1000 posts -YAAAAY!!:D

ainon (and anyone else thinking of buying yet more mags with EW and TTT in them)

Total Film Jan 2003 requires *serious* consideration: 12 pages of pictures and writing excluding a two page title page.

A seriously gorgeous photo of Frodo (full page -and no I don't have a scanner, so can't show it to you (I'll just wipe the saliva off the paper :) )

commentary on different parts of the film and also on Aragorn, legolas, arwen, saruman, gandalf, merry and pippin, eowyn, grima wormtongue, and gollum/andy serkis!!
oh, and a bit on new zealand :D

convinced?? ;)

viola

I succumbed to temptation and bought Empire magazine while I was shopping this morning. Got the one with Frodo on the cover, of course. I have had a quick read - 35 pages on TTT - and there's quite a lot of Gandalf, Sauruman, Orcs, Theoden, Wormtongue etc. Not much on the hobbits, though Gollum does feature, and prompts this quote from the article's writer: 'He ain't pretty - but he really works.'

There is a section on page 131 where Elijah is interviewed, and he says this about Frodo's feelings towards Gollum:
'He pities him initially... he sees that there's still humanity in this wretched creature, but he also sees what HE (Frodo) could become, which is much more interesting... he could BECOME Gollum. And that's really frightening. So part of his mission in the second film is to prove that Gollum can come back from that evil place and extract the humanity out of him, because he knows that if he can get that out of Gollum, then he too can be saved.'
The author of the piece also suggests that 'Frodo's relationship with Gollum becomes the hub of the entire trilogy, each manipulating the other.'
And Elijah goes on to say: 'If you are doing scenes every day that are filled with despair, anguish, fatigue, cold, anxiety and obsession, all these extremes, it's an atmosphere you become, oddly enough, comfortable with. You don't actually take that home with you... although the fatigue I totally took home with me. I have never been so exhausted in my life.'

There is also a section on ROTK, which promises to be even bigger and better than TTT. The quote that stood out for me, 'It gets far more intense... Frodo is all but destroyed by the power of the Ring.'

There are lots of pictures, but the only Frodo one is from the TT trailer, where an anguished/swooning Frodo is lying on the ground with Sam holding his hand. It is quite large, and the text that runs across it reads 'All's well that ends hell'!!!
It took a while for me to choose between Empire and Total Film, which also has Fro on the cover. (not sure if it was that Jan 2003 edition, Viola. I'll check that out - may just have to get that one too!)

I must say the feet have never been an issue for me. Frodo is perfect as he is - sigh!!!

Congratulations, Maeglian, on post number 1000:)

Eagles' Eyrie - yes, that Mr Alastair Browning seems like a nice man. Oh and it's good to know there's another veggie out there. :cool:

Luthiea - Hi. Glad things are better for you. You do have lovely parents, getting those Frodo stickers for you. Oh, and in answer to your post from a couple of pages ago - our dog Holly is back to her lovely, normal, naughty self, thanks. More blood tests to have next week, but just for our peace of mind.

I've actually passed the magic 30 posts - so now my new mission in life is to create an avatar. I am allowed one now, aren't I? It might appear by the time my posts total reaches 100, with my techinical know-how. The question is, are there any images of Frodo/Frolijah/Elijah left that don't belong to anyone else? I'm going to have a busy weekend, going through the Fellowship DVD AGAIN, in order to choose a beautiful Frodo for my avatar. It's hard work - but someone has to do it!:)

Bye.

Just a quickie --

If anyone sees anything in all these UK magazines about Faramir, please post it in the Faramir thread! The no-Faramir publicity (it must be a conspiracy; nobody saying anything?) is wearing us down. Even the spoiler-free people are afraid of this deafening silence.

EE dear, becoming enamored of the Swoonworthy Darling Captain is always welcome, no matter the motivation. Right now there are only a few of us holding down the fort. We need people! :D :k :k :k

The Balrog debate: I read it as wings but I can see the other side of the debate. I like the way they did it in FotR: It looked to me as if the Balrog had a wing skeleton, but only smoke for the fleshy part. So even if it had wings it couldn't fly.

OK... I am convinced. I haven't seen either Empire (though I know they sell it in the US) or Total Film and will probably have to buy them online. Does anyone have links to these magazines?

Ariel (the Fro-junkie lookin' for her fix...)

The second Empire (January?) is over at Fatty's site:

http://warofthering.net/movies/photos/empire/

My only problem is there are no big hobbit interviews in it, just a small blurb from Elijah after seeing the 15 minute TTT preview. It sounds like they (Empire) were in NZ the week after Frodo and Sam left during the new shooting last June. But there is some good stuff there. No Faramir, Frodo, Sam, Merry or Pippen, but plenty of Aragorn, Arwen, Gollum, Legolas, Eowyn, Eomer, Theoden, Gandalf and Saruman. Where are the hobbitses? We wantsss them, preciousssss!

TORn just put up a transcript of the Arena interview. I've seen some quotes around but not the whole thing. Some nice comments by the reviewer about Elijah being such a nice, unaffected guy. It's here:

http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1038597015

**SPOILERS**

I hope you will forgive me for this little OT item, but it is so cool I knew the Faculty would want it. Over at TORn there is an interview with Karl Urban. The link is to the NZ Herald site. There is a small link below the interview to "The Battle of Helms Deep". If you're anything like me, you have trouble visualizing the layout of large battle scenes. Well, the link below shows the layout and gives the sequence of the battle, all in living color. To me, this is way cool, because I can never figure these things out in my head while reading the book. I hope you like this as much as I did. :D (oh, by the way, you have to have Adobe to open this, but there's a link right below it to download a copy).

Karl Urban interview:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/entertainmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3006928&thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=film&thesecondsubsection=general

Helm's Deep Map:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pdf/helmsdeep.pdf

Has anyone run across TTT Photo Guide? It's along the lines of a child's storybook with lots of pics. It also has MAJOR MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS...including spoilers on Faramir's role.

I won't say anymore but.....PJ is right...he did change quite a bit of TTT. <sigh> And Fro and Sam had about 5 or 6 pages compared to 10-12 for Aragorn, Merry and Pip and (for the love of Eru!) Arwen!!!

You know...I could somewhat reconciled to less Fro and Sam if there was lots of....say....Merry and Pip...:D.. But less Fro and Sam, so we have more Elrond and Arwen. That just stinks. :(

I don't quite agree with that, Stromy. :o I think we've all known that PJ would flesh out the story of Aragorn and Arwen in all three films, and I for one don't object in principle to some sort of interaction between Arwen and Papa in Film Two, because it will be interesting to see how PJ treats this theme. Yes, I know PJ's a heretic -- :p -- but he's a NICE heretic. :D

Sorry, that is all off-topic. :o

Of course, lots more Frodo and Sam would more than content my hobbit-loving heart. Heck, you could have a film just starring Frodo and Sam and I'd be a happy bunny. :D

A film along the secret clips of Fran and Philippa, maybe ... :p

:k to the Faculty posters. :)

Ariel, I wouldn't panic just yet. My last trip to Borders a few days ago yielded the December Empire and October SFX. And they didn't have the new Total Film yet. If your local mag joint carries them at all, they're probably show soon. And considering how much they cost, I'm content to wait rather than pay extra to order them.

Anyhoooooo... yes, Stromy, I have that book and I have purposely avoided reading it. I did already glimpse a "WTF?" moment, so I'll hold off till I've seen the movie.

Which, BTW, local theaters still are not selling tix for yet. :mad:

And pumpkin pie with whipped cream is one of the greatest inventions of all time! :D

Major, major spoilers? I'm keeping well away from that book!

I remember last year that the REALLY major spoilers seemed to come out just before the film. But on the other hand - didn't we know about Arwen on Asfaloth and the butchered ending (sorry, but it's true, even though I'm reconciled to it) quite well before?

Well, fortunately I'm too busy to read spoilers this year!

(((((Stormyday)))))

Originally posted by Viola Took
A seriously gorgeous photo of Frodo (full page -and no I don't have a scanner, so can't show it to you (I'll just wipe the saliva off the paper :) )

Argh! You're a cruel one, Viola! :p

Blossom, thanks for the quotes from Empire, and thanks Louise for the link to the scans. 35 pages should be worth the money. ;)


warofthering.net (http://www.warofthering.net/) now has a whole bunch of scans from many, many magazines, but alas, nothing yet from Total Film. All contain spoilers; no new Frodo pics. Additional info from Wide Screen Mag (http://www.warofthering.net/movies/photos/widescreen/ ) about the Frodo and Gollum relationship, which sounds angstfully good :






SPOILER QUOTE -
ANDY SERKIS: "It's like seeing someone with a terminal disease that Frodo himself is in the early stages of."













(btw, Daisy, I meant to commend you on your excellent appreciation for angst :p You're in warm, friendly company here!).



The SFX article is all about Elijah. Very adoringly done, I might say:
http://www.warofthering.net/movies/photos/sfx/


Arena has an interview with EW as well - scanned, so this is minus the typos of the TORN transcript. Warning: this is an adult mag. Also, I find the writer's interpretation of LOTR and the 'hints' about Frodo & Sam intensely annoying, for the lack of a more 'polite' word
http://www.warofthering.net/movies/photos/arena/

Additional warning: if you have a tendency to drool, protect keyboard before clicking that link :D


Also, YM Magazine, http://www.warofthering.net/movies/photos/ym/ has a pretty good article on EW, covering some stuff we'd wondered about (re: his childhood, etc) and there's even a nice pic from Huck Finn.


Okay, my infomercial deed for the day is done. I better get back to work now before the lab boss comes in ... :o

My, it's quiet in here............ Is this the Thanksgiving weekend effect?

Yes, the TTT photo guide. I've bought it, (free stickers and all!! :o ) and studied every last bit of it. I have no willpower whatsoever when it comes to spoilers. There wasn't anything in the Guide that I hadn't already read online.

I am more curious and apprehensive than downright worried over the Faramir encounter and how Faramir is presented. I did read that interview with Dave Wenham that ToRN linked to. His comments there, plus the info in the photo guide, makes it abundantly clear that we're in for another PJ character arch special. I am still waiting for the film to pass judgement....

Actually I continue to worry more over how far they'll take Frodo into being paranoid and obsessive and irrational and dark and nasty to Sam. :(

Thank you for the links, ainon. I see the Toronto publicity photos are being put to good and varied use. :) Although most of the ground covered in the interviews has been known from previous ones and from general news stories, still these interviews do bring back to me so very strongly and clearly yet again that this is a *real* living person, and still seemingly so very down-to-earth, kind, nice and normal.

Small argh!! moment of the day, though: Courtney B. Vance calls EJW for jah-jah?!? IMO that is far, far to reminiscent of Jar-Jar, and therefore of one of the most annoying movie experiences I've ever had. EJW has placed himself and his acting about as far away from that as it's possible to get on the magic movie moments scale. So please, no more jah-jah! :rolleyes:

Hi Maeg! I guess most US Facultiers are either out shopping (traditional activity during Thanksgiving weekend) or still in a stupor from the meal! I saw that nickname for EW that you are concerned about. Remember that Huck Finn was mid-90's: Jar Jar hadn't been invented yet!! Somehow, I don't think anyone calls EW jah-jah anymore. (Although I think it is sweet that his co-star in Huck Finn came up with a special nickname for him.)

Avalon was on the tube here recently, so I watched it for the first time in a decade. I had totally forgotten how much little Elijah was on the screen. That was a very big role for a 9 year old. Sorry, though, I didn't keep track of the Froshadowings...:p

And thank you, ainon, for posting those links, which I could not keep myself from following. All this press!! Well, now I guess we know what has been keeping Elwood busy these past months...

There are a couple of themes that keep coming up in the interviews that I think are interesting: each interviewer seems to comment on how smart EW is, and how genuine he is. I was amused by EW's amazement that now he gets to *meet* his musical heroes.

Did anyone else notice EW's discussion of Thumbsucker? I guess it IS under way, though I haven't been able to figure out if they have started filming. The character is aged to 19 (from 14) according to one of the interviews. Goody, goody. I would really like to see this film. I was also pleased to hear that EW is being offered more roles now, and for older characters.

Of course, all of this is displacement activity. TTT is heavy on the mind just now.

I had the same response, Maeglian. How the heck did Vance get Jah-Jah out of Elijah, anyway. Not exactly the best of the syllables to use as a nick, is it, even without the negative SW connotation? Go figure.

From reading all of the interviews, plus PJ's old quote that "people are going to identify more and more with Sam as Frodo gets weirder", I'm really starting to worry that Frodo's true character is being sacrificed in order to make the film more "dramatic". Or something. How can they do this to Frodo? At first, he's so non-proactive people call him a wimp. Then he's so "weird" people think he's a potential "bad guy", with Sam as the "real" hero. What happened to our heroic, non-complaining, courageous hobbit, PJ? The one who only snaps at Sam once or twice in the book, and the rest of the time is a quiet, suffering, uncomplaining, wonderful HERO? Don't you dare do away with him in the interest of making a "better" movie. That would be perverse indeed. Not to mention unforgivable. Frodo doesn't get taken over by the ring until the very end, and to do otherwise is subverting a great character into someone like Wormtongue. :mad:

Can you tell I'm getting paranoid? Maybe it's the ring I got on my Frodo bookmark?

Originally posted by Louise
I had the same response, Maeglian. How the heck did Vance get Jah-Jah out of Elijah, anyway. Not exactly the best of the syllables to use as a nick, is it, even without the negative SW connotation? Go figure. You know what I thought when I read "Jah-jah?" My mind immediately took the sound and went to Zsa Zsa. :eek: Now, really, which is worse?


Can you tell I'm getting paranoid? Maybe it's the ring I got on my Frodo bookmark? You're no more paranoid than the rest of us, my dear. My stomach absolutely ties in knots with worry over what they're going to do to my (our!) beautiful Frodo in TTT. I'm truly frightened for his character. I so hope I'm proven wrong, but I'm afraid that I'm going to be sad for the wrong reasons at the end of this film... And telling myself that I'll still have the book only helps a little.

AAAAAUUUUGH! The suspense is killing me! *pant, pant* The combination of fear and excitement is perhaps even greater than what I felt during the anticipation of FOTR. It's a killer, I tell ya.


And there's a bit about Thumbsucker somewhere? I'm skipping a lot in an effort to avoid spoilers, so I missed this. But it sounds like it may happen after all? Cool! I can't imagine that they could start filming until sometime in February or so... Any info about filming that you come across would be much appreciated; I'm still hoping it will be filmed here in Portland!

Hey there everyone!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

Not really got much to say apart from (apologies if it's already been said) I read that Elijah is aparantly doing a live chat on AOL on 11th December at 6pm ET. This could be a good opportunity to dig out the Question List!

I also read that he is appearing on a US talk show the day after, can't remember which one though.

Does this mean he won't be at the UK premiere?? :( :( :( :(

Has anyone heard if he is planning any trips to Blighty to do TV appearances? I hope so, I really want to be seeing some of the publicity stuff this year, unlike last year when I was a LOTR-virgin ;)

ainon - many thanks for those links!

I've been having a sneaky look at some of the movie magazines in the shops, but so far I've resisted buying one ;)

I've got the photoguide too, Maeg as well as the Making of.. I just like to pick it up every now and then and look at all the pictures, and drift off into I-Want-TTT-Now-Land :) CBV called EW Jah-Jah eh?! That's kind of cute in a way, rather like a sort of name that would just come up one day and end up sticking - whether Lij liked it or not! Unlike yourself, I'm fortunate not to have encountered the Star-Wars horror that is Jar-Jar Binks, as I've not seen TPM, for which I'm very thankful ;)

Blossom - glad Holly's doing fine, my doggie (Jed) sends her a hug!

Will catch up later with hopefully some thoughts on various points being made,

Bye for now,

(((Faculty)))

Now this *is* very quiet! I'll just drop off a few more things I've found. At least I'm having a bit of free time.

Someone at the IMDB boards has transcribed snippets from a feature in American Cinematography. Christopher Lee as Saruman is on the cover, and there is an extensive interview with Andrew Lesnie, who along with Richard Taylor, has become my ideal version of the kinda guy I'd like to have a nerdy dinner date with. :D Anyway, you can read that here (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0167261/board/nest/381431).

And now,



Frodo SPOILERS



DEAD MARSHES

"While the Dead Marshes are an eerie environment, I didn't want those sequences to be insipid or cliched, but rather uncomfortable and ominous," he explains. "Anyone who walks through the Dead Marshes is prone to fall under the influence of the trapped souls, which Frodo does briefly. We therefore depicted the Marshes as a misty, unnatural environment, with sunlight weakened by the atmosphere."


FARAMIR

Frodo and Sam's journey to Mordor is interrupted when Rangers from Gondor capture them. The Rangers take the Hobbits to a honeycombed network of caves hidden by a roaring waterfall. The set, which consisted of caves elevated some 30' from the ground, incorporated a live waterfall cascading past a large opening in a cliff.
(my note: Forbidden Pool! Yes!)


The leader of the Rangers is Faramir, whose unit is assigned to protect the borders of Gondor; he is also seeking answers to the death of his ill-fated brother, Boromir. Given that the ensuing scenes between Faramir and Frodo are a very intense part of the story, Lesnie kept the shadow areas in the cave quite dense. "Faramir realizes that the answer to his brother's death is sitting in front of him," he says. "At the same time, Frodo has reached a critical period in his relationship with the Ring."





From BagEndInn, SPOILER IMAGES





spoiler space





http://www.bagendinn.com/images/starlogfrodo1.jpg

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/samfrodostarlog1.jpg





spoiler space





End SPOILERS



Well, I'd be lying if I said I weren't concerned about Frodo's character arc, but at the same time, I'm quite eager to see how it will turn out. I'm thinking now that maybe because of our fondness for Frodo we overlook some of his negatives - did he really show no signs of unpleasantness before CU? To me he did not, because his sudden burst of anger on Sam took me completely by surprise, so much so that at the time I wondered if it was some characterisation flaw :eek: but then since I started out hanging out with you guys I've come to realise that there were plenty of things I never quite 'got' about Frodo's circumstances with the Ring. For a long, long time I used to think that Frodo's biggest problem with the Ring was its weight. In my defense I'll say that I first read LOTR when I was a kid and have been strictly rereading Frodo chapters only ever since, so there's no way in heck I could have understood everything that was going on. :p

Anyway, I think what PJ is doing here is to bring Frodo to the fore, instead of just letting Frodo sleep his weariness away. PJ is also ensuring that TT Frodo is *not* passive - which IIRC was an argument used by some during the 'Frodo is a pansy' arguments: these people were expecting to see a very passive Frodo in TTT. The Ring is a pivotal character in the movie, and we do need to see that there *is* a bigger burden to being Ring-bearer than just lugging a very heavy bit of gold around, as well as to truly establish that the Ring plays an active part in tempting (and tormenting) its bearer - in ROTK we'll need to see how Sam responds to the Ring too.

And if PJ is saying that Frodo and Sam's friendship is threatended, then that means their friendship *is* critical, and we *will* be seeing how close that friendship is, because if we don't see that, we won't appreciate the hurt being caused by the Ring as it destroys the most meaningful thing in Frodo's life: his bond with Sam.

So whatever happens, I'll be riveted. I'll decide after whether I like it or not. But if it means more Frodo scenes, and a more intense character arc, then I think I'm game. Remember, in all publicity material we're still being told that Frodo is the only one who can withstand the corrupting power of the Ring. Frodo isn't being turned into a bad guy. Nobody can afford to take that route, because at the end, everyone must appreciate and understand just what Frodo has sacrificed to save Middle Earth.


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

Just one last note. The bit Blossom transcribed from 'Empire' mag, about EW being fatigued ... something I noticed in quite a number of behind-the-scenes EW shots, when he doesn't know he's on camera: more often than not, we'll see EW yawning, or stifling a yawn, or just staring off somewhere looking like he's about to yawn. :)

Originally posted by Luthiea
I also read that he is appearing on a US talk show the day after, can't remember which one though.

Does this mean he won't be at the UK premiere?? :( :( :( :(

He is going to be on the Today show, I believe, on the morning of Dec. 12.

And no, I'm afraid he's not going to be at the UK premiere. Not sure why not, but a friend in Wales who is going to the premiere confirmed that for me yesterday. Bummer!

Sheesh! I think I've finally caught up from the last two days and then there's more added! Congrats to Maeg and all on post #1000 (old news by now).

Certainly can't comment on everything, so just a few notes--

BB--Thanks for the heads-up on the Today Show interview--IMHO, that was Elijah's best interview last year (of the ones I saw, anyway). It's more of a "news oriented" show than the late-night ones, so the interview was more serious, and I thought he handled it really well. Matt Lauer interviewed him last year--hope he does this year, too, since he did such a good job, but who knows?

ainon--someone who reported on the Toronto exhibit (maybe at AICN??) said he thought the best set there was the Dead Marshes, and he also mentioned the waterfall at Henneth Annun, so I've been expecting--and waiting--to see those in the movie :cool: !

Re the TTT Photo Guide and other books--if Narya hasn't brought it up yet, I'll mention the thread she started on them in the Trilogy forum. Spoiler-heavy, of course.

Louise and all--sorry about the avatar mix-up. The only people who should have any ongoing confusion are those who post in the Cathedral over at CoE (since that's the only thread I post in at the blue place anymore). It's at CoE that I have that avatar and can't change it for another month or so. I've very specifically not used it at KD, because Louise does. I try to avoid using any pic that someone else has "identified with," just to avoid that kind of confusion. So, Louise, please don't change yours because of this--I'll just ask that Cathedral posters "give it a second thought" before thinking a post is mine. When I've met the 100-day membership rule at CoE, I'll change my avatar there to something else--maybe even not Tolkien-related, :eek: since I don't post in any specifically Tolkien threads over there.


Originally posted by Ariel
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by tgshaw
Hmmm... I'll have to reread the part about the Pellenor Fields. Did Merry's big feet have something to do with "standing his ground" [ ohh, very, very bad pun ] with the WiKi?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darling! Pippin's feet under the troll! OME! I can't believe you missed that!
Yeah, that's what I figured, but I was trying to give Vita a chance to look at the book and correct the reference gracefully...


After driving back from my mom's and then immediately coming on line to catch up here (which took only... ummm, about 2.5 hours :rolleyes: ), I'm way too tired to have any thoughts about Frodo's character arc, etc. I think there were also a couple of other requests/questions leftover from before I went to my mom's, but I can't even think what they were... Tomorrow I hope to be able to be a bit more "together" :) .

Thank you, tg. I have come to the conclusion that having people mistake me for you is a compliment, so if you don't mind being confused with not as worthy "moi", I am content. Is it just me, or are practically the only magazines besides Time (which, for obvious reasons, has an interest in promoting LOTR) printing big spreads on TTT from foreign countries? I mean, I looked at all the American film mags and they all have James Bond on the cover. And I'm sure that some of the rest will have the new Scorcese or whatever independent film is wowing the big cities as their "main stories".

I wouldn't mind so much, but the bookstores around here don't get all the foreign magazines, and the ones that do only get 2 or 3 copies. It's hard to get there just after their shipment arrives but before all the other LOTR junkies. I snagged the last Empire (the one with the 4 glossy B&W pics) last week. I'm hoping to do the same for the next one, but I don't know if they even carry Total Film. I know they don't have Widescreen. Is SFX a British mag or is it American? And don't even ask about my Christmas shopping. It's too bad none of the rest of my family is into LOTR. I could just give them toys or books! Instead, I have to search for "great" gifts on a shoestring. When I'd much rather be surfing for news on TTT. :rolleyes:

If Elijah isn't going to be at the London premiere, surely he'll be at the one in NY. Are they on the same night or something? They all flew all over last year so that most of the cast were at all of the premieres. Looks like they're not doing that this year. If anyone finds a good summary of LOTR related TV programs, let me know. I've been trying to write them down, but I may have missed something. Surely Sci-Fi is going to have one again, but I haven't seen it mentioned. I'm always fascinated by behind-the-scenes stuff, so I try to watch all the specials I can find. TTT should be fascinating because of Gollum and Treebeard, if for nothing else. I want to see Elijah rolling down the hill with an imaginary Gollum, followed by the scene with CGI Gollum inserted. Can't wait for the madness to begin! :D

Hello Faculty - hope all the Thanksgiving observers have recuperated from their meal -

and belated happy birthdays to Ariel and Maeglian!

Just delurking in response to Louise's query about TV appearances. I haven't seen any one place listing the dates but like you, Louise, I'm keeping my own list which includes the premiere dates (must remember to tune into Extra, Entertainment and Access Hollywood when the premieres are happening).

Last year I did not follow any of the television coverage and it was not until I fell under LOTR's spell in December that I've been trying to make up for lost time ever since. I came back this afternon from BnN where I spent $23.00 on 4 magazines featuring Elijah or TTT. That doesn't even include the Arena, Total Film, Empire, Hotdog or SPX issues that haven't hit yet.

Anyhow, for what it's worth, Eastern Standard Time (and please correct me if I am wrong on any of these dates):

12/04 7 am, Today w/ P. Jackson
12/04 8 pm, "Return to Middle Earth"
12/05 NY Premiere
12/09 8 pm, MTV Movie House Special
12/09 8 pm, From Page to Screen LOTR - Bravo
12/10 European Premiere Paris
12/10 1:30 pm MTV repeat
12/11 6 pm, Elijah AOL Live Chat
12/11 London Premiere
12/11 10 pm MTV repeat
12/12 7 am, Elijah Today Show
12/12 5 pm MTV repeat
12/13 9 am Elijah Regis & Kelly
12/15 L.A. & Copenhagen Premieres
12/16 Seattle Special Premiere
12/18 Film opens NY
12/18 Wellington, New Zealand Premiere
12/19 Sydney Australia Premiere

Re-lurking {{Faculty}} :) :) :) :)

Ack! delurking to correct 2 typos. Done!

Hi again,

Thanks for all that information Squires! You Americans are so lucky getting all those TV shows! :) I wonder if any of it will be shown over here, we've got cable - I wonder if any of those shows are on cable? I hope so :)

The UK Mail on Sunday's done a LOTR feature - with a magazine and cd-rom thing, like the FOTR CD rom from last year (AOL trial) but for TTT. I got it but it's pretty sparse on Frodo stuff :( There's just the picture of F&S with the Rohan soldiers that we've already seen but the cover photo of Frodo and Sting looks new - I think it's another one from the Osgiliath (sp?) scenes, albeit taken from a different angle. But that's it - the rest is all Wormtongue, Eowyn, Eomer etc, probably to integrate them into the minds of the non-LOTR public - and there's lots of photos of orcs!!! Orcs!!! :eek:

We wantssss more Frodo and Sam! :(

ainon, thanks for the new F&S piccies! Glad to see there's some out there! :)

Hello all. Hope all the US Faculty members had a yummy thanksgiving. And happy belated birthdays to Maeg and Ariel! :k

Squires Lass, thanks so much for the schedule! You can also add the chat on msn 12/12 at 6 PM EST:

http://alliance.zap2it.com/zap2it/internet/zp_int_events/1,1360,18-17-1-9500,00.html

So far he's not booked on any of the late night talk shows. I'd really like to see him on the Daily Show again... he seems to have a good rapport with Jon Stewart.

Regarding Thumbsucker, I wonder when those interviews were done? The Thumbsucker shoot was delayed/cancelled in late September, so if the interviews were done since then (which they probably were), it would seem to mean that the film is still slated to shoot at some point in the future (it's not shooting now, Vita). Did anyone catch the Vincent D'Onofrio mention in one of the articles? I guess he'll be playing the dad, which would be great!

Also found a small mention of the Flaming Lips movie that EW mentioned in one of the articles:

http://www.nme.com/news/103621.htm

Some of you will probably hate the idea of this film, but as usual, me and my crazy self thinks it would be great. :p And it sounds like something he'd really enjoy. I highly recommend their album "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots", by the way. Excellent.

Thanks again to everyone for all the links, pics, and discussion! I think I'm subconsciously avoiding spoilers this time around - not so much pictures as discussion of what the pics mean and what the actors/screenwriters say about the movie in interviews, so I haven't been reading everything that's coming out (can you believe it? I usually have a tendency to analyze everything!). And I have decided not to listen to the soundtrack at all before the movie, as hard as that seems. I actually have my tickets for the first showing of the movie in my town, 12 PM on the 18th. We have a big crew going so it should be exciting. You know a movie is a big deal when tickets for it go on sale a month early in a little town in the mountains of North Carolina!

Does that first picture in ainon's last post remind anyone of Mikey Carver?

And finally, I just have to say that those Arena photos of Elijah are simply beautiful. Wow. :)

Elvellon, I don't really like Science Fiction or space movies, but for some reason that "Christmas on Mars" movie sounds FUN! Mainly, I think, because of the sheer enthusiasm that Elijah shows about it.

I am glad he is still being offered plenty of work! It would be sad if he were to drop off the face of the earth like Leonard Whiting (sorry, I'm mentioning that actor too much at the moment - it's because I've rediscovered Zeffirellis' Rome and Juliet after 18 years!) - but I think Elijah was already far better established as an actor when he landed the part of Frodo than LW was when he landed Romeo (both of them examples of beautiful youth!)

It's also encouraging how EJW loves movies - so he may not always act - but he'll be out there.

Actually, from what I can make out, David Parfitt (who was the co-founder, with Kenneth Branagh, of the Renaissance Theatre Company) - acted in his childhood, and a little when he grew up, but got far more into producing - maybe that can happen with child actors - they fall in love with film/theatre as child actors, but branch off into a different part of the same business when they get older?

Anyway - I hop EJW will still do SOME acting when he gets older - even though some have said EJW will never grow old! I wonder how time will treat him - as Ariel pointed out, time was not kind to Leonard Whiting. But I think that personality and drive-wise, EJW probably has more gumption ...

Squires Lass, Elve, thank you so much for the info about premieres and related TV programmes and talkshows.
(Am I allowed a small jealousy moment to grump: AAARRRGGGHHH!? :rolleyes: ) Because none of those programs air here, so could I ask all of you who get to see them to discuss a little what happened and what was said? It will be ever so much appreciated! :)

From ainon
The Ring is a pivotal character in the movie, and we do need to see that there *is* a bigger burden to being Ring-bearer than just lugging a very heavy bit of gold around, as well as to truly establish that the Ring plays an active part in tempting (and tormenting) its bearer (snip) And if PJ is saying that Frodo and Sam's friendship is threatended, then that means their friendship *is* critical, and we *will* be seeing how close that friendship is, because if we don't see that, we won't appreciate the hurt being caused by the Ring as it destroys the most meaningful thing in Frodo's life: his bond with Sam. Thank you. This cheered me up. OK, it's not everywhere I'd freely admit being cheered up by the dire prospect of the "ring tormenting its bearer", but luckily here everyone understands that!

I think you're completely right, and all your points are excellent. Still, I'm hoping for a Frodo who is noble and who suffers in silence too......

I guess what I worry most about is if they have him go "mad" or "paranoid" in the sense that he doesn't really realize or understand anymore what the ring is doing to him, how it is making him behave. Whatever he does, I hope he'll be fully *aware* of it and be consciously fighting it, and I hope he'll be able to "get himself together" and apologize to Sam, like in the book. Only 17 days and then these speculations will be answered!

From Elve:
Does that first picture in ainon's last post remind anyone of Mikey Carver? It *sure* does. The only thing lacking is the Nixon mask. Thanks for the Flaming Lips movie info. Sounds strange, but I'm keeping an open mind. The worst is that this'll be another of those indie films that never gets proper distribution.....

Niphredil, I love Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet too, although I must admit I absolutely and totally enjoyed Baz Luhrman's energetic modern-day version.
And may I say how much I like the last part of your sig?

Hello.

