difficult novel. But now, to find out that Ralph Bakshi has nothing but sour grapes to pitch at Pete....that's pretty pathetic. My one big question after watching this wasn't "How come there was no Part 2", but rather, "How come none of the men had pants?" That should tell you how good it was!

There's some thought that what Sam is listening to, that comforts him when Frodo is holding him, is what you hear in Frodo's voiceover as Sam returns to the Shire ("Dear Sam, you cannot always be torn in two...").

Yes, again. When else could Frodo have said that if not when they embrace?

((((Blossom!))))) :k

Oh, thank you everyone for the beautiful gifs and caps! I am waiting to purchase the ee DVD. Had thought to rent RoTK and watch it Tuesday evening, but I was the only one in the house with any interest. :rolleyes: :eek:

Cheryl, just took a look at the news on your Everything is Illuminated site. That casting call for Safran is very strange. It doesn't say if they want a guy 13 or 30. And just where do they think they are going to find someone who looks like our lovely 'Lij, anyway? They could use this guy (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_671776.html) who's just been in lengthy clean-up. His acting might be a bit stiff though.

Honey! beingsilly

Editted for clarity

Yes, again. When else could Frodo have said that if not when they embrace?

Unless Frodo DIDN'T say it, and it's written in the Red Book when Sam opens it later at some point. Was there time enough during their embrace for him to have gotten out that whole thing? Dunno. I have heard what some think is "I love you", and to me, it's Sam's exhalation when Frodo grabs him. But if YOU think that's what's being said, that's cool!

There's some thought that what Sam is listening to, that comforts him when Frodo is holding him, is what you hear in Frodo's voiceover as Sam returns to the Shire ("Dear Sam, you cannot always be torn in two..."). That's possible, I suppose. But obviously something is said that helps him to understand.
I've recited that voiceover in my head while the two are embracing, and there's enough time for it to be said while we're not seeing Frodo's face. So I've taken that as my supposition.

I spent part of last night and this morning watching the "original" Lord of the Rings -- the animated version. Ooh boy...what a piece of ****. Had to keep reminding myself, though, that it was made in 1979, and was a first attempt at adapting a very difficult novel. But now, to find out that Ralph Bakshi has nothing but sour grapes to pitch at Pete....that's pretty pathetic. My one big question after watching this wasn't "How come there was no Part 2", but rather, "How come none of the men had pants?" That should tell you how good it was!
Well, I won't get into this too much. Most people here know I'm a fan of the Bakshi movie, for several reasons, and I've written long posts about it in other threads. It's certainly not perfect--although it's definitely closer to the book than PJ's version--but what is? (I'm still kind of sad that my "She Elf? What She Elf?" avatar got lost in the board switch :( .)

I haven't heard about Bakshi having "sour grapes" for PJ--has someone seen a quote on that? He does dislike it when people take rumors as truth--such as the thinking that the second part of the story wasn't made because the first one lost money. The movie did make money, just not as much money as the studio wanted in order to make the second part. And when those rumors are used to compare him to the current movies, well, yeah, IMHO he has a right to be unhappy, and he has said some things about that.

As I've said a few times in other places, if nothing else we have a debt to Bakshi in that it was seeing his movie that led PJ to read LotR (so it couldn't have been too horrible). And PJ makes his gratitude obvious, I think, in the out-and-out Bakshi homages in FotR. So I hope Bakshi doesn't have any personal enmity toward PJ, but I haven't heard that he does.

I haven't heard about Bakshi having "sour grapes" for PJ--has someone seen a quote on that?

It's in the Entertainment Weekly magazine that was given away with purchase of ROTK, TG. I'll dig it up and post the relevant parts, if no one beats me to it. ;)

--Was trying to delete this post, but couldn't find a way to do it.

It's in the Entertainment Weekly magazine that was given away with purchase of ROTK, TG. I'll dig it up and post the relevant parts, if no one beats me to it. ;)


Go ahead and post that, Bunnie, but that wasn't quite what I was alluding to. He just said in it that he'd never seen Pete's movie. But in this other article that was online somewhere a couple of months ago, he went so far as to criticize Pete's script, sight unseen, and the interviewer agreed with him.

I remember seeing this version of LOTR in the theatre -- it was not long after I'd read the book and in fact, my iguana Frodo's name actually comes from this movie (a long story). So I do have a fondness for it. You're right, tg, in that he does come closer, in some cases, to Tolkien than Pete does, and you can see the influence it had on Pete in certain scenes (besides the "Proudfeet" bit). But his depiction of Sam as a dumb bumbler is unfortunate. And I think some of the problems this version has is because almost 2/3 of the story is compressed into one film. This' exactly what Pete's original script would've been like (all say with me together, THANKS, BOB SHAYE!), and it too would've been a hard to follow disaster for the uninitiated.

The one thing Bakshi's film does have going for it is the wonderful voice of John Hurt as Aragorn (even without pants!). And there are some interesting animation styles going on here too. But somehow it fails to affect the viewer much, maybe because it gets *too* close to Tolkien. In this abbreviated form, it needs the padding out to be more effective.

It's okay, TG -- I actually enjoyed the Bakshi version enough when it came out that I went so far as to join the fanclub!

I scanned the article about Bakshi from the EW that I was talking about (too lazy to type it up :p ), and it doesn't really sound like sour grapes on second reading. A bit bitter, maybe, but not toward Peter.
Achila, I don't remember seeing the interview that you're talking about, but perhaps I did read it, as it was already in my brain that Bakshi didn't really approve of PJ's treatment.

Anyway, here is a link to the scanned article. (<img src=http://img3.photobucket.com/albums/v32/bunniebugs/misc/bakshi_articlesm.jpg>) And I will cleverly bring it back around to being on topic thusly: Bakshi used a girl as a model for Frodo, stating: I wanted Frodo to be asexual. There were no sexual references in Tolkien, so I wanted to make sure that Frodo had no manly attributes.

At the risk of being trouted, do you think PJ, perhaps unwittingly, took a similar road by casting Elijah? ;) Don't get me wrong -- those who know me know that I think Elijah is sexy as all get-out, and there are many here who feel the same. But for the populace at large, perhaps Elijah is too androgynous to be considered 'manly'. :rolleyes:


Blossom: I can't stop watching the gif of Frolijah and PJ, even though it hurts me to do so. I've got it open in a browser window, and can't bring myself to close it. :( Thank you, for that -- it's so painfully lovely!

Now, if I could just get someone to either re-post or point me toward that 'swirling-cloak, belly-breathing' Frodo gif, my day would be perfect. :D

Thank you, whiteling, for bringing up the belly-breathing gif thing. Yes, I have been interpreted correctly. And what a joy, since I got a belly-breathing CU gif out of it. With SM slave lessons, to boot! Truly, the Faculty is an educational place! :p :k (((Blossom)))(((Moondancer)))

I tried to attach the original belly-breathing gif, for those who missed it the first time around, but it was too big (almost a MB). I'll link to it here:

http://home.ricochet.com/mdes/limages/BTSwraith.gif

This is currently being projected on a repeat loop at the Faculty Museum, in the Zen room.

Edit: BB, just saw your post. Click above, click above! :p Great minds think alike!

Thank you, Mariole! :cool: That is indeed fabulous.

Ah, a perfect day. I guess I'll have to roll up any possible complaints and save them for another day. ;)

Anyone want to be my friend?
http://www.livejournal.com/users/hannee :)

Hope you enjoy some goodies inside!

I've recited that voiceover in my head while the two are embracing, and there's enough time for it to be said while we're not seeing Frodo's face. So I've taken that as my supposition.

That is so deliciously geeky and fan-like, to do that. :k It reminds of the two guys in front of me during one of my RotK viewings, who suddenly started jabbering excitedly to each other and waggling their index fingers at the screen -- they were counting Beacons to see if there were seven.

Okay, hands up, who did something really geeky during their first viewing? I have two confessions. I tried to mentally count beacons, gave up after realizing there were more than seven, and decided that the Beacon music could have sustained 25 beacons for all I cared. I also had a flash of "Look-it's-a-statue-of-what-his-name last King of Gondor" when Faramir&Co ride out of MT. I didn't have time to think of the actual name, but it was certainly not Isildur. :p El-Perfecto Leggi must have been having a blonde-wig moment during his history lesson. :o )

MTV nominations: The MTV people must be quite please at the movie nominations, because they appear to be equally spread over different types of movies: T3 for the techies, Matrix for the video game people, X2 for the comix/animes, 50 First Dates for the Sandler gross-humor crowd, Cruise for the ladies, and RotK and Pirates crossed all the demographics. The only audience left is the hip-hop/urban, but thankfully Bringing Down the House came to the rescue with a few nominations. How fortunate for MTV that each major viewer demographic just so happened to be represented! They must be really happy that it worked out so well. :cool: ;) :rolleyes:

Blossom's Frolijah/PJ GIF is so beautiful to watch. Look at Elijah's mouth. He's going to cry. :(

Speaking of Bruce Spence reminds me that I heard a radio interview with him just before Finding Nemo was released here - on the process for voicing the shark. As an animated film and with Elijah doing the voice work for Happy Feet I don't think this is off topic here. Bruce said that the voicing was done before the animation although he was given some sketches of what his character would look like. He was filmed while he did the voice recording so that the animators could refer to that adding the characteristics which he gave the character into their work.
I thought of this when I heard someone say on TV that making an animated film is "easy"--The animators do their work, then the actors come in and just "slap on a voiceover." I thought--"Not if it's done right!" The statement, BTW, was not made by an actor or an animator.

At that time I was thinking that somewhere there existed film of Elijah playing a penguin :) :) :) Happy happy thought.
I'm keeping this part of the quote, just for the happy thought. :)


---------

On erendis' geeky thoughts question :p : Seems to me that I'd somehow heard about the extra beacons before I saw the movie, so I don't remember counting them. But I definitely counted the levels of Minas Tirith--both when Gandalf and Pippin get their first sight of it, and when Shadowfax is running up to the citadel. And, to be honest, during my 12th theater viewing I was still quietly counting Shadowfax's turns--just out of pure admiration :) .

---------

...PJ's eyes look as if they might be tearing up, too.

Okay, Erendis, my geeky confession is that, throughout the first viewing, I kept chanting the dialog, or what should have been the dialog, in my head. Therefore I was baffled in made-up scenes like Aragorn asking Gandalf "what does your heart tell you?" when, of course, Frodo had already passed beyond Gandalf's sight and I'm kind of bouncing in my chair saying, c'mon, c'mon, get on with it already. And really missing some of my favorite lines, but others got in there and made me happy. Sam's, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!" requires that I mentally add, "and It, and It!" even through my happiness.

And of course it is most important (and I still do this) to mentally chant "All that I have and might have had I leave to you" while Frodo is saying farewell to Sam at the Grey Havens. I like the suggestion made here that the final voice-over was written into the Red Book (where, of course, the key to Bag End was affixed with scotch tape inside the back cover). ... What do you mean, I've read these books too many times? There's no such thing as reading LOTR too many times! :p

Oh, Elijah's face as he went to huge PJ just breaks my heart. You could see all of his love and regret and gratitude in his face. Just adorable. I also like Viggo brushing away his tear as he embraces PJ in his farewell scene. I have to love these guys because it's so clear that they love each other, and love what they're doing. It shows in their work, and that's a great deal of what makes it so excellent.

Although the conversation has moved on, may I put in my 2 cents worth about the casting call for Everything is Illuminated ? I read the little ad, and all I saw was a call for someone who LOOKS LIKE Elijah. Nothing about being an actor or anything. So I concluded that they are looking for a stand-in double. I still think Elijah is playing both Jonathan and Safran. :z: <--got to use the new smilie!!!