Lovely new pics, Ainon, and thanks for those quotes too. I agree with everything you said there regarding Frodo and Sam. I suppose it's obvious PJ is playing up the psychological aspect of the relationship between Frodo/Sam/Gollum for greater dramatic effect. When you think of it there is quite an emotional triangle going on there. Sam loves Frodo, but he's very suspicious and untrusting of Gollum; yet Frodo pities Gollum, and the increasing burden of the Ring on Frodo gives him a greater understanding of Gollum's psyche, of the suffering HE has endured. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out on screen.

I do share Maeglian's concerns over Frodo becoming too paranoid/possessive and horrible to Sam too soon. I thought this aspect of the Ring's power over Frodo would not emerge until ROTK. But like you, Maeg, I hope if PJ is going to portray Frodo being aggressive towards Sam in TTT, it will be during momentary lapses when 'he is not himself', when the effect of the Ring or the growing presence of the Eye overwhelm him. In the book Frodo quickly realizes what he has done or said and is full of contrition - I hope this is displayed in the film.

Thanks to Squires_lassll for the TV listings. I may catch the MTV MovieHouse special on digital if I'm lucky, but none of the others, though I will be keeping a close eye on the UK TV schedules over the next few weeks.

Luthiea - Holly returns Jed's hug :) What breed is he? I also bought The Mail on Sunday today. As you pointed out there was very little in there hobbit-wise, but here are a couple of pics I scanned that I haven't come across before, just in case there's anyone else out there who hasn't seen them:

Frodo and Sting (from a slightly different angle, I think:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/FrodoSting.JPG

and this one of Gollum:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/Gollum1.JPG

Busy couple of days coming up. See you all soon. Bye.

Ack! I haven't even read and caught up, but I wanted to post this (I don't think anyone else has, but I have my images turned off, so I'm not sure). Anyway, here it is:

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/frodosamcaptured2.jpg I just love their expressions!

Happy (very) Belated Birthday, Maeglian!!:o :)

I don't know what I was thinking to leave those birthday wishes so late. (D'oh!)

Many thanks for the schedule, squires' and Elve!!! Is anyone planning to try to get on the on-line chats? Do you have to be an AOL member to get on the AOL one?

I'm hoping given how likable the angsty hero was in The Frighteners means that PJ has a good grasp on the fine line he needs to walk. *crosses fingers*

BTW, could someone PM me the link to buy the subtitled version of Chain of Fools? Or was it Ash Wednesday available like that?

I'm giving up, throwing in the towel, game over---I must have new EW stuff and it's starting to seem like a vain hope that Ash Wednesday or Chain of Fools will ever come out widely. :rolleyes:

BunnieBugs,

That pic of Frodo and Sam in the grip of Faramir's men is terrific. Look at 'em: brave little feisty little hobbitses! :)

The Haremites and the Goonies would like to see that pic, I think *hint hint* :p

Where did you find it? :)

Maeglian - your sig is well cool, too! :)

In fact you're all well cool in here! Excuse my clichés. I really should drop in more often.

Frodo looks WELL defiant in that picture! I think he's definitely going to stand up to Faramir! Ohhhh - I can't wait to see that battle of wits! Not much longer now!!!

Erm - perhaps I'd better go and lurk until I can think of something intelligent to day! ;)

Speaking of Faramir, here's what David Wenham had to say about Elijah, plus a comment on LOTR websites. I've had a little look [at LOTR websites and chatrooms], and I must say, I find that quite scary. You have to separate yourself in a way, otherwise it does become rather frightening. I did most of my stuff with Elijah and Sean Astin, who played Frodo and Sam, plus Andy Serkis who plays Gollum. If there is a central protagonist of the movie, it is Frodo, and Elijah does carry a burden nearly as heavy as the Ring - he does carry that film. But oh my God, how he carries it. He really is such an impressive guy, he's an old soul in a way. But of course he's also extremely youthful and so much fun to be around. So watch out Faramites, you're scaring him. :eek:

By the way, Frodo definitely looks like the Ring is affecting him in that pic above. It almost looks like he's thinking, "Don't mess with me or I'll turn into a Dark Lord!"

Oh, and thanks, Squires_lass11. I was missing a couple of those.

Accckkkk, Louise, what a wonderful quote from DW about EW!! "he's such an old soul" !!!! There's a wonderful line in a Pumpkins song, "Disarm" (one of my favorites) which always reminds of Elwood: "I used to be a little boy, so old in my shoes..."

Bunny what a lovely picture...cannot wait til December 18.

Stormy: welcome to the club!! Everything I have read indicates that Chain of Fools is slated to be released in January 2003 on video. But I've heard that before about earlier dates. If you want to order the Asian version, try Yesasia.com and click on Western products. As for Ash Wednesday, there's nothing. The film was financed by Independent Film Channel, and my guess is that it will show up there sometime; but when? who knows.

The barrage of TV shows etc are what I am depending on to get me through til the movies released. Thanks for the list, squires lass.

Oh and ToRN has put up a new clip that stops the heart: Frodo meaning business with Sting in his hand. WOW!

Thanks, squires_lass, for the TV schedule. Looks like first-up will be PJ on the Today Show on Wednesday (I don't think they interviewed him last year--just Elijah). Can anyone tell me what station "Return to Middle-earth" is on (also Wednesday)? I don't have cable, but sometimes I can sneak a peek in the student lounge if I plan ahead.

BB--great picture, and, no, no one's posted it. Besides looking like a mirror image of your avatar, there's also a definite froshadowing going on there, although I'm not quite sure from where. Huck Finn or The Good Son, maybe?

I'm not specifically avoiding spoilers--just don't have time for most of them (such as shopping for magazines, watching lots of clips on other sites, etc.)! What I'm reading here is pretty much the extent of what I've seen, so I don't have much to contribute along those lines. Really different from last year when all that was going on was FotR--this year I've still got so much on the FotR DVDs that I haven't even watched yet, much less analyzed, that TTT is kind of taking a back seat! Probably because I still have the feeling TTT won't be very Frodo-friendly, although David Wenham's comments on Frodo being the central character and Elijah carrying the movie are encouraging.

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

The first Christmas on Mars, eh? Has anyone besides me been having horrible flashbacks to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians :eek: ?

Please tell me this movie has to be better than that one! It has to be, right?? Simply because nothing could be worse! The MST3K boys even had a hard time making fun of it, because it had done such a good job on its own. :rolleyes: I mean, I basically trust EJW's good taste, but then I think of TT&T... :eek:

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

Well, the Balrog's wings and Elves' ears seem to have been well taken care of in my absence over the weekend, so I think the only "outstanding" request is for the series of shots from the mithril scene in the SE (requested by Maeg IIRC). So here are some that are, again, not particularly pretty pictures, but I think they get across the facial expressions that let us know what Frodo's thinking without a word of dialogue.

The first two are while everyone's looking at the mithril mine--the shirt hasn't been mentioned yet, but mithril has, and Frodo knows that's what it's made of. The mithril glow is showing on his face:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1066-85.jpg http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1067-85.jpg

The next two are after Gimli says, "That was a kingly gift":

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1081-85.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1083-85.jpg

The rest are after Gandalf talks about the worth of the shirt. But I think there are two stages. First, there's some out-and-out wonder:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1087-85.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1091-85.jpg

Then, IMHO, Frodo starts thinking and the expression gets more interior. That's where I see the lines from the book come in that say [not exact quote], "Frodo wondered if Bilbo had known the value of the shirt when he had given it to him, and felt sure that he had." I've always agreed with that--IMO, Gandalf's being a bit patronizing when he thinks that just because he never told Bilbo how much the shirt was worth, Bilbo didn't know. Bilbo's a pretty good business-hobbit, after all.

This is completely my own interpretation, but I see the first two as the thought process working this out, and the last two--with the slightest of smiles turning up the corners of his mouth--as fond thoughts of Bilbo:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1101-85.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1106-85.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1107-85.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Fellowship/cropcap1108-85.jpg

tg, that "Return to Middle Earth" program is on the WB (Warner Bros.) network, so you don't have to have cable, just a WB affiliate.

Tg, that screen cap show is an *immense* challenge to a poor person's ability to post something coherent and serious! :o Thank you.
I like your reading of Frodo's expressions there. That mithril scene was one of those completely unexpected little gifts in the EE DVD that only gets better when re-watched.

I'm trying to make sense of that Frodo-and-Sting action picture that Blossom posted. It doesn't look like those taming of Smeagol ones, does it? So is it a promotion still? Or is it from the "Frodo's loosing it in Osgiliath" scene? It doesn't look quite like that either. What about Sting, why is it so blue? Is that just the paper playing around with colours in the pic, or is he actually fighting orcs? And was the ring chain always *that* long?
Inquiring minds want to know. :rolleyes:

I love that pic BB posted, too. Very scary "Don't mess with me" look. I'm not certain about the Froshadowing, though. Even Sandy in Flipper didn't come close to *that* expression in all his scowling, did he?

I'm starting to get really curious about whether we'll ever get to see the *faces* of these guys who are holding Frodo and Sam in pic after pic after pic. Somewhat sad state of affairs for the extras if all we ever get to see are their hands....

Stormy, thank you. :)
Hope you don't mind that I take the opportunity to mention here your wonderful and sad fanfic " And left the tenderness of tears" over at ff.net? IMO, this is a must-read!!

[/lurk]
Squires_Lass11, I hope it's all right with you for me to 'lift' your TV schedule and post it in the thread in the Trilogy forum that covers upcoming TV appearances/shows re: LOTR. ?? :) There are a few in your list which I don't think have been posted there yet. :) And for anyone who's interested, there are several other shows/interviews detailed in that thread, too. :)

Louise beat me to letting y'all know that "Return to Middle Earth" was going to be on WB ... I can tell you that what I've heard is that it's modeled after the Fox special last year, so should be similar to that.

Watched some more of the SE DVD's 'extras' last night and I saw something that made me wonder a little about EW's attention to his acting 'techniques' etc. -- one thing which he states in "A Day in the Life of a Hobbit" is that all the hobbits had to basically 'direct' their scale doubles -- which meant that they had to pay much closer attention to the 'little things' which they did while acting a character, so that they could make sure that the necessary continuity was there. Sounded like it was a good 'workshop' for him, where he had to reflect on some of his techniques. Nothing like microexpressions or blinks, though - more the 'large motor skills' parts of the replication.

[lurk]

Oops, was updating my list of TTT related coverage and realized 2 typos on EST for:

12/04 WB Return to Middle Earth should be 8 pm EST
12/13 Regis & Kelly Show should be 9 am EST

Apologies for the typos and any confusion I may have caused.

:(

Oooh, the mithril screencap series! Thank you, tg! Thank you so very much :k As wonderful as it is to watch the movie on the TV and freeze frame favourite bits on that larger screen, I find that it's a very nice thing to have screencaps to refer to on the computer as well. And these are very, very nice - could I just ask how these turned out to look like paintings somehow?

Bunnie, that pic is quite a sight. Yep, I can buy him turning into a Dark Lord all right, if he so wished!

Maeg
Still, I'm hoping for a Frodo who is noble and who suffers in silence too......

Well, we got silent and noble Frodo in Fellowship, and what he got in turn was a thread dedicated to his pansiness. :rolleyes:

Maeg:
I'm trying to make sense of that Frodo-and-Sting action picture that Blossom posted. It doesn't look like those taming of Smeagol ones, does it? So is it a promotion still? Or is it from the "Frodo's loosing it in Osgiliath" scene? It doesn't look quite like that either. What about Sting, why is it so blue? Is that just the paper playing around with colours in the pic, or is he actually fighting orcs? And was the ring chain always *that* long?
Inquiring minds want to know.

That's the same pic I saw on a local comic mag here. I'd wondered then if it was an illustration or a real scene. Blossom's pic is clearer, without any words getting in the way, and I'm inclined to think now that it's some kind of illustration maybe, based on a still? Because as Maeg has pointed out, some aspects of it aren't quite right. Besides, EW looks better than that, any time. :p


stormy has a new fic out? How may I find it please? :)







SPOILERS TTT







spoiler space






TTT was screened in LA last night (gee, wonder where Elijah was ... ;) ) and two reviews have hit the web. One is at AICN - a general review.

This one: http://www.lightsoutentertainment.com/movies/reviews.php?filmID=2&reviewID=31 has all the details. And I mean ALL the details. Absolutely DO NOT read this unless you're prepared to lose your TTT movie innocence. I can't stress this enough. We are talking almost every major plot detail here.

Also the reviewer gives us his opinion on certain things, so this is from his POV and based on what he remembers/knows - he's only read up to Two Towers and has only watched the movie once.

He's one happy fan. and I am spitefully jealous! :p

Now, he does not really tell us what we wanna know, i.e. everything Frodo does, breathes, says, looks at, sleeps through, walks through, his angst level, whether he gets mad, whether he gets sad, whether he gets mean at Sam, number of scenes involving microexpressions and endless hours of screencapping analysis ... but there's enough info to give us a rough outline of what will happen to Frodo. Many things aren't mentioned (stuff we've learned about from other spoiler sources), but this reviewer does settle the question that arose from the Elijah quote about ... something happening to Frodo that will freak everyone out. I'll just say that Elijah wasn't kidding -- freaked me out just to read it!











spoiler space

Originally posted by Maeglian
Tg, that screen cap show is an *immense* challenge to a poor person's ability to post something coherent and serious! :o Thank you.
Hmmm... Frankly, I thought the quality of the screencaps was so poor that I never imagined they'd cause anyone that kind of problem. ;) Glad you enjoyed them, though. In the future, I'll try not to post so many at one time, but I think I was trying too hard to catch up on everything. They're not loading for me this morning, so are probably slowing down a lot of people's computers. :o

[Just saw ainon's post--They look like paintings because that's what happens when I try to mess around with dark screencaps to make them visible! It's not on purpose, believe me :o ! It's a combination of brightness, contrast, color correction, sharpen/soften and "underexposed" correction. I seem to do fine with caps from scenes with good lighting, but ones in the dark do end up not looking quite like "themselves" by the time I get them light enough to see.]

Regarding facial expressions, there's an exquisitely subtle piece of work in the "hiding from the SBs" scene that I haven't even been able to quite get hold of with screencaps (a gif might be able to do it, and I haven't given up yet). Just after Bilbo says, "You'll be all right," and takes a swig from his mug, the camera switches to Frodo and catches the tiniest bit of eyebrow knitting. It makes me think of Frodo's line to Gandalf that's been added in the new version of the cart scene--Frodo's used to Bilbo acting strangely, so usually wouldn't react to his oddities, but what Bilbo's just said there goes the tiniest bit over the line, even for him, and Frodo reacts in kind.

I'm trying to make sense of that Frodo-and-Sting action picture that Blossom posted. It doesn't look like those taming of Smeagol ones, does it? So is it a promotion still? Or is it from the "Frodo's loosing it in Osgiliath" scene? It doesn't look quite like that either. What about Sting, why is it so blue? Is that just the paper playing around with colours in the pic, or is he actually fighting orcs? And was the ring chain always *that* long?
Inquiring minds want to know. :rolleyes:
My money's with "Frodo's losing it in Osgiliath" :p . He's got Sting in his right hand, he looks angrier than in the taming of Smeagol shots, and there will be orcs in Osgiliath.

I'm starting to get really curious about whether we'll ever get to see the *faces* of these guys who are holding Frodo and Sam in pic after pic after pic. Somewhat sad state of affairs for the extras if all we ever get to see are their hands....
Even if we do see the faces of Faramir's men, they probably won't be the faces that go with those hands. I'm sure those are scale doubles. We've seen the tall scale doubles of at least Aragorn, Boromir, and Gandalf but we've never seen their faces. Maybe a quick glimpse or two of Gandalf's, but so briefly that you can't get a clear look at him. -- BTW, another bit of frame-by-frame research from last night shows it really is Elijah jumping off the embankment into Gandalf's arms when they meet, but he's jumping onto Ian McKellen's scale double.

And some observations from the Green Dragon scene. (Yeah, yeah--I start early enough in the evening that I think, "Oh, I can watch the whole movie tonight," but then something looks interesting and I just have to check it out :rolleyes: . I made it through the Midgewater Marshes last night.)

While sitting at the table in the Green Dragon, Sam is just darling--he never takes his eyes from Rosie (except to drop his gaze a bit when she looks at him), even when Frodo scoots a mug down the table to him. He just switches his pipe to the other hand and picks up the mug without even looking at it.

And when Frodo and Sam have walked out the door and the "idiot" is "sweet talking" Rosie, Frodo and Sam turn exactly together to look at him--and I realized, "OMG! I've seen guys do that!" :D Some sort of synchronized movement between friends, I think. Now, had someone noticed that guys do that and planned the action, or did it happen naturally? (BTW, in the Midwest, "guys" often simply means "people," but I'm using it in the strict sense of the word here ;) ; I don't think I've ever seen two female friends do quite this same thing.)

Another BTW: I don't listen to the radio much except when I'm in the car, and on the drive back from my mom's Saturday I caught an interview on PBS with an actress who spent 15 years as a social worker/counselor before she started acting. (I didn't catch her name, but she plays the mother in what sounds like an arthouse-type movie called "Real Women Have Curves"). The interviewer asked if her previous counseling work was a help to her acting, and she said it all comes down to observing people. She said that if actors really observed other people, "We could all be stars." I wonder if she's seen Elijah's acting, and what she might think of it.

To end with, there are a couple of things about Elijah in the Green Dragon scene that are good acting but can seem a bit strange out of context. For one thing, he acts slightly inebriated almost too well. Perhaps a little more personal experience with that than with getting high like in "The Faculty"? This is also a somewhat minor example of something I've admired a lot in his strongly emotional scenes but haven't mentioned--he doesn't avoid looking "not pretty" (for lack of a better term) if the character and situation call for it. Yes, he can "cry pretty," but if it's more realistic he can "cry not pretty," too. A lot of his slightly inebriated shots aren't particularly attractive, but they're definitely realistic.

And, finally, if anyone was looking for evidence of an other-than-friends relationship between Frodo and Sam, all they'd have to do is take some frame-by-frame shots of their dialogue after they've left the Green Dragon, especially when Frodo moves in to say his, "Don't worry, Sam..." line. Viewed in context, there's nothing suggestive there, but a few of those individual frames... :rolleyes:

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

Thanks for the info on the "Return to Middle-earth"--We do have a WB station here, so that one I'll be able to watch. :)


ainon, I think you're contradicting yourself ;) . First you say the reviewer gives all the details, but then you add:
Now, he does not really tell us what we wanna know, i.e. everything Frodo does, breathes, says, looks at, sleeps through, walks through, his angst level, whether he gets mad, whether he gets sad, whether he gets mean at Sam, number of scenes involving microexpressions and endless hours of screencapping analysis ...
I'm still pondering whether to read that review--guess I'm wondering if the freak-out occasion is something that will send me screaming from the theater if I don't know about it ahead of time :eek: .

P.S. Sheryl, if you're reading this, your PM box is full and I understand a search party has been sent out ;) .

I was gonna edit my post, but then tg's posted her post. ;) I didn't have too much trouble downloading your pics this time, tg. Usually I would be in this frustrating position of having to reload the images endlessly just to get them all. Nonetheless, no matter how frustrating it gets, it always feels like a huge reward when I get to see all the pics in sequence on one page! And play slideshow afterwards. :D

And okay, so I contradicted myself about the review thingy. That guy tells all about the plot, but is clearly not an analytical Frodo viewer. Hmph. :p

If anyone wants to know just the Frodo spoilers, I can compile them. After all, I'm already doomed. I read that whole thing. :eek:





SPOILER COMMENT:






Hint about the freak-out moment: not book canon. Will scare the wits out of everyone. Should be an incredible movie moment, and if done right, I imagine we'll be seeing Elijah performing at a level we've never seen before. But it's not book canon. I'm undecided how I feel about this. Oh, and all of us who speculated about it almost got it, and yes, I'm including erendis' speculations.







edit Narya has started a spoiler thread for reviews in the Trilogy Forum:
TTT reviews and actual movie spoilers (http://www.khazaddum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1615).

So from now on I'll refrain from posting spoilers here. All us spoiler hounds can go spoil ourselves good and proper over there. ;)




Anyway, the reason I'm back here. I was at the Always & Forever site and picked up misc. stuff. Bunnie's pic is from the TTT soundtrack:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/ainon/LoTR/tttsoundtrack.jpg

It's amazing how shrunken Frodo looks. Also off-topicly wondering how many big guys were available to just stand around grabbing at hobbits. Uh, that didn't come out right, did it?





A blurb from TIME mag that's not at its on-line site:
The Elijah Effect - Before he became the most famous hobbit in history, Elijah Wood, 21, already had a brilliant career. In 1989, at age 8, he made his movie debut in Back to the future part 2. Talented, blue-eyed and impossibly cute, he has worked steadily ever since, having appeared in nearly two dozenfilms. While making the 1998 teen horror movie The Faculty in Austin, Texas, Wood met internet movie critic Harry Knowles, who told him that Peter Jackson was planning to make "Lord of the Rings". "Harry was, like,'Dude, you have to be Frodo.'"says Wood. Jackson agreed; Wood was Frodo. "He has an ability, more than anybody that I've ever met, to convey excatly what he's feeling through his eyes," says the director. Wood will returned to New Zealand for the last bit of shooting on Rings next summer. The third film, he says, "is the most tragic.People would have no idea what they have coming."


For those who have the mag, may I ask what pic comes with this blurb? TIME Asia does have the LOTR cover ... but it's not on sale here, even though it should be. :confused:



Also, the scan from YM magazine was missing a page. I thought the article started off funny. Here's the bit that was missed from the scans (full transcript at the A&F site, typed by Hobbit Angel):

The Mysterious Mr. Wood

-Elijah Wood was a child actor. But he's never been in rehab, and he hates the spotlight. Very weird.-

By Patty Adams

I'm walking around The Library, a swanky New York City lounge, looking for the star of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It isn't too hard to find him: The indie-boy spiky brown hair and black Chuck Taylor sneakers make him stick out among the gray suits like a BeDazzled 'NSYNC fan at Ozzfest. Though Elijah Wood, 21, has been acting practically his whole life, he wasn't super famous until last year's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The movie earned more than $800 million worldwide and 13 Oscar nominations. And Elijah even got his own action figure. But the moment we knew he was huge? When he shook hands with Ozzy on an episode of The Osbournes. "Come sit down," says Elijah, gesturing toward a squishy leather couch at the back of the room. "How are you?" he asks. My first impression: He's shy, polite, and much cuter in person. Unlike most stars, Elijah (Elwood to his friends-as in Elijah Wood) actually asks about me-where I'm from, what kind of music I like, and how long I've worked at ym.

Kindergarten Dropout

Back when Elijah was little, in Cedar Rapids, IA, his deli-owning parents, Deborah and Warren, called him Sparkplug because he was known for being a spaz. "I used to climb on everything," Elijah says. "I was always causing trouble." (Looking at the totally mellow guy sitting across from me, constantly saying "please" and "thank you," it's hard to imagine.)

Originally posted by tgshaw

P.S. Sheryl, if you're reading this, your PM box is full and I understand a search party has been sent out ;) .

Hmmm, just went back to see when I last posted, and I guess it has been a while. :o Someone e-mailed me from another group I'm in, noting that I hadn't been there in a while (like... once or twice since I saw FOTR ;) ), so I made an effort and contributed to the last book discussion there. Between that and these dratted headaches I've been having I guess I haven't been posting here. I have been lurking faithfully and enjoying y'all, though. And I've cleaned out my PM box; sorry about that, for anyone who had a problem.

I distinctly remember intending to give someone grief for doing the "nothing intelligent to say" routine, never even got around to that and now I can't even find the post. :p

And you're right, Prim, I'm falling down on the job - never noticed that you'd tagged Louise as tgshaw. I'm glad Louise is back to her original avatar, because I've been thinking about trying to con tgshaw out of her Osgilliath Frodo avatar. Although OTOH I remain fond of the shot of Frodo when he and Gandalf first hear Sam at Bag End - just a profile shot, and blurry to boot, but it's uncommonly lovely I've always thought.

I haven't even gotten around to putting in a location or a whatever-you-call-it thingie under my name, so getting an avatar's gonna happen, sure... :rolleyes:

Still waiting to hear the response to erendis' letter. I like the religious imagery if it's subtle, but I thought that TIME cover a bit much. It does verify my theory that they're doing it on purpose, though.

orignally posted by Ariel

but I also read (in an YM article of all places! ) that EW likes Changing Rooms!!!

Isn't that the Brit version of Trading Spaces? I haven't seen Changing Rooms but always watch Trading Spaces when visiting my mom (we don't get TV). A lot of fannish people are into it - there was even a panel on it at Media*West.

Luthiea,
I'm a regular member of the LOTR fanclub (but not for long if I don't get my renewal going :rolleyes: ).

I still do not understand why PJ wanted Frodo to cry at the Mirror in Lothlorien. He's so upset/distressed at what he has to face he cries? Galadriel's so scary? I think tears, even one tear, would have been over the top there. EW's performance got enough grief without that.

originally posted by Maeglian
I just don't feel as excited about TTT just now as I ought to be feeling. Maybe this is a good thing. Expectations CAN be set too high, I guess. But.... I wasn't expecting this to happen. Perhaps it's just a brief case of anticipation overload. (I *hope* so!)

I've calmed down a bit myself. Just too much else going on, I suspect. I'm kind of glad, because I don't want to over-anticipate.

Hi, Elve! Good to see you. And stormy, I was getting a bit worried about you. Glad to see things have slowed down some. :cool:

It's hard for me to remember who posts in the Harem (or wherever) but not here, so I'm afraid I may miss someone, but hi again to Daisy and azalea (how come you're a Baggins and the other two are Tooks?), welcome to King Lamoni (did you follow erendis in or had you been lurking before?), and Hi to Tata and Gladys, who I know have posted here before. And Daisy, didn't you post some way back at Imly, around the time we moved to the Pony? Or was that another Daisy?

Middle daughter is (not unjustly) complaining that I promised to read to her and haven't, so I guess I'd best sign off - didn't even get to all the cool piccies or squire-lass' list of events (wow, even TV-less I can check into one of them!), or all the other neat stuff and observations that've been posted lately. *sigh* And I am totally behind in the Harem again... Too much interesting stuff here. Not that I'm complaining, even though that's how it sounds. :p

Sheryl

Hi guys,

I come bearing gifts :) -

I got these from elijahfan, it is such a great site -

Elijah and Liv Tyler on MTV last year (typical MTV thing but EW's so lovely!)

http://www.elijahfan.com/videos/trl-dec2001-01.mov

EW and several of the other LOTR actors, on the same programme -

http://www.elijahfan.com/videos/trl-dec2001-03.mov


So is anyone going to take part in the EW AOL chat? I would have loved to but, erm, I've not got AOL. My friend has got it - I just sent her an email and casually told her about the chat in the hope that she'd offer to post a question or invite me round to hers so we could take part, probably won't work I'm not exactly the in-yer-face type when it comes to asking people favours so... :D

(((Shilohmm))) Hope those headaches go away soon :( Off topic but I had one the other night and...it was very weird. I'd went to bed early feeling rotten then I'd woke up (or thought I'd woke up, I can't be positive) and suddenly I saw this big spider coming down at me from the ceiling (not a real spider, it was like one of those big, rubbery toy spiders you get at Halloween). I might have been dreaming it, but it felt very real it was like I was hallucinating because of the migraine I had - anyway I yelled out loud and my brother came running into my room to see what was wrong! When I told him he just laughed. Anyway, it sounds really silly but it might have just been a dream, maybe it's all this talk of Shelob :rolleyes:

Blossom - Jed is a tricolour Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, he's eight years old and mad as a brush :D

Blossom - have you looked at your CD-Rom thing yet? I've not but I'm going to soon, it looks good!

ainon - thanks for those quotes and the new F&S pic - Frodo does not look a happy hobbit there!

I read those new reviews from Harry at AICN and the Lights Out one - all I can say is 'Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh' :eek:

Here's another review, there are Spoilers (but they've gave the film an 'A' :) ) -

http://www.filmjerk.com/reviews/rings2.html

Bye for now,

(((Faculty)))

Originally posted by ainon
For those who have the mag, may I ask what pic comes with this blurb? The picture is an old one: http://www.bagendinn.com/images/suncords.jpg
From a fashion spread that I'm not especially fond of, though this shot was probably the best of the lot. That glowering and squinting thing is so not him...

Hi guys...

SPOILER COMMENTS (THOUGH NOT THE SPOILER ITSELF)



Stopping by to see if anyone else had read that spoiler in the lights out review, and I see ainon has alluded to it. I was really trying not to read spoilers like that but I just couldn't help it - I'm so weak! :p That said, I'm glad I read it because it is quite a departure from the book, and I think I would rather know about that stuff ahead of time, rather than going "huh?" in the theater. Maybe you guys have discussed this, but based on this spoiler and other things said by Elijah and PJ, I have a feeling they will be portraying Frodo as going a bit off his rocker... not just being weary and losing hope, but actually being driven mad by the ring and acting crazy. It also seems like they are playing up the insanity of Gollum with the whole split personality thing. I think I have decided that this could all be very exciting, if done right, and could provide some good angsty moments. I agree with ainon that the spoiler scene could be a great acting moment for Elijah.



/SPOILER COMMENTS

Luthiea, I don't have AOL either (thank heavens!). If anyone here has AOL and joins the chat, can you copy it for us non-AOLers? :k

And funnily enough, those videos that Luthiea posted the link to are mine! The other two that show are on my video page. Katie from elijahfan.com offered to host some files for me because my site was getting slammed. I should also have the Today Show and Regis and Kelly appearances up next week the same day they air, as well as any news snippets from the premieres. I guess Elijah will not be doing the European premieres this year, but will probably do NY and LA, and I guess he's doing Wellington as well.

One more thing to add to the TV list is Ian McKellan on Actors Studio this Sunday (I think that's the 9th) on Bravo, 8 PM EST. That should be great! And I also think the GQ awards from October, which ws attended by Elijah and Ian, will be airing this coming Saturday.

I love that title in Time magazine: "The Elijah Effect". They should have had The Faculty and The Harem write this article!

Good to see you, Sheryl! Hope you get to feeling better. :)

Hello,

I'm a long time lurker, both here and at the blue place. I wanted to respond to some of the discussion on hobbit feet a few pages back (hey, y'all are hard to keep up with!)

Nowhere does Tolkien say that hobbit feet are particularly large in proportion to their bodies. All he says is: "they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads..."

Now, I admit that feet "clad in a thick curling hair" is fairly icky in and of itself. But it's different than very large feet covered with a thin, mangy, underarm type thatch (took me a while to come up with that euphemism) which is what we got in the movie. Ugh! But the hobbit boys - in fact all the hobbits - are so cute that it's forgiveable. It's interesting that we never really see the feet of any of the hobbit gals - somehow grosser to think about those feet on a gal, isn't it?

The only mention of largeness that I recall is with respect to Mr. Proudfoot's feet: "his feet were large, exceptionally furry, and both were on the table." (Ugh again!)

Cheers,
Ethel

Originally posted by Ethel
[B]Nowhere does Tolkien say that hobbit feet are particularly large in proportion to their bodies. All he says is: "they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads..."
[B] Hi, Ethel! Now that you've chimed in, I hope you'll feel comfortable to do it often! :)

I never found the feet especially "icky," but it did bother me that they weren't accurate with the hair. How could they get so many details so right, and then mess this one up? :confused:

I don't think the feet necessarily had to be large, except from a logistical standpoint. Perhaps it would have been to difficult to make them look realistic had they made them smaller, not to mention not as much protection for the actors' feet. But why on earth didn't they do the hair according to Tolkien? I would really like to know the answer to this one!

Well, I've read the spoilers in the reviews and I've changed from someone who was eagerly awaiting the movie to someone who almost doesn't want to see the stupid thing. I am really angry and outraged by what PJ, Fran and what'sername have done to Frodo. I have a sick feeling in my stomach. I'll probably go see the movie, but at this point I doubt that I will see it more than once. I'm really disappointed in PJ, Fran and Philippa. I thought they understood what LOTR was really about. Apparently I was terribly wrong about that, along with millions of other fans. PJ doesn't give a rat's hind end about the main themes of the book. He just wants to make a movie with lots of fighting and gore and psycho characters. He has totally distorted Frodo's character. This is just awful. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

((((((((Louise)))))))))

I haven't been following links or otherwise looking for spoilers, but I hope it won't be as bad as it sounds - I sure didn't agree with some of the interpretations and reviews I saw on FOTR after the fact. I'm trying to avoid any more spoilers and see how I feel about things after I see for myself, "in context" as it were. I suspect I'll need at least one viewing just to get used to what PJ's up to. :p

I've been NOT re-reading the book the past six months or so in hopes of stifling my purist, but it probably won't work, because the Frodo and Sam stuff in TTT was pretty well seared in there from the first. *sigh* Some of the Faramites are gearing up for outrage, too. :( Now I can't decide if I want to know ahead of time or if it'd be better to find out and adjust a bit beforehand. Argh! Thanks a lot, Louise! :D

Well, I guess we'll be able to hash it out (or possibly shriek in unison) in a bit more than two weeks. Sheryl's nails are unusually long lately - perhaps she hasn't been cutting them because her subconscious has decided she may need that length should things go so badly she has to shred them...

Sheryl

Just thought I would pass this along for those of you in the US, tonight on the Charlie Rose show on PBS, Elijah Wood, along with PJ and Viggo are scheduled to appear as guests. :)

THere's a pic of them with CR at charlierose.com and EW looks as though he's had his hair buzzed off. :eek:

Hallah! Bless you! I'm setting the VCR! (CR is on at night here in Chicago). But HOLY MOLY! What did Elwood do to himself???? :eek:

Hmmm, wonder if he's preparing for "Thumbsucker?"

Thanks for the heads up, Hallah. :)

Didn't he say in one of the interviews someone just posted that he was thinking about shaving his head, because his hair 'was bugging' him or something? :eek: :eek: :eek:

NOOOOO... Sheesh, if geek boy would only listen to us. :rolleyes:

Maeglian, ainon, check your PMs, please. :)

A pict with Elijah's shaved head!

http://www.charlierose.com/data/img/promos/lord2group.jpg

Weren't we talking about that a while back? Luckily I was one that said I thought I'd like it, but I don't think there were many who agreed! :eek: (And I do like it)

Can't wait to see Charlie Rose - last year's show with PJ was excellent. Good to see Viggo doing some interviews as well. It comes on PBS tonight in the US, I think around 11 PM EST. I'll try to make some clips of it. Also, if anyone feels like transcribing any of these interviews, I will be glad to send you a VHS copy of everything I record.

((((((((Louise))))))) Don't give up on it yet! It might not be so bad. I have a feeling we will need to leave the books behind on this one, and watch the film within it's on context, though. I think it will be good and that I will like the direction it's taking, but I can imagine a lot of folks may have a hard time with it. I'm just glad I haven't read Two Towers for a year now.

Finally finished catching up with all 4 pages, and I was gonna reply to things I had in mind, then I saw that Charlie Rose pic http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/yikes.gif http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/faint.gif http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/sniff.gif I'm crying now, I loved his previous hair-do so much. :( I know he said in a recent magazine interview that he was thinking about shaving his head but I thought he was joking or at least it was something like the weathertop scar tattoo he kept talking about but never got around to actually do it. I can't believe he did go shave his head this time. :eek: With all those TV appearances coming, it's gonna take some time for me to get use to it. :( I'm sure some interviewers are gonna comment on that too.

...and it doesn't help that he looks about six years younger with a buzz-cut. :o Elijah, kiddo, if you want to land good grown-up parts, it would help if you didn't get a really young-looking haircut right before hitting the talk-show circuit...

And you're going to get carded in those NYC bars now. :p

Mel

Elijah was on E News Live tonight and I posted a clip here:

http://frodoandsam.net/film/multimedia/video.html

And in the interview he actually looks a lot older with the buzz cut. I think it really suits him. :)

Did you see the fear on Frodos face when in the cave with Faramir exclaiming how the ring of power is in his grasp?

What'd ya all think of it?

Oooo wheee! Thank you Elve, clips Maia, for posting that clip. :k It is very hard to try and get used to EW with a buzz cut. Do you think he is just messing with our minds?

One quick note before I leave the office (can't see or hear any of those clips on my office computer) -- Elwood's haircut is exactly like Matt Lauer's (except Matt's hair is darker). So if that's who interviews him on the Today Show they'll be a matched set. And Matt's a mature guy (in most ways :) ), so I don't think it's a particularly "young" look. That's assuming I'm seeing that picture correctly and it is a buzz cut, not a shaved head :eek: .

Thanks Elvellon for the clip!
I found myself staring at his head instead of listening to what he says. :rolleyes: :p

****TTT commercial Spoilers****




I haven't heard the faculty members commenting on the TTT commercial played on Comedy Central a few days back, it starts with Frodo clutching the ring and telling Sam "the ring is getting heavier Sam." like in this pic http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/clutch.jpg and then The EYE flashes, Frodo gasps like he just had a heart attack. Pretty effective scene. Too bad I can't do screencaps off .rm files. :(
D/l the video here: http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/movietrailers/t2t_adv_comedycentral.ram

2 screencaps from the video King Lamoni was talking about. Most of the footages are the ones we've seen, except the bit at the end with Faramir and Frodo. We finally hear Faramir speaking. :rolleyes: :p
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/ff1.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/ff2.jpg

You can d/l the video here: http://img-nex.theonering.net/movies/ttt_nrk.mov

You're right, tg, buzz cuts don't necessarily look young (my husband buzzed his hair off when his hairline started receding and the pony tail just didn't make it any more :D ). But Elijah's got a young-looking face to begin with.

On the other hand, in that clip Elvellon posted he carries himself in a very poised, mature sort of way that makes you forget he looks young. Hopefully casting people will notice that...

Mel

Whoa, Baldy!!! :eek: :D

Hey, Lij, my hair bugs me too sometimes, but I don't shave it all off! :p I'm not that fussed about his new look though, when he'd mentioned in that interview that he was thinking of doing it I thought he might but hoped he wouldn't but after seeing the results he still looks adorable in my opinion! :k My brother's always shaving his head too, he just does it cos it annoys my mother, she says he looks like a hooligan :D In fact in that Charlie Rose pic he does look a little like my brother, NOT that my brother looks like Lij but he does kind of resemble him in that photo :D

I wonder what Elijah did with all the shaved off hair, eh?! I'd have it! :p

Thanks muchos for that clip, Elve! That's funny that those clips I posted from EF are yours! What a small (internet) world we live in!

Hi to Ethel! Hope you enjoy posting here!

KL - I liked Frodo's expression in that clip, I wasn't sure what was going to happen at first - I thought he might lunge at Faramir (from all the talk of psycho-Fro in these reviews :rolleyes: ) but then we just got a really fearful expression instead.

Going to bed now, it's really late and I've got college in about 8 hours or so :D

L x

Originally posted by Niphredil


Erm - perhaps I'd better go and lurk until I can think of something intelligent to day! ;)

Ah ha! My memory was right for once! It was Niph looking for grief! ;)

Read my last post, Niphredil, for hard evidence that posting in the Faculty doesn't require intelligence. :p Although this one will probably support my position as well, I'm afraid, particularly since the infink is trying to "help" me type. :rolleyes:

Are we going to discuss the trailers and fairly non-spoilerish clips from the movie in here, or are those off limits? I'm weakening. :o

Finally got around to getting some of the TTT music, and the singer on Gollum's Song and the structure of that first part when she's singing really reminds me of some song of the late sixties/early seventies - "To sir, with love"? Got me. Not at all what I was expecting, somehow - much edgier and raw. Which is totally appropriate to the movie, I suspect, but I suppose I had Enya on the brain or something.

originally posted by Ethel

Nowhere does Tolkien say that hobbit feet are particularly large in proportion to their bodies. All he says is: "they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads..."


Oho, that's what I thought I remembered - that Tolkien never specifically says Hobbits have big feet. Wasn't sure enough of it to mention it, though. :D Thanks, Ethel. Although I suspect it wouldn't have made a speck of difference to PJ, any more than what Tolkien said about Balrog wings.

I prefer EW with longer hair, but I don't think I'll mind the buzz cut, particularly since he seems to have shaved off that scruff on his chin and cheeks. ;) I had a male friend who buzz cut his lovely hair - his girlfriend promptly threw him out! He was pretty annoyed about that until I pointed out that he'd picked her for her looks - apparently she'd picked him using the same criteria. :D It is kind of a shocker, though, bit it grows out pretty quick for some - one guy at church buzz cut his hair a year ago, and now his hair's down to his shoulders.

SPOILER SPACE
*
*
*



originally posted by King Lamoni
Did you see the fear on Frodos face when in the cave with Faramir exclaiming how the ring of power is in his grasp?

What'd ya all think of it?

Er, it made my little heart go pitter pat with anticipation, but I'm not sure much thought was involved. :D

I think the Frodo clips we've actually seen from the movie look good. I don't like the sound of some spoilers, but even in the bits we've seen where Frodo's interacting with Faramir he certainly looks like the Frodo I loved in Fellowship. Faramir's line wasn't that far from what he actually says in the book, so I'm hoping PJ will crank the tension there but the characters will remain solidly grounded in the Frodo and Faramir we already know and love.

I do expect some wrestling between my Inner Purist and the Angst Maven side of me, but the Angst Maven is the heavyweight here. If PJ gives me enough angst, I'll forgive a fair bit. If he turns Faramir or Frodo into a git, though, then that'll impinge on the angst enough that all my inner selves will be outraged.

But I have to admit I liked desperate Fro on the DVD, and Fro backed up against the wall facing Faramir in the Norwegian (?) clip. Oh, yeah! More like that and I'll be just fine. :cool:

Some of the spoilers (and I've been skittering around the edges of the spoiler thread so I expect I've missed some or most of them) do make me quite nervous, but I'm willing to wait and see how PJ and EW handle things. PJ has been very up front about the fact that the Ring is possessing Frodo - if he plays it as the book does, with Frodo still in there fighting the possession, it could work. There's an EW quote that worries me there, but for now at least I'll give PJ the benefit of the doubt. Actors have made comments about their own performances before that I didn't agree with after seeing the scene(s) in question.


*
*
*
END spoilers


Oooo, deluby, I hadn't seen the "Ring's getting heavier" commercial before. Yowzers!

Except I'm now officially back to my hyper anticipation state. And I was doing so well at staying cool! Drat.

Luthiea,
You'll have to fight Hobmom over EW's hair trimmings - she's been wondering if someone thought to save those as well.

Guess I'll go see if Elve's clips feel like talking to me now. They didn't last time. Not that I lack for moving images tonight. :)

Sheryl

Edit:

Oh, well, that's nifty! Thank you for the avatar and the directions, tg!

Sheryl

When I checked out the preview posted in the Harem, I found new cause for hope for TTT. See, this incredibly angsty and hot...I mean...high tension little snippet is very promising.

We've been bemoaning the lack of Fro information, right? Well, I have, at least. :D

PJ has been keeping it from us purposely!! Just to drive us insane with anticipation. He let us whip ourselves into a frenzy over....


*whispers*

You know--elves at Helm's Deep---and kept back all the Frodo-n-Sam stuff. I mean, he has to have something that will light up all the fan boards insanely. These...intensifications of Fro are guaranteed to do that!

He has to have TTT end on a note of angst, right? Otherwise, it just is not TTT.... not emotionally, not spiritually, not Tolks!

Ooh! Sheryl has an avatar! :)

Hello Ethel!

Well, I'm sneaking in here while I'm supposed to be working. But how can I not? I'm actually worrying now about how I'm gonna get through the weekend -- the Eid celebration (following the one month of Ramadan fasting) is on Friday so I'll be with my folks, and very likely away from the computer. :eek: This is going to be strange. I'm in a jovial mood to celebrate, but I'll be in this LOTR hype withdrawal state. Argh!

deluby:
I haven't heard the faculty members commenting on the TTT commercial played on Comedy Central a few days back, it starts with Frodo clutching the ring and telling Sam "the ring is getting heavier Sam." like in this pic and then The EYE flashes, Frodo gasps like he just had a heart attack. Pretty effective scene. Too bad I can't do screencaps off .rm files.

Sniff. You can't? Darn ... I'll barely see anything. I've noticed that even the crappiest quality .mov video is many times better than any .rm video.

Thanks for the Frodo from the other clip. I d/loaded and watched that Faramir & Frodo clip last night. I posted about it in 'Trilogy' but not here because I wasn't sure about spoilers ... then after I'd seen it I pretty much forgot anything else anyway. Not to mention the fact I had to rewatch the sequences a time or two. Or ten. Or so. :D

I'm glad that can be discussed here.

KL
Did you see the fear on Frodos face when in the cave with Faramir exclaiming how the ring of power is in his grasp?

Yep. Very nice. A lot of other things to see too. Which were very nice. Especially upon frequent frame by frame replay. The earlier sequence with Sam was also very nice. The side profile we get of Frodo as he walks down and says what he says -- also very nice. The tone that Elijah uses there -- very nice. When he turns around to look at Sam -- very, very nice.

I'm getting light-headed and starry-eyed and decidedly non capable of saying anything other than 'very nice'. And I'm just babbling about two sequences in one tiny video clip. The movie is gonna kill me. :p







SPOILER SPACE





Originally posted by shilohmm
Are we going to discuss the trailers and fairly non-spoilerish clips from the movie in here, or are those off limits? I'm weakening.

Please, please may we? I was feeling guilty about hijacking the general TTT spoilers thread in 'Trilogy' with Frodo talk. But I honestly can't muster the same enthusiasm for anything else. I'm even scanning spoilers Frodo-centrically. I don't read any paragraph that hasn't Frodo's name in it. :p


Sheryl:
There's an EW quote that worries me there, but for now at least I'll give PJ the benefit of the doubt. Actors have made comments about their own performances before that I didn't agree with after seeing the scene(s) in question.

I agree with you about the actor assessment -- I suppose Elijah would emphasise Frodo's darker moments because to him those were the challenging bits. Anyway, listening to the SE cast commentary we do get the impression that Elijah didn't get everything either. I'm still mildly amused that he would mistake the Ring's call of 'Elessar' for something else. ;)









END spoilers




Last but not least ...

Eeeeeekkkkk! That's all I'll say about Elijah's head for now. Have to wait to get home in order to d/load Elve's clip. Thanks! I hope your server won't be overloaded by then, Elve.

Hope the American faculty is gleaning precious info from the Charlie Rose interview. :)

Just got finished watchng the Charlie Rose interview, and have to say that I thought EW's shaved head looked great! :D Viggo, on the other hand looked . . . erm . . . not so great.

The interview itself was fairly run of the mill; nothing really fantastic about it. Something of interest though to Faculty members was a statement made by EW concerning a specific scene in TTT. He said that he cried while watching it the first time. Then watched it for a second time five minutes later and cried again. Unfortunately, he did not mention which scene this was, so one can only wonder.

Best moments: Peter Jackson openly declaring that the outcome of this year's Oscars (Best Director/Best Picture) was motivated by industry politics (Go, PJ!), and EW's laid back and relaxed attitude. I honestly would not have minded seeing a whole hour with him alone. He was making little jokes here and there and laughing and was answering questions as thoughtfully as possible considering the show's rather quick pacing.

Worst moments: The seven or eight minutes Viggo spent floundering incoherently while trying to explain the meaning of the t-shirt he was wearing and how it was related to TTT. Or something. I dunno. My brain is still thinking . . . "Ummm . . . Huh?" :confused: All I know for certain is that it was seven or eight minutes that could have been spent discussing the movie. :p

Oh Elijah sweetie, shaved head -- no, no, no. :p

I'm sorry, ladies, but I think Viggo is something of a pretentious git. :p Luuuuuuurve him as Aragorn ... but I'm not that sold on the actor as a person. Sorry. That was irrelevant to this thread. Elijah's enthusiasm, on the other hand, is a joy to behold. :)

Anyway. Elmtree of TORC has seen the film. She and some other TORC posters went to a special screening in New York. I am NOT clicking on her spoiler-rich thread, but I did peek at her (relatively) spoiler-lite thread, (although it's still a bit too spoiler-ish for me to cope with at this stage; I won't put the link in this thread but I will put it over in the TTT Spoiler Thread in the LOTR Trilogy forum). And here's one of the things she had to say about TTT:

'Elijah Wood is OUTSTANDING.'

:):):):):):):):)

Originally posted by Hallah
Something of interest though to Faculty members was a statement made by EW concerning a specific scene in TTT. He said that he cried while watching it the first time. Then watched it for a second time five minutes later and cried again. Unfortunately, he did not mention which scene this was, so one can only wonder. I think the scene he was talking about is from ROTK. Correct me if I'm wrong, I remember he says it's moving because you see what happens to those characters at the end, those people that the audience grows to love in the span of 3 movies. (well, I could rewind and double check, but I want my crappy VCR to survive long enough so that I can record all the TV appearance at least this year. :p )


Are we discussing Frodo-related TTT clips here or should it be over in the Trilogy forum?
****TTT clip spoiler****





Loved the new clip they played during the Charlie Rose Show, with Sam asking Frodo to put on the ring and escape from where Faramir was keeping them. EW was great there, come to think of it, the scene reminded me of the river bank scene in SE DVD.
And Extra played a new clip tonight too. Frodo and Sam are eating lembas and Sam says he normally don't eat foreign food but he really likes lembas and Frodo smiles and says "nothing ever dampens your spirits, doesn't it Sam?" Great to see Frodo smiles here, but rather a bitter one though. I hope those 2 clips end up online soon. (any chance, Elvellon? please? ;) )
**edit**
You can watch the segment aired on Extra here: http://demand1.stream.aol.com/ramgen/aol/us/highspeed/extratv/dailynews/twotowers1203.rm
Or read it here: http://extratv.warnerbros.com/dailynews/extra/12_02/12_03b.html
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/images/02/12/03towers_200.jpg

****TTT clip spoiler end****

I was so frosted! :mad: My local PBS station is doing a fundraising drive and Charlie Rose wasn't on.:( I had sent in a question to be asked of Peter Jackson. My question was basically this. From Interviews you have done, we know New Line put pressure on you to get the FotR under 3 hours, but with it's amazing success and their letting you have more say in what goes into the theatrical version, why is TTT still under 3 hours?

I was hoping they would ask that...did it get asked and answered?

Just watched deluby's link although the sound and image were very disjointed. (sorry, deluby! :) )





SPOILER TEXT, highlight to read:

I wouldn't say that Frodo smiles in a bitter way. More sort of sad and resigned. :)

Originally posted by ainon
Thanks for the Frodo from the other clip. I d/loaded and watched that Faramir & Frodo clip last night. I posted about it in 'Trilogy' but not here because I wasn't sure about spoilers ... then after I'd seen it I pretty much forgot anything else anyway. Not to mention the fact I had to rewatch the sequences a time or two. Or ten. Or so. :D

I'm glad that can be discussed here.
Yes, well, please still do post spoiler notices, everyone. I have specifically avoided looking at clips of TT and am in general trying to stay spoiler-lite, as are others. It would be better in a spoiler thread, but if you do discuss it here, please put spoiler tags. Thank you. :)

I managed to see the Charlie Rose interview too. It's not on the local PBS station but I somehow managed to get sound and some sort of picture from a low-power station further away. I agree, way too much time was spent on Viggo's various musings on modern warfare and such, but unfortunately that seemed to be what was of most interest to Charlie. And there was far too little of Elwood. I got used to the buzzed head after a while - at least Elwood has a nicely shaped head. But he really needs hair to counteract the powerful eyes and brows.

KL, your question wasn't addressed, but I have an educated guess: three hours is kind of the "magic number" in movie length. Theater owners are reticent to book longer films because it limits how many times a day they can show it. More showings = more $$.

A real person has already seen the movie? :) By "real" of course, I mean a normal member of the public rather than somebody related to the film or a critic. I'm still hoping to get to see it myself before the 18th, but even if the worst came to the worst and I had to wait that long, it's only TWO WEEKS TODAY!!! Remember when we were still counting in months - now we're down to just fourteen days.

I have been avoiding the spoilers, but kinda got the gist of what Louise et al is worried about. Like Elve said we should just remember that the movie and the book are different. We haven't actually heard any bad reviews yet, have we? Universally it seems to be praised, which is an encouraging thought!

I'm sorry, ladies, but I think Viggo is something of a pretentious git. Luuuuuuurve him as Aragorn ... but I'm not that sold on the actor as a person. Sorry. That was irrelevant to this thread. Elijah's enthusiasm, on the other hand, is a joy to behold.

I know, I know, not the right thread. I always thought the same about Viggo - putting him down as one of those aloof artistic types. What changed my mind was hearing him tell the story in the SE DVD about Elijah's scale double (Kirin) in the boat telling him how he couldn't swim and if the boat sank to save himself. I laughed out loud when he said that and thought to myself: Viggo does have a sense of humour after all! And since then I've liked him a whole lot better. Of course I haven't seen the CR interview and spending eight minutes discussing his t-shirt does seem strange.

For the record, I love Elijah's new hair-do. Elve, you're not the only one who likes it short. It's a very Stu-like haircut (The War) but on an older guy and it still suits him. I have to admit that I don't understand the difference between a shave and a buzz though. It seems plausible what Vita said about him cutting it for Thumbsucker.

I did rather well on magazines at the weekend. Got Empire and Film Reviiew and the Mail On Sunday. The CD Rom that came with that wasn't great, IMO, except for the trailers that came with it. Some of the clips I had never seen before, like of Fro and Sam jumping up to attack Gollum as he's coming down the cliff, and of Treabeard picking up one of the other hobbits (too quick for me to tell who). And a nice little suprise for me in the Sunday Times was an interview with Miranda Otto too. Still scouring the shelves looking for more. I need something to keep me occupied for the next two weeks.

Viggo, I'm sorry, I take it back. :o I was over at TORC this morning and someone gave a fuller report on what he said on the Charlie Rose show. She was incensed at his alleged anti-war statements, this only served to improve my opinion of him. :) I'll shut up about Viggo now. :o

Elijah as ever sounds tactful and enthusiastic and a complete charm-bomb. :)

You were right the first time, Pearl. Viggo is a pretentious git. And a few other unpleasant things as well. But hey, that's probably because I, as an American (U.S. variety), resent being likened to Sauron and his minions.

But they did manage to show a good clip of Sam and Frodo in Faramir's cave (not the one with sword and ring, a new one), so the show wasn't a complete waste.

Yes I got the Charlie Rose interview and will have clips up later today... please everyone think positive thoughts about my poor server! Last night the link to the e news clip was on every mailing list, message board and website I read within 30 minutes of posting it, and the only place I posted a link was here. Amazing.

I will definitely post the Frodo and Sam clip. I loved it... such an emotional moment. Even though Elijah didn't have a lot of dialog in that scene, the pain and weariness coming out of his eyes and oozing from every pore was stunning. Amazing acting! Sam and Frodo both seem very different in this film, almost like different characters. It's quite spooky.

The long Viggo moment didn't bother me, but I can imagine it annoyed a lot of people and possibly angered others. I did appreciate his (and Elijah's) advice to question what's going on in the world rather than accepting everything blindly. The subject seems to be one he cares for and is passionate about, so I didn't think of him as pretentious for expressing his perspective. And Charlie Rose's show, being a primarily political in focus, is probably a better place to do it than on some network interview.

The Elijah crying bit was referring to the end of ROTK.

Hi EE, glad I'm not the only one who likes the head! After seeing him on CR last night, I am even more fond of it. Mainly I just admire him for doing something that doesn't necesarily enhance his beautiful angelic look that so many fans love, and that he probably knew would not be liked by everyone. In other words, he doesn't try to play by the standard Hollywood popularity rules. And I don't think he shaved it for Thumbsucker... it hasn't been scheduled to start filming in the near future. I also hear that Keanu Reeved is slated to appear in Thumbsucker as well - any ideas about what role? The dentist? Certainly not the dad, I would think! :eek:

Pearl, what Viggo was trying to say was fine. It was how he was saying it that bugged me personally. A point that should have only taken him a minute or two to explain, just dragged on and on and on. I don't think he is pretentious so much as he is terribly inarticulate. :p :D

Originally posted by deluby
I think the scene he was talking about is from ROTK. Correct me if I'm wrong, I remember he says it's moving because you see what happens to those characters at the end, those people that the audience grows to love in the span of 3 movies.

Ah! You may be exactly right. Even so, it made me wonder about precisely which scene he was talking about. He gave zero detail other than talking about how moving of a scene it is.

EDIT - Elvellon slipped in and confirmed that while I was typing. Thanks! :)

Edit to below: 8:00 am and Matt Lauer just said that later we'll be "meeting the man behind The Lord of the Rings"!!

We're a half-hour into the Today Show and there's been no mention of PJ or LotR as "coming up later." They hold off on announcing some second-hour segments until 8:00, so I won't despair til then, but they've already said they're having an interview with Billy Crystal on his new movie... It is a news program first of all, and they've spent a lot of time on Iraq/Turkey/Saudi Arabia, the mayor of Providence RI going to prison, and a mountain climbing accident that happened over the weekend, so maybe they had to bump some things--but, I like Billy Crystal, but... given the choice... :rolleyes: I'll be generous and guess that his movie's probably opening sooner--you don't really want too many interviews too long before a movie opens or the "non-involved" public will forget about it.

Speaking of which--my co-worker who never went to see FotR, but watched the last hour of it standing in the video store a couple of months ago, came in yesterday and asked me to guess what he'd done over the weekend. "Rented the movie?" I ventured (we don't have to name the movie anymore). Which was just what he'd done--but he was kind of upset because the DVD he'd rented was damaged and he hadn't been able to watch the extra material. I'll bring my August version in to loan to him, of course (since I have the November one to hold off any withdrawal symptoms). I couldn't get him to say definitively that one reason he'd watched FotR at this point was that he's planning to go to TTT, but he seems to be leaning that way.

[The mayor of Providence is on-screen now and I have one thing to say: better a buzz cut than a bad rug, any day :eek: . I wonder if they'll let him keep the toupee in prison.]

I haven't seen or heard the Charlie Rose interview yet, but a couple of comments--Edit: I see some of these things have been said already--fast-moving thread this morning!

I've always liked/admired any of Viggo's opinions I've heard, but he does strike me as someone who could take eight minutes to expain a t-shirt. Maybe he has a difficult time articulating his thoughts because he's quieter and more of a loner than most actors? CR's program does lean toward politics more than most interview shows, so it wouldn't surprise me at all that he'd encourage any political conversation that got started.

Hallah--CR did a full-hour interview with PJ last year (or early this year?), and it was well worth listening to, even though some of it's specifically on FotR. It's probably still archived on his website. I'll try to find the date and link to add when I come back here
---------------but right now I have to jump in the shower while they're interviewing Billy Crystal ("up next") so I don't miss anything important.

Originally posted by Pearl
Viggo, I'm sorry, I take it back. :o I was over at TORC this morning and someone gave a fuller report on what he said on the Charlie Rose show. She was incensed at his alleged anti-war statements, this only served to improve my opinion of him. :) I'll shut up about Viggo now. :o

Elijah as ever sounds tactful and enthusiastic and a complete charm-bomb. :)

Pearl, where can we find the report? I'm very unfamiliar with TORC, but I did follow your spoiler links there just now. Finally got the answer to what really goes on in that certain scene (the spoiler-ed up ones will know which one I mean, I think). :) IMO, it seems to be a case of some folks watching it and using a certain word to describe what they see, but they're not exactly using the right word, and us folks who read those reports of the scene came away with very messed up visions of it. :D

Anyway, if anyone wants to know more, hop over to the spoilers thread in 'Trilogy'. I'm posting that and another spoiler there. I'll just say here, that Philippa Boyens' hint was right on. :)

Meanwhile, this isn't a spoiler but I'll hide it anyway, just in case. It's what the guy who watched the movie said, in response to someone else who 'corrected' him when he said that in his opinion, Viggo was the best actor.



from the spoiler thread at TORC

Come to think of it, Elijah really did do a good job. We see his temptation, and his fear and guilt that the temptation causes. But it's when he gives into his internal rage and desire for the ring that he really shines. We see a side to Frodo that we don't in FOTR.


Elve, I'll be praying hard for your server! Can anyone describe the scene in the meantime, please?

tg -- nice avatar! It's Frodo on the ferry today! And PJ was so clearly proud of that jump Elijah did ... :)

The quickest way I found to reach the previous PJ/CR interview in CR's voluminous archives is to go to his main page and do a search for "Peter Jackson." It'll pop up the new one plus two others--but don't be fooled by the September interview that looks like you have to buy the tape to hear it; it's a repeat of the 2/22/02 [European translation: 22/2/02 ;) ] that you can listen to on RealPlayer. (Even though RealPlayer's not my favorite, this seems to work pretty well--maybe because it's audio only). Here's the Charlie Rose site home page:

http://www.charlierose.com/index.shtm

[Back "live" to the Today Show, and PJ's mentioned again (not by name but as "the wizard behind The Lord of the Rings"). Katy Couric said her daughter can't wait for TTT.]

--Short report on short interview--

PJ in pink shirt, but long pants and shoes ;) .

Not an interview to make purists happy--PJ really emphasized that there are many changes from the book (although he did play down the TTT aspect a bit by saying that was true throughout all three movies). The other thing he emphasized is that TTT picks up right where FotR stopped, and that he considers the three movies to be one nine-hour film. When asked about TTT being darker and more violent than FotR, he agreed that it's darker (interesting that he never mentioned the "violent" part of the question). He said it's darker because the middle film of a trilogy has the role of taking the characters and situations set up in the first movie and "tightening the screws."

The Today Show is usually light on clips, and this was no exception. The only bit we saw and heard was Saruman with Wormtongue by his side getting his army excited about attacking Rohan (exhibiting quite a different voice than we heard from him in FotR, IMO). There was a glimpse of the huge army we've heard about, which will probably impress people who like that kind of thing. We saw a brief clip with Aragorn, Theoden, Gandalf, and Eowyn, with PJ and Matt talking over it. There were two brief "on-the-set" glimpses, one of Elijah and one of Dom & Billy, all in character with cameras going, and again with no audio. A blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of Arwen and--that's about it.

I just had the opportunity to watch the Charlie Rose interview (although I managed to miss PJ on the Today show while doing it.) Sorry to disagree with some of my colleagues, but I thought Viggo was Wonderful. I don't think he was fully prepared to give a disquisition on the state of American foreign policy, but he DID link his political statements to the film. He didn't exactly equate Americans with Sauron, either; his complaint seemed to me to be about the current administration's foreign policy and their mania for war. His T-shirt said, "No blood for oil," a sentiment with which I heartily agree.

Against all possible logic, I began to get used to EW with no hair! Eagle's Eyrie, you are right, it does make him look like a grown up version of Stu! The reason I thought he might be preparing for Thumbsucker was that the first time I saw a picture of him this way, I thought he looked like a Mormon. (I say that as a person with Mormons in the family). But...Keanu Reeves? in Thumbsucker? Arrgh!

Pearl, that clip worked good for me, but I know it's pain to watch streaming video with dial-up though. I managed to save it(a 3.16MB file), so if you want maybe we could find a way to get it to you somehow.


I too kinda get used to EW's hair now, instead of lamenting, I chuckle every time I see it. :p

Originally posted by ainon

I'm even scanning spoilers Frodo-centrically. I don't read any paragraph that hasn't Frodo's name in it.

Yes, I'm avoiding non-Frodo spoilers as well, mostly because it takes no effort at all to do so. :rolleyes: I suppose it's conceivable that there'd be a non-Frodo change that would upset me, but it's pretty unlikely.