Still haven't had time to watch the ROTK DVD, but will certainly count Shadowfax's turns in Minas Tirith. As for the number of beacons, they can just go on forever and I'll be happy. :) :cool:

Hello ladies.

I come bearing gif(t)s to take us all into Sunday!

Don't Let Go! (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/CofD18c.gif)

and:

Some hurts never heal (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/BagEnd1c.gif)

Best viewed via the zoom option!

Is that young man beautiful or what?

Enjoy.

Blossom, I'm lovin' these gif(t)s! I'm finally at leisure to look at what's going on in the backgrounds, like the two boulders that hurtle into the lava just over Frodo's shoulder in the "Don't you let go" one. Or the two orcs fighting in the Cirith Ungol "belly breathing" gif! I must have been looking at something else before! :D Wonder what? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D

Is that young man beautiful or what?

Ah, yes that must have been what distracted me!

Although the conversation has moved on, may I put in my 2 cents worth about the casting call for Everything is Illuminated ? I read the little ad, and all I saw was a call for someone who LOOKS LIKE Elijah. Nothing about being an actor or anything. So I concluded that they are looking for a stand-in double. I still think Elijah is playing both Jonathan and Safran. <--got to use the new smilie!!!

Goldenberry, that makes sense! :z: (me too!)

Just a bit of topic, but I saw "The Day After Tomorrow" last night. The folks who made that movie certaintly have a flair for cataclysmic events! Oh, and Ian Holm was in it!

But to get back to the SUBJECT at hand, Jake Guyenhaal (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0350453/) played Dennis Quaid's seventeen year old son. He was way too old to be playing 17, and in fact when he first appeared on screen I assumed he was playing a twenty-something.

So back to Elijah, why is he too old to play the fourteen-year-old lead in "Thumbsucker?" Nearly every interviewer who writes about him says he looks that young at moments. He certaintly out'glows' the capable Mr. Guyenhaal in the "youthful glow" department. Just thinkin' out loud I guess.

Honey!

thanks blossom fore the gifts!!!! :k

oh my god he is so beautiful!! :D

on the last one you can realy see the pain he has in his shoulder
just to look at his face!!

Is that young man beautiful or what?


Definitely :) !

Happy Birthday, Blossom!

In honour of your Pentecost birthday I pointed my pencil and tried my luck in drawing a portrait of Frolijah, making little "amends" for all your wonderful gif(t)s (can't stop watching "some hurts never heal"). You find it here: http://img1.photobucket.com/albums/0903/whiteling/frolijah/frolijah.jpg

Enjoy and have a lovely day, Blossom :k !


Happy Pentecost, dear Faculty :z: !

Happy Birthday, Blossom

http://www.canterburyelf.com/elijah21.jpg
I love this picture and I hope it makes a fantastic day even better for you, Blossom! You share a birthday with my dad! :k



:confused: Pentecost? Never heard of it, so I had to look it up. I assume it's what we call 'Pinksteren' but that doesn't say much to you, does it :rolleyes:

Happy birthday to you, Blossom!
And many happy returns! :k

Thank you so much for the lovely gifs. Indeed they make it possible to study both what's in the foreground (belly-breathing and all) and in the background. Why, Gorbag and Shagrat fighting looks almost like a dance! The belly-breathing celebration dance of the orcs, a new discovery and a conondrum for anthropologists everywhere!


Whiteling, your portrait is lovely, and amazingly well done. He's so difficult to *get* in a drawing - especially the eyes are a challenge, but you've done it! ::Notworthy::


I'm another one who, from the second time I saw the film back in December, have been inserting dialogue into the movie's GH F/S hug. The way Frodo's mouth isn't visible, but his eyes slide towards Sam while they're hugging... the way Sam suddenly becomes more focused and collected in the middle of the hug; - some words are surely passing between them, in a whisper too low to hear, or directly from mind to mind - and the Tolkien Geeks know just what those words are. :)


(((Faculty))) Thank you for keeping this place so lovely, friendly and interesting. I've become more of a lurker of late, but I'm still around. It just seems every time I've something on my mind, someone will pop right in and post it for me. :cool:


Edited to say:
I don't get MTV, and that's no loss, I can tell you. Adam Sandler!?!? What planet are these people even living on? All the foul language and the nearly-nude bimbettes must have fried their brains for once and all. ::Leaves, shaking head in confusion::


Edited to say even more while I'm at it: :rolleyes:

I have a fondness for good old Bakshi. His film bears the strong mark of the years it was made (that hair! The rotoscoping!) but I think there's little doubt that the film was made in an effort to be true to the book, and that it shows real love for it. The visual imagery and imagination is very far from the fantastic one of PJ's movies, to be sure, but PJ & Co are a law all unto themselves, anyway. It was Bakshi introduced me to LotR, and I'll always be grateful for that! The worst thing about Bakshi is potato-Sam (How *was* Bakshi planning for *his* Sam to do the heroic deeds of RotK? :confused: ) and the costumes of the humans (or lack thereof). Although it's equal opportunity dressing, in a way. Normally in fantasy-type movies you have women wearing ridiculously tiny, although much embellished, outfits - and you're asked to believe they can ride, and fight, and not freeze to death in them. While with Bakshi it's Boromir and Aragorn doing the honours of scanty clothing and ridiculous accessories.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOSSOM!!!! Wishing you Lijahluv and Hobbithugs and kisses!

A pro pos Bakshi, who's to say he didn't have a good premonition of things to come?

I attach for your consideration a composite of 2 pictures I found a while back on somebody's LJ
(Can't remember whose, I'm afraid :o - but thank you!)

Many thanks for the lovely birthday greetings, Whiteling, Moondancer, Maeg and Achila. :)

Whiteling - that sketch is beautiful - thank you so much. I have it safely saved! :k

I'm having a nice day - hubby is cooking the dinner as I type :eek: - and I'm planning to watch ROTK DVD again tonight.

I'll continue the great hobbit tradition of giving gifts on your birthday with this gif:

I'm here, Sam (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/CofD1c.gif)

Maeg - love those comparison pics - the expressions are so alike! :lol:

Happy Birthday, Blossom! Lovely gifs, as usual!

Maeglian--The BakshiFrodo/EJW comparison picture made me think that North should have included an episode in which North is adopted by hobbits. Cheerful hobbits who have 'shrooms and pipeweed a-plenty and also this little piece of family jewellery that must be taken care of eventually :haha:.

Maeglian--The BakshiFrodo/EJW comparison picture made me think that North should have included an episode in which North is adopted by hobbits. Cheerful hobbits who have 'shrooms and pipeweed a-plenty and also this little piece of family jewellery that must be taken care of eventually :haha:.


But then, North screaming and carrying on about his "crack" would have a totally different meaning! :lol: :lol:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOSSOM!!

http://www.ezshots.com/members/shireling/images/shireling-64.jpg


Hope you're having a wonderful day :k

Thank you for the gorgeous gifs - and you're right, of course, he is amazingly beautiful. And the look on his face during the 'Don't Let Go' scene really breaks my heart. This suddenly popped into my mind the other day at a most inappropriate time and place and I actually felt my eyes filling up - and thats not the first time thats happened to me. I well remember suddenly thinking about Frodo with his arm around Bilbo in the cart at quite an important meeting at work - I felt quite overcome but luckily I don't think anyone noticed. Does anyone else have moments like these? :o

Enjoy your viewing tonight. I've been on holiday from work all this week - most of the jobs I had planned remain undone - I don't need to tell you why :D It's there, isn't it? The ILY. I'm more certain than ever now :)

Have a fantastic birthday, Blossom!

Relax, have a few rounds or two...

http://home.ricochet.com/mdes/limages/theshire.jpg


Ladies, I am so enjoying the lovely remarks. Blossom, your gifs continue to amaze. They are indeed a gift! :k Whiteling, that picture was gorgeous. What a talent!

Maeg, I really appreciated your comments on Bakshi. I do agree that:
there's little doubt that the film was made in an effort to be true to the book, and that it shows real love for it.
That is no more than fair -- I think there was passion behind it. I did notice the intention to adhere to canon. I guess I just wanted it to be so much more. Ah, well. Thank heavens that "PJ & Co are a law all unto themselves." Let's hear it for the lawless! *cheers*

Happy Birthday, Blossom!

http://img3.photobucket.com/albums/v32/bunniebugs/LOTR%20photos%20-%20misc/sam_frodocrop.jpg

Thank you so much for all your beautiful gif(t)s for us! I hope you had a wonderful birthday.

MANY MANY HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGS BLOSSOM!!!!! :k :k

AND THANKS FOR THE LOVELY GIFTS!! :k

AND WHITELING THE DRAWING IS BEAUTIFUL!!! :k

Thanks, Brunchild, Mariole, (LOL at your pic) Bunnie, (lovely Frodo and Sam pic) wood and Shireling (beautiful, beautiful Frodo pic). Your birthday greetings anf gifts are much appreciated. Oh, and thanks for that lovely Elijah pic earlier, Moondancer - and happy birthday to your dad - though it's a little late now!

I watched ROTK again - I must be mad, putting myself through the torture that is the Grey Havens on my birthday! But I love it.

Originally quoted by Shireling:
Does anyone else have moments like these?

All the time, Shireling!

Also from Shireling:
It's there, isn't it? The ILY. I'm more certain than ever now. ;)

Yep! :)

http://home.ripway.com/2003-7/13204/BLOSSOM.JPG

And Thank you for showering us with your beautiful gifs.

Long Live Blossom! :k :k




Shireling - that's just the most beautiful Frodo to come face-to-face with in a thread. :)


Oh, about the Bakshi 'sour grapes' matter: the discussion came up at the CoE last year, I believe. There were quotes attributed to Bakshi where he grumbled about PJ not contacting him prior to making the movie ... not showing him enough respect ... something like that? But I should add that folks were unsure if the quotes were real or if they were parodied. :p

Not that I'm making any particular comment about Bakshi or nothin' - I don't believe I could be bothered to be bothered about Bakshi or Bakshi's LOTR now that we have 10 hours worth of hobbity-looking hobbits and manly Gondorian men ;) - but I so wanna use this new smiley --> :haha:

:D

I spent part of last night and this morning watching the "original" Lord of the Rings -- the animated version. Ooh boy...what a piece of ****. Had to keep reminding myself, though, that it was made in 1979, and was a first attempt at adapting a very difficult novel. But now, to find out that Ralph Bakshi has nothing but sour grapes to pitch at Pete....that's pretty pathetic. My one big question after watching this wasn't "How come there was no Part 2", but rather, "How come none of the men had pants?" That should tell you how good it was!



As I've said a few times in other places, if nothing else we have a debt to Bakshi in that it was seeing his movie that led PJ to read LotR (so it couldn't have been too horrible). And PJ makes his gratitude obvious, I think, in the out-and-out Bakshi homages in FotR.

Hey, we were just coming off of mini-skirts back then, why shouldn’t the guys have a little leg showing as well? :D Compared to Baskhi’s bare-legged characters, PJ’s are downright prudish. :p Tho PJ’s characters appear to be wearing trousers or leggings of some sort (far underneath their over-clothing), Elrond, Gandalf, Grima, Saruman, etc., all seem to be wearing robes resembling long dresses, so maybe we should laugh about the feminine influence. PJ just decided Bakshi’s ‘mini’ fashion should give way to “maxi” fashion.
http://overthebrandywine.com/Misc/sk.jpg


Heck, the bare leg was good enough for our sports heroes back in the day of Bakshi’s production, why not reflect it in his LOTR characters as well? It hardly looked out of place at the time. Lookit those fine thigh specimens! Slobby, baggy dressed basketball players nowadays, eat your hearts out! ;)

http://overthebrandywine.com/Misc/basketball.jpg



Not having read the book before seeing Bakshi’s version, I gave it no thought to wonder where anyone’s pants were. The only thing that surprised me was finding out that Frodo’s cousin weren’t females! (Mary? Pippi (Longstocking)? Gee, I though they were girls :o :D ). I also appreciated PJ filming some scene’s that looked like they had been lifted directly from Bakshi’s version.

BunnieBugs, I was a member of the fan club as well. I was extremely angry when Bakshi never came out with the second movie, but the more I read of it over the years, seems he had the rug pulled out from underneath him by the higher ups.


You know, I wish I was more of a Elijah fan, because though he’s the main topic over here, I lurk once in a while and accidentally happen upon some of the greatest Frodo subjects being discussed in-between. Unfortunately I’ve probably missed most of them. Perhaps I should have had good tg and Sheryl sending me Frodo!Alerts all along. ;) I have always been less the swoony Frodoite and more the fundamental type.

(Confession: I have to say that, for me, the one part of the movie where Frodo goes away entirely and becomes Elijah is when he’s totally wrapped in cobwebs and his luscious Frodo hair is hidden. All I see is zombie Elijah wrapped in white stuff with goop on his face, and (please forgive me!) I have to laugh. Not exactly the feeling that needs to be conveyed in the theater at such a moment. :p )

(((Faculty)))

P.S. Happy Birthday to Blossom. (I can’t get your gifs to perform for some reason. :( )

Well, I saw Bakshi for the first time not knowing anything about LotR either - so I took all at face value when I saw it too. And it did make me curious and interested enough to pick up the LotR paperback in the nearest bookshop immediately afterwards - the one with the Bakshi black riders on the cover. (My first full-length novel in English, as a matter of fact) I still have it as a memento - it's practically been read to shreds. The largest shock for me back then was Frodo's age. 50 years old was not easy to identify with, from my then early teenage vantage point. And Frodo *was* the one guy I wanted to identify with, from the very first.

(I can't help thinking it's great that PJ came to LotR exactly the same way - right down to buying the very same paperback edition! But I *shouldn't* think that is great, I suppose - I did nothing more with my interest than becoming a general LotR geek, and look what *he* did!)

It's only in hindsight and after getting to know the book so well that I could disagree with some of Bakshi's choices, but also accept what he tried to do. And the main quibble remains Sam. Bakshi coloured my impression of Sam so much that when I thereafter read the book, there was no question in my mind who the "real" hero was.... and that Sam was pretty much intended as a bumbling sidekick. I'd seen the official view on that right there up on the screen, hadn't I, with no-one to tell me otherwise? Took some time to get a broader view on that and on Sam. And Frodo's always remained *the* main hero of LotR for me.


Ezzie, I have no idea what basketball players wear these days - that's not a sport in the media over here. But I'll take your word for it. Interesting, and annoying, if so - because several women's sports are clearly moving in the other direction, with sand volleyball and ordinary volleyball leading the way, and handball, too, I think, and soccer discussing it too; - making the women players wear increasingly smaller outfits. IMO nice that PJ moved in the other direction from Bakshi, then - (going off on a tangent here) - I just saw "One Night at Mc Cool's" and Liv Tyler's outfits are veeeery far from Ngila's lovely statuesque Arwen dresses. I'm just too used to seeing Liv as Arwen, I suppose. Well, at least Bakshi's *women* didn't wear miniskirts! But then, I'm so much in love with Ngila Dicksons costumes that I'm biased, any choice of hers I'm more than willing to applaud. I keep hoping she'll write a (very heavily illustrated) book about the LotR costumes.

From Brunhild
The BakshiFrodo/EJW comparison picture made me think that North should have included an episode in which North is adopted by hobbits.
Oh, yes - and "The good son" should have substituded the clueless shrink-lady with a kindly old wizard, mumbling enigmatic advise! And "Deep Impact" should be all about the wrath of the Valar over humans overreaching themselves and challenging the Gods! And Huck Finn pretty much *is* a hobbit - the only one that shouldn't be fitted into the pattern at all is "the Ice Storm" since that novel insists that there are "No swords or orcs or dragons or elves or rings" in the story.

I've never really been tempted to see the Bakshi version. They do have a copy in my local video store but the animation didn't really attract me to actually go and see it. Maybe it was better to have seen that version BEFORE PJ's LOTR.
The 2 pictures Maeglian posted (thanks!) are very very cute and maybe I'm missing something but...I think I can live without Bakshi's Middle Earth.

Re-watching ROTK, besides focussing on Frodo and Sam scenes, I was again amazed by the fantastic casting.
I just saw Troy...


*** possible TROY spoilers ***



Eric Bana was a great Hector! Watching him in interviews (Jonathan Ross on the BBC,...) I was not too sure before but he did it well. His character has many sides (not just the tragic hero). Also, while I was watching him protecting his brother, I couldn't help but think to myself "Aren't big brothers great?" (I have a fantastic big brother, myself...not that I need much protection from him, but when times get tough...he's there).

As much as I loved Bana's Hector,...I really tried to like Brad Pitt's Achilles and I can't really say that he did a BAD job, but it lacked something. To me, Brad Pitt was too busy looking the part and he didn't manage to become the part (inside and outside). Also, my Achilles had brown eyes and dark hair, it may sound silly but it was very weird to see the blue eyes and the blond hair. But that's just my opinion and I hope I haven't offended any Pitt fans. It certainly doesn't hurt to look at him so no complaints there (although the long hair doesn't suit him).

Orlando Bloom's Paris. I admire the fact that Orlando dares to take on a less than heroic character. A lot of up and coming stars wouldn't take that risk, I think. IMVVHO, I think that he needs to work on his line delivery a bit more (the scenes with Hector in the boat where he has to tell his brother that he took Helen and she's in the boat...were not good - at least not for me).
But, I like Orlando Bloom and given time, picking the right movies and gaining more experience, ...he may become a very good actor.

Another silly thing I noticed. Hector and Paris have very dark eyes. The king, their father has very blue eyes. That contrast is a bit odd, but not a problem (my mother had very blue eyes and I have dark eyes).



*** END TROY spoilers ***


It just reminds you how important the casting is...even in an epic adventure.
Re-watching ROTK a couple of days ago, besides Elijah's Frodo, I was again admiring how fantastic Viggo's Aragorn is, how great it is to see sir Ian McKellen's Gandalf,...
I only have minor problems in this movie (for example: I didn't like the fact that Treebeard's voice is very clearly coming from the same mouth as Gimli's voice...I really wished they found another voice to do that)

Casting news for Everything is Illuminated from this site (http://www.stinkyrecords.com/stinky_news/):
J.U.F.’s Eugene Hutz To Co-Star With Elijah Wood In Film Adaptation of Novel “Everything Is Illuminated”
J.U.F./Gogol Bordello lead singer Eugene Hutz is set to star opposite Elijah Wood in the Warner Bros. feature film based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s critically-acclaimed novel "Everything Is Illuminated," directed by Liev Schrieber and produced by Peter Saraf (“Adaptation”). The film will be shot in Prague this Summer, and is scheduled for release in 2005.
I did some research on Mr Hutz. He is Ukrainian (born and raised there) but is now living in the US. His punk-gypsy-rock-jazz-whatever band "Gogol Bordello" seems to be quite popular in certain circles. Hutz might be playing Alex even though he is probably about 30 years old.

And a quote from this article (http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=654) about Hutz and his band:
Hutz says he’s nearly perfected English now, and is bored. Of course, as he’s saying this, he sounds like a con artist who couldn’t afford ESL classes:

“Now that my English is approaching pretty much right altogether, I feel like I have to start writing in Spanish. I really enjoyed the not knowledge of all the rules of syntaxes. There was something very brilliant about using all these new words when you didn’t know all their meanings.”
Definitely, Alex :lol:

Thanks for the EII news, Brunhild. "Gogol Bordello" - sounds good :p !


ESOTSM spoilers

A very interesting approach to the fascinating topic of consciousness and memory. But I had some difficulty to get really interested in the characters. The lovestory between Joel and Clementine didn't move me too much; the film is highly reflective and the complexity of the story and the characters didn't allow me to indulge too deeply into emotions. Have to watch it definitely a second time. Research, you know ;) . It's a pity about Elijah's small screentime. Patrick is a real nobody with not a spark of decency. He seems deeply convinced of his own inferiority and takes it for granted that no-one could love him for the sake of himself (that's his tragedy - how should one if he doesn't change!). What a creepy, pathetic and pitiable character! Nevertheless I enjoyed it how Elwood managed it to evoke a violent feeling of dislike towards his character. Hard to believe this toady was played by the same actor as Frodo :eek: . The character I liked the best was actually Stan. He seemed the most real person to me. And I was really impressed by Jim Carrey. Without tedious fidgetting he's a real actor! :cool:

End ESOTSM spoilers


As for the drawing - well, thank you for the compliments, guys :) ! Glad you liked it, Blossom. I myself was quite astonished that I finally *got* him to some extent. Most illustrators run the risk of idealizing their portraitees too much. In the case of Elijah the art falls behind the nature.

To me, Brad Pitt was too busy looking the part and he didn't manage to become the part (inside and outside).

I think this sums up beautifully how The Blue-Eyed Lad differs from so many actors. Elijah appears to be secure enough in his own identity or whatever to be able to put it aside when he's acting without fear of losing it. He seems to do it without self-consciousness on his part - it's like he's not bothering to watch himself acting. He doesn't have to. He must have an incredible ability to read people, starting with the people that he plays. He gets to know that character, then steps aside and lets himself be the character. I'm not making sense but I know what I mean. ;)

I keep thinking of the doc's line in Bumblebee: "The loss of identity is profound". I think it's a very frightening thing to have to go through the feelings of another person, especially if that person is a murderer, or a boy who's lost his memory, or a very messed-up 16-year-old kid, or a tormented hobbit holding a ring over a chasm. I think it must be even more terrifying to do the kind of acting where a character's soul shows in eyes and expression. I think it's the reason for structured approaches to acting. Most people, I think, can't handle it, hence "Look at me! Look at me! I'm aaaaact-ing!" Brits seem to pull it off better than a lot of American actors - possibly because of the more structured training system.

It may be that time and trouble (may <deity> prevent it!) will erode that ability to abandon himself at will, but he's been doing it for so long that I have great hopes.

~grumpy

I only have minor problems in this movie (for example: I didn't like the fact that Treebeard's voice is very clearly coming from the same mouth as Gimli's voice...I really wished they found another voice to do that)


What's very funny is that I saw ROTK 9 times at the cinema and I never noticed that until I watched it at home on DVD the other night. If Gimli hadn't had any lines in the Isengard scene with Treebeard, it might've been OK, probably, but because they both have lines, you're right -- it's a bit weird. Makes you wonder why Pete and Co. didn't try to find someone just to do Treebeard.


EDITED to add this pretty thing, taken at E3 (Electronic Entertainments Expo) in LA a couple of weekends ago. Enjoy (and Happy Memorial Day!)!

I really didn't have time to do it (I'm moving house, soon), but I treated myself to the Frodo&Sam portions of ROTK last night, paying particular attention to certain parts that have been mentioned here.

I thought someone had talked about how Frodo's whole body is trembling after he falls in Shelob's lair, before he gropes for the phial, but I can't find the quote. Either I'm hallucinating or I read it somewhere else, I dunno, but the point I want to make is this, and I think it ties in with the discussion of Acting vs. what Elijah does with a character: not only does his whole body tremble, but the muscles in his face tremble and twitch, seemingly uncontrollably. I mean, this little hobbit is terrified, not in a "Look At Me Be Scared" school of Acting, but in a completely believable, awe-inspiring way. How does he do that? I was transfixed watching it, and looped it over and over in fascination.

I also watched his face very carefully in the scene where Sam has the Ring and Frodo is trying to get him to give it back. The range of expressions and emotions that flit across his face is amazing, and somehow more apparent on the small screen than it was in the theatre, for me. He is truly a wonder.