King Lamoni,
Ooo, bummer about your local PBS station. :(

Eagles' Eyrie,
I came away from the Extended DVD with a more positive view of Viggo myself - and I loved his story with Kirin and the boat. :D

Originally posted by ainon
Elve, I'll be praying hard for your server! Can anyone describe the scene in the meantime, please?


Elda has a terrifically accurate description in the Harem, right down to the viewers' "neurotransmitters frying just like the tubes they used to have in old TV sets. SNAP, CRACKLE, POP!!!!" :D It's on page 118, for those who use the standard pagination, dated today for those poor mortals who will have to search by date.

And I just happened to notice that Elve has that clip up now. Shhhh!

Sheryl

Maeg steps into the lounge, being away from home and having sneaked a little internet time nontheless after several days away from computers. She reads the "freakout moment spoiler" in ainon's post way back. She sees the clip of EJW and his current lack of hairdo. Goes:

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo(deep breath...)ooooooooooooooo!! "

I am sorry to say I fear Louise may be absolutely right in her negative view of PJ/GW/PBs take on Frodo. From that spoiler I really fear they are taking Frodo in the wrong direction. If *this* happens in TTT, how on *earth* will they manage to keep RotK on track Frodo-wise? :confused: :confused: :( I'd like to say a lot more on this but I should refrain from spoilery comments, I guess.

And that haircut.... ugh!! Is EJW tired of being "cute" or what?

But on the other hand, that clip with Faramir in the Norwegian news clip that Deluby posted was great. Being away from home I didn't get to see it when it aired here, so thanks so much for posting the link!! And BTW, the major Norwegian newspaper, VG, has seen TTT and had their review available yesterday. They give it absolute top score, thinks it's better and more dark and violent then FotR, and gushes on a lot about how fabulous it is.

And that clip of Frodo and Sam in captivity from Elve's site was wonderful. Thanks Elve!!! Really angsty stuff going on there. I have to go back rewatch it. Gives me a little ray of hope after all, although when thinking about that other spoiler I go "aaaaaccckkkk!!" again at once. (Also I wonder just *how* dumb Sauron and the Ringwraiths are in RotK??)

Well, thanks everyone for posting a lot of interesting news and comments the last few days. I tried for one whole hour :rolleyes: to stay away from spoilers. but I have *no* willpower so now I'll go over to the TTT spoiler thread and probably start screaming "nooooo!" again. :eek:


Hugs to Sheryl and everyone with headaches!!! Get better soon! :)


Edit: OK, so I read the spoilers, and I yelled alright. I *know* we speculated loosely about who Frodo was so spitting-mad-with-Sting at in Osgiliath, and we discussed if it could be who the spoilers now confirm that it actually is.... But I never really believed that. I just couldn't. So what I have to say about that is simply:

"Waaaahhhh!!!"

Suddenly I'm experiencing extreme purist anxiety for the first time in my LotR fan-life. I'll go away and calm down now before rescue personnel appear in the Lounge to find out what all the screaming is about. :o

Maeglian...Please check your PMs! :)
Edit: oh, wait a minute...you did! Sorry, silly me. :o

Thank you, Evellon for putting up the ... clip. :D It is indeed worthy of much analysis. I would start on that analysis but my brain has performed a few too many illegal operations and must immediately shut down. :p

Um, eh, I know I said I couldn't do screencaps off .rm file, but, well, actually I used a software before that can grab piccy off rm files but I REALLY REALLY hated it because once I install it, it messes up all my other media programs. Buuuut, seems everyone(including me) is dying for some screencaps of that Frodo-swooning clip, so I dug that crappy thing out and got some screencaps and made a gif of that sequence. Anything for the Faculty and research!!!!:p
Here they are, I apologize for the quality of the pictures, that stupid software adds reddish color to all the screencaps, :mad: I had to adjust every frame, and these are the best I could do. :(


*****TTT clip spoiler below*****







http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/01.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/06.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/10.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/12.jpg




And the animation gif of that sequence. (15 frames)
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/s.gif





*****Spoiler End*****


And Ainon, can I get a hug for that?
:p :D

edit: Thank you sooo much Elvellon, for the charlie rose clips!!!!
:k http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/notworthy.gif

Originally posted by deluby

And Ainon, can I get a hug for that?
:p :D

Hug, nothin'!

:k :k :k

That gif is veeeerrrry nice. :D

And, thanks, Elve, for posting the clips. Didn't say that before. :o

((((Maeglian)))) ((((Louise)))) ((((Everyone's Inner Purist))))

Mantra of the day: Wait until we see it in context!

I'm fervently hoping the Faculty is *not* united in all hating the same scenes, so that there's always someone who can convince the rest of us that anything outragous PJ does is at least livable. :D

Sheryl

Well, I noted that tg came up with a possible explanation of that-spoiler-I-hate-with-a-fiery-vengeance over in the spoiler thread, so there is certainly good hope for that, Sheryl.

Maeg repeats mantra: "Wait until we see it in context! Wait until we see it in context!" (It's not helping!! :eek: )

I forgot to congratulate you on the new avatar! I'm sorry. I love it! (Maeg trouts herself)

Deluby, once again Thank You!!!

2 more gifs per tata's request over at Harem, from the end of the Norwegian clip where Frodo was backing away from Faramir. Sorry about the fuzzy picture because the clip I have is of poor quality. :o

*****TTT clip spoiler below****

part 1: http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/f1.gif
part 2: http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/f2.gif

*****TTT clip spoiler end****

hello everybody.

i also saw the Charlie Rose interview. and forgive me for being a pretentious git, but i just had to come here at the Faculty to say....

didn't i mention something about Elijah and "shaved head" months ago? :D

and as i recall i was trouted for that. :p

i admit it shocked me. (i remember saying "what's with the Darth Maul look?" to my sister). i'm not saying he looks bad in it, but in my honest assesment, he looks better with hair (way better). besides, doesn't shaving your head emphasize your true height? does Elijah really want to emphasize his true height now? ;)

btw, if Wood was Darth Maul, Viggo had the Luke Skywalker look. all bloned and dippy-do.

of Viggo's political opinions, well lets just say that he has a point. but i don't necessarily agree with all of them. if only PJ and Wood wasn't there, i would really like Charlie Rose to continue with the interog... er interview ;)

there is one part of the clip that got me a bit ticked off. its the part where Sam was urging Frodo to wear the Ring. i mean, hello! Sam would never do that. where the heck did that come from?! i've been racking my head all day trying to recall if Sam ever said anything remotely like that to Frodo in the books. i thought there wouldn't be any departure of Sam's character in the books when it is translated in the film. guess i thought wrong.


there is one thing i like to clarify though, for those who have seen the interview, they were commenting on the impact of FOTR and TTT and some discussion on the "third film" (which as we know is ROTK), Elijah said something about seeing the end of the film and how it had made him cry. even after settling down and watching it again, the scene still brought tears to his eyes. was he talking about ROTK? because that was the last film that was being discussed before his comment.

Did anyone catch EW on Access Hollywood tonight? Of course, it's the one 'media' show I didn't tape, because I really didn't expect to see anything - and both Liv and EW were on it (interviewed separately). I'm afraid I didn't take very good notes... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: (ok, I was a little excited), but there was a very interesting sequence which revealed, I believe, something of EW's talent as an actor.

The interviewer asked them both what it was like to be on the cover of Time - and asked Elijah if he was able to replicate his pose on the cover. EW said he needed something to hold - so the interviewer took off his ring and gave it to him. Then EW took the magazine, looked at the cover for a second, and then held the ring up and looked at it with an AMAZING replication of his expression in the Time picture. Squinch and all. Instantaneously.

I'm hoping someone else managed to tape it, because I think that moment alone is worth study. ;) My reaction was a definite 'how the heck does he do that???'

But...Keanu Reeves? in Thumbsucker? Arrgh!

I see what you mean peaceweaver, and yet... and yet...Prim has to say a quiet thankyou god:D I'm sorry. I can't rationalise this but still... ;)

re Viggo - haven't seen his comments but from the extended version he comes across as a sweetie and rather shy. Whatever his opinion on politics I'm sure he's thought it out and is genuine (if lengthy and inarticulate?) and that's all I care about. I'm not saying I agree; just that he seems the type to consider issues and make his mind up with care. Whatever the outcome I think this is a good thing. I like thinkers. (yes tg its part of my personality type. I think?)

re EW's hair - oh dear. I really loved that brushed down look a la Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty). Oh well. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away... ;)

re LEK - yay!!! Stay. Stay. Stay. Stay.



Prim

From what I've read in the various reviews, the people who absolutely love TTT are the battle/warrior geeks. The Frodo/Sam/Faramir geeks (yeah, the women) are somewhat less impressed with TTT overall. Here are two quotes from TORC. The male reviewer said that Aragorn was the best acted role. The female reviewer had the following response:
Nope-- Elijah. His lines were poorer, and his story chopped, but his acting was outstanding. Viggo is second. :)
The male reviewer then comes back with:Come to think of it, Elijah really did do a good job. We see his temptation, and his fear and guilt that the temptation causes. But it's when he gives into his internal rage and desire for the ring that he really shines. We see a side to Frodo that we don't in FOTR.
My interpretation:

Female: Did you see the angst in his face? Did you see the squinch? Did you see the devastation in the Eyes?

Male: Oh I didn't really notice Frodo much. He wasn't in any of the fight scenes.

I thought this was a pretty accurate dichotomy. :D I thought the Faculty might be interested.

*****Many New TTT pictures!!!!****
http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Fantasy/The_Lord_of_the_Rings/The_Two_Towers&img=0
Frodo ones here:



http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/Fantasy/The_Lord_of_the_Rings/The_Two_Towers/tt2.jpg

http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/Fantasy/The_Lord_of_the_Rings/The_Two_Towers/tt11.jpg




Also, EW talks about his hair (does he have any left? :rolleyes: :p ) and new year's plan in this ET online clip:
http://www.etonline.com/Media/Windows/Video/2002/12/11048.asx

A bit more:

We've seen the part of Sam before, this time it's the whole picture:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/frodoxsam57s.jpg

And Frodo part of it:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/frodo175.jpg


This production photo here, seems they are rehearsing the Faramir capturing F&S scene.
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/cast192b.jpg

Making one last stop before I leave for the Eid holiday ... and ooooohhhhh!!!!! Deluby!!!!!!! 'heart-attack'!

{{{{{{{{{{deluby}}}}}}}}}}

would you marry me? :D

Very, very nice gifs! Thank you! Your sacrifice is much much appreciated and I hope your other media programmes are still safe! :k :k :k Thanks for the pics as well - so those are the hand guys! And would that be at the Black Gate?

{{{{Elve}}}} Thank you for the Charlie Rose clips! Especially the one from the movie. :k Meanwhile, I'm still gonna need time to get used to Elijah's head. About Viggo ... what I'm curious to know is - so what were Elijah and PJ doing while Viggo was not talking the movie?


LEK! Hey, you're finally here! You mean all it took to get you here was for Elijah to hack his hair off?? :) And yup, Elve confirmed that he was talking about ROTK. Come on, LEK, read the previous page before you jump in and post, huh? :D

{{{{LEK}}}} So glad to see you again.


Narya:
The interviewer asked them both what it was like to be on the cover of Time - and asked Elijah if he was able to replicate his pose on the cover. EW said he needed something to hold - so the interviewer took off his ring and gave it to him. Then EW took the magazine, looked at the cover for a second, and then held the ring up and looked at it with an AMAZING replication of his expression in the Time picture. Squinch and all. Instantaneously.

That *is* amazing. You mean you actually get to see him slip into character? Sans wig? Well, sans hair but we're all coming to terms with that .... And what did Elijah say about being on the cover of Time?



Sheryl
Mantra of the day: Wait until we see it in context!

Well, that's always been my approach to all spoilers, which is why I never really get upset. Annoyed yes, if I think it might be headed in a direction I dislike, but spoilers never tell the whole picture. OTOH, an accurate scene-by-scene account or a fanfic can upset me, because those are technically in context and serve to build expectation, and if what I expect doesn't match what I see that's when I get upset. But that's not the same kind of upset the rest of you are talking about. :p

So anyway, within the context of the itty bit we saw, Sam's got a darned good reason to say what he says, IMO. Frodo cannot remain there. I don't think it tarnishes Sam's character for him to say the obvious.

Louise -- LOL! My thoughts exactly. I'm resigned to the fact we'll be seeing plenty of reviewers gushing over Viggo this year. 'tis the way of the world. :rolleyes:


{{{{Faculty}}}}


take care, everyone! looking forward to pages of discussion when I get back!

*****TTT clips Spoilers******



The Norwegian TV channel TV2 website has a 16:08min long film put together with 14 TTT clips, but it says you have to register to watch it. http://tv2.no/webtv/index.jhtml?treeId=2300003&progId=30151
Well I did, and managed to find the links to the streaming video. You can watch them without registering or anything.
Try this( it worked for me): Open your Windows Media Player, Click 'File', 'Open', then copy and paste the links(starts with 'mms') below into the field and 'OK'. You can use "rewind/fast forward" to skip to previous/next clip.

Connection speed:
56kps: mms://217.13.7.25/2002-12-04/ringenes_herre_-_to_tårn!30151,2W56!.wmv
120kps: mms://217.13.7.25/2002-12-04/ringenes_herre_-_to_tårn!30151,2W120!.wmv
300kps: mms://217.13.7.25/2002-12-04/ringenes_herre_-_to_tårn!30151,2W300!.wmv


We've seen some of those clips during the last few days, but some are new ones, for the detailed description of each scene you can read it here:
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/2/1039028002
I'll just list the name of each scene provided by the Ringer in the above link.

CLIP 1: This one is the latest trailer.

CLIP 2: "Lembas bread".

CLIP 3: "We're not alone".

CLIP 4: "They're closing up faster".

CLIP 5: "Whispering trees".

CLIP 6: "What brings you here?".

CLIP 7: "Arrival at Edoras".

CLIP 8: "The hospitality has left this house".

CLIP 9: "We have to get out of here".

CLIP 10: "The answer to all the riddles".

CLIP 11: "There is still hope".

CLIP 12: "Ten thousand men strong".

CLIP 13: "Maybe we should go home".

CLIP 14: "Good with the sword".




*****TTT clips Spoilers End******


Am very satisfied with myself tonight, GO ME! :D

Oh, and, Ainon, I do I do I do.....:p :D :D :D

Originally posted by deluby
*****TTT clips Spoilers******




Connection speed:
56kps: mms://217.13.7.25/2002-12-04/ringenes_herre_-_to_tårn!30151,2W56!.wmv
120kps: mms://217.13.7.25/2002-12-04/ringenes_herre_-_to_tårn!30151,2W120!.wmv
300kps: mms://217.13.7.25/2002-12-04/ringenes_herre_-_to_tårn!30151,2W300!.wmv


We've seen some of those clips during the last few days, but some are new ones, for the detailed description of each scene you can read it here:
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/2/1039028002




*****TTT clips Spoilers End******


Am very satisfied with myself tonight, GO ME! :D

Oh, and, Ainon, I do I do I do.....:p :D :D :D
Wow deluby I loved seeing all that ty for it. It lessened the fever that has been building in my mind as Dec. 18 draws nearer. :D

Good morning all. :)

I'm surprised no one has discussed the WB special that was on last night! I must say, for those who like to see what goes on behind the scenes and all the crazy shenanigans the cast and crew are up to, it was the best documentary yet, even better than the DVD stuff. It really captured the closeness of everyone involved. There was some really good footage of Sean, Elijah and Andy. One interesting scene in particlular was:

SPOILER

After Frodo falls face first in the dead marshes, Gollum pulls him out and then runs off, leaving Sam to care for him. I thought Gollum saving him was a nice touch.

/SPOILER

I must say I more in awe of Andy Serkis every time I see him. And Billy and Dom are just too crazy for words. They should take that show on the road! There was also a great part at the end where they were documenting Sean's short film, in which PJ was the bus driver and Elijah was the First Assistant Director. This whole thing was hilarious. It seems Elijah wasn't doing his job very well, and, according to PJ, Sean is a very bossy director and almost had him in tears. :D

Anyway, I should be making a few clips from this today, as well as from Sean Astin's appearance on E last night and the coverage of the NY premiere tonight, but server space is quickly becoming an issue. I want everyone to see all these goodies, so if anyone has any ideas of anywhere to host the files please let me know! If anyone is interested in Viggo's Charlie Rose rant, I'll be making clips of those and sending them to a Viggo website for posting - I should have the link posted on my site later today.

And aarrrgghhh - I didn't get access hollywood! It comes on in the middle of the night here and I didn't think to set a tape. That Elijah moment that Narya described sounds great - I'll check in with my video making partner and see if she got it on her Tivo.

Hi LEK! Yes, I thought of you when I saw the shaved head!

Deluby, thanks for the pictures and links. I'm going to refrain from watching those clips if at all possible... I really am trying to be good, especially when it comes to non Frodo and Sam stuff. :p

Spoiler territory
*
*
*


Originally posted by Maeglian

From that spoiler I really fear they are taking Frodo in the wrong direction. If *this* happens in TTT, how on *earth* will they manage to keep RotK on track Frodo-wise?

That's what I'm wondering - I mean, PJ's kind of "shot the wad" when it comes to shock value in the Frodo/Sam relationship. How is he going to up the ante on that one? I have a feeling I don't want to speculate...


*
*
*
End of Spoiler

Originally posted by Lady EowynKenobi

i'm not saying he looks bad in it, but in my honest assesment, he looks better with hair (way better). besides, doesn't shaving your head emphasize your true height? does Elijah really want to emphasize his true height now?

Sheryl tackle-hugs Lady E-K. Missed you, kiddo! Although considering how the GMD must be zippin' along right now, I'm amazed you managed to get over here at all! :)

I don't know if shaving your head emphasizes your true height, but I did think it made him look smaller in some shots, like a kid in dad's clothes. He often wears stuff a bit oversized (so do I, for that matter), so perhaps it's just that shaving his head makes me notice it again.

Originally posted by Narya Celebrian

The interviewer asked them both what it was like to be on the cover of Time - and asked Elijah if he was able to replicate his pose on the cover. EW said he needed something to hold - so the interviewer took off his ring and gave it to him. Then EW took the magazine, looked at the cover for a second, and then held the ring up and looked at it with an AMAZING replication of his expression in the Time picture. Squinch and all. Instantaneously.

I am dying to see this. We wants it! We wants it NOW! Sheryl glares jealously in Narya's direction.

Said jealousy lasts all the way to deluby's latest offerings, :eek: :eek: :eek: :cool:


Originally posted by deluby

Am very satisfied with myself tonight, GO ME!

As well you should be, after all those gifs and finding a way to slip in for those clips and whatnot. Go deluby!

Elve,
I am in awe of your restraint. I'd been avoiding non-Frodo spoilers myself, but couldn't resist those clips. I'm getting hopeless here. :o

tgshaw,
Your avatar was a bit of a shocker today. ;)

Sheryl

Deluby, THANK YOU!!!

Here I was wondering if only Norwegian-reading people in the Faculty would be able to register and see those clips..... and now everyone apparently can!!!!
So then it's not probably unfair anymore to comment on them?

Spoilery comments, sort of......
*
*
*
*
*
*

Wow!!!! Watching that scene that the harem has named the HAC scene in good quality, full-screen and with the proper dialogue.... wow!!! I kind of don't *think* I'll have *any* problems with the F&S side of the film until the very end and that spoiler-I-continue-to-hate-with-a-fiery-vengeance! At least, this particular scene with Faramir is worth re-watching, and re-watching..... I can hardly wait to see what happens here. Is it Sam that intervenes? He'll hardly stand by and watch this for long? (There'll surely be a VSD of Faramir before long now, and the obligatory "Sam will kill him if he tries anything" comes readily to mind here....)

I also completely loved the end to the "We're not alone" one. Close-up of Frodo looking sideways into the camera, looking extremely good, and saying with that portentuous tone: "We're not alone".
My immediate reaction before reflecting was: "No, but we'd like to be!" :o OK, so feel free to trout me soundly. I think I probably need it.

The Lembas eating scene was great too. I love everything with those two, it seems.
Biased, who, me? :o


*
*
*
*
*
End spoilers


From Sheryl
How is he going to up the ante on that one? I have a feeling I don't want to speculate... I have the same feeling, yet I can't help speculating. I won't go into those speculations, but I will say that I find it difficult to see how this can played out with any closeness to the way Frodo behaves in the book; - that would mean reversing what has happened to him, which would make no sense...... And if so, my speculations are totalliy in line with Louise's previous comments, and that makes me sad. PLUS, it's one whole year till we find out! :(


Any and all clips are so very much appreciated! I'd really like to seeEJW doing that pose as on the Time cover.
Hugs and thank you to all clip and picture goddesses here!

LEK, it's so good to see you!
Would you please come back now and then despite the madness that surely will be GMD? :)

Originally posted by Elvellon
, so if anyone has any ideas of anywhere to host the files please let me know!

How much space will you need?

I have just purchased 200 mb with no bandwidth limitations... I also have 20 or so on another server though I am losing my 50 after Dec.

Let me know.

Ariel

I keep finding cute little bits over at TORC from Elmtree, who got to see the film as a reviewer, and is answering questions there. She also got to do interviews with PJ and the cast. I think she must be a reviewer for a magazine or something. Here's one thing she said about Elwood.Thanks to Elijah's acting, the scene played well. He's as cute as a bugs ear in person, btw. I wanted to adopt him.

Another bit--someone over there has dubbed the guy with the new personality "Farfromthebookamir". I got a pretty good chuckle out of that the first time I saw it. :D

That would be Nienna Sorrowing of TORC. She is in mourning for Book Faramir, although let us not be hasty in burying him. ;) He might return from the dead, metaphorically speaking. :)

Thanks to Elijah's acting, the scene played well. He's as cute as a bugs ear in person, btw. I wanted to adopt him.

Elmtree ain't the only one. :p

I'd like to snog the hobbit but adopt the actor. :D

Okay, I haven't seen this infamous Faramir and Frodo clip, but now everyone has my interest up. I tried the link Deluby posted above on the Norwegian site, even registered, and it's not working for me (neither is the direct windows media trick). Is there anywhere else to see this clip?

Ariel, you are a complete darling! :k Your PM box was full so I emailed you about the server space.

Love that "cute as a bug's ear" quote! What a lucky lady!

Elve, you can also see it in a clip from the other major Norwegian TV channel (although in poor quality and with Norwegian commentary voice-overs) if you go to that link Deluby provided below the caps from that scene, in a post fairly high up on the previous page of the Faculty. The Faramir scene is at the very end of the clip.

so what were Elijah and PJ doing while Viggo was not talking the movie?
playing spitball, or making funny faces. or doodling, if they had a pen.;)

with Elijah he was most likely biting his nails :p

LEK! Hey, you're finally here! You mean all it took to get you here was for Elijah to hack his hair off??
yeah. you can imagine what i'll do if he got braces ;)
btw, going back to the WB documntary, they showed his feet. i remember him saying that his feet are scary. no they're not. i've seen scarier. trust me ;)

Missed you, kiddo! Although considering how the GMD must be zippin' along right now, I'm amazed you managed to get over here at all!
i surprise even myself. its just that the realization of the shaved momment was something i wanted to share with my fellow Faculty members. if Imladris didn't crash i would've run screaming into the thread and digging up my old quote :p. ah well, some good things never last i guess.

[quote]but I did think it made him look smaller in some shots, like a kid in dad's clothes.[/quote
hey now that reminds me of something. i've been reading/ watching interviews which says that Frodo sees himself in Gollum if he allows himself to be corrupted by the Ring. and we all have heard how Wood's favorite character is Gollum. recalling the Charlie Rose interview and how he looked there, he does look very much like a clothed, be-necktied Gollum.
i also noticed that Elijah Wood's eyes and fingers were used as a pattern in creating the CG Gollum. looks like PJ really is portraying the parallelisms down to the very minute detail.

btw, i'm having trouble trying to play that ETOnline clip. can someone just post the transcript for that. i'm very curious why Elijah would shave his head just when winter is setting in.

anyway, i'll try to come in here more regularly. its just that there are a lot of things going on at GMD and elsewhere in the site. i also miss TORC very much (my it must be some party going on over there huh?) but its so slow to load, whether you're on dial-up or on DSL.

Hi, all. Just popping in for a moment because I just have to vent...

First of all, and a different sort of venting -- I thought the Return to Middle-earth special last night was brilliant, and an exceptional treat. I almost died laughing at Billy and Dom. I almost didn't watch it, because of my spoiler issues, but I'm so glad I did! It was pure joy. :D :cool:

Now the venting part: I just got off the phone with a friend who is in NYC at this moment, actually outside the theatre where the premiere is tonight. It's snowing like crazy, and they actually have the entrance canopied and blocked off with plastic sheeting against the snow, so it looks like no one is going to get a very good look at the people arriving. :(

The worst part is that she actually saw TTT at a press screening last night, and she absolutely refused to tell me anything about it. I told her to just avoid spoilers, but she wouldn't even say whether or not she even liked it!:eek: :eek:

Now, I've even more worried than I was before, if that's possible. :rolleyes: I mentioned something about being worried about the direction that they're taking certain characters, and she confirmed (without actually saying so) that my fears were not unfounded.:( So now I'm trying very hard not to panic, but it is SO hard. My inner purist is screaming, and I haven't even seen it yet...

I have a feeling that there is going to be an awful lot about this film that we are going to want to discuss, and not all of it good. But, as I initially hated the Weathertop sequence, and yet have come to both appreciate and like it, perhaps not all hope is lost.

Hello Faculty!

I'm back again! :)(It's hard to stop posting once you've gotten started..:o )

LEK! I remember you!! Welcome back!! :):)

I was fortunate (I suppose) enough to see the Charlie Rose interview, and my opinion is that it was not Viggo's fault..mostly ;) Actually, IMO, Charlie was egging him on quite a bit - asking him questions and getting him to elaborate on his political views, and even dragging Elijah into it at one point. (For the record, during all this PJ was looking quite bored! I don't know why they decided to cut to him at one point- the had the most disgruntled expression on his face :p) Viggo's views seemed quite well formed and he was more than prepared to defend them (wearing a tee-shirt like that to an interview, it's a good thing he was...) it was just that it went on for far too long IMO. I wonder which subject Charlie preferred discussing: LotR or Iraq :rolleyes:

I'm trying (somewhat sucessfully) to avoid spoilers this time around (having Od'd on them last year :rolleyes: ) just because I don't want to get overly worried over the plot/character chnages! (And Ive accepted that there are bound to be some :() Last year I was in an absolute tizzy over AATF, among other things. This year it doesn't seem to be affecting me too much - or maybe it's just that I got it out of my system? :p

Don't lose hope, BB! As you said, we've all learned to come to terms with what was wrong with FotR, let's only hope it holds true again with TTT! (Sadly there's nothing to do but wait, at this point :( ) I try to keep in mind that, because there is just so much that has to happen (timeline-wise) in TTT that doesn't have Frodo and Sam in it, they were bound to do some extrapolation. All we can do is hope that Frodo remains articulate and that Sam and Gollum don't team up and take the ring to Mordor when Frodo's contacts get so cloudy that he can't even see where he's going....Er...
See? it could be so much worse :D

Somebody get on that Time pose clip, before we all pop with anticipation!!

((((Lij's new haircut)))) I can't resist his prefectly shaped head... cute as a bug's ear! :p

Originally posted by DaisyTighfield
I wonder which subject Charlie preferred discussing: LotR or Iraq :rolleyes:
From what I've seen of Charlie over the years--definitely Iraq.

Somebody get on that Time pose clip, before we all pop with anticipation!!
Yes! Yes! Please... someone's got to have it, don't they? I'm not usually one to clamor for a clip, but that one might contain evidence for a research hypothesis, FGS :p !!

Hmmm... I'm in the strange position of being bowled over by everything that's been added to this thread since I was here last, but not really being able to think of much to say :confused: . I'm not completely avoiding spoilers, but I do usually try to stick with what's in the thread (and the one in The Trilogy) and not follow too many links, which probably limits any remarks I'd have. I'm in more need of information about what's going to happen--so I can get acclimated ahead of time :eek: --than actually seeing bits of it before the movie opens.

I've done a bit of speculating in The Trilogy, as well as reading other people's speculations there, and one hopeful thing is that most of the anxiety seems to be about a particular scene, and one that's almost at the end of the movie. Of course, that could mean we'll sit there all through the movie waiting for the worst :( . But I'm hoping it will mean that we can enjoy the earlier F&S scenes that do seem to be quite true to the characters without having the other intrude. I can see ways the anxiety-causing scene could be horrible, but I can also think of ways it could be played out that would leave things ready for RotK with minimal damage to either set of Frodo & Sam we've come to love (book or movie). I'm certainly not worry-free, but as has been said... there's nothing to do now but wait and see...

And Hi to LEK (if you're still "hanging out" here) -- hope to see you again soon (maybe even before you have another reason to say, "I told you so" ;) ).

Tgshaw: Your avatar today....did Frodo shave his head too like EW did? :p :D

That Norwegian 16min clips compilation, you can now d/l it here: http://www.sinaaz.de/tv2_ttt_preview.asx
Right click, and "save as". It's 34MB in file size.

deluby!

I kiss your feet, I give you mega schnoogles, I send you chocolate - thank you!

Infink has been throwing up all day and insisting she sit in my lap (which means I'm no more sweet smelling than she is :rolleyes: ), and she'll sit still for the clips but they quit downloading at 300 a while back - many thanks for giving them back to me!

Maeglian,
I'm nuts about all the F&S clips, too. I expect tgshaw is right, and we'll be comfortable with those two through most of the movie - and who knows, the Outragous Change may work as well. Hard as that is to imagine... :eek: :o :D

Louise,
I love ""Farfromthebookamir." :) I hope, however, that it will end up a misnomer.

Hi, Daisy!

Bunnie,
You're forgetting the mantra of the day -
"If it adds angst, I'll accept it."

;)

And the uber-mantra:
I have faith that a fellow-Faculty member can reconcile me to whatever wierdness PJ commits.

:D

Sheryl

Hi all!

It has been so long, I am sure none of you even remember me.:(

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. This is my first time out here in more than a month and I am so hopelessly behind that I fear I will never be able to discuss anything. There is no way that I can spend the time trying to catch up, I barely have time to send this little message.

I miss all the chatter, but I've been forced to concentrate on other things. I hope that I will be able to jump in again after the release of TTT...maybe...with any luck...

I MISS YOU GUYS!

MsU

Originally posted by MsUnderhill

It has been so long, I am sure none of you even remember me.:(

Sheryl trouts Ms U for being unbearably silly.

Of course I remember you! And I know I'm not alone in that. :)

Originally posted by MsUnderhill
There is no way that I can spend the time trying to catch up, I barely have time to send this little message.

Much fussing about EW's new hairstyle (or lack thereof). Much fussing about what PJ will do to Frodo in TTT. Much discussion over following spoilers or avoiding them or interpreting them. Many pics and gifs and clips to drool over.

There, you're caught up. :D

Originally posted by MsUnderhill
I hope that I will be able to jump in again after the release of TTT...maybe...with any luck...


Yes, you have to drop in and tell us what you think of it! Pretty please? And I think you're not the only one overwhelmed with Real Life lately. Although I suppose some people are lying low in order to avoid spoilers (here? Heaven forbid. :p ).

Good to see you!

Sheryl

Hi, MsU! Welcome back. I was wondering just a couple of days ago about what had become of you.



Bunnie,
You're forgetting the mantra of the day -
"If it adds angst, I'll accept it."



And the uber-mantra:
I have faith that a fellow-Faculty member can reconcile me to whatever wierdness PJ commits.


Oh, I know. And that does make me feel better. But I'm a 'panic first' kinda gal, and it takes awhile for some sensible pragmatism to set in, and even then it tends to come and go! :rolleyes: But I'll make it through, and I do love that I have all of you to help with that. {{{{Faculty}}}}

I just got off the phone with my friend who was outside the theatre tonight, and she only got brief glimpses of people going in, but she saw many of them up close when coming out. In fact, she touched Elijah's forearm. :eek: He whisked by very fast, but he did stop long enough to have his picture taken with a girl when he found out she'd been waiting outside in the snow for five hours. Awwww...

OT, but she said that John Rhys Davies took more time with the fans than anyone, even crossing the snowy street with his cane before the premiere to come and chat with them. And then afterward, he stopped again when leaving, and she got his autograph. :) I just thought that was very nice.

Weirdness is the least of our worries. Just read the following at TORC:Q: I am worrying since I heard that Frodo and Sam's part are minimized! Is it minimized at a point that peoples that prefer the F/S part will be disapointed?? A: I must admit, I was a little. Now I'm really worried. It's not bad enough that they're messing with Frodo's, Faramir's and Sam's characters, but they have reduced their parts, as well. If they do the same thing in ROTK, I will personally send a PJ a VERY COMPLAINING LETTER. I know that the quality of Elijah's scenes, acting-wise, will be the best. But PJ has admitted to "going for the action scenes" to attract fans of such things. So he's apparently leaving the poor hobbits and everybody else to leftover bits and pieces. Looks like the pickins' are gonna be slim. And I'll bet we get mostly A**a*orn in "Return of the NATTGD". I can see it now. There'll be 5 minutes for Cirith Ungol, 5 minutes for Mt. Doom, and in between 3 hours and 20 minutes for fighting stupid orcs and getting A**a*orn crowned. PJ seems to have decided that Frodo/Sam/Faramir fans don't need much screen time to keep them happy. Au contraire, PJ. Grrrrrr.

Originally posted by Louise
But PJ has admitted to "going for the action scenes" to attract fans of such things. So he's apparently leaving the poor hobbits and everybody else to leftover bits and pieces... PJ seems to have decided that Frodo/Sam/Faramir fans don't need much screen time to keep them happy. Grrrrrr. [/B]

IMHO, PJ seems bent on making the best movies he can make, according to his interpretation of the books - and far from bowing to perceived pressures, he sticks to his guns on what he thinks is the right way to go, regardless of what the Studio OR the fans think. Without that tenacity and commitment, we would never have seen a FotR as true to the books as it is!

And PJ has certainly NEVER suggested he left the hobbits to leftover bits and pieces. The actors playing the hobbits never mention this - I've never seen anything to suggest this. The opposite is true - everyone involves recognizes their importance. The action doesn't CENTER on them exclusively, the way it seems to in Fellowship, because the Fellowhip has broken, and there are multiple character arcs and simultaneous plot lines to follow. The action gets broader, and involves new characters, and gets more intense - this is just what Tolkien intended, and it is how the books were written.

What happens to Aragorn and Gimli and Merry and Theoden and the rest is as much a part of the epic tale as what happens to Frodo and Sam. It is the whole story that is being told, not just one piece of it. And I am damn happy to see it! Frodo's struggle and achievement are meaningless without an understanding and clear view of the scope and magnitude of the threat to Middle-Earth, and the legions of races that are threatened by the evil of Sauron. It ain't all about the hobbits. (And I say this as one who very much loves the hobbits the most...)

The edition of TTT I have at hand has 182 pages in Book III, and 131 pages in Book IV - Tolkien himself put less Frodo and Sam in TTT than he did other action and events!!!! That doesn't lessen their importance, or impact - but it does mean they do not dominate it. We know PJ has moved Shelob into RotK, which eliminates the last 23 pages. So mathematically, to be 'true' to the books, we should expect 67 minutes of Frodo & Sam and 114 minutes of other scenes in a 3 hour movie.

It's worse in RotK, if you look at it this way. Of the 198 pages leading up to the destruction of the ring in Mount Doom, F&S take up only 48 pages, or 24%. I will absolutely guarantee you they will get more than 24% of the screen time in that movie. But if you want to complain to anyone about it, write to Tolkien, not PJ. He's the one who structured it this way.

I'm an ardent Frodo fan, but I am first and foremost a Tolkien fan. This story is about ALL of Middle-Earth - hobbits and men and dwarves and elves and Ents and orcs and uruk-hai are ALL part of that world. PJ would truly have shortchanged us if he had focused on only a part of this, and left out the rest.

The same man who made FotR, with it's affection for and understanding of the hobbits and their world, is also making the next two movies. I for one am not willing to assume that his understanding and obvious love for their characters, and commitment to the amazing world of Tolkien, will have suddenly vanished.

:D :D :D

http://www.orlandomultimedia.net/news2002/dec/ah14.jpg
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http://www.orlandomultimedia.net/news2002/dec/ah16.jpg
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From OBM, video will be up soon.
I taped that clip the other day, and it was HILARIOUS!!


edit
d/l video here (7MB): http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/accesshollywood.ram

[/lurk]
For those who are wondering, the interviewer made a flippant remark midway through EW's transformation, about him looking up at a naked JRD ... :rolleyes: Which is the reason his face does NOT match the Time cover in the lower caps. :)
[lurk]

What is this? Twilight Frodo? :rolleyes: :p
http://www.toymania.com/news/images/1202asst4tt5.jpg
http://www.toymania.com/news/images/1202asst4tt5.jpg


EW's demonstration before the interviewer starts joking.

http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/ewtime.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/ewtime2.jpg

Hi all...

I finally got a windows media file of the access hollywood clip, as well as a clip of Extra from a couple days ago. Here are the links:

Access Hollywood (http://home.attbi.com/~purplefox259/AH_TTT_Interview_EW_LT_120402.wmv)

Extra (http://home.attbi.com/~link1006/ExtraEW12032002.wmv)

There is also a clip of EW being interviewed live from the NY premiere here (http://frodoandsam.net/film/multimedia/video.html) (huge thanks to Ariel for staying up late and uploading it to her server!) :D Elijah looks mighty smashing in his black suit.

Well said Narya. :) I have faith in PJ.

OME deluby, I am larfing my arse off here! :p I just love that geekboy.

Worried purists - I feel your pain. And I also agree with Narya. To me it just isn't worth it to fret and roil over speculation and rumor. Since I didn't discover Tolkien till I saw FotR, I personally can feel nothing but gratitude to PJ. He has done me a big honking favor, and he doesn't owe me anything. The films are his to do as he will. I don't have to like them. It just happens that I do.

Narya makes a good point. However, as you are all part of this community, you are of course entitled to say what you feel. But let's all try to keep the stress to a minimum. I just wish everyone would calm down, for their own mental health. We're all here to have fun, right? (((Louise))) I think it will be okay. Anyway, we still have Frodo, regardless of how PJ portrays him. :)

Thanks, Elve. You're always there with the goods. :k

(((((MsU))))) Hi, sweetie! Come back soonest! :k

--Edit--
That's a good idea, tg. If there's a thread in the Trilogy for purist ranting, it might be better for folks to go over there to vent spleen.

Originally posted by deluby
Tgshaw: Your avatar today....did Frodo shave his head too like EW did? :p :D
You have to read the "location" for the next few days ;) . And thanks for the pics and clip from the "Time cover" bit--it does look a little weird without the hair, doesn't it? :p OTOH, in the bottom still he looks like he could play a Marine recruit believably :D .

To add a bit to Narya's post---TTT was one of the main reasons Tolkien was unhappy with having LotR released as three volumes. He said the only reasonable divisions in the story are the six "Books," and that Book 3 and Book 4 do not intrinsically belong together (which is one reason it was never "officially" decided which two towers the title refers to--it kind of depends which Book you're in!). So trying to cut back and forth in the action (which, of course, Tolkien didn't do) will have taken a fair bit of plot-managing as it is.

I may be wrong, but I kind of have the feeling that hobbit-centrics wouldn't be happy with a movie that completely eliminated Aragorn's story, and that Aragorn fans don't want the hobbits omitted. It seems to me that the emotion comes partly from feeling that we represent what you might call different "constituencies" and being afraid that if we don't make noise for our guys the other side will get it all. Kind of like having a rally to remind "the powers that be" that we're out here and buy tickets along with everyone else. If PJ had to walk a tightrope between purists and newbies for FotR, he has to walk the same tightrope in TTT while balancing plates on his head for each of the different storylines--and, according to JRRT, two sections of the book that were never meant to be meshed together.

I'm not totally unconcerned, although I've expected all along that TTT would be the least Frodo&Sam-involved movie of the three, in large part because of what Narya said: the other side of the story takes a lot of space in the book. (And we can't forget about the other two hobbits who are in that part of the story and need some screentime, too.)

Anyone who's really concerned/worried/upset/mad as hell about any of this, please come over to the TTT Reviews and Spoilers thread in The Trilogy where there's some good ongoing discussion about what changes to the story we're likely to see and possible ways they could play out. The more thoughts shared there, the better.

Louise,
I think a Frodo light TTT would be a pretty weird thing to do, myself. Especially since all the publicity puts EW's name first. Although I suddenly remember the publicity for that CD ainon told us about... :p

Originally posted by Louise
It's not bad enough that they're messing with Frodo's, Faramir's and Sam's characters, but they have reduced their parts, as well.

Aw, come on, Louise. :) The fact is, if PJ gives the rest of the story HALF the attention it deserves, my first response on seeing the movie would be that I'm a "little" dissapointed that there isn't more Frodo and Sam. Let's face it, three stright hours of Frodo and Sam and I'd still want more. :D

OTOH, if you can get your sights set good and low, then maybe it'll be easier to handle the reality that it's not going to be three hours of Frodo and Sam. :p

Originally posted by Louise
But PJ has admitted to "going for the action scenes" to attract fans of such things. So he's apparently leaving the poor hobbits and everybody else to leftover bits and pieces.

I dunno. I read his "going for the action" kind of statements as a warning that he's hyped the more quiet aspects of the book - I think he's warning us that we may not agree with his handling of the individual scenes, not saying he's cut a lot of the hobbits. The Merry and Pippin scenes in the 16 minute compilation of clips are not strictly canon, and yet they're very true to Tolkien with heightened tension. I was more concerned that Merry and Pippin would get short shrift than Frodo and Sam - there's a lot more PJ-style tension in the Frodo and Sam TTT scenes, what with Gollum being there and all - but now that I've seen the clips it's easier to tell myself, "Just wait and see."

elve and deluby,
Thank you! You're spoiling us! ;)

Mantra for the day:
No panicking until I've seen it for myself.

And the uber-mantra:
I have faith that a fellow-Faculty member can reconcile me to whatever wierdness PJ commits.

:)

Sheryl

edit:

tg,
EW as a marine? LOL! That last one is some picture, though, isn't it? I'd like to see him play an army guy, actually.

My problem with the TTT spoiler/speculation thread is that I find I want the movie that Narya and Maeglian would do, and all I'm going to get is PJ's vision. :D

Sheryl

another edit:

You know what's funny about EW's reaction to the guy's suggestion that he's looking at naked JRD? There's a tiny pause there, almost as if he's processing the guy's statement and deciding how to react to it. Generally he looks very natural in interviews and I feel like he's being pretty "real" - I can't decide if the pause is there because he's in character and has to get out of it before he can react as himself, or because he's debating which "response" would be the best. Maybe he does that normally - makes decisions on how he'll present himself - but I don't normally catch him at it. :eek:

But I have to confess that, in his position, while I would try to be "honest" in how I present myself, there would definitely be a bit of filtering going on there, an element of calculation. I like Ian Holmes' acting method of playing the scene a bit differently each time, because I think that's true to life - how we react to things is subtly different in very subtly different situations, yet all those variations are still truly who we are. We are all somewhat contradictory beings.

Sheryl

sheryl: interesting point about the way EW presents himself in interviews. Certainly there was some acting going on in the reaction to the image of JRD in that access hollywood thing. (Wonder if that interviewer has read the Very Secret Diaries? :D ) I certainly wouldn't be surprised that some of what Elwood is up to--what with the buzz cut, his sartorial choices, etc--is trying to make clear that he is NOT Frodo. I have to say, the more I see the behind the scenes stuff, like the WB special and the Appendices for the DVD, the more I realize just *how* different from Frodo he actually is. What did someone say, "Cute as a bug's ear"?

By the way, NewLine has already set up an Oscar promotion site. Guess who's on the list "For your consideration" for Best Supporting Actor, again. :rolleyes:

Am. trying. to. keep. mind. open. for. viewing. of. film. (as hard as it is.) I've read enough reviews to know that the film is NOT the books ("Farfrombookamir" is a terrific way to sum it up.) I was not so "prepared" for FoTR, and I would love to be able to recapture the sense of awe that my first viewing of that film created. We will see.

Originally posted by Vita S-B
[By the way, NewLine has already set up an Oscar promotion site. Guess who's on the list "For your consideration" for Best Supporting Actor, again. :rolleyes:
Sounds like New Line is having a hard time deciding who's the lead in this. Tough, really, with such a large cast and divided story line, especially for TTT. Too bad the Oscars don't have an award for "Best Ensemble Cast."

I hope they have the guts to promote someone as young as Elijah for Best Actor for RotK, though, given the raves some of his scenes already get from the rest of the cast.

Mel

well, i read a review over at TORC (the one from Elmtree), and sorry to say, but the F/S/G parts of TTT isn't quite as good as we hoped all these months. worse, when she asked PJ in a press conference if there were other scene of F/S/G that ended up on the cutting room floor PJ was puzzled by such a question, adn said that they've put in as much of the F/S/G scenes that were shot.

so it means that if F/S/G felt lacking, its because it was lacking. the extra re-shoots done this past summer must've been PJ's attmept in trying to pump up what was obviously a rather thin version of the real quest. it may have been a little too late, because it shows that there wasn't much attention given to this part of the story.

i've been trying to post comments and questions to Elmtree but TORC has been timing out on me :(

Must break into all this (well-warranted) angst over TTT to post this blurb from TV Guide online:

Though most of the LOTR series was shot over two years ago, between promoting the flicks and the occasional trip back to New Zealand to shoot additional scenes, Middle Earth is still dominating Wood's life. But the two movies he's made in the meantime, Ed Burns's barely noticed Ash Wednesday and next year's coming-of-age indie Try Seventeen (with Mandy Moore and Franka Potente), reflect his desire to take a break from blockbusters. It sounds like we may get to see Try Seventeen after all. :cool:

As usual, when I'm posting from work, a few people snuck in between--this was meant to follow Mel's.

Seems to me I remember having this discussion a little less than a year ago, when some fans were upset that NewLine was putting out "for your consideration" material for EJW as best supporting actor instead of best actor. I thought then--and I still think now--that was the best thing to do. Even though the Oscars are supposedly given for one particular performance, the reality is that the voters are also influenced by the actor's overall career, how much he's contributed to "the industry" and sundry bits of Hollywood politics.

Elijah really did his duty last year as far as interviews and other promotions, which is in his favor because it got him noticed and put him in the light of being a "team player." He seems to be doing the same this year, although there's possibly not as much overall hype for TTT as there was for the start of the series, and hopefully he'll be able to get through it all again next year. Especially since he's so young, the old fogies who vote will want to see that he's "paying his dues," which he certainly is. And he and PJ will be the "faces" most consistently connected with all three movies.

It was disappointing that FotR didn't win more Oscars than it did--but, in a way, it was realistic (even ignoring the genre bias that was probably involved) because the voters knew there were two more movies coming. It might be even harder this year, simply because it's a "bridge" movie, which are very difficult to pull off as stand-alone films even in a real trilogy ;) .

I'm a Cubs fan, so I know that "Wait til next year," doesn't always work :p . But among the three LotR movies, IMHO RotK has the absolute best chance to get the Oscar recognition deserved by all three movies--and many of the voters would probably consider it a recognition of all three movies. (Who knows, by then the idea of giving major awards to a fantasy film might not seem so strange to them :rolleyes: .)

And we know that RotK, because of the material in it and what the other people involved have said, will be Elijah's absolute best chance to blow everyone's socks off with his acting. When some fans were upset about Shelob getting moved into RotK, I was actually happy about it, because it just adds the possibly of more incredible acting moments to the movie that gives Elijah his best chance for being recognized.

I'm not predicting that RotK will win best picture and Elijah best actor in 2004, but IMHO that's what any planning of publicity and politics should be aiming at.

Hello from middle earth (..well, actually new zealand :D )
finally made it here.

Been mostly lurking and skim reading the posts after deciding that I didn't want to read too much about the movie before it came out (and I'm STILL struggling to get thru those two extra discs that came with the SE- Prim's been busy so she hasn't helped convince me to down tools, put out the cat, open the wine, banish everyone else and enjoy a LOTR -fest :( )

As for TTT and PJ's vision..lets wait and see. the problem with liking the first one so much, and dissecting it in such detail, is that we (can, and did) become very strong in our opinions about how the other two movies should be done.

There is *no* way that PJ is going to be able to satisfy everyone. I too will try to keep an open mind, and will be trying to work out how it links with LOTR, and how to conclude the trilogy with ROTK.


and I'm still *seriously* impressed that anyone has managed to tackle what must be the best book in the world and do it justice :cool:

three cheers for PJ :k

viola

I shall go and lurk again now :D

edit: I'd forgotten how beautiful nz is :eek:

Originally posted by tgshaw
I'm not predicting that RotK will win best picture and Elijah best actor in 2004, but IMHO that's what any planning of publicity and politics should be aiming at.

I agree, and I think I've said before---perhaps not here---that I wouldn't be surprised if we see New Line downplaying TTT a little this year so they can put that much more muscle behind RoTK. I think TTT may be nominated for Best Pic, but I actually think New Line would be very disappointed if it won, because, given Academy politics, it would weaken the chances of RoTK winning next year. And I think everyone involved with these films would like to see RoTK, the climax of the trilogy, sweep the Oscars in 2004.

I, too, would have liked to see FoTR win more awards; I especially think not winning Best Costume Design was a travesty! How could they think the sequinned bustiers of "Moulin Rouge" were a better representation of the costumer's art than the extraordinary and ceaselessly fascinating diversity of Ngila Dickson's creations?!? That woman had to create the fashions of entire civilizations for heaven's sake! And she managed to do it in a way that actually made you understand and FEEL more about each character...those in the Harem know well my intense emotional involvement with Frodo's tweedy coat and burgundy velvet. And don't get me started on the One Shirt....!

As for Elijah, he really is the star of these movies, so I'm not necessarily in agreement with the "Best Supporting Actor" business. However, it makes a little more sense this year than it did last year, since TTT will be a little less centered around Frodo than FoTR was. I thought that film was dependent on Elijah's performance in a way TTT will not be, so there's no way I considered him a "supporting" actor in FoTR. Looking ahead, in spite of all that will be going on in RoTK, it will ultimately be Elijah's performance that will carry the last film, so I really, really hope that we don't hear any "supporting" nonsense from New Line next year. And there is no doubt in my mind that Elijah will put in a performance in RoTK that will be more than Oscar-worthy, if not downright history-making!

PJ said on Monday night's Charlie Rose show that he would never again engage in the type of campaigning and maneuvering that it takes to win an Academy Award, and I certainly hope his comments don't damage TTT or RoTK's chances of winning. Let me say that I don't blame PJ one bit for feeling the way he does. I just hope that the "Academy," whoever they are, will be able to look past the politics, publicity and perks and give TTT and especially RoTK (and Elijah, "dues-paid" or not!) the rewards they will so justly deserve.

Hello all.
Have been lurking and reading all your thoughts over the past few days, and I must say these spoilers seem to have got us all is a tizz!!!:eek:

Louise, while I sympathize with your feelings, and share your concerns, I think I have come to accept the fact that we have to at least attempt to separate the book from the films. It's a sad but true fact. Most of us here have a deep and long-standing affection for Mr Frodo Baggins, and it's natural some of us are bound to feel 'cheated' when we hear our favourite hobbit is being depicted differently to the Frodo we all know and love. In 'Fellowship' I think PJ got it about right. Although some complained that Frodo was a bit of a wimp, I felt his initial innocence and fear of the unknown were completely understandable. For me Elijah played it to perfection, with a measured yet emotional performance, developing Frodo's character from a frightened youth who depended on others to guide and protect him, to a determined and courageous young man, gradually realizing and quietly accepting that he had no choice but to go on alone. My one disappointment was the flight to the ford, but I quickly came to terms with that.

As for TTT, I have to reserve judgement until I have actually seen the film. I KNOW there will not be nearly enough Frodo for my liking - but we knew that would be the case with this one. We know there will be favourite lines and images from the books moved and merged, and this I can also accept. My one worry - and this refers to the major spoiler everyone here is talking about - is that it won't make sense. Lets face it, as soon as we knew Faramir was taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath we knew major changes were in the pipeline, and this certainly IS a huge diversion from the book. I wonder now if we will see Frodo resisting the Wiki - a scene I REALLY wanted to see EW play out on screen - and I fear we may see Frodo deteriorate into madness too soon, and yes, that does make me wonder if he'll be reduced to a blithering wreck in ROTK! I'm sure EW will be magnificent playing Frodo as a blithering wreck, but you all know what I mean. And yes, I echo 'ELIJAH WOOD FOR BEST ACTOR IN 2004.' We can but hope.

Narya, Viola and Tg, I bow to your common-sense approach that we should wait and see. There have only been a couple of reviews put out yet - though I expect a few more will be available after last night's NY premier. Not all reviewers are Frodo/Elijah obsessed like us, and so may not even mention aspects of the film we all would examine with a fine tooth-comb.

Tg, I think I will take your advice and pop over to the spoiler thread in The Trilogy to find out what theories are being put forward regarding PJ's handling of this.

Once again, thanks, deluby. You really are a wonder - :) I haven't seen the video clips yet, but the pics and gifs are just brilliant.

Welcome back LEK & MsUnderhill. It's lovely (a word I've noticed EW uses quite a lot) to see you back here.

I loved EW's spiky hair style, but looking at those pics deluby posted - my first real look at his new 'buzz cut' - I think he still looks mighty fine. Elijah must really have felt the cold at last night's world premier. I hope all of you who live in NY and the surrounding areas in the US are coping with the terrible weather.

I have finally attempted putting an avatar up so I hope it works. It's quite apt at the moment - snowy Frodo.

I'm off to the spoiler thread. Bye.

Originally posted by eldalieva
I agree, and I think I've said before---perhaps not here---that I wouldn't be surprised if we see New Line downplaying TTT a little this year so they can put that much more muscle behind RoTK. I think TTT may be nominated for Best Pic, but I actually think New Line would be very disappointed if it won, because, given Academy politics, it would weaken the chances of RoTK winning next year. And I think everyone involved with these films would like to see RoTK, the climax of the trilogy, sweep the Oscars in 2004.
Yes... though I think that if TTT isn't nominated for Best Picture this year (and PJ isn't nominated for Best Director, etc.) then the chances of winning big awards for RotK will go down. I think there will be a much greater chance of RotK winning if there's a feeling that, well, really TTT and FotR should have won, so LotR and PJ are due to win. After all, does anyone really think that Best Director last year was given primarily for A Beautiful Mind??

And as far as Elijah's chances go... I think his chances of actually winning anything for LotR are fairly slim, just because he hasn't been in the Academy's eye long enough. It sounds like the F&S&G part of TTT may be too short (as it is in the books) to push Elijah to serious consideration for any of the awards (especially with so many other potential Supporting Actors coming out of TTT, and with Ian McKellen being an actor who is both wonderful and HAS been due Oscars in the past). And that's too bad for Elijah's RotK chances, at least to win, I think.

But I predict that in 10 to 20 years, Elijah will win an Oscar that's partly due to his performance in LotR.

Mel

Well, Narya, just because you haven't read something doesn't mean it wasn't said by PJ. A woman over at TORC (Elmtree) has a review thread about the film. She appears to be a film writer for a magazine, although I don't know which one. I know she said she had a deadline to meet the night of the preview. This is where I got the comments from PJ. Here is a quote from Elmtree from her interview with PJ, and this is what she says on the subjectPJ in his interview today indicated the "upping the action" is not something he cares for, but something sort of "required"... "the modern popcorn chomper" etc. He sounded like one of us when commenting on sacrificing some character development for the sort of akshun the Bernils of the world luv!
I think that Bernil is a guy over at TORC who lives for action. So while PJ says he doesn't care for taking out character scenes for action, he admits to doing it "for the popcorn chompers". Maybe you could ask "Where did you hear that?" next time rather than accusing someone of making something up. I would not have said "PJ admits" if I hadn't read it from a very credible source. To tell the truth, I'm not so sure PJ doesn't actually prefer the action, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say maybe he did it to sell tickets. But I will never believe that LOTR is about battles because JRRT's descriptions of the battles are so short, compared to his description of the road to Mordor, Fangorn and other places. Yes, there are lots of other pages in the book besides Frodo and Sam, but they are not all orc fights and battles. They are moments with Merry, Pippin, Treebeard, and the ents, as well as Frodo, Sam and the rest of the characters. I would have liked to see them. But I have read elsewhere that a lot of this was left out too. So what do we get instead? Made up scenes of fights with wargs and A**a*orn falling over a cliff and being rescued by Brego the wonder horse. And made-up scenes about Arwen and A**a*orn. I'd rather spend my money on scenes that were actually in the book, thanks. From what people who have seen the film have said, there are few enough scenes directly from the book. The popcorn chompers can go out for popcorn if they get bored. And I don't believe Tolkien would have preferred leaving out Frodo/Sam/Gollum/Faramir or Merry/Pippin/Treebeard scenes for extra orc fights, because the number of pages he wrote about the battles take me less time to read than they will occupy in the movie. I love the spiritual and character aspects of LOTR, because I think the spiritual journey is primarily what the book is about, not methods of warfare 6000 years ago. And I don't think that "action", no matter how well done, will ever replace them. I'm sorry if you don't agree with that.

Woaaah, easy there, Louise. :o Both you and Narya make good points. I agree with you both on some things and disagree with you both on others, how's that for diplomacy? :D

I'm not quite so trusting of PJ as Narya is. I thought FOTR was terrific, but I have to remember that XenArwen was actually a reality in the scriptwriters' heads at one point. So I think my unease about Faramir is well founded. And about Frodo. And about what Frodo might do to Sam. Etc.

But I'm not sure I agree with you that war is not important in the story. In the latter stages, the War of the Ring is all-important to the story. I like the battles! It all hinges on Frodo and Sam, of course it does, but I like the battles, and want them well done. :)

Bernil, BTW, is a spoof persona at TORC, and is their version, in a way, of our 'Bob' ... an illiterate newbie who likes things to be kewwwwl. :p

One thing I do believe ... Elijah is going to be terrific. :)

Originally posted by Pearl

One thing I do believe ... Elijah is going to be terrific. :)

That I think we can be sure of. :)

(((((((Louise)))))))

I think Narya just meant she hadn't interpreted what PJ said the way you did. That was my reading, anyhow. :)

*sigh* The fact of it is, PJ's vision isn't going to match any of ours, and there's nothing we can do about it. In another thread, someone said, "I am going to love this movie no matter how much PJ messes around with the characters." Weeeellll, I admire her determination, but I'm not sure I can do that. ;) My reaction will be more dictated by what PJ actually produces. But I am absolutely going to give PJ the benefit of the doubt, and to see if I can reconcile his vision with the book, even where his vision does not fit with my vision. And part of giving him the benefit of the doubt is to not take someone else's word on something about him I can check for myself, so I'm going to try and stay cool until the movie comes out.

Which is intermittently a major challenge, but I do like those clips deluby linked to - you haven't said, Louise, or if you did I missed it; what do you think of the clips? Or are you more disciplined that I and are avoiding visual spoilers?

Originally posted by Vita S-B

I certainly wouldn't be surprised that some of what Elwood is up to--what with the buzz cut, his sartorial choices, etc--is trying to make clear that he is NOT Frodo.

That was my first thought about the haircut - he's trying to distance himself from the character, perhaps to avoid being typecast in people's minds. And I wonder if the pause before he reacts to the JRD comment might be because he's thinking about JRD's feelings, or about how his reaction could be misconstrued - if someone threw that image at him regarding Ian McKellan, and he reacts by shrieking in horror, there are those who'd accuse him of being anti-gay. :rolleyes:

OTOH, it could just be that he's in acting mode so he's open to suggestion and was surprised by the suggestion offered, and had to recategorized it as not serious. Or it might have been totally staged, who knows? :D

Viola,
I need to take a day off and listen to the rest of the commentary tracks, haven't heard them all yet. And I haven't gone through the stills, either, but I think I've done everything else.

elda,
Your tinyrant was dead on. Ngila Dickson was robbed, robbed I tell ya! She'd better get an award for one of the flicks or or or... or the Academy will sink under a load of bad karma. Or something. :p

Originally posted by Pearl

I'm not quite so trusting of PJ as Narya is. I thought FOTR was terrific, but I have to remember that XenArwen was actually a reality in the scriptwriters' heads at one point.

That shook me, really, and that combined with PJ's statements on the commentary track make me less trusting of PJ, too. Nothing I can put my finger on, really, just a feeling that his vision is further from mine than I realized from watching FOTR.

What's astonishing is that LivArwen influenced that choice a lot - she wasn't comfortable with this or that, she fought against this or that, or she just couldn't carry off this or that - talk about a serendipitous bit of casting. :D Who could have predicted that LivArwen would end up pulling them back toward the purist position. :eek: ;) :D

Not even two weeks and we'll know the worst - and, I hope, the best. :)

Sheryl

(((((Louise)))))

I wasn't in any way attacking you, and I'm sorry you felt that way. I have removed the sentence from my post that you seemed to be offended by; please know it was not meant at all in the way you took it. We do see a number of things differently, and I think we read Tolkien's work differently as well; that certainly doesn't make one of us right and the other one wrong.

I still have opinions on this, but in the interests of peace, I'm just going to back away from the subject for a while. You're feeling more anxiety about it than I am, and probably need to talk about it more.


:k :k

Pearl: I could have sworn I've seen Bernil post. LOL. Amazing as it may seem, I like the battles too, but I think they can get repetitious very quickly. How many ways can the heroes pretend to kill orcs? And I definitely don't want them to be expanded take up most of the movie, just to pacify the "popcorn chompers". The fights shouldn't have more emphasis than they had in the books. But they do. Oh well, I have only liked two (including FOTR) of PJ's films out of however many he's made, so I suppose if I only like one out of the 3 LOTR films, it's probably an improved percentage. So unlike some people, I don't really have that much blind confidence in PJ's taste when it comes to these movies. Unlike FOTR, where I knew about the changes, and none of the changes bothered me that much (except the Ford), in this one the changes bother me and they don't make a lot of sense. Why does every character have to be substantially changed just to give him/her a "character arc". I've seen plenty of movies where characters did perfectly well without an "arc". :D

But I cringe when I think about what they will do to make ROTK more "action-oriented". I meant what I said--I doubt they'll have more than a minimal amount devoted to Mt. Doom--not enough action, not even much dialogue--just two hobbits crawling up a mountain. No chase scenes, not much violence, and there's a battle going on at the same time that's apparently of more interest to most people. Not much on Mt. Doom to interest the "average moviegoer" really, except for the money shot of the ring going into the volcano. My guess is PJ will mostly show the battle, with a few quick cuts to show Gollum's reappearance and the finale at the top of the volcano. There may be a little more to Cirith Ungol because there's some orc-fighting/killing. Plus a really kewlllll spider, and we all know how much PJ loves movie monsters. It's just depressing, because I know these films aren't going to be made again anytime soon. :( But I'm sure that there will be millions who will love the films because they're "all action", so I'm sure PJ won't miss my movie dollars. One thing IS clear though, I will definitely love Elijah's performance. Even from the little I've seen in the clips, he's doing a beautiful job. I sincerely hope he gets to make some other movies that actually get released after this. He's such a joy to watch, bless him.