I just clicked the wrong button and lost my post... and I think I'm just going to say "What BB and zkg said" :p. I'm close to braindead right now,as well as having a twitchy clicking finger--so it's easier to just nod than try to figure out how to say it myself. Thanks :) . I did read somewhere that after the scene on the side of Mount Doom (with PJ telling him to "go deeper") Elijah did have to go off by himself for a bit to recover. But it was said then that it seemed that what affected him wasn't going deeper inside himself--as some other actors might--but going so deeply into Frodo's mind and spirit at that moment.

BB--IIRC, the trembling that was most discussed was on the stairs of CU, after Gollum pulls Frodo to safety and he lies there shaking--and clawing as if he's still trying to climb. But he definitely does in Shelob's lair, too. That's one of the hardest scenes for me to watch, because I don't want Frodo to feel that way, but it's absolutely right that he does. And without Sam there, he has absolutely no reason to pretend he doesn't. Especially because he is in that state, his "Aiya, Eärendil, elenion ancalima!" almost makes up for losing, "By Elbereth and Luthien the Fair..." ;)

I wanted to say a bit on Ezzie's post (I wondered if the mention of Bakshi might bring you out of lurkdom ;) ).
You know, I wish I was more of a Elijah fan, because though he’s the main topic over here, I lurk once in a while and accidentally happen upon some of the greatest Frodo subjects being discussed in-between. Unfortunately I’ve probably missed most of them. Perhaps I should have had good tg and Sheryl sending me Frodo!Alerts all along. I have always been less the swoony Frodoite and more the fundamental type.
OTOH, I'm sure I miss some good discussions because I'm not comfortable in the Harem, so it kind of cuts both ways. There's that thread on Frodo that Hobmom started in the Green Dragon where we occasionally take topics if they get too far away from Elijah's acting, but it doesn't stay "alive" very long. You'll notice that the last post in it is almost always mine, because I'll say just about anything to keep the thread going, but when I start responding to myself I figure it's time to quit :rolleyes: . I love friendly little KD, and I've always been serially monogamous when it comes to discussion boards (not having enough time for an affair :p ), but I'm thinking I may need to do double duty at a larger site somewhere to get my lit need filled. The Green Dragon seems to be pretty much shut down. Elijah's a fun and interesting hobby, and I love all that goes on in the Faculty, but Frodo's much, much more than a hobby and I do miss discussing him. I have the option of a forum on my website, but if there aren't enough people to talk JRRT and Frodo here, I doubt if there'd be enough that would find their way to my website.

(Confession: I have to say that, for me, the one part of the movie where Frodo goes away entirely and becomes Elijah is when he’s totally wrapped in cobwebs and his luscious Frodo hair is hidden. All I see is zombie Elijah wrapped in white stuff with goop on his face, and (please forgive me!) I have to laugh. Not exactly the feeling that needs to be conveyed in the theater at such a moment. )
It's kind of funny--like the Treebeard /Gimli discussion--that the point you're talking about is one where I think it's so amazing (because the hair is covered, etc.) that he doesn't look like Elijah :p . I think the way he holds his face--or whatever he does to it to make it look like Frodo :confused: --is still doing its stuff there. The time I get most dangerously close to an EJW sighting during any of the LotR movies is during the "Nothing dampens your spirits, does it, Sam?" bit, where he uses that too-much-like-Elijah close-lipped smile ;) .

And, whiteling, I definitely will "ditto" what's been said about your sketch. IMHO, you've captured those two very different sides of Elijah's face better than I've seen done--a subtle thing, but it makes a big difference.

---I've come up for air after almost three days to find that I missed Blossom's birthday :( :o . So, so sorry. Hope it was wonderful (the plans you had sounded as if it would be :) ). But I hope the reason I've been sparse will make up for it -- June updates at http://www.frodolivesin.us . Twitchy clicking finger(s) (I've had to switch off at times :p ), but not much typing, which translates into lots of pics and not many words.

I did want to post two pics I ran across while working on this. They just point up once again how realistic Elijah's transformations are, whether from one emotion to another or something deeper. People have talked about the moment where Frodo disappears and the Ring takes over at the CofD--but it seems everyone picks a different moment. IMHO, that's because it's a process--just as it is when Frodo's finally able to fight off the Ring's influence in Osgiliath, but this time the Ring wins the fight. The first of these pics is immediately before the second one (I was screencapping on the fly, not stepwise, so there may be one or two frames between the two). IMVHO, even though the Ring has beaten Frodo down enough that he's already turned away from the fire, in the first pic you can still see Frodo fading away... And no matter how many times I may have seen the second picture, the look in those eyes sends shivers down my spine. Something that's not human has taken over there--something with an intelligence, but without a heart or soul (How does he do that?!).

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/RotK/PDVD_96601.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/RotK/PDVD_96701.jpg

Well, all the things I was going to get done this 3-day weekend are still to be done, I'm afraid...

Hi all!! Just dropping in for a quick hello and to say happy birthday to Blossom and thank all of you for all the entertaining posts and pictures.

I don't have much to add---but I will note that I am so far behind the curve--but I did finally see The Good Son tonight. What a disturbing little movie!! And Elijah's character is clearly the main character. I can't even imagine that the marketing dept that originally had only McCauley Culkin on the front cover would have done so if there hadn't been external pressure (ie MCs father?)--even if MC was the bigger star. (I've heard newer versions put Elijah on the front, right?). Elijah not only shone as the most convincing actor--but it wasn't even a tie IMHO about whose character was the main one. Geesh....misleading marketing!! :confused:

EsmeraldaBrandyBuck:
You know, I wish I was more of a Elijah fan, because though he’s the main topic over here, I lurk once in a while and accidentally happen upon some of the greatest Frodo subjects being discussed in-between. Unfortunately I’ve probably missed most of them. Perhaps I should have had good tg and Sheryl sending me Frodo!Alerts all along. I have always been less the swoony Frodoite and more the fundamental type.

Oh Ezzie, you miss a ton of good Frodo material if you aren't reading the Faculty. These women are Frodo serious in exquisite detail. You'd better lurk more often! :D

Tg, I very much enjoyed your site updates this month. Your Froshadowing with the helmet cracked me up, and need I even go into the One Expression page? :p Delightful!

I enjoyed your "Going back for Sarah" sequence, and look forward to the stunning conclusion. Your commentary does not disappoint -- I can now enjoy this movie as a comedy! Well done indeed. :D

looked at the pics on the site frodolivesin.us
HOW IN THE WORLD CAN ANYBODY SAY ELIJAH JUST HAVE
ONE EXPRESSION IN HIS FACE WHEN HE ACTS???? :confused:
i know i read it som were in a rewie that he only have one expression!!

in your pictures tg,there are so many expressions!!
happynes,sadness,anger,fear and many more!!
i still cant belive that some people dont see this real acting
and i agree with that i dont think elijah care for him self
only that the caracter he playes will be realistic and real.
i dont know how he dose it but his face and eyes can look
totally difrent from one shot to onther do you know what i mean??
in the same scen!!

is there anyone who have any news about the yank or sin city?
i think it is very quiet about this two movies or is it just me who think so? :(

Thanks for the casting news, Brunhild. Judging from the first impressions of this guy, it seems they have picked out a colorful Alex - just as he should be.
I really like the fact that they found an Ukrainian actor/singer.

Tg, I had a quick look at your site but I will study it with pleasure when I get home from work.
The one expression page alone is worth a close look. :)

The attached picture is totally off topic but can I just say that I love this man's legs? :lol:
I'm going to have fun watching these legs and thighs in the Tour de France :D (I hope he has a good Tour! I'm going to be a nervous wreck just watching him)

Yesterday I watched the CoD sequence from RotK and then re-read the corresponding part of the book. The experience inspired me to write something foolish but not entirely so.

THE COMEDY OF THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET

New Zealand. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh lie in bed. A huge King Kong Prop stands in the corner.

PJ: It looks like my re-make of King Kong will have to be delayed until better times.
FW: Why not make Hamlet instead?
PJ: Why not, indeed!

The King Kong Prop produces a cell phone and dials a number. Elsewhere, Elijah Wood answers the call.

KKP: 'Lijah? It's Harry Knowles. PJ is making Hamlet and you must star in it!
EW: Thanks, man! The book's been sitting on my shelf for ages now. I've never gotten around to actually reading it, of course, but I know how massively germane it is.

New Zealand. Enter EW, PJ and Philippa Boyens.

PJ: Now, Elijah, let me tell you how we envision your pivotal `To be or not be´ scene.
EW: I'm all ears. Makes his eyes look like ears.
PJ: So, the soliloquy itself is cut down to the first three lines...
PB: ... because the audience is not likely to comprehend it anyway.
PJ: Horatio (to be played by an emaciated Sean Astin) interrupts Hamlet at least thrice to tell him that he must BE...
PB: ... because the non-suicidal majority needs someone to connect emotionally with.
PJ: Having finished with the soliloquy, Hamlet takes out a razor and starts slashing his wrists in slow motion. A mentally distraught CGI Ophelia rushes in. She knocks Horatio out and tries to wrestle the razor from Hamlet. He accidentally slits her throat wide open and resumes working on his wrists. Horatio returns to his senses and persuades Hamlet to drop the razor and have a tender moment with him instead. The rest is silence.
EW: Wow! I'm all eyes again!

A huge blue screen is brought in. EW places himself in front of it and delivers a beautifully nuanced performance of the above script.

PJ: Cut!

Various Fans and the Academy storm onstage, almost trampling EW down in the process.

Fans: PJ, you're a genious! Some of your minor changes were certainly uncalled for but you've got the spirit of the book just right!
Ardent Fans: And the original version would have never worked in the film medium anyway!
Special Fans: Mmm. Hamlet and Horatio look so hot together. Let's spam the net with homoerotic stories about them!
The Academy: Mr Jackson! Please take as many Oscars as your extended family can carry away!
PJ: Thanks, everybody! Our success proves that Shakespeare is more than an S-word!

The End.

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

Edit: Tgshaw--The June updates at your site are marvelous! :cool:

LOL, Brunhild!

Tg and Esmeralda, any time you find or start a serious Frodo discussion, please, please consider me on board! PM me to talk about this if you like--I can link you to a couple of good threads (if you don't know about them already) that might be revived if enough people were to gather there and start posting. I'd love it if they were! Thanks.

BWAHAHAHAAA! Brunhild, that made my morning. :lol:

Brunhild, TOOO funny! :lol: I'm glad the coffee was still brewing, or I might have scalded my sinuses! :eek: :lol:

Blossom, Belated Happy Birthday! Thanks for the lovely mathoms!

Whiteling, your drawing is lovely! right click, save! Mind if I forward it to a Frodoholic friend?

TG, really enjoyed the "One Expression" page! It's amazing how much emotion is revealed in those postage stamp sized caps, even out of context. One of the moments I love in TTT is when Sam is talking about seeing the Oliphants, and Elijah gives Frodo this expression caught half between delight at Sam's delight, and the urgency of the situation. He's just so good!

Other uses for this page occur as well. The next 'film critic' who blasts Lij for his 'One Expression' may just get spammed with that! :D :D :D

Off-topic, but there was an article about McCauley Culkin (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/marian_liu/8803267.htm?1c) in the paper yesterday. He always seems so imbittered. Never seems to have much joy, or feel blessed in his life. Perhap this can be laid to his father's pushing, and demands on the film producers. When one has a sense of entltlement, of 'deserving,' one is often dissappointed.

Honey!

First Tg with her June updates (:lol: ) and now Brunhild (:lol: )... waaah, have mercy! You ladies have me in stitches *wipes tears of laughter from her eyes* Thank you, you made my day :) :D !