Edit: Oh, and bless JRD's heart for making the effort to go over and greet fans the other night. He's only a few weeks out of a serious hospital stay. What a sweet man. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Salah. :k:

No problem, Narya. It sounded like you thought I was spreading false rumors or something, but I guess I just read it wrong. Too sensitive, that's me. And passionate about the books I love. :)

Just a quick note to say that I posted three more video clips. One is from a series of interviews that are available only to tivo customers... it's a short clip of Elijah talking what the ring does to a person. There are also two more little clips about the NY premiere. It's amazing how little air time the premiere got compared to the other pressing news stories like Ben and J-Lo and Leonardo DiCapprio. I guess I'm actually relieved that our movie and it's actors aren't in that "league". :rolleyes: In one of the clips it actually shows Monica Lewinsky and Yoko Ono more than any of our folks. (Not that I'm complaining about Yoko - love her! Cool she and Sean were there - bet the guys loved that.) The clips are here:

http://frodoandsam.net/film/multimedia/video.html

I still can't get that clip with Frodo/Faramir to play! :( It downloaded okay, but I've never seen that file type before. What application plays an asx file?

Elvellon: I think I read that you need to change the file extension to "asf". Or you might want to take a look at the files associated with your media player and make sure that asx is checked.

3 gifs of the Lembas clip:

Frodo drinking water:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby4/lembas1.gif

Frodo eating lembas:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby5/lembas2.gif

"Nothing ever dampens your spirit, does it Sam?"
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby4/lembas3.gif

Thank you, thank you, thank you for those beeaauutiful gifs, deluby.:) :) :)

All I have to say is - WE ARE NOT WORTHY.:D

Have you guys seen this report? Elijah is talking about the Frodo and Sam dynamic in TT, and what they went back and did during the pick ups this year. :eek:

SPOILERS here!

http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_723066.html

**EDIT** Thanks for tip Louise... I'll try that when I get home this afternoon.

EW will be on MTV's TRL on the 12/12/02 and on Jay Leno on the
12/16/02

Elve kind of beat me to it :) , but here's the link to the original interview that the article she linked to was quoting (on the "Frodo and Sam dynamic"). It says basically the same thing, with just a bit more explanation of the scene from Elijah:

So, yes, there are SPOILERS on this link:

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2002-12/05/14.00.film


For those who still pop in to CoE occasionally, they now have links to 17 reviews (up 3 from when I checked yesterday afternoon), as well as links to stories on the NY premier and other related articles. All reviews to this point are positive--from gushing to one that gave it a grade of "B."

In case it isn't already on the list--MTV's Movie House will be about TTT Monday (Dec. 9, I'm assuming, since the article ran yesterday). I don't know much about MTV, but IIRC, that's the program a lot of people enjoyed when it covered "Try Seventeen."


from deluby
Frodo drinking water:
My, we'll just watch that boy do anything, won't we :p ?
[Just kidding--great gifs, deluby. But I couldn't help myself :rolleyes: ]

Strange..... and niiice!

We used to dissect every small tidbit of information and every little picture in the most minute detail, happy that any new thing came our way. And now there's such a flow of information it's almost impossible to keep up!

Deluby, thanks for great gifs, and Elve, it's too wonderful with the clips you've made available. For us people overseas it's probably the only chance of seeing any parts of these interviews. :)

Rewiews, spoilers, clips, gifs............ I love it!! :k

And I just came home from visiting a larger city than the one I live in. Went into a large music/film store and stood in awe in front of their film magazine shelf. They had the following magazines standing next to each other: Hotdog, Total Film, Empire and EW with the EJW/Liv Tyler cover. Wow! So many EJW-incarnations at once, and so prominently displayed! Before I knew it I'd bought them all. (And lest you think I'm completely crazy, let me mention that the combined cost wasn't much worse than I'd have had to pay for one of those mags imported back home.)

The Total Film one had the most lovely large "Hamletian Hobbit" pic on one whole page. :swoon: And the EW one, I must admit that for the first time in my life I bought a magazine solely for the cover. :o

And I've been rewatching all the four TV2 TTT clips with Frodo and Sam. And reading the reviews and the spoilers, including all those reviewers who think Gollum is a very great and believable achievement. And suddenly I'm completely calm about all of this. There'll be too little seen of F&S in the film, sure, but I would have thought that even if it had 75% focused on F&S. So I'll just love every little scene with those two to bits. I absolutely *love* all the clips of them from the film, certainly including the one where Frodo is drinking water and eating lembas and looking so careworn and sad and tragic even when smiling........ And those 2 clips form the Henneth Anun captivity..... (insert dreamily smily face here).
After all, much of the earlier part of the film looks to be fairly book canon, and the F&S scenes that have been changed or added, seem to hold an inordinately large angst potential at least, as several of you have mentioned here. I'm sad about the scenes that are out, and the ones that have been moved to Rotk, but that won't spoil my appreciation of this film. And yes, I'm prepared to like even the 2 "Outrageous spoiler" moments based on pure acting admiration and angst appreciation. Provided that Frodo *does* snap out of it again and realize what he's done both times. Won't THAT be angsty? Poor Frodo will be completely crushed at the knowledge of what has happened!!!

I am still seriously worried about RotK though. But I have decided to postpone those worries for now. :rolleyes:

So now, what should I do? Read a magazine? An online review? Watch a TTT clip? Read spoilers? Post in one of the other threads here? Read one of them? Re-watch certain scenes in the EE DVD? Ah, the strangeness of suddenly having so many LotR-related options, and so many choices! :D :)

Good night, everyone! :)

Hi everyone!

I've not been about for a few days, am just catching up with the posts now, whilst simultaneously looking at other sites, reading reviews and typing up an email to a friend :rolleyes:

These posts are going so fast! :) Apologies if I miss anything out.

MsU - welcome back! I've missed you and your likkle Frodo-drawing avatar!

LEK - was wondering where you were (apart from CoE of course)! Good to see you over here. :)

I mentioned the other day that I'd not see The Phantom Menace, well it was on TV the other day so I watched it. All I can say is Jar Jar = :p. Bring on Gollum.

I've not seen any of the shows, wish I lived in the States *sigh*. I'm itching to see them :D But a big thankyou to Elve for her brilliant video-clips and to everyone else who's posted links and pics! Thank you thank you! :cool:

Does anyone know if there's any UK shows that the LOTR gang are appearing on? They showed Quest for the Ring (or whatever it was called) when FOTR was out, so I managed to tape that (I was just starting my obsession at that time :D ), it was really good even though it was on at about 4 in the morning. I'd heard a rumour of a planned 'cast appearance' on GMTV next week, but no news of who's going and when exactly it's on. Oh, I just looked at their site (that always helps!) the feature is on on Wednesday between 7am and 8.35 - it doesn't say who's going to be on (not that Elwood will be there :( ) but I'm going to email them and ask, even though they probably won't reply!

Just in case no-one's posted it yet, here's an audio link to the full Charlie Rose interview, Viggo-views and all, I got it at AlwaysandForever -

http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Charlie%20Rose&refer=charlierose&T=tv_story.ht&s=APe5EHBO6Q2hhcmxp&ao=19140636

Managed to see a tiny little interview with Lij at the premiere, on BBC News 24 yesterday, after my dad told me it was coming on (sat around waiting for it for about an hour, while the newsreaders discussed less important issues ;) ). Eventually it came on so I sat and watched it with my folks. The camera zoomed right in on Elijah, his lovely face was filling our whole TV! My dad said sarcastically 'Do my eyes look big in this?!' I said, 'He's got lovely eyes you're just jealous!' But EW was wonderful, he rocks. But you don't need me telling you that!

This pic from Bagendinn will have been posted before, but what the heck :p -

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/nyttt1.jpg

Mmm, a nice end to my post.

Cheers, and hugs to everyone,

L x

FYC AD:

http://oscarwatch.com/FYC/images/lotr_new.jpg

What's this? Best adapted Screenplay Stephen Sinclair? Who is Stephen Sinclair?

I know, I know, I don't get out much...

Sheryl

From an interview with Philippa Boyens on ComingSoon.net
Regarding multiple screenwriters - Fran (Walsh), myself, Stephen (Sinclair), and Peter started out with the Miramax two script version when it was going to be two films. When New Line picked it up, it went to three films and it became Fran, myself and Peter doing a huge rapid pass and turning those two films into three scripts. Stephen's name is on the credits as an acknowledgment of the work that he did, which was fantastic.
Read the whole interview here:
http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/archive/fullnews.cgi?newsid1039240280,98350,



Edit--- A gif from "We are not alone" clip:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby5/notalone.gif
Here are few screencaps of that:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/notalone1.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/notalone2.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/notalone3b.jpg

Looping that gif in full screen size, having Frodo slowly turn to you and mouth "we are not alone...", it kinda creeped me out a little. I started to look around as if there were something in my room. :eek: :D

Interesting (and, IMVHO exactly right) that New Line's "for your consideration" ad doesn't list anyone for Best Actor in TTT--everyone is Best Supporting Actor, even Viggo, who's the one I would have expected to see listed as the "lead" in TTT if anyone was. Also interesting choice of pic--although I'm not surprised that one with Gollum in it was chosen. In the 19 reviews I've read so far, he's probably gotten the most praise. I wouldn't be surprised to see Andy Serkis get a nomination. And I just noticed that ad is on the cover of Variety--is that a common placement?

Entirely unsupported optimistic hope: I wonder if not calling Viggo the lead in TTT does reflect that New Line is looking toward something bigger and better for Elijah next year. One of the reviews I read said the F-S-G storyline takes about one-third of the screen time in TTT (have no idea how correct it is), so it'd be very difficult to rationalize Frodo as the main character in this one. But putting someone else's name in for Best Actor this year could water down touting Elijah as the lead next year. Whether or not that reasoning was present in New Line's thinking. IMHO it is helpful for Elijah.

I also read a story from one of those clueless entertainment writers who think they've figured out the "attraction" of fantasy films, including LotR. It's all about adolescent boys looking for untarnished heroes, don'tcha know. I was very surprised to read that the vast majority of people who went to multiple viewings of FotR were boys between 10 and 14. This guy must have been in different theaters than I was :eek: ! When reporters say things like that, I wonder if they come up with an opinion and then assume the facts would support it if they checked them :rolleyes: ... In case anyone wants to read his theory: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/12/07/bfring07.xml&sSheet=/arts/2002/12/07/ixtop.html

Another quote from Philippa Boyens (I didn't realize it was from the same interview deluby had referred to until I ran into the paragraph she'd quoted :) ). Thought it might fit in this thread as it concerns the Faramir/Frodo interaction:
You meet Faramir (Boromir's brother) [in the book] and he's like joshing with Frodo about the ring and he says "I wouldn't take this thing if it lay by the wayside, nothing could induce me to pick this up ..." which on first glance is a great line but dramatically, you can't go there. So that was all about deepening the choices and the journeys that these characters have to go on. And for a guy like David Wenham (Faramir), who is a very potent and powerful actor, you know where this story is going with him and we're setting up his character, but we wanted him to earn that moment when he sets Frodo free. It's gotta be a dramatic moment, it can't be this little conversation piece around a fireside. What happens to Faramir for releasing Frodo, sets up his character for film three and this plays a huge role in it.
BTW, CoE still considers every review positive, but I'm not so sure about #19--from a reviewer who thought there was too much time spent watching CGI armies and is waiting for the extended version to have the character bits put back in :rolleyes: -- He (yes--that opinion was from a male!) does indicate that people who already know Tolkien's story will find more in the movie than viewers who only know what they see on the surface (of the screen).

Some more excerpts from Elmtree at TORC. Here are her comments when she interviewed Elijah.Elijah Wood? He reminds me of a Wiemeraner (sp) puppy I saw in the pet shop. All legs and big feet and big eyes and gawkiness. He's a kid-- a very loveable seeming kid. I wanted to adopt him. I felt like saying "are you sure you're getting enough to eat? You have dark circles under your eyes! Have you been sleeping enough?" lol. Okay, he's not a kid anymore-- he's twenty-one, but he's still a kid. A mom knows these things.

>>On the cast commentary of the SE, Sean Astin said that several people have asked him if Eliah's eyes were digitally enhanced. Apparently not, huh?<<

If they were, they'd have been bigger than his face. He has HUGE eyes. He looks almost hyperthyroid. He's skinny and gawky with these HUGE eyes.

>>He (Elijah) seems extremely personable and altogether just plain likable in interviews...did you find that to be true? <<

Most definately. He's very personable and enthusiastic. I fear to tell you the questions I asked, because I feel somewhat protective of the little tyke now... and his answers will get him in trouble on this site. Hmmm...

Okay, what the heck. I'm a TORCer.

I asked nearly everyone at what point did they read the books... were they fans before the movie? Or did they read the books on set?

Elijah said although many of the actors did go to the books frequently, he found reading them redundant... at this point he looked back at me as I had asked the question... I don't know what look I had on my face, but he smiled a little and looked nervous and said ".. yeah... I found them...er... well..."

"You never read them?"

"Uh..."

I made a cross with my fingers as though he were a vampire. He threw his head into his hands and sobbed "I know! I know! I'm BAD!!!"

I said "this really amazes me though, because your Frodo, especially in TTT, is so totally Tolkien's Frodo."

His face lit up. "Really?"

"Yes, " I said in all serious. "In TTT it was Tolkien's Frodo--really excellent."

"OH THANK YOU!" he said, and grabbed me into a big hug, burying his head in my shoulder. I patted his fuzzy little buzz cut. I think this is the point I decided I'd adopt him.

>>Were Elijah and Sean interviewed together and did they talk at all about their journey as Sam and Frodo? <<

They were interviewed separately, but much of Astin's interview was devoted to his comments on Wood and the excellence of his fellow actors and all involved in teh production. He was not a "me me" person at all.

Both were very gracious. Astin would usually turn a compliment directed towards him into a discussion of the merits of his co-stars. He thinks very highly of them all.

btw- Di-- Sean Astin agrees with your Take on Frodo being the Hero, not Sam. "We can't underestimate the heroic sacrifice of Frodo" he said (or something close to that... dang tape recorder!).

I suspect from the above that the grown-up, mature, Elijah is still an intermittent thing. He sounds like a "kid" to me too. Sometimes. At other times he sounds like Miranda Otto's "ninety-year-old man". I wonder which of the two parts he is acting, and which is real? Elmtree's comments on Sean Astin are right on. It's funny, but from what I've read and seen in interviews, I think Sean Astin wants to adopt Elijah too. From little tidbits here and there (like Sean A. on the FOTR EE DVD saying he kept having to call the locksmith to get Elwood's keys, etc.), it sounds like Elijah has had his mom or someone to smooth things for him his whole life. He's never had to worry that much about being practical, because he's never had to take care of himself. No wonder a lot of people seem to want to do that when they meet him--they can see that it still needs to be done. Then again, I guess that's true of a lot of almost-22-year-olds.

If any of you want to ask her any questions re the interviews she did, here's the link.

http://www.tolkienonline.com/thewhitecouncil/messageview.cfm?catid=13&threadid=59225

btw- Di-- Sean Astin agrees with your Take on Frodo being the Hero, not Sam. "We can't underestimate the heroic sacrifice of Frodo" he said (or something close to that... dang tape recorder!).

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Punches fist in the air.

Samwise IS a hero, no doubt about that, and I love and respect his character ... it's just that I see Fro as the main protagonist. I am tremendously heartened to think that Elmtree considers Frodo in TTT to be Tolkien's Frodo. :):):):):):):)

I haven't read Elmtree's thread at TORC because I am so paranoid now about spoilers, but I might brave it. 'Di' is me, by the way ... I post as Diamond of Long Cleeve over there.

Elwood and Sean Astin are an impressive double act. :)

With all this info. about TORC I went over there and read some really detailed reviews of TTT, practically scene-by-scene reviews, actually.

For any EJW fan it was a real treat to read Elmtree's review, because she has so much praise for Elijah's acting.

Now there are some scenes that clearly have made a significant impression on the reviewers and that I'm really looking forward to. One is the Dead marshes, the other is one small scene which demonstrates how closely Frodo has bonded with the ring, and which sounds really creepy.

And this quote from Elmtree's review made me very giddy and happy, even if it wasn't unexpected:

Spoiler for TTT
*
*
*
*
*
I am glad this segment ends with Sam's speculating as to whether there will ever be a tale of Frodo and his adventures. The lines are directly from the book, and well read and well played by the actors.

This proves that Frodo snaps out of it and becomes somewhat more himself again after the nazgul encounter and the fight with Sam. So my hopes for RotK skyrocketed reading this. Whew! :)

OTOH, I'm not holding out hope any more about getting to see "the swoon" in TTT. :( Farfromthebookamir doesn't sound like the kind of guy who would bother to catch a swooning hobbit.
*
*
*
*
*
End spoiler

Like Pearl I am also happy about Elmtree saying that the Frodo in TTT is so much Tolkien's Frodo. It surprises me some because of the scene change spoilers, but based on the various clips I've seen I think I will completely agree with her. :cool:


Deluby, thank you for the gif and caps from "We are not alone". I am surprised the harem haven't commented much about that one (I think they haven't?). It certainly makes an impact on me!

And about the "For your consideration" in Variety: I am happy with the supporting actor promo as long as noone else is promoted for *lead* actor. However I wouldn't want EJW to be nominated, I want that to happen next year when he should have some chance of actually winning despite all the film/studio politics.


10 more days!!!

I was very surprised to read that the vast majority of people who went to multiple viewings of FotR were boys between 10 and 14. This guy must have been in different theaters than I was !

Ditto. Fabricated facts is my guess. Errr- ok so lots of people went to see the movie several times ...lets see who would do that? Dungeons and dragons types!!! Of course! :rolleyes:

I'm not saying that the movies don't appeal to this group (my two, younger, boys are fascinated by the story tho I still won't let them watch the movie horrible mean mum ) but it is exasperating to see adults, who from my viewings were predominant, dismissed as peripheral. And the gender mix seemed pretty 50/50 to me too. The article is very vague. I wonder if anyone has actually done some serious market research???
Oh , and 2 fantasy movies constituing a "stranglehold" on the industry made me smile. Dork. Go back to school and take stats.

On topic:

I suspect from the above that the grown-up, mature, Elijah is still an intermittent thing. He sounds like a "kid" to me too. Sometimes. At other times he sounds like Miranda Otto's "ninety-year-old man". I wonder which of the two parts he is acting, and which is real?

Both are real I expect. An old head on young shoulders never quite extinguishes the youthful part; they coexist. You can be both at the same time: that's what gives him so much of his charm. I doubt anything he does is completely "acting" though (like all young people) he probably will play up an aspect of his personality if he has an audience. So do adults if we are honest.:p

Prim! Dude! Rockin' avatar you got there. :cool:

I almost laughed out loud, it was so unexpected. Whoa.

BB "whoa" backatcha. LOL.

Two cool movies coming this summer: think I've died and gone to heaven...

I'm still hoping KR and EW get to "act" (and I use that word loosely ;) ) together in Thumbsucker.

Prim, I second Bunnie's comment about your avatar... very cool. Can't wait for May for that film! It'll be something to be excited about during the mid year LOTR slump. An also looking forward to Star Trek Nemesis coming out on Friday.

Okay, back on track here... I have 14 clips from the WB special, but I can't post all of them at once because some are rather large. Right now I have the Frodo and Sam/Sean and Elijah segment up:

http://frodoandsam.net/film/multimedia/video.html

Of course, if any of you non-US Faculty members would like to see them all, I will be happy to send you the URL to all the clips. Just PM me.

Finally got the 16 minute clip to play thanks to Louise's tip. Heaving chest indeed! The clip that really got me, though, was the Merry and Pippin scene in Fangorn Forest at the end. Wow - great acting from those two hobbits.

For the US folks... don't forget that Sir Ian is on Actor's Studio tonight, and there are two specials on tomorrow (at the same time, grrrr :( ) on MTV and Bravo. The MTV on will be repeated ad infinitum, of couse.

Originally posted by Maeglian
OTOH, I'm not holding out hope any more about getting to see "the swoon" in TTT. :( I was thinking about the same thing yesterday. :( I remember we were so looking forward to see that scene back in Imladris. http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/nothappy.gif

Originally posted by Maeglian
Deluby, thank you for the gif and caps from "We are not alone". I am surprised the harem haven't commented much about that one (I think they haven't?). It certainly makes an impact on me!I guess it's because I haven't posted that in the Harem yet. They were lamenting the changes in Faramir/Frodo's part of the story at that time and I didn't want to interrupt the flow. http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/hug.gif for Faramir fans.


RE: About Oscar, NewLine is pushing Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt for Best Actor and save the rest categories for TTT. I think TTT has better chance competing for BSA than BA since this year the BSA category doesn't look so crowded. Plus those small solely character-driven dramas always get BA noms IIRC. :rolleyes: One thing I've been thinking is that from all those reviews, it seems Aragorn has already stepped into his King role which means he won't have much character development left in ROTK. And while Frodo is slowly changing during TTT, he'll still go through some dramatic stuff in ROTK which means he'll be the one with the most character development in ROTK(actually same thing with Sam too). Therefore I think NL might push EW & SA for BA next year, or if next year is a strong one they'll just push everyone for BSA again. :rolleyes: :(


Thanks Elvellon for the WB clip, I'm downloading right now. Even though I have them on VHS tape, it's always nice to have them digitalized and saved on trusty computer hard drives. :p :D

What's happened to the page numbers here? I'm almost certain when I last visited we were only up to 38 or 39, and a couple of days later it's now page 47. I checked back one or two pages in case I had missed anything, but no - I've already read those posts. Is someone trying to :confused: me more than I already am?

Originally quoted by Maeglian:

'Total Film had the most lovely "Hamletian Hobbit" pic on a whole page. swoon...'

Is this the one you mean?

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/FrodoTF.JPG

It is rather nice, isn't it?

You have lifted my spirits, Maeg, being so calm and optimistic about TTT. As you say, we'll never get enough Frodo and Sam for our liking - heck, they would have the whole 3 hours (well, almost) if it were up to me - but I'm sure what we do see (however PJ and co. have decided to change things) will involve quality acting from EW and will give us lots to analyze and discuss over the coming months. I was also very happy to see that quote about the 'great tales' being in there.

Louise. You sound a bit calmer now. I really felt for you a couple of days ago, after your response to the initial TT reviews. I have loved LOTR for many years, and I DO feel it when characters are misrepresented or whatever. But I have now made the decision to accept film LOTR as PJ's take on the story, interpreted for a cinema audience, and by viewing TTT with that in mind, I think I will love it. (Helm's Deep and all!)
I wasn't aware of Elijah Wood until I saw him in 'Fellowship' and I am deeply grateful to PJ for casting him as Frodo. He has introduced a lot of people to this immensely talented young man, and I have every intention of savouring every word, gesture, expression, mannerism and emotion Elijah delivers as Frodo in both TTT and ROTK.:D
Thanks too, Louise, for those quotes from Elmtree. Sean Astin does seem like a nice man, and he appears to be very fond of Elijah in a big brother kind of way. I'm looking forward to seeing SA develop Sam's character in the next two films, although Frodo will always be THE hero in my eyes.

A quick word on the Oscars. If EW is nominated for BSA or BA along with other LOTR actors, I would be a bit peeved if he lost out on winning it to any of the other 'Rings' cast. Is that being selfish? I know we haven't seen each actor's full performance yet, and perhaps it's too early to judge, but Elijah is so amazing as Frodo... oh, I should just shut up now. I'm so biased.

Hello Luthiea. Drat, I missed that News 24 item. I do believe that nice Ben Shepherd from GMTV's Entertainment section on Friday mornings is covering the TTT European premiers - although I don't think Elijah will be attenting the Paris or London showings. It was mentioned on last Friday's programme, so keep watching over the next couple of weeks.

Many thanks to deluby and Elve for supplying us here in the UK with all those goodies we would otherwise be deprived of. Your efforts are much appreciated. And that goes for anyone else who gives us similar lovely pressies.:) :) :)

Louise - you seem a little calmer now. Thanks for your thoughts, Blossom. I guess you could say I'm resigned to the fate which has resulted in a less-than-great (in my opinion) LOTR film trilogy. To me, certain things are sacred, and LOTR is one of them. But I guess it was pretty naive of me to think that anyone (PJ included) would think that the journey of a group of hobbits would be of much interest to Joe Sixpack, except as a minor footnote to "warriors" and battles. I never should have let the first film raise my hopes so high. And I will never understand how making Frodo less sympathetic is supposed to help the story. Frodo did not turn into Gollum in the book, or even close to it, not even at Mt. Doom. But obviously PJ and the gang think it's more "cinematic" to sacrifice book Frodo, so what's the point of getting upset about it? I just wish I could have seen Elijah perform the book scenes with Frodo that we'll never see now. :(

As for Oscar nominations for Elijah, I wouldn't count on it. He will probably have about three scenes in ROTK (Cirith Ungol, Mt. Doom, and Grey Havens) and he'll "sleep" through most of the first one. You don't get Oscars for 3 scenes unless you're Judi Dench. Plus he's way too young for the Academy members to vote for him. If you're the undisputed "star" of the film, and you're on screen every moment you might have a chance at best supporting actor if you're 22 years old, but it's unlikely. And none of the above is true about any of the LOTR films. We'll have to hope for better things in future films. By the way, is anyone else worried about the fact that everyone in the cast seems to be getting chances at "mainstream" films except Elijah, who has only made a couple of "indie" films that will at best go straight to video? I hope it's just that Elijah is so picky, but I'm starting to get nervous. I mean, even "Thumbsucker" is an indie film.

A quick question about Sean Astin: have any of you read Patty Duke's book about the period when she was younger and still in the grip of her bi-polar illness? I never have, but since I've been seeing all the interviews with Sean Astin, who seems to be such a nice, down-to-earth, dependable guy, I confess to wondering just what his early childhood was like. Was he the one who took charge of his younger brother when mom was having a "bad day", or were the kids sheltered from the worst of it by John Astin? Sean's over-emphasis on "safety", and on trying to control things he obviously has no control over (helicopter pilots, etc.) has made me wonder about him. Is it because he felt he had no control as a kid?

Louise, sweetie: any serious movie of LoTR is a step in the right direction. I'd rather watch Jackson's version of TTT than most other movies. It may not be my vision( and frankly its not: when I re read the books my own personal vision comes flooding back. I'm very persisitent) but it is a fascinating vision.

OK. I admit bias here: I've always loved Helm's Deep. But still- go see the movie as a Jackson interpretation and not as a Louise/Prim/anyone else interpretation . No two people are ever going to agree on this book. Lord knows after lurking at TORC for the best part of a year I have learnt this one thing. :)

I wish I could make my own version. But there you are; I'm poor and not a filmaker. It aint going to happen. So I rest and wait and watch someone else's vision. I don't need to like all of it , and being a Prim I can tell you I won't, but the chance to see it at all is worth the odd grumble and mutter.

A couple of pages back I rambled on that PJ wouldn't totally shaft Frodo and Sam because plot wise he couldn't: they are the crux of RoTK. I stand by that. Really. Trout me if I'm wrong. :) i love fish. Go ahead.

btw: I don't think I think Sean Astin is that down to earth; I think he's a product, probably genetically, of his mum. After listening to the Ex version I'd say he suffers from major anxiety. Hence trying desperately to keep his workmates safe. Poor guy, Orlando and EW probably gave him a nervous breakdown.

post script: Viola is here in NZ and has brougfht so many magazines with her that (a) its a miracle customs didn't arrest her

(b) I am over whelmed with gorgeous EW and Viggo pics. Life is good.

double postscript: Elve: when I finally get to see Matrix 2 or whatever they call it I will think of you. Cool.
Oh and Bunnie Bugs: ok , so why is the avatar such a surprise???? Are you saying I'm too old? Huh? Huh?

Originally posted by Cadmo
post script: Viola is here in NZ and has brougfht so many magazines with her that (a) its a miracle customs didn't arrest her


...if they worked out that I brought TWO of everything, they would have!! :D :eek:

(Azalea gets some too...what are big sisters for??)

Do you wonder why I smiled so sweetly and got the *big, strong* guys (:D ;)) to lift my bags for me (LOL) ??

viola

Originally posted by Louise
But I guess it was pretty naive of me to think that anyone (PJ included) would think that the journey of a group of hobbits would be of much interest to Joe Sixpack, except as a minor footnote to "warriors" and battles.

Well, as a friend of mine said to me, Fro and Sam don't do that much in TTT, dramatically ... try and see it from a film-maker's perspective. Don't get me wrong! :eek: Fro is my favourite character and his journey is the emotional centre of the book. I find his journey to Mordor with Sam and Gollum absolutely gripping -- I'm sure it will be in the film too. But the other storylines in TTT take up as much time as Frodo's plotline. As long as PJ enables the audience to remember that it's all down to Frodo and Sam, that the outcome of the big battles are balanced on this knife-point,, he will have succeeded.

And I will never understand how making Frodo less sympathetic is supposed to help the story. Frodo did not turn into Gollum in the book, or even close to it, not even at Mt. Doom.

Have you ever heard the BBC LOTR radio adaptation, Louise? Ian Holm plays Frodo as downright moody and cranky in Mordor. And he does turn rather Gollum-y at Mount Doom. And it works. :) Brilliantly. And the BBC LOTR is much, much more faithful than PJ's version ... practically all of the script was Tolkien's original dialogue.

Elijah is PJ's main star in this film. He may play Frodo in a controversial manner but PJ is not about to screw over his main character or his main star. (A few days ago I was furious with PJ, now I am defending him ... :D ... let's just see what the film reveals to us, eh? :) )

By the way, is anyone else worried about the fact that everyone in the cast seems to be getting chances at "mainstream" films except Elijah, who has only made a couple of "indie" films that will at best go straight to video? I hope it's just that Elijah is so picky, but I'm starting to get nervous. I mean, even "Thumbsucker" is an indie film.

I think EJW's height and hobbity looks are against him. They made him a terrific Frodo, but I think he will go the way of Michael J. Fox (who is an actor I like, btw). Elijah is a terrific actor but he has a very definite kind of 'look' to him, and I do think this will disadvantage him. I think he will forever be known as the guy who played Frodo Baggins.

Not that that's a bad thing. :)

-edit-

Last December I was watching the four hobbit actors being interviewed on British TV one Saturday morning, this was just before the film came out. Elijah (who was on fine form, all sparkly and bright-eyed) was asked if he was the hero of the story. He said, 'I'm the Ring-bearer ... I'm the anti-hero.' That intrigued me ... and it still does!

The Web Monkeys just ate 45 minutes worth of posting :mad: and now I have to get ready for work :mad: :mad: .

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But I have to at least resay:

Happy Birthday, Mel!

I tried to locate an appropriately rock-hued color, but the closest I could get was firebrick :p .

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

Rest will have to come later. :(

For UK members:

ITV, Sunday 15th December, 14:45 - Return To Middle-Earth:

Behind-the-scenes insight into the making of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which opens this week, with contributions from cast and crew. Actors Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan enjoy a day off in Wellington, Viggo Mortensen practices his horseback stunts and there's a look at the motif the Fellowship members had tattooed when filming was completed. Plus, a sneak preview of a clip from the film..

Happy Birthday, Mel!

originally posted by Prim:
Oh and Bunnie Bugs: ok , so why is the avatar such a surprise???? Are you saying I'm too old? Huh? Huh? Old? OLD?? Good grief, if age had anything to do with it, I certainly wouldn't be here. Or on Hobmom's Hugging thread, for that matter. :rolleyes:

No, it was simply an out-of-context surprise; me squinting at your avatar going, "Is that some shot of Elijah that I don't remember?" :p Myopia, in more ways than one, I'd say. :D

And I happen to think that The Matrix was one of the coolest movies to come along in a long time (this was before FOTR, of course) and set me off on a short-lived Keanu obsession. :eek: The prospect of perhaps seeing him in the same movie as our EW intrigues me, though I fear that putting them on the screen simultaneously would give new meaning to the term "wooden." And I don't mean Elwood. ;) Sorry, Prim... aim the trout right here, if you like.




Happy Birthday, Mel!!

posted by Louise, but the words of Elmtree at TORC about interviewing EW:

"OH THANK YOU!" he said, and grabbed me into a big hug, burying his head in my shoulder. I patted his fuzzy little buzz cut. I think this is the point I decided I'd adopt him.



can't help but think this is a variation on the "lean in and laugh" technique that Elwood has been perfecting... :D

PJ has said several times (on camera, even) that Frodo is the hero of the Lord of the Rings. Although my faith has been tested by the various spoilers I have come across, I am going to *try* to believe him.

Our local critic here in Chicago published a story about the screenplay--and the power of Tolkien's words--yesterday. It is now posted at ToRN. He, too, said that TTT is better than FoTR (which he gave 3 1/2 stars out of four). He is a very good reviewer, so my hopes are rising more. :)

Speaking of screenplays, tonight is the Bravo special "From page to Screen" focusing on LoTR. :cool:

Is anyone participating in the AOL or MSN chats with EW this week? Will someone PLEASE ask him whether Thumbsucker is on or not?:confused:

Happy Birthday, mel!


Phew! Finally caught up with you folks! Great discussions here - I'm jumping in with some thoughts although I know I really ought to go to the spoilers thread first. But if I open another window the video downloading process will slow down. And it's gonna be a busy week at work for me so I figured I may as well add my ramblings now rather than later when I mightn't be able to catch up again! ;)

First ... deluby, have I told you before how much I love you? Because I do. I do I do I do. And I could watch angstyFrodo drink water over and over again. In fact I have. Just as I've watched him eat that miserable piece of lembas over and over again. And seen him say "We're not alone" many, many times. Thanks to you, deluby. And my apologies for the soppiness. Repetitive Frodo gifs do that to me. :D

{{{{{Elve}}}} Thank you! And thank you, Ariel, for your server space. A making-of special will be screened here when the movie opens - I hope it's a good one and I hope I won't miss it! But they have begun airing TTT trailers during prime time. Yes! No magazines yet. I'm getting paranoid. What if the mags have arrived but other LOTR fans grabbed them before me? :eek:

tg and Prim, your avatars made me LOL.




Okay, this stuff is all related to the discussions about spoilers, but I get the feeling that people who're adamantly avoiding spoilers may have fled this thread already. :p Anyway, {{{Louise}}} it's just one week away now.

Actually you guys kinda made me think and wonder about my lack of 'upset' about stuff -- well, there is the fact that I am shamelessly all for angst: gimme angst and my Inner Purist can go hibernate -- but I realise now that my real reason for not getting too worked up is because I have separated bookFrodo from movieFrodo, and I'm not about to judge movieFrodo on the basis of whether he's done 'right' or 'wrong'. I don't even know movieFrodo very well yet. I've only met him in FotR and I loved him after tagging along with him for a bit. I reckon I'll love him in TTT and love him more in RotK. MovieFrodo is his own independent personality and until I see him, I can't judge him. Even after I've seen and judged him, I don't know if I'd want to begrudge him for not being *my* bookFrodo. What scenes from the book that movieFrodo doesn't have may very well be compensated by wonderful movie scenes that are just perfect for movieFrodo. At least that was the way it was for me with FotR. Even AATF ... I couldn't care less about the change really. My only lament was that I never got to see Elijah Wood utter my favourite lines from the book. But in all honesty, I never felt that movieFrodo suffered any loss from not saying those lines.


I did get a reality check when I watched the FotR Director/Writers commentary and understood that PJ and co did not practice favouritism, i.e. they did not love Frodo above all others (and Philippa called Viggo gorgeous. well, yeah, he is, but I wanted her to go on and on about hobbits and stuff, you know. LOL). But they did work to keep all cinematic focus on Frodo. I lost count of the number of times in the commentary where the writers point out how this scene or that scene was structured specifically to keep all necessary attention on Frodo.


As for the other stuff mentioned ...


SPOILERS FOR NEXT TWO MOVIES







Louise:
He will probably have about three scenes in ROTK (Cirith Ungol, Mt. Doom, and Grey Havens) and he'll "sleep" through most of the first one.

We know he has his fair share of scenes in RotK and we know this because of the time Elijah spent filming. We also have on-set reports by various representatives who probably can be considered reliable. Knowing what we know about TTT now, I think it's a safe bet to say there's no way we're gonna be able to predict just how RotK is going to turn out. Should be a fun year of waiting, eh? ;)

The Osgiliath spoiler ... those of us who know this, also know the last scene for the movie. Frodo is perfectly lucid in that last scene - has to be in order to converse with Sam. Frodo and Sam are also still friends. We are not dealing with a crazyFrodo at the end of TTT.

As for whether Frodo's actions at Osgiliath affect the situation in CU ... sure. It probably means the element of surprise (when Frodo turns on Sam) is gone. Then again, we don't need any element of surprise there. Frodo being stung by Shelob and left for dead is traumatic enough! And from on-set CU reports we know Sam talks to Frodo kindly, with love for his master/friend - not something we would expect Sam to do if Frodo had turned into a raving, unrepentant lunatic.

I'm also thinking that having Frodo 'tempted' by the Ring near the end of TTT will work as a wonderful foil against predicting the outcome of RotK ... for those who haven't read the books yet, that is. Viewers love predicting that the hero will fail/die/succumb, but they never really expect that to happen. When Frodo does what he does at the end of RotK for real, it's gonna stun a LOT of people.

Anyway, the character arc for movieFrodo is complete. Elijah and PJ know exactly how Frodo turns out, and okay, granted they're in a business where lying through their teeth is second nature :p but so far they sound pleased and excited. The added Frodo-Sam-Sting scene is apparently Elijah's favourite, but then that's expected. You rarely get an actor talking about how delighted he is that his character is absolutely sane and ordinary and has no intention of turning berserk. ;)




END SPOILERS




I popped into TORN earlier and picked these up:

Scans from Expose http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1039396296 - Elijah mentions an injury to his hand during filming, something he never mentioned before. Either that happened during the recent reshoots, or he's very disciplined about what he talks about when - since this was a TTT-related injury he wasn't talking about it during FotR.



Scans from Dreamwatch http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1039391163. He mentions RotK as his favourite of the three movies.


That's enough from me! Good night, all! :)

The prospect of perhaps seeing him in the same movie as our EW intrigues me, though I fear that putting them on the screen simultaneously would give new meaning to the term "wooden." And I don't mean Elwood. Sorry, Prim... aim the trout right here, if you like.


Don't duck, I ate the trout for dinner. And alas BB I fear you are right. It would be interesting in an oddity way though: EW acting his socks off with barely a flicker of an eyelash and Reeves doing the wood interpretation with a lot of effort. Two extremes in the one movie. Now that would give the critics plenty to think about. :D

Vita- didn't EW say in a recent magazine interview that Thumbsucker was on? I think I read it in one of the (cough) pile Viola brought. I'll check. I'm still not all that thrilled with him taking the role, KR notwithstanding; it seems like a real oddball one. Oh well, we shall see.

I fear Pearl is right re EWs roles. But if he still played teen roles he could get away with it. Serious ones I mean like Ordinary People. I think that's the title, its 6 am here and I'm still waking up. I'm talking about the wonderful movie with the one son who dies in a boating accident and the devastating effect this has on the other son and the mother (Mary Tyler Moore) . Just imagine EW in that role.
I watched American History the other night . Excellent but harrowing (I had to switch off the shower scene, couldn't handle it). EW would be great in the same sort of role as the one played by Edward Furlong the younger brother: Furlong has an androgenous and vulnerable look to him in that movie too now I come to think of it. And didn't we decide a ways back that the pairing of EW and Edward Norton could only be a very good thing?Norton seems often to choose very uncomfortable roles but they all have substance and bite.

Originally posted by Cadmo

I watched American History the other night . Excellent but harrowing (I had to switch off the shower scene, couldn't handle it). EW would be great in the same sort of role as the one played by Edward Furlong the younger brother: Furlong has an androgenous and vulnerable look to him in that movie too now I come to think of it. And didn't we decide a ways back that the pairing of EW and Edward Norton could only be a very good thing?Norton seems often to choose very uncomfortable roles but they all have substance and bite.

For some reason, that reminded me of an EW role I saw a few years ago, where he played an adolecent murderer on an episode of Homicide (one of my most favorite shows of all time). His incredibly innocent appearance contrasted so heavily with the arrogant character that it made the performance come off as verrrry creepy. He was fantastic. :)

EDIT - And now that I'm thinking about it . . . before there is anymore posting about TTT spoilers/reviews, please check the last post I made in the Bulletin Board thread concerning spoiler/reviews discussion.

Thanks!

Hallah

Thanks for the reminder, Hallah. :)

Now then ...

quote:
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"OH THANK YOU!" he said, and grabbed me into a big hug, burying his head in my shoulder. I patted his fuzzy little buzz cut. I think this is the point I decided I'd adopt him.
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Let me get my head round this. Elwood put his head on Elmtree of TORC's shoulder. Elwood put his head on Elmtree of TORC's shoulder. Elwood put his head on Elmtree of TORC's shoulder. And she patted his fuzzy little buzz cut.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Waaaaaaaah. :( Cow. :mad: (I'm kidding ... :D )

That is my second intellectual contribution to the Faculty thread today. :p

Originally posted by Hallah
For some reason, that reminded me of an EW role I saw a few years ago, where he played an adolecent murderer on an episode of Homicide (one of my most favorite shows of all time). His incredibly innocent appearance contrasted so heavily with the arrogant character that it made the performance come off as verrrry creepy. He was fantastic. :)
Ooh, Hallah, I was thinking about that role just the other day. I think I was watching a comparable show (like Law & Order er summat) and there was a suspect being interrogated in a similar fashion, and I flashed back to Elwood's cool, arrogant demeanor in that scene. It really was an awesome performance. :cool:

Hey, Blossom, I'm looking into that page numbering thing. In the meantime you can set your User Options to view 30 posts per page.

Ah, Poil... erudite as always. :p

;)

I would really love to see that episode of 'Homicide: Life on the Street', doesn't it date back to 1996? The show was aired some years ago on British TV but I'd have no idea how to track that episode down, there are no repeat runs anywhere.

The idea of Elijah doing Creepy Cool and Arrogant really appeals to me ... and his oh-so-innocent, cherubic expression would make it ten times creepier.

Wheeeeee!

I knew I'd find a pic from that episode somewhere. :D

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/hallah/mcphee063.jpg


More pics can be found here (http://www.elijahhobbit2002.com/ewshomicide.html)

Hey, Poil, maybe one o' the Yanks hopping over the pond in January has it on tape and can bring it to ya. I have it and could send it to someone who's going, I spoze.

Dude, my fave scene is when the detectives are needling him in the school cafeteria - ooh, makes me all goosebumpy!

Oh, look at the hair he used to have! :rolleyes: :D
Yes. I would have loved to see that Homicide episode too. That series have never aired here as far as I know, but the descriptions I've read of the episode sure sounds good.

((((((Blossom))))))) Yes, that's the very one!! I look at that picture and I realize: I don't care whether that is Book Frodo or Movie Frodo or Frodo from Mars, he's just simply the *perfect* Frodo! Which makes me even calmer for TTT.

EE: Good to see you again! :)
And welcome home, ainon. No more "escapism" until after TTT, I trust? :D


Elwood and Keanu Reeves in the same film, huh? If that ever happens you have to hand it to Mr. Reeves: He's a brave man. I'd really like to see such a film, though, it would be ....... acting educational(?). Although I thought KR did well enough in "the Gift", so..........

From Primrose aka Cadmo
I watched American History X the other night . Excellent but harrowing (snip). EW would be great in the same sort of role as the one played by Edward Furlong the younger brother: Furlong has an androgenous and vulnerable look to him in that movie too now I come to think of it. Wow! We are on opposite sides of the earth, yet I too watched that film on TV this weekend! And I had the exact same thought of comparison between Furlong and Elwood, down to contemplating that EJW even has the proper haircut for that role at the moment. Is there something such as "Faculty syncronicity"? :eek:


General TTT comments as well as some spoilers!!
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I've been reading a lot of TTT reviews online. It may be just my impression, but I seem to detect that male reviewers are all agog over the battles and a smidgen happier with the film than female reviewers, who tend to bemoan a certain lack of character development and interaction a little more.

They all focus on different characters, though. One thinks Eowyn is bland, another doesn't believe in Theoden's portrayal, a third is completely unimpressed with Dave Wenham and annoyed with the abrupt Faramir personality change. Which of course just whets my appetite for judging it all for myself!:D

The only one who is praised by one and all, is Gollum. I haven't read anything but the highest praise for him.

It's also amazing how some scenes seem to have made an impact on several, yet the way that impact is expressed in the reviews conjures up *very* differing impressions and mental images. Here's the absolute best example of that, and won't we all "love" this scene?

(Both quotes from TORC TTT reviews, the first by FWH_Enforcer and the second by Elmtree)
We later see Frodo lying down resting, stroking the ring like it was a little pet hamster or something. Very good visual of how the ring is becoming "precious" to him. There is a chilling scene - a short one - where Sam is sleeping, and Frodo, rolled in a cloak, is lying next to him. He is gazing at the ring in his hand, and just stroking it. It's a sensual stroke, one of loving bond ... but Frodo, we soon see, is in denial over this growing bond. This is a powerful and creepy scene.
My bets are, we'll agree with Elmtree. :o Sensuality wins out over the pet hamster!


And then there is the Frodo-turning-into-Gollum aspect. This is mentioned in depth by several reviewers, so apparently it is also made very clear in the film, both in dialogue and in other ways. Also it has been quite clearly stated both by EJW and Andy Serkis in interviews that Frodo identifies with Gollum and looks at him to see what he'll become himself further down the line. So obviously this formed a significant part of PJ's take on the F/G relationship.
One reviewer I read went as far as saying that EJW was a perfect casting choice because of his large eyes and pasty white skin :eek: since that gave a "Gollum-like" impression. :eek:

I have decided to try to be curious about this rather than worried, difficult as that may be. The clear difference between the two *has* to be made evident in the film, too. Blurring the differences and playing up similarities should increase audience anxiety over what is to come, and challenge their empathy for Frodo, only if he is still presented as the protagonist we can love and respect, despite it all.


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End spoilers

Hallah, Elevensies, I do hope this did take your reminder sufficiently into consideration. If it didn't, please do tell me!

Just 9 days to go!!! :)

Anyone still haven't seen the Charlie Rose interview?
War of the Ring has posted the whole thing, it's 2 part and contains a trailer and footages from the TTT.
Charlie Rose #1 - Window's Media - 13.7 Mb
http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/movietrailers/charlierose1.asf

Charlie Rose #2 - Window's Media - 11.8 Mb
http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/movietrailers/charlierose2.asf


Oh, and don't forget to pick up TTT soundtrack tomorrow(Dec.10th)!!:)

You mean, the soundtrack isn't available yet everywhere? :confused: I didn't know that.
I bought it last week in a music store and have been mainly playing Gollum's song over and over..... so now I can sing the whole thing. :eek:
I still love that song. It's so sad and creepy and full of hurt and hate all at once.

Yeah, Dec. 10th is the official release date, but seems UK and few other countries got them earlier. I don't think we have early release here in US though. :( Well unless you pre-ordered the Internet-only limited edition, some people have received theirs last week.

Originally posted by deluby
Oh, and don't forget to pick up TTT soundtrack tomorrow(Dec.10th)!!:)
[off topic]
Some of us lucky ones have had the TTT soundtrack since last Friday :rolleyes: :p :rolleyes:
I ordered the Limited edition internet version and they sent it out early.:D
Gollum's Song is my favorite.
Emilliana Torrini has a haunting sound as she sings it.

[/off topic]:k :eek: :k

ty for the Charlie Rose show clip.
I couldn't see it as my PBS station was doing fundraising and they didn't show it :(
Foul Viggo mussssn't waste preccciousss time talking about Iraq during a TTT interview.

May I simply say by way of re-integrating myself into the flow of conversation, after two absolutely glorious weeks on the South Island of New Zealand:

AAAAUUUUGGHHH!!!

:o *cough*

From bouncing around a bit in an ever-increasing head fog, I have gathered that:
a) Elwood has shaved his head! :eek: (Still haven't seen a photo. Not sure I want to.)
b) TTT Frodo departs somewhat from the book, but that may turn out OK.
c) TTT Faramir departs a LOT from the book. I'm thinking I won't like this at all.
d) 'Thumbsucker' may be on after all.
e) There is absolutely no way I'll ever get caught up unless I call in sick to work tomorrow.:p

It's great to be back, I missed all of you, thought of you every day, and if my head ever clears I'll find an appropriate thread to wax lyrical and gush about Middle-Earth on Earth.

:k

{{{Goldenberry}}}
Glad you're back! :)

Okay, if anyone is going to get on the MSN chat on Thursday with Elijah Wood.....

Someone for the love of God, tell the boy to start his own production company or something to get copies of his movies into the hands of his fans!!!!

Sheesh! :rolleyes: Yes, I'm still fussing about Chain of Fools and Ash Wednesday. And who knows what'll happen with Thumbsucker? All the start and stop doesn't inspire me with confidence either. :eek:

Oh, and ask if we can measure his facial proportions. :D

Maybe he's trying to distance himself as much as possible from his hobbit role.

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/eto5.jpg

Hi everyone :)

Happy Birthday, Mel!

Thanks to EE for posting the details of that TV show, my video player and blank tapes are hopefully going to be busy over the next few weeks! :)

Welcome back Goldie! Hope you enjoyed NZ - it looks fantastic!

Blossom - I emailed GMTV asking who was going to be interviewed and when exactly it would be on, but they replied saying they didn't know! I'll be able to watch it anyway, I don't start college till 9.

Jonathan Ross said on Film 2002 tonight that there's going to be a TT special feature on the show next Monday, so that will be good.

Originally posted by Pearl
Last December I was watching the four hobbit actors being interviewed on British TV one Saturday morning, this was just before the film came out. Elijah (who was on fine form, all sparkly and bright-eyed) was asked if he was the hero of the story. He said, 'I'm the Ring-bearer ... I'm the anti-hero.' That intrigued me ... and it still does!
Was that SM:TV, Pearl? You're so lucky you got to see that! I read that theres going to be 'a hobbit' on the show again soon, don't know who it's gonna be though.

Louise, thanks for that 'Elijah the Weimeraner' interview! :D

ainon - thanks for those links to the interviews. The second one in particular is very insightful. It's funny because when I first read LOTR I hated Gollum, just thought he was a nasty, evil character (even though I'd been previously familiar with him from the Hobbit). It wasn't until I re-read LOTR that I started to develop another impression of him - his funniness, how pitiful he is - that really just snuck up on me then I realised that he is a very complex character and I did feel genuinely sorry for him :(

I'm not sure whether to buy the soundtrack when it's released or to wait several more gruelling days until I've seen the film.

I can't take part in either of the chats - I don't have AOL, and during the MSN one (think that's this Thursday?) well, I've got my works' Xmas party while thats on :(

Oh well, got TT to console ourselves with a week on Wednesday! Can't believe The Day is nearly dawning. And then 3 days after that I'm meeting some CoE/KDers in London to see TTT ! Can't wait! :)

Bye for now,

x

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone. :)

Those photos of plucked-chicken Elijah (something my grad adviser used to call her students when they would suddenly appear without hair) made me realize that we could do research on the rate of hair growth on 21-year-old men, given all the TV appearances Elijah's got in the coming week. I think it's already getting longer, from that last photo erendis posted. At least his head doesn't look quite so frozen.

Mel

Silly me, for all my rap-list of ex-BF's I should be able to know this: Is that a natural shape for a young'un's hair growth or is that a receding hairline??? :eek: or am I hallucinating as usual?

I mean, compare (sorry for the big size but I think it's necessary for the research):


I think this is one of those fashion promo articles from just before/after FotR:

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/E/elijahhot.jpg

Isn't this Lij at the Japan promo?

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/EW_screen.jpg

And now:

http://www.bagendinn.com/images/eto5.jpg

I don't have the exact dates of these pictures, and I tried to pick shots where his hair isn't blocking the forehead, but it's not the greatest of comparisons. It seems the best comparison is between the first and last pics. The hair is certainly a little thinner on the edges of his forehead than it is in the middle but that's his widow's peak. Can the Faculty help me out here? Instead of rate of hair growth, are we going to have to do research on the rate of hair loss??

Or do we have any resident aging (notice I did NOT say "balding") males here to offer any expertise? Why yes indeedy I think we do! KL, any thoughts?

All hail The WIG!!!

Just dropped in long enough to say:

Happy brithday, Mel!

I got you a big rock. ;)

http://www.the-office.com/estatejewelry/mexal1.jpg

Sheryl

Happy Birthday Mel!!

Ok, someone living close to erendis lean over and thwack her. Receding hairlines indeed....:mad: ;)

Goldenberry- if you can't find a Middle Earth thread try the Kiwi thread in Rivendell. We will gush right back at you!

An interview with EW on DarkHorizons:
Read it here: http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/lord2.htm


From Celebrity's X'mas List(http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/63952.htm)
*Elijah Wood: "An iPod for the Mac with 20 gigs. I already have one with 10 gigs, but it doesn't hold enough songs."

:p :D :D



****Interviews below contain TTT clips, therefore Spoiler Alert*****
An interview with EW:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/real/ram/0,3256,m0no021206i-ringenwood,00.ram
If you only get sound but no visual, try this:
Open your Realplayer, copy this link and paste into the "Location" bar and "enter".
rtsp://212.112.161.143/00862/noje/0212/m0no021206i-ringenwood.rm?cloakport=80,554,7070

Another one with PJ from the same source:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/real/ram/0,3256,m0no021206i-ringenjackson,00.ram
Again, if you experience problems, try the method above with this link:
rtsp://212.112.161.143/00862/noje/0212/m0no021206i-ringenjackson.rm?cloakport=80,554,7070

****Spoiler alert end****

Originally posted by erendis
The hair is certainly a little thinner on the edges of his forehead than it is in the middle but that's his widow's peak. Can the Faculty help me out here? Instead of rate of hair growth, are we going to have to do research on the rate of hair loss??

Or do we have any resident aging (notice I did NOT say "balding") males here to offer any expertise? Why yes indeedy I think we do! KL, any thoughts?

All hail The WIG!!!

KL steps out of the the shower dripping wet and remembers having more hair himself (not that he's going bald or anything. Only getting greyer.) After viewing the pictures erendis so kindly provided, and having some widow peak-dom going on himself. Say's, "erendis is correct. :D :k :cool:

Well, now the haircut makes sense! If you look younger than your chronological age and want to look older--then notice you have a slightly receding hairline--what better to do than get a buzz cut so people can see it (the receding hairline, I mean)! It also makes him look less thin, IMHO (the buzz cut, that is). See, we knew Elijah'd never do anything really stupid! There had to be a reason. ;)

Just remember that when this starts coming out in the tabloids, you saw it here first :p ;) . (Or Erendis could mention it to the tabloids--hmmm... imagining headlines: "Desperate actor pulls out hair by its roots to get a part." Nahhh... Maybe we don't wanna go there. The pun is bad enough by itself :eek: .)

Some of my Web-Monkey-eaten post from yesterday is lost because no one now lives who remembers it (since I killed the Web Monkeys :mad: ). But the discussion's leaped ahead since then, anyway. And Goldie's back :) :) .

Tying in to the hair report, though, I think I can still hit on the age issue a bit. Yesterday about this time, there was some worry about Elijah's career because he's not getting "mainstream" movie offers like some of the other LotR actors (or, if he is, he's not taking them). I have no worries about it. Besides the things we've talked about before, such as LotR commitments (Good Lord, he's doing a lot of interviews this year--and long ones!) we have to keep in mind that he's the youngest of the bunch--by a fair amount.

Back when we were talking about a Johnny Depp-type career, I pulled up his history and that of a few other actors who'd started young (don't remember who), and Elijah was level or ahead of them all at his age--not even counting his "kid" roles. 21 is young for a male actor. And it's still that difficult in-between-time: too old to be someone's kid but too young to be cast in a major adult role (female actors, of course, don't have this problem, as casting directors love to pair very young women with older men--the female actors' age problems start when the males are just hitting their stride). In general, 21-year-old actors who look younger than their chronological age--and even some who don't!--are still playing high school students, to help the film companies get around the child labor laws. So even if Elijah's playing teenage roles (Try Seventeen, Thumbsucker), if they're good roles and not the kind of thing The Faculty was satirizing, he's ahead of the pack--well, of course :rolleyes: .

And if he decides to do indie films all his life, that's fine by me, too (as long as they either show in Omaha or I can get them on video). IMHO, he's doing just what someone with an artistic gift like his should be doing at 21--learning and stretching as much as possible. It's probably very selfish of me, but I want to see how great an actor he can become--not how big a star. That gift's already gotten him into 3 big movies, and the role of a lifetime (IMO and that of Frodo-centrics everywhere). I'm not worried about his future. :)

My computer is doing strange things, and after losing the post yesterday... :eek: ...well, I'm going to submit this part and then I'll edit in some comments on the Frodo/Gollum thing (and part of an interview that I haven't seen mentioned here yet).

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

It seems to me that with the Frodo/Gollum similarities, PJ's doing something he's done before, which is take a characteristic that's in the book, but not very noticeably, and pull it out to use as a major part of the story line--the way he took book-Aragorn's occasional doubts about his decisions and abilities and drew them out into The Man Who Would Not Be King. Although, IMHO, the Aragorn change is even more of a stretch, because book-Aragorn never seems to have any doubt about whether to claim the kingship, while Tolkien definitely does imply some parallels between Frodo and Gollum, although he's very subtle about it. I don't know how I'll feel about that being pulled out and magnified until I see how it's done and how it fits into the story.

I wrote more about this in the lost post yesterday, but now I'm thinking that if anyone wants to discuss it, it might be better to do it over in the "Concerning Hobbits" (http://www.khazaddum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1364&perpage=25&pagenumber=1) thread in The Green Dragon. In fact, I'll head over there after I'm finished here and start in with a post on some of the things I believe Tolkien's doing with the two characters. I'd be interested in others' ideas on the topic, both long-time readers and "recent immigrants" to Middle-earth :) .

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

Ran into the grocery store on Sunday to get a couple of things, and came out with a few more than that--including three magazines. The StarLog and the Realms of Fantasy didn't bother me, but I was a bit self-conscious buying YM -- you can't even enter their contests if you're over 25 :( . But it turned out the check-out girl was a fan of the movies (hasn't read the books, but her mom's an even bigger fan and has), so that took care of that problem :) .

Most of the YM interview with Elijah has been posted or linked to here already. I'll just add one thing from a different "article"--a couple of pages of pictures of celebrities and what their New Year's resolutions are. Elijah's is to stop biting his nails--written below a picture of him biting his nails, naturally. Do you think someone should tell him that for continuity's sake he can't stop biting his nails until after the reshoots are done for RotK and he should save that resolution for 2004? For 2003, he could stop smoking!!

Lots of stuff in both StarLog and Realms of Fantasy, and neither of them post content on their websites. StarLog has 4 pages each with Elijah and Sean. A couple of pics I haven't seen before, but nothing strikingly different from what we have seen. I won't have time to tackle that this morning, but thought I'd at least post the Elijah-related part of the Realms of Fantasy article. (Does anyone know if a scan of the StarLog pages has been posted anywhere? I'm sure being able to see the pics, etc., would be much more interesting than reading 4 pages of text typed out.)

The three people most involved with the RoF article are Elijah, Karl Urban, and Bernard Hill.

THE TWO TOWERS IS A PART OF HISTORY FOR ACTORS AND AUDIENCES ALIKE.

One year ago, anticipation was thick for the first film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. While some Tolkien fans were anxious, others were downright hostile and bitter, particularly at the decision to cast Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, the hobbit who carries the fate of Middle-Earth [sic!] in his hands. But on top of casting controversies, everyone wondered, would the script stay true to the novel? Would the movie match the way fans envisioned Tolkien's world? Considering the scope and grandeur of this epic story, was it possible at last for a trilogy of movies to be made that would live up to the written word?

As we now wait for the release of the trilogy's middle film, The Two Towers, a lot has happened...[Oscar nominations, how much money made, yada, yada...]

"History" is a word that keeps cropping up among those involved in making the trilogy.

[Paragraph with Karl Urban]

Elijah Wood, who found himelf at the heart of controversy for being cast as Frodo Baggins, agrees [that he had faith FotR would be successful]. "More than anything, I loved the idea of being part of something special. I knew this was going to be special. That it was going to be remembered. This isn't some sort of adventure script that you read--it's something historical. I really wanted to be a part of that and to be a part of Peter Jackson's vision."

Wood had read The Hobbit when he was 12 years old and loved the book. But the only way he could read the script for The Fellowship of the Ring was to go to the casting office in Los Angeles--because the script was not allowed to leave the office, Wood had to read it on the spot. "I sat there for about two hours, and I was transported to another world," Wood says. "As I was driving home, I felt like I was still in that world." Wood laughs, remembering the moment. "I half expected to see orcs and elves running around outside, I was so consumed by it."

By that point, Wood was willing to do whatever it would take to land the role of Frodo. There was one problem: the filmmakers had their hearts set on casting an English actor, which meant Wood had to prove he could perform a convincing English accent. But when Wood was offered the chance to make an audition tape at the casting office, he turned it down. "I didn't think it was an environment conducive to really explaining the passion I have for the role and the project," Wood explains.

He knew he could prove to the filmmakers he was the best actor to play Frodo--but that required extra effort.

"I went out and got a book on hobbits so I could get a basic idea of their style of dress and artwork," Wood says. "I went to a costume shop and I got a costume, and I went into the woods with friends and filmed three scenes that they were using for Frodo auditions. That night I went to the Miramax offices and borrowed their Avid and edited it all together, went to their office the next day, and gave the video to the casting director. I put my best foot forward that way. It ultimately worked out and was one of the most gratifying things of my life--going for something, believing in it, doing it my way, and having it pan out."

[Continued...]

[Realms of Fantasy article continued...]

After landing the coveted role of Frodo, Wood was then faced with immediate backlash from Tolkien fans.

"They announced that I was going to be Frodo on AintItCoolNews.com, and I read the reactions to the announcement. I think almost 50 percent were really harsh--people saying, essentially, 'Kill me now. This could never work. The movie's ruined.'

"I understood that people were very passionate. It's an important thing to stay true to an adaptation and stay true to the books and also win over people's expectations, because a book is a very personal experience. So I knew that going into it. I can relate to being that passionate about something and wanting to know what's happening to that thing that you love, and wanting it to turn out the way you want it to turn out. I certainly understood."

[Several paragraphs of basic plot of FotR and TTT.]

Wood describes Frodo's role in The Two Towers: "He sees Gollum in himself and the influence that the ring will have on him if he allows it.

"That's one of the things that makes The Two Towers so interesting, in terms of Frodo. That is what defines Frodo in this particular chapter of the story. The initial movie is about setting everybody off on the journey and getting Frodo to the point where he takes the ring on his own. But this movie really deals with the true influence that the ring has on Frodo. And having that really hit him hard when he almost sees a mirror image of himelf in the future by seeing Gollum. It scares him. It petrifies him. Because he realizes then what this ring is capable of doing, and he could very well go in that direction.

"Gollum was once a hobbit, like himself. And he was ruined and destroyed by this ring. Frodo's determined to know that he could somehow reverse that. That humanity of Gollum is still there. There's still hope for Gollum. Because if there's hope for Gollum, there's hope for Frodo. And that's a really interesting thing."

As Wood points out, The Two Towers is a darker journey for Frodo. "There's also a cross manipulation. That's interesting to see out of Frodo, because it shows that that's a part of the ring's influence. He meets Gollum, and Gollum obviously wants the ring. So Gollum takes Frodo because he wants the ring, and Frodo uses Gollum as his guide to get to Mordor, because he knows Gollum wants the ring. So they're manipulating each other. Frodo thinks he's got the upper hand because he's got the ring and he's manipulating this wretched creature to take him where he wants to go by using the ring as bait, but in reality Gollum is devising plans all along to create some sort of pitfall for Frodo so that Gollum then can have the ring. It's interesting. There's something very treacherous about that relationship."