Mind if I forward it to a Frodoholic friend?

No, Honey, that's ok. :)

Brunhild, TOOO funny! What she said!! Oh dear!

Whiteling, your drawing is lovely! Yeah! What she said! I'd been meaning to comment; it's really beautiful.

If I send you a bunch of lines, could you put together another sketch? ;) (just kidding)

The next 'film critic' who blasts Lij for his 'One Expression' may just get spammed with that! :D :D :D Yeah! What she said!! (I think this is becoming a "me too" post!) That's a remarkable page. Some of the pictures are so expressive that it's painful to see them. It seems almost like an invasion of Frodo's soul to be included in emotions like that, even if the character is fictional, and even if Elijah did put it on film for those to see who can.

there was an article about McCauley Culkin in the paper yesterday. He always seems so imbittered. ::: snip ::: When one has a sense of entltlement, of 'deserving,' one is often disappointed. ::::: determinedly hauling it back on-topic :::::

I remember seeing something somewhere about Elijah commenting on MC - that he was too depressed to work. It indicates that there's some contact between the two, even if it was just MC calling up EW to congratulate him - who knows. In any case, assuming that EW is at all similar in character and personality that he projects in interviews etc, he's been given a tremendous gift by his family and manager(s), that he's reached adulthood with the ability to live, work, and apparently enjoy life. I certainly hope so. MC was given the opposite - complete exploitation of a child by someone who should have been protecting him tooth and nail. It's so sad to look at pics of MC; if he could project that level of pain into his acting I think he'd be just fine. I didn't want to register to see the article, but I was flipping (channels, dear, channels) over the past couple of days and came on a Christian channel where they were talking about something and there was a picture of MC in the background. I would imagine that he's made a somewhat controversial movie.

Poor kid. He needs to hang around Hobbits for a while. :(

Edited to argue with myself ;) :
He gets to know that character, then steps aside and lets himself be the character. What I was trying to convey, and I don't think I succeeded, was that rather than pushing a performance out past himself, he steps aside and lets the performance flow out of him. It's like the difference between a sculptor hammering an image into marble, or releasing the image from the marble.

~grumpy (The Lad isn't allowed to play Hamlet or anyone who wears tights until he learns to not have baggy knees!) ;)

Originally posted by ZKGrumpy:assuming that EW is at all similar in character and personality that he projects in interviews etc, he's been given a tremendous gift by his family and manager(s), that he's reached adulthood with the ability to live, work, and apparently enjoy life.

Yeah, what she said! :D

Whiteling, thank you! She'll enjoy it!

Just saw your edit, ZK. he steps aside and lets the performance flow out of him. It's like the difference between a sculptor hammering an image into marble, or releasing the image from the marble.
That's what makes watching Elijah's movies so rewarding for me. So much other acting is so surface. You may know what the character is thinking, but you aren't drawn to really care.

I'm not saying this well, but I'll sum up by saying Elijah is the only actor who has given me goose-bumps because I knew what his character was thinking even when he wasn't saying a word! Wow!

Honey!

Brunhild, bravo! I was going to quote some of your post, but it's *all* so quotable..... I get as indecisive as Hamlet, just trying to choose what to quote. Ok, I think I'll go for "I know how massively germane it is." Germane is just such a Lij-word. Although I think Sean Astin keeps using it too.

Anyway, your satire is spot-on. And *yet*, and yet - I simply love, love, love those films.


Tg, your "One expression" page made my day! Although it came close to sending me into a visual-overload induced coma, too. :eek: Skipping rapidly from picture to picture: Tragic Frodo in Osgiliath thanking Faramir, pale Rivendell-Frodo, the Grey Havens smile, intense CU-Frodo watching Sam and the Ring, Frodo's tears on the riverbank, happy party Frodo, "Wheel of fire"- Frodo, "End of all Things-Frodo"..... oh-my-oh-oh-OH - meep!


**Excuse me all while I go re-watch some films *right now*. I need to rest my eyes on hours filled with that One Single Never-changing Expression. :rolleyes: **

Quick info point: Mac Culkin is starring the just-released film Saved about a bunch of ultra-Christian teens at a Christian high school, which is why he was on a Christian TV station. Usual info can be found at Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB.com. He appears to be coming back into acting gradually, which is best.

"I know how massively germane it is." Oh, that was a good one! The only word you missed, Brunhild, was "journey", to make that complete Lijahspeak! Great job! And as for "The One Expression", words fail me, tg -- talk about a veritable cornucopia of one expressions! :lol: What an astoundingly massive job that was (!) And I bet there were loads more one expressions you could've included and didn't. Brava!

As for Mac Culkin, I do hope he does well and finds some happiness. I think the timing of his reappearance is interesting (but purely coincidental, I'm sure), considering the status of his buddy Elwood's career at the moment. The most popular child actor of the 80s is resurrecting himself while his co-star, also a child actor of the 80s, is just soaring higher and higher all the time. What lovely irony. :)

Erendis beat me to it. I've seen Saved when it premiered at Sundance in January, and it was at the Seattle Film Festival this week. MC was good in it. It's an ensemble cast--he plays a disabled kid and Mandy Moore is his very obnoxious sister. The movie isn't really anti-Christian, but exposes a lot of hypocracy in this particular Christian high school and community---in a comedic way. I think I mentioned before how all these people are still playing high school kids, and yet, even though he looks so young, after Frodo it doesn't seem appropriate for Elijah. How to go back to playing a teen when you just played such a deep and mature role--a soul so old?


Hey this little rolling guy all over the board :lol: is making me dizzy!!! :D

Honey said:
That's what makes watching Elijah's movies so rewarding for me. So much other acting is so surface. You may know what the character is thinking, but you aren't drawn to really care

yeah, yeah yeah, Honey. And yeah, too, ZK. nice way to put it...the sculpture and the marble

EDIT: after achilla's post. More silly Mac C speculation. After watching The Good Son last night and noting (like, duh?) how appealing Elijah was in that role, and in all of his kids roles--I do wonder if MC's dad had an eye on him and wanted to make sure Elijah didn't become the competition. Was it Moondancer who told us the Richie Rich story?? Why wasn't Elijah the big star when he was so obviously good and SO cute?? I think it did have to do with the choice of movies he was in---good choices for someone who wanted to rise above being a child actor. But I wonder what kind of other offers he got (or didn't) get. Did he turn down softer kids movies?? (Elijah, I mean?). His current choices seem to be more about his taste than about box office. A very respectable way to go. Did they do that when he was a kid?? He proved himself so much--and he sure was cute. Why macCauley the big star and not Elijah, as well?
(and I don't at all mean to demean MC --who I rather sympathize with...).

I'm not saying this well, but I'll sum up by saying Elijah is the only actor who has given me goose-bumps because I knew what his character was thinking even when he wasn't saying a word! Wow!

I'm trying to figure out how to say what I mean here. The above doesn't do it justice by half.

Maybe it's as much confluence of character with actor as anything. I mean, when I watch Indiana Jones (just as an example) looking at a little gold statue and sweating with concentration, I know approximately what he's thinking; I've exerted that kind of concentration myself, over say a complicated quilt block.

When I watch Frodo's face in Bag End as he realizes that getting rid of the Ring is no simple matter, and will cost him dearly, I'm watching an actor in a situation I've never been in. When Frodo is standing on the banks of the Anduin, and realizing that cost, and I FEEL that loss too, well that's just flat-out great acting.

And I still feel a bit frustrated at my inability to articulate what I mean. I just know that no other actor has every managed to give me goose-bumps while utterly silent.

Honey!

Well I just had to delurk and say thank you to tg for her latest updates to the website.

The One Expression page is a veritable feast of Frolijah goodness. :cool: Why there's years and years worth of research material there!
And I know you didnt intend it that way, but it made my Haremite heart glad too. ;)

And thanks to a very kind Faculty poster ((( Maeglian :k ))), I've finally seen Chain of Fools. Its just my kind of silly black comedy and although I need to watch it again for research purposes, I was very impressed by EW's comedic talents. And his agility is impressive too! :D

Edit to say: Happy 300 pages!!

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/off topic/champagne-resized.jpg

Brunhild, I can only "ditto" all the comments on your Hamlet scenario. :D (That little rolling head is awfully hard to click on :confused: ;) .) The only thing I can think to add is that I thought it read like a dream--literally! It just "felt" like those weird segues and convoluted connections my brain makes, anyway, during a really strange dream (trying to picture an emaciated Sean Astin :p ). Have to know, though--are wigs involved ;) ?

Regarding the childhood acting discussion, I think everything I'd say about McC has already been said--I'm glad he got to a place in his life where he felt he could return to acting, but this time the way he wants to approach it, instead of the way his father insisted on.

...In any case, assuming that EW is at all similar in character and personality that he projects in interviews etc, he's been given a tremendous gift by his family and manager(s), that he's reached adulthood with the ability to live, work, and apparently enjoy life. I certainly hope so.
Some day I hope there's a "tell all" book written about Elijah's childhood years. Not in the sense of scandals and lies, but in the sense of just how they (he and his mother, and anyone who advised them) did it. How they made the choices they did, and steered his life in the direction it's gone. It could be a help to other families who have children who want to be performers but don't want to sacrifice their identities in the process.

I even wonder how much of what happened to Elijah was chance (if chance you call it). If he had played Richie Rich, for example, would he have ended up making more children's movies than he did, and had a completely different kind of career? Or was he already so diversified by that point that he would have stayed on basically the same track?

...It seems almost like an invasion of Frodo's soul to be included in emotions like that, even if the character is fictional, and even if Elijah did put it on film for those to see who can.
I hit the back button a few times, trying to decide whose post to "quote" on this, because there have been such great comments. But it was zkg's statement about an invasion of Frodo's soul that finally won out.

It's something I've been trying to sort out for awhile, without much success. It started with my realization that what Elijah does for me in the LotR movies is show me the "inner Frodo"--what Frodo would have been feeling, even if at times he wouldn't have let himself show it. Somehow, Elijah has the ability to show us a character's emotions without having it seem as if the character is openly showing those emotions--if that makes any sense at all. And, IMHO, the more internal the character the better Elijah is at doing this.

Like everyone else, I have no idea how to put into words what I'm really trying to say :confused: . I know some of it has to do with his ability to show those emotions without going over the top or "chewing scenery," and it includes the way he takes on even unconscious things the character would be doing, and makes completely natural transitions instead of "jumping" from one emotion to the next. And I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the level of understanding he seems to reach about most of the characters he plays, as well as his focus on other people and knowing how to "read" them.

But it's a mystery to me how he puts it all together and comes out at the end with the "inner Frodo," or a Mikey who's somehow possible to empathize with (unlike the one in the book), or a Huck Finn who's much younger than the book version but who still has a good measure of that character's reflective nature--or, good heavens, an Artful Dodger who overcomes "Disneyfication" to such a degree that he becomes the character we root for, instead of Oliver. (Too bad about Tom Thumb, but you can't win 'em all :rolleyes: .) I'm not sure how The Yank and--especially--Sin City are going to fit in with this, but I'm hoping for very good things from EII.

I'm glad everyone's enjoying the "One Expression" page--making it was actually helpful for me in a couple of ways. First, I had to suppress my perfectionism and say at some point, "Enough already!" -- even when I'd think, "Well, that one's kind of like this one, so let's find something else..." You really could go on forever.

Second, the process just reminded me again how amazing Elijah's acting is. For FotR and TTT, I already had a lot of the screencaps I wanted to use, and I went back in and did "pick-ups" of some specific shots I didn't have. But when it came to RotK, with the short time between getting the DVD and wanting to have the page finished, there was absolutely no planning at all. Every pic that's there from RotK was shot "on the fly" during one watching of the movie. No step-by-step frames at all. I just kept shooting pictures whenever Elijah was on the screen, and when I was finished watching the movie I went into the file and saw what I had. I picked the frames I thought were best, but still... I can't imagine doing that with any other actor. He's simply always in character--as close to perfectly so as possible (or impossible). Of course, I did see some spots where I want to go back and do some frame-by-frame shots :p . There's a lifetime's worth of study material there, for sure. And I feel so blessed to have everyone here to share it with--even if none of us can completely understand it :) . (((Faculty)))

Great discussion! One of these days I'll actually have time to respond, not just read... :rolleyes:

Maeglian, I just wanted to let you (and anyone else who wants to know) know that to delete a post entirely, you have to chose the delete option "physically remove message." The other options just remove the text from the post, giving you the opportunity to write a new message.

Carry on, Faculty! I'm just stay here lurking, giving RL a :haha: and wishing it would climb off my back...

Great parody, Brunhild! Spot on and sums up exactly how I feel about film LOTR. Got a special kick out of your high-handed Philippa Boynes, my least favorite character of the film saga.

Tg, re: Elijah has the ability to show us a character's emotions without having it seem as if the character is openly showing those emotions You describe this 'phenomenon' very well :) . In watching the DVD rotk last weekend, was struck by just that when Frodo is at Bilbo's side in the carriage to the Havens. We register his reaction to Bilbo's wish to see the Ring not through any overt movement (such as widening his eyes or raising his brows) but through a barely perceptible glimmer in his eye (only seen before in 'Ice Storm' when Mikey reacts to Chistina Richie's offer in her parent's basement). How can one create a 'glimmer'?! Following that, his simple words 'I must have lost it, Uncle' come laden with suppressed emotion.

What's made some of the most interesting discussion on this thread, is not so much Elijah's comments on Frodo - which often fall short of the mark, imo - but his amazingly 'true' portrayal of Frodo throughout the entire trilogy, (with only a few exceptions as mentioned no this thread). His acting's all the more impressive because it goes so far beyond what he can 'say' about the character he's playing.

One of the more intriguing comments that EW made about Frodo, is over at Hobmom's thread, where she quotes from a Danish interview - Elijah speaks of the being moved by rotk because it's so 'sad and... scary' and then remarks how he was troubled by how much Frodo's condition mirrored certain aspects of himself. Tg mentioned something similar - about Elijah plumbing Frodo's depths, rather than his own, and then needing to recover from that experience during the Mordor scenes. Anyone have more on that story?

Re: Frodo being 'much more than a hobby' - Absolutely, Tg! Maybe one reason why the Frodo thread at this site is less active than it might be is because of its position far down in the thread tree.

Warning, flame ahead:
For the first time I was glad to find something Frodo and Elijah-light - barely mention of him in the National Geographic special, thankfully :z: . Was anyone else disgusted by that cheap effort to show LOTR's 'relevance'? I thought it was a travesty - trivializing the story and its characters and blatantly using the Trilogy to justify war, likely produced by people who never saw book or movie. Am sorry that I now own it on the DVD and amazed that PJ allowed it to be included - must have been desperate to fill disk space. Philippa B's remarks were particularly objectionable and Sean RD's commentary, equally disappointing. And, and, and - I'll stop now. If you haven't seen this - spare yourself!

I saw that National Geographic thing on tv a couple of weeks ago but it was a shorter version than the DVD thing.
I certainly didn't see it as an effort to "justify war". They mentionned that certain things are worth fighting for and I am certainly glad that, when the Germans invaded my country twice in one century, lots of brave people decided to fight for our freedom.
The big question to me is...when is war justifiable? When a country simply invades another country (like Nazi Germany did), I think that it was a justifiable war.
It's never an easy question, is it? When is war justifiable? My country bares the scars of many, many wars and battles over many centuries. Sometimes, when I visit the graves of relatives, I go to the section of the cemetery where the soldiers are given their last resting place and it's heartbreaking to see how young they sometimes were. On some of the tomb stones, it's mentionned how they died. In the cemetery in my town, there's one tomb,where a young man (18 yrs or so) is burried, anonymous but he apparently died a horrible death (torture).
This is a high price to pay for peace...sending all these young men (and women) to war, to violence,...
forgive me...I'm rambling a bit

Tolkien fought in WWI and it would have been interesting to see more about the war he fought in. In Belgium, it's still called the big war because it was horrendous. Things went very, very bad here.
It's one thing talking about the war, but it is certainly important to talk about the horrible consequences of war.
I didn't think that the National Geographic documentary was that good either. What exactly was the point of that? It had some interesting parallels, though (like Rasputin - Grima Wormtongue).


Going back to The Good Son topic. Wasn't that movie made soon after the Home Alone success of Macauley Culkin? I remember when they promoted The Good Son, they said that Culkin was considered to be the only kid actor who could carry a movie (= bring in the big box office money) and therefor, his name was first on the bill boards,...
Elijah Wood had a much lower profile back then.

His acting's all the more impressive because it goes so far beyond what he can 'say' about the character he's playing.
As far as I know anything about acting (which isn't a lot :p ), I assume that this is the key.
I can imagine that if you really have to think every scene through (put every emotion into words, have long conversations with the director about the reason behind every action and move,...) it's not easy to make it look natural. You also have to feel it.
So, maybe Elijah just skips that phase (I'm remembering the comments the director of Huck Finn made about Elijah and his co-star) and goes directly to the 'feeling' of the character without having to explain every move? :confused:

Hi all!

Thanks for the replies to my query about what EW does next – of course, for some reason I had been thinking that Sin City was filming after EII! So by my reckoning he’s resting at the moment (tut tut) and will go off to do EII shortly, which may well take six months or so, which takes us up to the end of the year, so that’s plenty of time to find new projects involving floofy shirts and nice accents and close ups. (Random breathes a sigh of relief.)

Love all your lovely comments on EW as Frodo, especially since I have got my DVD now and am just completely overwhelmed with how good he is (and we’ve only just rewatched the first hour!). I’ve found that as much as I like watching LOTR on the big screen, it’s only till I get to know it on the small screen that I really love it. I came to love TTT this way (FOTR I was already head over heels in love with), and I know it will be the same with ROTK. And this love is all to do with the Lad and his great, amazingly subtle performance which gets better every time I see it, for all the reasons you’ve posted – the depth of emotional feeling, the integrity, the truthfulness, the beauty. (Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know…)

It’s so good it makes me angry, because over the last year post-ROTK I’ve been fretting about how the Lad can prove to the naysayers that he can really ‘act’ and be more than a hobbit, and thinking to myself ‘aha! A hooligan and an evil mute limb-eating serial killer! That’ll show em!’. But you know, he doesn’t have anything to prove. He’s already proved it. And if they didn’t see it in ROTK they must be bloody blind.

So if I ever hear any criticism in future, I’ll just brandish my DVD at them. Figuratively speaking, of course. Well, kinda. :D

Naiad, I believe I made my remarks on this Natl Geo special in the Harem, but I agree. It was a silly special. Pickett's charge at Gettysburg as a parallel for Faramir's suicide run, and the resulting pride of the South? :eek: I just didn't understand some of their choices (although I admit I have never understood the reverence for the Lewis and Clark expedition, designed as it was to enable "manifest destiny" :rolleyes: ).

I am looking forward to watching ROTK on the small screen. Random and others have mentioned how it works even better. *savors the anticipation* That said, I don't normally enjoy movies that feature hooligans or evil mute limb-eating serial killers, so I will be relieved when Elijah decides to take on a less violent phase. Someone said (I believe on LJ) that Elijah as Frodo was "wimpy," whereas Elijah covered in blood (in Hooligans) was "manly." I wish our society (I'm thinking America, here) will someday move beyond the fashionable view that hitting people is tough and good, whereas inner strength and moral character are pitiable and weak. I think that attitude is one of the greatest factors in making our society particularly virulent right now. My two cents.

Quicksilver, nice to hear that you enjoyed CoF! it's the kind of film that isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it sure is one of my favourites. And Elijah is delightful in it. :)


From narya
....to delete a post entirely, you have to chose the delete option "physically remove message." The other options just remove the text from the post, giving you the opportunity to write a new message. I'm doing this in a post instead of a PM, Narya, because others may have the same difficulty. I looked around for that kind of option before posting last, and again after reading your post, but I cannot find any such option. Clicking the "edit" button gives me no choices of a "delete" kind. Where exactly can the choice you mention be found?


I have to admit, I haven't had time to watch the RotK specials yet, so I haven't seen the National Geographic special either. :o However, unless they explain the background and details of Lewis and Clark and Pickett's charge at Gettysburg at some length, neither comparison will mean much to many a non-US viewer. Anyway, the NG special slipped considerably down on my "to do" list after the opinions I've just read here. Thank you all for useful comments.


Moondancer, I'd love to get into the discussion concerning when war is justifiable, - and how Tolkien treats this in LotR and his other writings; - as well as his very clear portrayal of how something has to be sacrificed by the winners, how the victors will not escape without losses on many levels including to some extent loss of self, even if they win the war. It certainly is a question made more than relevant by the recent years' (and weeks') events. But I'm afraid the discussion would rapidly get very heated in light of same events, so I'll keep my peace.

But I'm afraid the discussion would rapidly get very heated in light of same events,
Yep, it's a fascinating topic but I agree...this is not the place for it and neither would I like to offend people with my view on things.
There's a couple of great threads elsewhere in KD. I often have to sit on my hands not to give my opinion and hope that others will voice my point of view (I only commented once or twice). Thankfully, I have read many great comments alongside the more annoying ones (well, annoying to me)

Anyway, for what it's worth...Elijah Wood won another award. Again, not exactly Oscar material but...hey, it's a 'best young actor' award:
On the movie side, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took home three awards with Elijah Wood winning Best Young Actor, Liv Tyler taking Best Actress/Movie, and for Best Film. Johnny Depp took home Best Actor/Movie for his role in "The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl."

The SyFy Genre Awards is one of the largest virtual fan choice awards on the net, and has been taking place since 1999. Over the course of a month, fans can visit SyFy Portal once a day and vote for their favorite actors, episodes and more in 13 categories.

Other little news snippit:
This is a quote from an interview with 14yr old Daniel 'Harry Potter' Radcliffe
Q: I've heard you're a film buff. Are there any particular actors who influenced you?

A: One of them would definitely be Gary Oldman. That was amazing to be able to work with him (on this movie). I think people like Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci and Elijah Wood, actually, because they were all child actors. When you say child actors, everyone thinks Macaulay Culkin. Macaulay Culkin has actually now come back as well -- he's been great. They were all child actors, and they all turned out to be some of the most amazing actors of their generation. Christina Ricci is unbelievable. I think I kind of look up to them.
Source: The Olympian.com

Gadzooks, you go away for a few days and so much has happened! :cool:

First off, Happy Belated Birthday to Blossom the generous! :k

And thanks so much Brunhild for that Pj&Co version of Hamlet! :D

And thanks to tg, for "The One Expression!" Just wonderful!

Moondancer, I am thinking that Daniel Radcliffe is pretty smart!

Here is a special alert! According to my newspaper, tonight Elijah Wood is going to be a guest on Conan (USA NBC). From the guest list, I think this is a repeat of the visit he made to this show in early March when he was flogging ESOTSM. But if you missed it, set up the VCR, 'cause it is worth seeing....

Quicksilver, nice to hear that you enjoyed CoF! it's the kind of film that isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it sure is one of my favourites. And Elijah is delightful in it. :)

Ah, yes, CoF :D ! Also one of my favourites. At least once a month hubby and I exchanging glances, quoting "Goodbye cruel world" and have another viewing of this hilarious movie.


(...)I haven't seen the National Geographic special (...) However, unless they explain the background and details of Lewis and Clark and Pickett's charge at Gettysburg at some length, neither comparison will mean much to many a non-US viewer.

I think, the NG special is quite bland to us Europeans (and I thought the comparisons they've drawn were relatively far-fetched).


If I send you a bunch of lines, could you put together another sketch?

Nice idea, Grumpy :D . Send them over, I'll see what I can do ;) .

Great to hear some props coming through from Dan Radcliffe himself. It's pretty cool since Elijah was once a child actor himself... and now look at him, all grown up, being an influence to other child actors. :)

I had a chance to speak (well, email) Dougie Brimson again and he said that Elijah's performance (from what he saw in filming) is going to like nothing he's done before. His character has a major change and has an intense internal (sound familiar?) journey. HOWEVER, he goes on to say that it's not like Frodo's journey as Matt really deals with it in a more external way, not having the same kind of internal stamina as Frodo. (sound like Dougie gets Frodo? ;) ) He says that he thinks his performance will really impress critics and fans alike, and that Elijah is a very "disciplined" and "serious" actor and a "wonderful" and "exciting" man in real life.

And now, I leave you with a beautiful pic of the lad himself.

Bask in his beauty.
http://img67.photobucket.com/albums/v203/cheryl_cat/lesej01.jpg

According to MTV:

Elijah Wood must be racking up the frequent flier miles. Just after
he returned from England, where he was shooting the soccer hooligan
flick "The Yank," the Los Angeles-based actor was off to Austin,
Texas, to work on Robert Rodriguez's comic book epic "Sin City." Now
he's in Prague getting ready to make "Everything Is Illuminated,"
from the novel of the same name. Actor Liev Schreiber ("The Sum of
All Fears") is making his directorial debut with the picture, about a
young Jewish man in search of the woman who may have saved his
grandfather during World War II.


YEAH, Dougie! And great pic, Hobbityme -- thanks for sharing!

Well I'm coming out of my usual lurk-mode on this wonderful thread in order to link you all to the most fascinating discussion that went on over at TORC, way back before FOTR came out ( yes, I've been digging around in the past :D )...and the topic of discussion ?

"Will Frodo's character be weakened ?" (http://forums.tolkienonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=21905)

The premise being how P.J. and Elijah will interpret Frodo's character, and how will his courage be shown...it makes for amusing reading now that the whole Trilogy has been released, and we know exactly what they did do in certain scenes that the people posting here were speculating about !!
(And just by the way...Diamond of Long Cleeve is none other than our very own Pearl...I'm sure she won't mind if I tell you that !! :D )


Tg,
I am loving your recent screencapping of Deep Impact...although I have to disagree about the disappearing hair-clip...you can just see it, although the camera angle means it is obscured from view mostly...

As for The One Expression, LOL :D :D :D, I have to remark on how this page resembles SO closely, my very own LOTR PICS file in Paint-shop Pro8, it's truly scaring me !! Maybe I should just rename the file "Frodo Pics" and be done with it ;) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: )

I have to agree with Honey too, that one of my very favourite expressions is that one of true wonder when he and Sam watch the oliphaunts arriving, tempered with caution lest they get discovered...

Yes, the main talent that Elijah has seems to be to show what the character is thinking and feeling, without necessarily saying a word out loud...a remarkable talent indeed, one that very few actors have, without their performance screaming out "ACTING " at you...Elijah IS an extremely internal actor, and maybe he will be the actor of choice for such roles...he already seems to be getting a name for this type of role, judging by what Dougie Brimson indicated in his reply to Hobbityme's e-mail...and as for being chosen to play a mute, well...the casting director certainly knows his onions when it comes to getting the best actor for the part !!!

Lady Wendy, I'm glad you're back. You were missed, you and your Queen's English choloquialisms! "...know his onions..." Now that's phrase I can't say I'd heard before! I think i get the general drift though! ;)

:eek: :eek: :eek: Did you all see this article (http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_976333.html?menu=entertainment.celebrities) on TORN!?! :eek: :eek: :eek: When asked whether any of today's young actors impressed him, [Christopher] Lee replied: "No. Not one." While he had no scenes with Elijah, surely he saw the young whipper-snapper's craft! :confused: :confused: :confused: Ouch!!

Honey!

That sounds incredibly bitter, even for Christopher Lee -- are we sure that's a credible article? And I remember that he said nice things about Elijah, and that he *was* impressed with him.

I'm watching PJ's The Frighteners -- I must've seen it when it was released (I think I rented it) but I don't remember it at all -- that's how much of an impression it left on me! But I find it sort of funny that his male lead -- Michael J. Fox -- is a guy who's on the small side with big blue eyes....and I do see a little resemblance here. Maybe what Lij will look like in ten years?

That sounds incredibly bitter, even for Christopher Lee -- are we sure that's a credible article?
Makes one wonder. I mean, if he's meaning to protest Hollywood ageism he has a valid point, but delivering that point by aiming a back-handed slap at his younger colleagues seems ill thought out. Besides which, when are these younger, greener actors supposed to earn their acting chops? Wasn't he un-seasoned himself, once?

Though I have to admit that my interest in Hollywood movies of late has been somewhat lessened by the story lines aimed at tweeners. In fact, as a 40-something, I find I'm not quite ready to face "Somethings Got to Give" or "Calendar Girls," but I don't want to see "13 or 30" or "New York Minute" either. Guess my taste is leaning more and more toward independent films, those just 'a bubble off center.' (Fortunately for me that seems to be the sort of film and certain rather seasoned young twenty something actor is attracted to making! ;) )

Honey!

I only watched part of the National Geographic special, and think from what I have seen so far that the connections between Tolkien characters and historical figures are quite contrived, and that it isn't even good as a lead-in educational tool because the real historical events are not even set up well contextually. It's rather messy.


Moving on to a more fun part of the special features disc--In the feature "Samwise the Brave"--there are luckily lots of delicious scenes of Frodo . In one part Elijah comments something to the effect that "Though Frodo is the hero because of what he had to do ....." (oh for a better memory--what did he say exactly?) ----that he couldn't have completed his task without Sam.....---

In any case--Elijah used the words "Frodo is the hero..."--though he couched it modestly. I'm glad to hear him say it because I haven't heard him assert that before--though I've heard him say "Sam is the hero"---when at a convention with Sean. I'm wondering if he has become more aware of the controversy kicked up over this point, and has realized that he should defend his own charactor's strength and heroism. And that in doing so it's about Frodo--it's not about Elijah bragging about himself. He definitely said "Frodo is the hero..." Maybe he has read some of the essays about Frodo's strength and spiritual struggle--and realizes the importance of it to so many Frodo fans...He probably already understood it very well himself. It's just nice if he knows it is important to voice it, when asked. For Frodo. ;)

Oh, yeah--and thanks Moondancer for alerting us to the award, and HobbityMe for telling us about Dougie, LadyWendy for the thread link, and Honey for the Chris Lee interview....

and everyone else for the fine discussion....

That sounds incredibly bitter, even for Christopher Lee -- are we sure that's a credible article? And I remember that he said nice things about Elijah, and that he *was* impressed with him.


I just want to say that I very much doubt the reliability of that article. The quotes come from the German magazine "Bunte" - it's the very same mag Princess Caroline of Monaco sued several times because they reported completely faked news and made-up interviews with her. :rolleyes:

whiteling--you manage to find the most wonderful quotes for your sig! Love the new Picasso one :) .

I just want to say that I very much doubt the reliability of that article. The quotes come from the German magazine "Bunte" - it's the very same mag Princess Caroline of Monaco sued several times because they reported completely faked news and made-up interviews with her. :rolleyes:
And the write-up reads suspiciously cobbled together (IMHO), making me wonder if some of what's been cut out would have changed the meaning of the quotes.

I haven't had a chance to watch any of the RotK special features yet, and definitely won't this weekend, but the "historical connections" that have been mentioned here from the NG special sound like the kind of thing that would have had JRRT fuming. The people who made the program have as much right as anyone else to say, "This reminds me of that," but if they're saying any of those connections were intended by Tolkien... oh, my :eek: ! I hope it's not indicative of what direction NG is going.

I'll echo Alyon's thanks for all the news and links--although, personally, I'll probably stay away from that Frodo discussion for now. The RL timing of all those hopes and fears, speculations, discussions, arguments and (on some sites) flame wars is still a bit too close for me to want to revisit them--maybe in a few years :( . At the moment my focus is still on growing in appreciation of "the final product" and part of that process is trying to avoid too many reminders of "what could have been" -- I manage to feel badly enough about that on my own, I'm afraid...


Kinda OT, but in light of the kid's recent comments about Elijah... Speaking of actors who are beginning to look a little more grown-up, especially from certain camera angles :) :

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/off topic/today_harrypotter.jpg

---BTW, my first thought, of course, after seeing him list Elijah along with Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci, was "Hmmm... He must have just watched The Ice Storm :p ."

Daniel Radcliffe was on the Today Show earlier this week--I had to leave for work before he was interviewed, but they showed a bit of him in the green room joking around with the staff person who was giving him doughnuts and he seemed like a personable young guy. Who knows, maybe he and Elijah will work together some time (if Daniel ever gets the chance to play a different character :confused: ). I haven't seen any of the HP movies, but now that it's not giving the price of a ticket to the competition ;) I may relent (if I ever have time :rolleyes: ).

I love your Daniel Radcliffe pic, Tg! All 3 of those kids grew up really fast. I guess it's the age. And the kid who plays Ron is so tall now! He looks quite different from his original casting. But I really enjoyed both movies, and look forward to the third.

Whiteling, thank you for the reassurance that the CL article is probably bogus. It looked quite suspicious to me as well. Now I will reassure Tgshaw, and let her know that the NG folks (to the best of my recollection) never tried to imply that any of their silly historical connections were intended by Tolkien (particularly as so many of them are uniquely American; I doubt that dear JRR would have even had an interest). They just said, "We have to find a parallel for an evil counselor. I know -- Rasputin! He looks good in pictures!" :p Very silly.

Alyon, thank you for pointing out that Elijah admits that Frodo is a hero in the special. It is certainly downplayed -- I didn't come away from the feature with that impression! I have the feeling that Elijah personally feels that Sam is more of a hero than Frodo. Remember the bathtub race video? In that one, Elijah (laughing) answers a question about what his character would do to win. Elijah said, "He'd probably get Sam to help him. Frodo can't do much of anything by himself." So, as a "regular" viewer, Elijah would fit right in with the polls at TORN, who see the "most heroic" figure (in descending order) as: Aragorn, Legolas, Sam, then Frodo. Oh well, at least he's in the top 4! :p

That sounds incredibly bitter, even for Christopher Lee -- are we sure that's a credible article? And I remember that he said nice things about Elijah, and that he *was* impressed with him.

I can't even comprehend how he must have felt when all of his stuff was cut from RotK. I think I'd be bitter too. But maybe they just caught him in a bad mood.

I'm watching PJ's The Frighteners -- I must've seen it when it was released (I think I rented it) but I don't remember it at all -- that's how much of an impression it left on me!

I caught a few minutes of it last night - too little to really understand what was going on but it definitely had its moments. I saw the same kind of PJ characteristics like drawing a scene out to agonizing length, and it was pretty funny for a horror movie. (if it was supposed to be).

But I find it sort of funny that his male lead -- Michael J. Fox -- is a guy who's on the small side with big blue eyes....and I do see a little resemblance here.

I was struck by that too, though I'm resisting the comparison because Fox is primarily a comedic actor.

Maybe what Lij will look like in ten years?

We shall see. I suspect not that much except for the similarity in size and eye color.

~grumpy

I caught a few minutes of it last night - too little to really understand what was going on but it definitely had its moments. I saw the same kind of PJ characteristics like drawing a scene out to agonizing length, and it was pretty funny for a horror movie. (if it was supposed to be).


There was one slo-mo moment that was absolutely pure Pete. However, my thought was that this had more in common, in tone and pacing and so on, with his zombie movies than Heavenly Creatures or LOTR. A lot of frenetic running around, for the most part, which, despite all the action in LOTR, has never struck me that way.

We shall see. I suspect not that much except for the similarity in size and eye color.

Re: Michael J. Fox -- he does have quite boyish features, though, and that's what I was thinking of when I originally said that. I do think Lij has a much more striking face. His eyes, everything -- he could stop traffic. Michael J Fox, in his hayday, wasn't the sort you'd necessarily drop dead looking at (!) but he has a very sweet, friendly quality that makes him attractive, which Lij has too.

I can't believe for even a second that Christopher meant Elijah when he made those comments in Bunte (if he made them at all)
Christopher Lee after all was the man who said this about Elijah:
"Elijah Wood will never grow old! With that almost Elfin face, he *was* Frodo. In his gentleness and sincerity - and in his enormous enthusiasm as an actor - he was simply perfect for the part."
~Christopher Lee from The Making of The Towers Book
If he really did an interview with Bunte, I'm guessing that they just took his comments out of context.
Hollywood is very ageist (esp. to women), so I can understand that he's a bit frustrated but he has had a career a lot of struggling actors would gladly sign for.

There's an interview with Elijah on the BBC site:
Elijah Wood-n't be in The Hobbit
Last updated 04 June 2004

Elijah Wood is hoping that the making of another Tolkein epic 'The Hobbit' will go ahead now the Lord of the Rings trilogy has finished.
He reckons Tolkein fans will be getting withdrawal symptoms by Christmas when there's no new Lord of the Rings movie being released.
"I hope it gets done - it would be a nice little reminder of that world again."

However, Elijah, who played Frodo Baggins in LOTR, would not want a part in the film:
"I wouldn't want to play Bilbo having already played Frodo - it would be strange for the fans and for me."
"Also, I don't think you can out do Ian Holm's performance."
"Any actor would be afraid to approach the role after seeing what Ian Holm did with it as it truly is perfect."

The DVD and video of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King' sold 6.3 million copies in its first week which makes it this year's best selling home video and DVD.

I had to go to a (boring) meeting this morning. The only upside to going to those meetings is that there's this fantastic little store nearby. It's a real treasure cove for geeks like me: full of comic books (from all corners of the world: Japan, the US, Belgium (of course), France,...), all sorts of goodies from movies like Spider Man, Star Wars (I have a cute and well made little C3PO in metal as a key chain. I'd love to have R2D2 but they are usually too expensive or they look bad and cheap), Spider Man, Hell Raiser (looks scary but..erm...kind of cool...although I would never buy it), The Matrix,...
I was actually looking for Tintin stuff but that's very, very expensive. I love looking at it and I never give up hope I will find something that is reasonably priced but I'm not spending a fortune on it (I do have the rocket - the red and white one...I love that thing)Tintin Rocket (http://www.store.tintin.com/en/index.cfm?store_page=categories_list.cfm&cat=153&cat_up=132)
Anyway, while I was looking at all the great stuff that store has and fighting the urge to buy it all I saw a reasonably priced Fellowship, very well made too (very reasonable in price compared with Tintin merchandising).
I have that fellowship now in display in my bookcase. Frodo is just about 4,5 centimeters high, Legolas is 6,5 cm tall. Even Bill the Pony is there. You can move the joints (I discovered that when I was trying to put Pippin's sword in his hands and suddenly I had his forearm in my own hands...oops, sorry Pippin...there, all better now). What an attention to detail! You can move Gimli's helmet, Legolas' bow,...

It's like this one (but with the pony)
Fellowship (http://www.collecttolkien.com/images/ToyFigFellowFeb2003MarvelEnterprises.jpg)
can you tell that I have been staring at The Fellowship for quite some time? ;) :o

PS Hobbityme: thanks for sharing with us what Dougie wrote back to you in his e-mail. :k

Hobbityme, that's a great e-mail from Dougie. Thanks for sharing it with us. :) And it's so gracious that Dougie is taking the time to reply. :cool:

tgshaw, once again, thank you for your monthly frodolivesin.us updates. :z: What kind of withdrawal pangs would we be suffering without you?! :k :k There were a couple of things that really caught my eye that I made mental notes about ... but me being me, those mental notes are gone just as I wanna really try and think about 'em. Typical of me. :p I do remember the angstiness was very much appreciated. Thank you. ;)

About Christopher Lee

as quoted by TORN:

Christopher Lee has slagged off young Hollywood, saying today's "20-year-old actors" don't deserve top roles as they don't have the experience to do them justice. "Actors are much too young these days," the 82-year-old told German magazine Bunte.

If he did say it, then it's pretty much just a statement of fact from a guy who had worked his way up the hard way. He's not the only one to complain about how studios care chiefly about marketing and profits and the hottest young thing, and not so much on quality of script and so on and so forth. And since this particular topic doesn't have anything to do with his hopefully more positive experience working on LOTR, he had no reason to mention any of the Rings cast. Besides, he has to be diplomatic to the Star Wars people too by not singling out only one young actor for praise. ;)

'Frighteners' was meant to be comedy-horror, if I'm not mistaken. As for Michael J. Fox, he did try to break out of comedy by doing a couple of serious dramas - 'Casualty of War' with Sean Penn was one of them - but :o

May I ditto what everyone said about my exorbitantly hilarious take on Hamlet? :D :p Seriously, though--I'm quite sure that I enjoyed writing this dog more than anyone could possibly enjoy reading it.

From Tgshaw
Have to know, though--are wigs involved ;)?
It's an interesting research proposition, actually. And no kidding. It seems that the image of the adorable Frodo with longish dark hair and big feet covered with sparse bristles is a creation of one Mr Bakshi. IIRC, Tolkien gave a rather different description himself--short dense curly brown hair both on the head and on the feet. Even the `fairer than most' phrase from the book might be interpreted to mean that Frodo's hair was lighter than that of most other hobbits. (Gandalf would have hardly expected Barliman to be a connoisseur of hobbity good looks, wouldn't he? ;)) So Tolkien would have probably insisted that EJW should have his own hair cut short and curled up a bit instead of wearing the Wig.

About Dougie's email, no problem whatsoever. I loooove spreading good word about Elijah! ;)

Anyways, I know a lot of you didn't enjoy "Deep Impact" but EW seems to like EW in it.

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This is from last week's (since the new issue comes out on Friday) issue of Entertainment Weekly. (Jake Gyllenhaal on the cover). They had a big story on The Day After Tomorrow and, because of that, had another article about the "10 Best Disaster Movie Moments Of All Time".

Elijah was mentioned in #8:

Quote:#8: Love Conquers All!
Deep Impact (1998)
Oh, that Elijah Wood - Saving Middle-Earth and Leelee Sobieski, all in just one career! Opening shortly before the bombastic Armageddon, Mimi Leder's cautionary comet tale was most unexpected - the disaster movie as chick flick. While Téa Leoni prepares for the end of the world by making nice with darling dad Maximilian Schell, young astronomer Elijah chooses near-certain death just to be with with Leelee. His action is so filled with love that it cements our Frodo's place in a long line (including Inferno's Fred Astiare and Airplaine!'s Robert Hays) of catastrophe Casanovas.

(by Joshua Rich, June 4th Entertainment Weekly)

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I am not trying to re-open this topic...I am not trying to re-open this topic....really really really. But.....just this little note...

Mariole said:
So, as a "regular" viewer, Elijah would fit right in with the polls at TORN, who see the "most heroic" figure (in descending order) as: Aragorn, Legolas, Sam, then Frodo. Oh well, at least he's in the top 4!

There must have been more than one poll. The one I remember right after the release of RotK--"who is the real hero of the trilogy"....Frodo and Sam were neck and neck forever (with Frodo initially in the lead). In the end, Sam squeaked by...but it was close, if I remember correctly.

Brunhild:
It's an interesting research proposition, actually. And no kidding. It seems that the image of the adorable Frodo with longish dark hair and big feet covered with sparse bristles is a creation of one Mr Bakshi. IIRC, Tolkien gave a rather different description himself--short dense curly brown hair both on the head and on the feet. Even the `fairer than most' phrase from the book might be interpreted to mean that Frodo's hair was lighter than that of most other hobbits. (Gandalf would have hardly expected Barliman to be a connoisseur of hobbity good looks, wouldn't he? ) So Tolkien would have probably insisted that EJW should have his own hair cut short and curled up a bit instead of wearing the Wig.

Ah, and yet forever now--Frodo will look like Elijah in the popular imagination. It's interesting how characters evolve when there are popular new additions to original myth and story. Ror instance, Santa Claus/St. Nicholas/Father Christmas aquired new looks over time when new stories entered popular culture. In modern times-- Rudolph or The Night Before Christmas added side stories to the original character that shapes how we view him. I find it facinating perusing some lotrs fanfiction-- an author might write something, like how Frodo loves stars, or Pearl Took is feisty....and if it seems right to people...it starts getting incorporated into the Frodo background --the accumlated lore--in many stories... a whole world of detail starts being created beyond the original work. I know that is with just the relatively insular world of fanfiction. But I think it's interesting..

But back on topic. I think that Frodo will forever look like Elijah--and hobbits will not be represented in illustrations the same way anymore--however one might imagine Tolkien to approve or disapprove. I think we now have slender hobbits in the lore to stay. And one with dark hair and blue eyes...and uncommon beauty. That will be Frodo.

My mistake, Alyon. I went to look up the poll, and it's not at TORn. I remember the one you mean -- yes, it was between Frodo and Sam. This was some stray poll I happened across recently -- but brain fizzles out. Sorry!

Hobbits in my mind:

Even though Elijah was wonderful as Frodo, when I'm listening to my tapes of the book, I have to work a bit to picture movie!Frodo. Frodo has aways been a vague image to me - I suspect that he's as hard to capture on paper as Elijah is (except for certain notable Faculty members ;) ). I know what he's supposed to look like, but his features are vague in my mind. Merry, Pippen, and Sam - even with blond hair, I see them with movie!Hobbit faces - maybe because the picture that I had of them was so much like Dom, Billy, and Sean that I recognized them immediately. Frodo - at least in the first part of the book, it's like looking at a soul. Elijah gave that soul a voice, a body, and an extraordinary beautiful face.

I was poking around a bit and found an interview with Danny Dyer - I know now where I've seen him. He was in a particularly annoying episode of Highlander in '97.

In this interview, he still seems to be having some trouble differentiating between movies and reality:

Dyer’s not at all threatened by Elijah Wood taking on a similar role, playing a West Ham football hooligan in The Yank. ‘West Ham fans are going to cut him to pieces,’ rants the fan. “Look I can see why he’s doing it, he’s played an elf and now he thinks he needs a completely different challenge, but the football and the East End culture is too far removed from him for him to have any sort of real understanding of it.”

I about laughed myself silly. West Ham fans didn't exactly cut him to pieces, now, did they? They welcomed him with open arms. And, an *elf*? Not that hobbit! Hobbit, Danny, Hobbit! No Second Breakfast for you, my lad! ;)

And that part that had me :lol: was about "...the football and the East End culture is too far removed for him to have any real understanding of it." Can you say "Middle Earth"? How much farther removed from a person could Mt. Doom be? I can't help it. This kid is *not* an actor, if he has no understanding that an actor and director can work together to bring a character to life, whether it's a short hooligan, or an even shorter Hobbit, and even if the actor has no personal knowledge of the character's experiences.

What an idjit. I hope he runs into Treebeard or a rampaging oliphaunt. Dougie's right - DD will never be in the same class as The Lad.

:::: stepping off soapbox, kicking it under table and strolling away whistling nonchalantly ::::

~grumpy (elf indeed)