[Rest of article is on Karl Urban and Bernard Hill. Very interesting, lots of horsey stuff, but no time to post it ;) .]

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

In the similar FotR article last year, this same magazine made several groan-level mistakes (such as saying the language coaches developed "Elvish" just for these movies). I guess if all I can fault them with this year is using "Middle-Earth" instead of "Middle-earth," and not capitalizing the R when talking about the Ring, someone did their homework this time around, which I'm very happy to see :) .

I'm still not sure I understand why Elwood went and got himself shorn, poor lamb.

But I wanted to make sure I stopped in to say:

WELCOME BACK, GOLDIE!

But the only way he could read the script for The Fellowship of the Ring was to go to the casting office in Los Angeles--because the script was not allowed to leave the office, Wood had to read it on the spot... snip ...and I went into the woods with friends and filmed three scenes that they were using for Frodo auditions.
A-ha! So THAT'S how he ended up doing the "wheel of fire" speech in the audition without having read the book.

That's been bothering me for a while.

You know, receding hairlines like that usually involve a gradual thinning of hair towards the receding spots, from what I've seen (from a husband with really, really short hair and a genetic predisposition to that particular kind of receding hairline). With such dark hair and light skin, that would be obvious on Elijah if it were happening, and it doesn't look like that to me.

Mel

Originally posted by tgshaw
After landing the coveted role of Frodo, Wood was then faced with immediate backlash from Tolkien fans. "They announced that I was going to be Frodo on AintItCoolNews.com, and I read the reactions to the announcement. I think almost 50 percent were really harsh--people saying, essentially, 'Kill me now. This could never work. The movie's ruined.'
Ah, now this makes things like his reaction to Elmtree's compliment make perfect sense. Before he ever filmed a single scene, Elwood was being told he couldn't do it. See, that's why when people say "I sure hope he doesn't lurk these boards!", I say "I hope he does", because I want him to know just how much his outstanding performance means to people, including longtime hardcore Tolkien fans. :k

Thanks for posting that article, tg. I may have to get the magazine myself anyway, though - I'm quite fond of KU and BH as well. :)

I don't think his hairline is receding either. His hair is just so thick (when he has it :rolleyes: ) that it's hard to make out a discernable hairline when it's all spikey or whatnot.

Originally posted by deluby
*Elijah Wood: "An iPod for the Mac with 20 gigs. I already have one with 10 gigs, but it doesn't hold enough songs."

AHA!!! The most burning question of all time has been answered... EW is one of my fellow Mac geeks. I'm happy now. :D

Those MTV specials last night were great! Loved seeing Elijah and JRD playing the Two Towers game. And we finally got to see what the "clucking Elijah" was all about - how on earth does he get his voice that high? :eek: I'll have clips later today.

During the Bravo special, they mentioned that the name "Frodo" was taken from a hero in pre-Christian mythology. Anyone know anything about this? They didn't elaborate.

I decided a while back not to listen to the soundtrack before seeing the film (I am deeply affected by music and want the impact to be as strong as possible), but I broke down and listened to "Gollum's Song" since it's not technically part of the film. And wow. The haunting sadness and longing of that song is unreal...it's heartbreaking. Even though Gollum has always been one of my favorite characters and I have always felt really sad for him, I believe this song made me care about him even more deeply. Amazing.

You know, I think we are rivaling TORn with our news updates here! Thanks to all, and happy belated birthday, mel!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would sure pay good money to see that home-made audition tape! I think it's a testament to the great job that the script-writers did that Elijah was able to put forth such a great performance as Frodo without having read the book. In some ways, I've always been GLAD that he didn't read the books...I think he would have been conflicted by the different takes on Frodo (Book vs. Script), I think he might have felt that he was too young for the role, etc. It was just Divine Providence that everything happened the way that it did..as I've often said!

And his hairline is NOT receding, Erendis, Voice-of Doom! If the buzz is lighter in front than in back, it's because most people have less hair on their crown than in the back. He has a naturally high forehead, as I believe you've commented on in the past. AND, I, for one am astonished and much-heartened by his rapid grow-back rate. When he got to NY last week, he was almost bald, and now he's got some very nice ground cover going on there. :p

Originally posted by Elvellon
And we finally got to see what the "clucking Elijah" was all about - how on earth does he get his voice that high?
You have to ask?!? :eek:Originally posted by King Lamoni
KL steps out of the the shower dripping wet and Thank you for that image. http://catandmoon.com/scream.gif http://catandmoon.com/barf.gif


Elda, I'm not sure about the receding hairline either. I'm not referring to hair-in-back vs. hair-in-front, but to hair-on-apex vs. hair-on-sides-of-apex. I guess we'll have to wait until RotK publicity, and do another comparison then. Whatever the truth is,

http://www.smiliegenerator.de/s3/clicksmilies18712.png

Originally posted by Elvellon
During the Bravo special, they mentioned that the name "Frodo" was taken from a hero in pre-Christian mythology. Anyone know anything about this? They didn't elaborate.

Pearl knows more about this than I do, so next time she stops in (hint, hint ;) )... I know it's from a Scandinavian king (Finland, perhaps, or am I confusing that with something else?) who tried to make peace between two factions--unsuccessfully tried, which IMHO is tremendously interesting.

The two translations I've seen given for the name are "wise, well-traveled" and "wise through experience" which I'd say have somewhat the same meaning (probably one of those things that's hard to translate into English). But I'm eternally grateful that Tolkien could put aside his fondness for Bingo :eek: and change the name!!

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

Originally posted by Elevensies
See, that's why when people say "I sure hope he doesn't lurk these boards!", I say "I hope he does", because I want him to know just how much his outstanding performance means to people, including longtime hardcore Tolkien fans.
I used to hope he was seeing mine, too, during the "Kill me now" days, when I was posting on a different board (IIRC, I hadn't even discovered Imladris yet), and was telling everyone there who had doubts--or worse--that Elijah was perfect for the part. Those were the days I started watching every movie of his I could find, so I could back up what I was saying--by the end of last summer, I'd watched 15 of them. There was a little part of me that was afraid some of them might not back up what I was saying; a couple of the movies were less than wonderful, but his acting never let me down. And by 3:00 a.m. last December 19, I felt fully vindicated!

well I dont know where this should go as there are sooo many threads about frodo and elijah and frolijah :p so I'm putting it here and you can all spread it to where ever it should go :D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_2563000/2563543.stm

An interview from http://www.mirror.co.uk (isn't that a tabloid newspaper?:confused: )http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12442216&method=full&siteid=50143"Looking young can be pretty helpful, because I get away with murder sometimes," he grins, mischievously.:eek: Weren't we talking about Homicide yesterday?:eek: Quick, grab some TinFoilHat from the Harem.:p :D

Tgshaw, thank you for typing those out!
It might save you some time on StarLog, here are scans of that:

Links removed.

Also, Elvellon, don't know if this saves you some time as well, but War of the Ring has some clips from last night's MTV movie house:
******TTT spoilers*****
Behind Scene stuff(including EW's singing :p): http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/mtv_moviehouse-ttt.ram
Orc attack and Easterlings close in on Frodo and Sam at the Black Gate:
http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/mtv_moviehouse-orcs.ram
Faramir :
http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/mtv_moviehouse-faramir.ram

******TTT spoilers end*****


**edit**
Oh, and something I HAD to share with you guys, it had me ROTFLMAO when i read it on COE last night:
In the middle of discussing NewLine pairing up with Verizon Wireless to promote TTT, someone made a comment: I can just see the commerical of Frodo standing at the cracks of Doom, holding his phone:

"Can you hear me now?"

[moves closer to the edge]

"Can you hear me now? How about now?":D :D :D

I've never posted in the Faculty thread before ( I'm more of a Frolijah Swooner :D ) but I have lurked regularly since the Spring-both at KD and COE. I really enjoy reading your thought- provoking posts.
Well anyway I just de-lurked to point you in the direction of an article in the Daily Mirror about Elijah......
But Deluby beat me to it as I was typing this so I guess this will just be a " thank you for your insights" post instead .....(gee- you guys are really on the ball with anything to do with him !).

Originally posted by deluby
Tgshaw, thank you for typing those out!
It might save you some time on StarLog, here are scans of that:
Not only saves me time, but lets everyone see the pics. The two on the third link (tttstarlog2) are ones I haven't seen before. (Also lets me save the new pics to my hard drive ;) .) So, many thanks, deluby.

I'm at work so can't check out the links loon left (a little too obvious on the monitor :rolleyes: ), but will certainly do so at home--as well as the others I've missed today. So thanks to loon for dropping in, and quicksilver--please delurk again soon :) !

LOL on the Verizon ad. sacriligious you could also use it at the Grey Havens--substituting for the light from the phial: "Can you hear me now, Sam? Can you hear..." :eek: ] I was totally baffled by one ad they ran during the WB special--a bunch of people running around on a barren landscape? When an ad doesn't make any sense to me, I figure I'm not part of the demographic it's aimed at :p .

From the bbc article that loon linked to:

This is what EW says when asked if he is upset about Orlando being considered sexier:


I'm a hobbit, I'm fine with not being sexy. Really. It's OK.

ROFL

As if!!!:D

Edit: just stopped by the harem to see that elda had precisely the same reaction. There is a union now between the two threads...

But, but, but...

Our viewers say Orlando is the sexiest hobbit - do you agree?

Huh? Orlando's so sexy he even takes over the other races now? :confused: Does he also play the sexiest Man and the sexiest Dwarf (if there is such a thing as a sexy Dwarf... :p )?

Orlando's so down-to-earth about his "sudden fame," and the guys are such good friends, I sure can't say anything bad about him, and I expect they take it all in fun. BTW--The issue of YM I just bought had a choice of two covers: Elijah and Orlando. And the magazine has voting on their website between the two of them on a variety of things--which one's the most romantic, which one would be more fun on a date, etc. I can imagine the two of them going over the results together and laughing hysterically :D :D !!

*****TTT spoilers****
Here are the screencaps of those 2 new scenes aired last night:

I'm posting links instead of images now because I figured probably most people are trying to stay away from spoilers since TTT itself is only a week away. :eek: http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/clap.gif


From the Harem-dubbed-"post HAC" clip(can't think of a better description of it myself anyway :p):
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new1.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new2.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new3.jpg

From the "Magical Cloak" clip:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new4.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new5.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new6.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby3/new7.jpg
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby2/new8.jpg

Or if you prefer animated gifs:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/gif.gif Post HAC:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby7/phac.gif
and
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/gif.gif The Magical Cloak:
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby6/cloak.gif


*****TTT spoilers end****


Re: that interview with EW, the interviewer said "orlando the hobbit"? :confused: I thought he said since the release of FOTR blah blah blah "orlando has become probably the film's biggest heartthrob, sorry Elijah" then cut to EW saying "I'm a hobbit....." But the thought of Orli taking over all other races is really....http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/smile.gif
I like how Liv reacted when asked if she thinks Orli is sexy, she's like "oh my god I don't think about him that way at all" then thought for a second and goes "yuck! He's like my brother." :p
And Dom&Billy are funny as usual. :D Even if the clip is small and blurry I'm saving it anyway. :rolleyes: :p

Orlando as the sexiest hobbit?

Sheryl is flashing back to a long-ago visit to the Fingernail thread at CoE. :eek: :eek:

((((Goldie)))) So glad to see you back!

I think erendis is right. My brother started going bald at EW's age in just that pattern - except first his hair got all curly in front, which was really odd because the rest was still all straight.

Hi, Loon! I like your avatar, but I'm so tired now I keep zoning out watching it.

Hi, quicksilver! And welcome. :)

The Faculty is in high form tonight, deluby you're a delight, and tgshaw made me laugh too but I'm too lazy to go back and pull the reference. Vita posted, "There is a union now between the two threads..." and I looked at that for a long moment trying to remember it - "Is that from Star Wars?" :rolleyes:

Yes, I'm definitely going to bed now. 'Night, all!

Sheryl

You guys are all cracking me up with this premature balding thing... here is a picture from a Paris press conference (or something) yesterday or today. Not only does his hair appear to be growing fairly fast (yesss!), but his hairline looks the same as always, at least to me.

If he is indeed starting to lose some hair (which I admit is possible), he has a long way to go. And at least he's not thinning in the back, yet (saw a great shot of that -- can dig it up if anyone's interested...).

And another with more of a side view:

I don't think we have anything to worry about. At least for awhile!

Links removed.

Looking at that second pic from Paris, I wonder what Elijah's height really is. I was reading the "Letters" in this week's Entertainment Weekly, and they said a lot of letters they received in response to their TTT cover story asked why Elijah was photographed as several inches taller than Liv Tyler, and they quoted his height at 5'7" and hers as 5'10". In the pic that BunnieBugs just posted, he is clearly more than three inches shorter than she is, and from what I saw myself in NY last week, even though he was across the street, he looked shorter than I am, and I'm 5'6".

Not that I give a hoot. And his hair's growing back! :D

A bit Paris Premiere footage from E!news Live thanks to WotR:
http://www.warofthering.net/downloads/movietrailers/parispremiere_Enews.ram

http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby4/parisprem6.jpg

http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby4/parisprem8.jpg

[/lurk]

I think the reason that Orlando is referred to as the "sexiest hobbit" in that article is that the "Hobbits" hung out with Orlando all the time and IIRC, he came to be included amongst themselves as another "hobbit" .... seems to me I read that in a couple places long long ago, a few months after FotR came out. So in this case, the "Hobbit" name would be referring to that group of actors (the young bucks), not necessarily Hobbit-hood in the Tolkien sense.

:rolleyes: Not sure why I've posted so often lately, but it's getting to the point where I probably don't need to do my little "[lurk/delurk] tags :rolleyes: :p

[lurk]

My second day back in "real life", and already I'm worrying about my Inner Purist's reaction to TTT, whether Elwood is prematurely balding, his height, what future movie roles he'll get, whether any of them will make it to the movie theaters, and how badly the Oscars will snub Peter Jackson and Co. this year.

Yes, life is good.

;) :p :D

Goldie, welcome back! I envy you that trip to New Zealand. And rest easy, all those worries of yours will very soon dissipate. We'll love TTT. I'm certain of it. :)

Deluby, thanks for the gifs. This time I haven't managed to watch the actual clips they are based on, so I enjoyed the gifs *immensely*!

Spoilery comment to gif:
*
*
*

I think that scene with Sam getting half-buried in gravel right outside the Black Gate seems a little unneccessary and over-dramatic, but it gives Frodo a chance to show purely physical courage and initiative and to save Sam's life for a change. That evens out the balance between them somewhat, and I think that's wonderful given what is in store for the two of them and their relationship as the story progresses.

*
*
*
End spoiler


Tg, thanks for the transcript of the Realms of Fantasy article.
That is the most in-detail discussion I have ever seen of how EJW prepared for and made the famous audition tape. The strange thing is, I recall reading an equally detailed interview with PJ last year, insisting that EJW used the book (and not a script) for the audition tape scenes.

Not that it matters how he did it, what matters is *that* he did it! :)

And as everyone else here I really hope we may get to see that audition tape sometime in the future. :cool:


And as for the is-EJW-going-bald discussion: Well, what did he expect, when getting a haircut like that! :D

Welcome back, Goldie!

Welcome back to MsU too ... I'm sorry I missed saying that earlier.

Glad to see you delurking, quicksilver! And it's about time you're fully delurked, elanor! And I'm sure we can get Daisy to fully delurk soon enough. :D

Thanks for that link, loon!

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

I'm gonna be away this weekend as well - wedding to attend out of state - so I'll be missing more pre-LOTR hype. But then it could be worse. The wedding could have been during TTT premiere time. :o So I'm counting my blessings even as I brace for another round of withdrawal.

Now, my apologies for the miscellaneousness of this post. ;)


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

tg - wow. Thanks for typing that interview!

For those so inclined, scans from American Cinematographer are up at TORN: http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1039583673

On this page you can see two pics of Frodo. One is the 'odd-looking' Frodo. The other is Frodo and Sam. Anyone else impressed that Elijah can sit that way? I'm a very flexible person (I can still do the split!) but even I tire if I try to sit with my knees drawn up that way, without supporting them with my hands.

From ***, there's this sweet interview:
And speaking of flexible Elijah, look at this pic: (spoiler-free, and oh, look at that hair. I never thought I'd miss hair, but I miss Elijah's :p )


This quote from the Mirror interview deluby posted is scary, isn't it?

Elijah: "Here I am, still a young actor, thinking: 'Maybe this is as good as it gets."

Can we trust this a real interview?


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


deluby ... that phac gif is breath-takingly heart-stoppingly angsty, truly worthy of repetitive gif-playing. Thank you! You're a Godsend, you are. :k I'm giving up on downloading videos that are Quicktime movies. Real media and wmv videos are just too jerky on playback -- I can hear just fine, but I can't see what's really going on. Could anyone please describe what that phac scene is really like? I can tell Frodo's shouting (?) "noo" but does the clip show what happens after that stumble/fall?

SPOILER REMARK:

I also think it's interesting that Frodo doesn't draw his sword there. Not that he would have been able to do anything to Faramir anyway, but still.



deluby, I also have a huge favour to ask. gets down on knees and prepares to grovel if necessary ;) Do you have screencaps or gifs of the bit where Andy Serkis in white Gollum suit fishes Frodo out of the water? And do you have a gif of Elijah doing his Time Mag transformation?


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


Sort-of SPOILER but not exactly ...

So now we know what they were filming at the time! Remember these spy photos?

http://maggiebear.crosswinds.net/behind01/behind002.jpg

http://maggiebear.crosswinds.net/behind01/behind003.jpg




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


SPOILER IMAGE - off-screen PJ, SA, EW







spoiler space








Anyone else wondering how Frodo's gonna breathe under that? :D













spoiler space
-------------------------------------


Something I picked up from CoE's review thread - where I skim posted reviews in search of the name 'Frodo'. Spoiled I may be when it comes to Frodo, but I have almost no real idea of what everyone else in the movie is like. :p

Quote from James Berardinelli (his review here (http://www.movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/l/lotr2.html))

Elijah Wood's Frodo is haunted and weary, relying more upon Sam. Wood's body language expresses the weight Frodo feels from bearing the ring.



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



Royal Selangor, which makes the LOTR pewter stuff (it's a Malaysian company) has this exhibition/promo thing going in one of the malls here in KL. Very nice exhibition and all (though I couldn't figure out which figurine was Frodo) but for one thing. Huge cut-out figure of Legolas standing to one side. And not a promotional hobbit sight anywhere. Sigh.

A local magazine is out with a 16-page LOTR supplementary and I bought it. Full-page pic included ... of Aragorn. Big sigh.

There's also a local on-line LOTR club now, with discussion rooms for various topics, including for the characters. Not one single topic dedicated to hobbits in general or the Ringbearer even.

ARGH!


I am so glad I found you guys, really. Otherwise I'd be going nuts here in this local hobbit-deprived environment! :p


On the bright side, I flipped through Movieline (other mags still unavailable) which has an interview with PJ. Didn't buy it, but I roughly remember PJ talking about how Elijah 'tracked them (the LOTR casting folks) down' and how Elijah's strength is in his ability to convey complex emotions and thoughts with just his eyes. It's stuff PJ's said many times before ... but I think it's lovely how PJ never tires of saying it.


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


Before I say good night, seeing Elijah juxtaposed next to that Frodo poster is just so surreal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38573000/jpg/_38573827_elijah300.jpg

And yes, I'm talking about the heads. Hair. Oh, I'll shut up now.




:) Good night, all!




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


edit in reply to Maeg's post-- I've read Elijah used the book too ... I think he means that he read the script at the office, then had to go back to the book to get the actual scenes.

Some links removed.

Dear colleagues: Hallah is planning to participate in the AOL chat this afternoon/evening with Elijah. Who among us has been collecting the questions we are interested in posing to this guy? Is it you, Elve? You, Maeg? Go to the Trilogy board and check in with the Upcoming LOTR tv specials thread, the sticky at the top of the board.

Originally posted by Vita S-B
Dear colleagues: Hallah is planning to participate in the AOL chat this afternoon/evening with Elijah. Who among us has been collecting the questions we are interested in posing to this guy? Is it you, Elve? You, Maeg? Go to the Trilogy board and check in with the Upcoming LOTR tv specials thread, the sticky at the top of the board. Ooh! I have a whole bunch of them saved! I'll go dig them up and post the still-unanswered ones for her!

Please do. I'll ask as many as I possibly can, though I don't know which he'll answer, if any. I'm also going to give credit to the appropriate person for each question, so don't ask anything you don't want to come back to haunt you when I post the transcript. :D

Okay, they're posted! I took out some that have already been answered, like the "Mac vs Windows" one. Please go look and see if there's anything I forgot or that you would like to add! :cool:

Hi just a really quick post tonight. Been lurking alot. Just want to say thanks to Bunnie and Hallah for putting those questions forward - it would be so cool even if he answered just one! :)

I meant to watch the GMTV TT interview today but I slept in and missed it, or so I thought. Then I read that they'd substituted it for a feature on the Cherie Blair palava - sooo they're showing it tomorrow instead! Bravo! :)

Has anyone been over at eBay recently? Elijah's charity auction Xmas decoration is at the moment standing at a bid of $2,550!!! :eek: :eek: OMG. The price of the other celeb's decorations are no-where near that. The nearest priced decoration is at $355, designed by someone called Lauren Graham (who is she, we wonders??).

Bye for now,

(((Faculty)))

Hi All!

Oh Bunnie to the rescue... I have those questions but I guess it's to late now.

Just wanted to say I posted some clips from the MTV moviehouse thing... not sure if they are all available else where. They are here (http://frodoandsam.net/film/multimedia/video.html). I will also have some clips from the game show and tomorrow's TRL soon.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better than the iPod comment, I get something much better. :D Some might like to see him in some seductive photo shoot or in a steamy love scene, others might like to see him do Shakespeare, I get most excitied seeing him in the Apple store. I'm a total geek!

Link removed.

I don't think his hairline is receding.

ainon,
Someone in the Harem made that same observation about the surreal juxtaposition of Elijah and the Frodo poster.

I was trying to get hubby to log in on what he thinks about EW's hairline, and when he saw ainon's surreal pic he said, "Looks like PeeWee Herman." :eek: So while he won't comment on the health of EW's hair follicles, I think it safe to say he doesn't approve of the haircut. :p

I'm zoned again, but I had to say that those newest clips with F&S are very nice. :cool: My initial and equally informative response is on record in the Goonies thread. ;)

And... I have tickets! No sitter as of yet, but I'm committed now, sitter or no. The 18th - there was a midnight showing, but hubby thinks it was sold out, so it's the night of the 18th. Which for some reason I was convinced was a Thursday, and I still can't get my head around the fact that it's a Wednesday. Which may make things a bit tricky, because my sitters will probably all be in choir. :rolleyes: I have resolved that I am not above bribing one of the little old ladies at church with whatever is necessary if it comes to that.

No, I take that back - my kids at bedtime on the night they *don't* get to go to TTT and mom and dad do, one week before Christmas and two days before hitting the road to see Grandma - little old ladies are right out. What I need are two trustworthy teenage boys, yep. Preferably with wrestling experience.

:eek: :D

Sheryl

Originally posted by ainon
Could anyone please describe what that phac scene is really like? I can tell Frodo's shouting (?) "noo" but does the clip show what happens after that stumble/fall? ****TTT spoiler****


From the clip all I can see is he runs to hide or something after that and Sam yells at Faramir:"Stop it! Leave him alone!....."


****TTT spoiler end****

Originally posted by ainon
Do you have screencaps or gifs of the bit where Andy Serkis in white Gollum suit fishes Frodo out of the water? And do you have a gif of Elijah doing his Time Mag transformation? Your wish is my command. :D
Here's the Time Mag transformation. I'm not sure whether you want the "naked JRD joke" part included so I edited it into 2 parts.
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/gif.gif Transformation: http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby7/time1.gif
http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/gif.gif "JRD joke" reaction: http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby7/time2.gif

The "gollum fishes Frodo out of the water" shot, which clip was that from? I remember seeing that scene in several clips but staring at those 40+ recently downloaded clips in my folder, I can't recall exactly which one has that scene. So I'll post that one later, gotta find it first. http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/blush.gif http://www.imagemagician.org/images/deluby/magnify.gif

Has anyone been over at eBay recently? Elijah's charity auction Xmas decoration is at the moment standing at a bid of $2,550!!! OMG. The price of the other celeb's decorations are no-where near that. The nearest priced decoration is at $355, designed by someone called Lauren Graham (who is she, we wonders??).

Yes!!! Now that makes me smile. :D
How's the job Lutheia???


Elve: I'm a Mac fan. One day when that delayed millionaire (clearly a moron since he's taking his time but what the heck) finally locates Whangarei New Zealand and succumbs gracefully to his fate (me) I will buy another Mac. Sigh. Ew's choice of Macs is one peice of evidence that he is indeed a superior being.

Sheryl: babysitters. LOL. In my experience the teen boys are the suckers and the little old ladies the terrors. :D I suppose stun guns are out of the question????

Hallah- you go girl!!! Good luck. If its anything like the chat ages back on Billy's site it will be chaos. You're one brave dude. Yo. (Small and unnecessary ref to Mr Reeves who really should not be in the same film as EW now that I have recollected myself enough to acknowledge this. Thankyou BB)

I'm avoiding clips and spoilers like the plague so though there's lots posted here don't be offended if I'm not referring to it ie deluby and Ainon et al. :k I'm not ignoring you I'm just skipping you. There's a difference. Trust me.

I haven't even gotten caught up but there has been a development you may or may not know about.

Aram put the old Imladris site up.

Our old thread is there. For the love of Mike can someone who has the time and is not prying their eyeballs open download that thread for posterity?

Here is the link.

The Faculty Lounge- An Elijah Wood Discussion (http://imladris.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12069&perpage=30&pagenumber=1)

I would do it but I must sleep sometime tonight.

Ariel

Hey Ariel, I've got it...I think. Unless my website buckles under all this stuff I'm throwing at it.;) It's on my hard drive, at any rate.

Anyway...As of now what I've got on my site seems to go up just through the beginning of February. I think that's because it's still being uploaded, though. We'll see.

http://members.directvinternet.com/chubs2383/faculty.htm

Edit: yeah, seems to be working.:)

Why is Imladris back? I don't get it. Why does Aram want to revive it? Will it clash with CoE? Has Aram talked with Melkor?Someone in the know please pm me.

I feel a loyalty to Imlady as my first love. But it was also the site of our first Big Grief (the Harem/Fac fracas).
Are we happy here? I am. Totally. But I'm not the Fac. Are we happy here?

Are we happy here? I am. Totally. But I'm not the Fac. Are we happy here?

YES!!! I am totally happy here. We already have fifty pages of history and I have no inclination for moving away from here. That's my vote for what it counts.

Anybody see anything on the London Premiere? Of course Lij wasn't there - he was off doing some interview "making money for the movie" as Sean says in the US. BBC didn't have anything as far as I could see. Sky One had some silly woman who kept insisting on calling Liv and Cate Fairies!!! and who didn't know the difference between Merry and Pippin (though to be fair it took me three viewings of the movie to get them straight in my head). Sean said that the reception in London was so great he felt like he was part of the Beatles, only the "Paul" of the band was missing - ie Elijah. :)

ITV were a bit more clued in - they even had an interview with Andy Serkis. I think most of us are agreed that it would be better for TTT not to win Best Picture and EJW not to win best actor, to give extra weight when ROTK comes around. But I would really like to see Andy Serkis get a best supporting actor award. It would certainly make history!

So has anybody got any clips of the talkshow Elijah was on last night??

Hello all.

Louise, I'm so glad you obviously HAVE calmed down a little, but I do realize you're still upset at the changes PJ has inflicted on our beloved Frodo.

Originally quoted by Louise:

'He (Frodo) will probably have about 3 scenes in ROTK (Cirith Ungol, Mt. Doom, and The Grey Havens. He'll 'sleep' through most of the first one.'

Well, here are a few snippets from an item I found on the UK's C4 teletext service, from an interview with PJ:

'We wanted the story in TTT to get harder and to show the forces of darkness closing in.'

On the climax of the film concentrating on Helm's Deep, rather than Frodo's confrontation with Shelob: 'We didn't want to be intercutting between two climaxes that would hurt each other dramatically.'

And I hope this one gives you more confidence for next year: Although critics are already drooling over TTT, Return of The King, released next year, is Peter Jackson's favourite. 'It's huge. It's biblical. But it's also intimate. For Frodo and Sam it becomes a story of courage and love.'

Just what we want to see. (we hope!)

Originally quoted by Tg:

'... I want to see how great an actor he (Elijah) can become - not how big a star.'

My sentiments exactly!:)

Eagles' Eyrie, thanks so much for pointing out the 'Return to Middle-Earth' programme on UK TV on Sunday. I hadn't noticed that, but will now have my 'record' button poised. :)

Elevensies, I think I'm probably getting confused:rolleyes: with the page numbers, as today I have noticed there seems fewer posts on each page I'm looking at. I checked my options and they are set at default. No problem anyway.

Lots of TTT items on various news programmes this morning on last night's London premier - No Elijah, as expected (sob). Plenty of Liv and Andy Serkis.

Re the hair. I DON'T think EW's hairline is receding. I did so LOVE his spikey hair style, but really that's just a superficial how-good-is-he-to-look-at-thing. Now the Fro-wig. Well, there's no denying that definintely IS a how-good-is-he-to-look-at-thing!;) Of course, we all have our preferences, but I say however EW wants to wear his hair is fine. He looks good to me!

I haven't had time to download all the goodies deluby has deposited here yet, except for those two lovely gifs. deluby -:k
And thanks to everyone who's posted links to interviews etc. I'll check them all out over the next couple of days.

Busy here isn't it? Plenty to keep us occupied until next week.

Hi to Goldenberry - great to have you back.
Ariel, Is it me, or have you been missing for a while? Hi anyaway.
Hello to Elanorh and quicksilver. Come back soon.

Must go. Bye.

Edit. Just to echo EE's 'Yes, I'm very happy here.'

[delurk]

YES YES YES ..I am happy here

..and to add my bit to the hair debate:
Yes, I think his hairline is receding (just a bit) but is less noticeable now its grown back a bit.

I do wonder if the reason isn't two fold -to make it clear he is NOT Frodo, and perhaps also in preparation/during a new role???

(I remember Hugh Grant being interviewed on Parkinson, a chat show in the UK with an incredibly (for him) short hairdo, and reluctantly admitting when pushed that it was for a new movie...12 months later out comes "About a Boy" with said haircut!)

...so, maybe :confused:

viola (still avoiding the spoilers -but not the TV clips on the news about the world premieres :D )

[/lurk]

Blossom--Those quotes on RotK sound very hopeful. I knew it was Elijah's favorite of the three, but hadn't heard it was PJ's, also. His mention of not wanting two high points interfering with each other sounds right--something JRRT didn't have to contend with, since he didn't interweave the stories. This is going to be a h-a-r-d year (of waiting!).

elanorh--If you need a second opinion, I totally agree. Dump the [lurk/delurk] already ;) :) . I don't think I ever even noticed that you didn't consider yourself part of the usual "verbal" crowd! :eek:

Two echoes: I'm not religiously avoiding spoilers (I don't hold up a cross in front of me if one appears in a thread ;) ), but I'm not not linking to any, either, so if I don't mention one I probably haven't looked at it. I did look at the Time transformation, though. Thanks, deluby--I've been dying to see that one in action!!

Second echo: Yes, I'm very happy here at KD!
Absolutely no desire to pull up roots again! And I'm not just saying that for this thread--the whole site seems more "comfotable" to me, if that makes sense--I don't feel as much that I have to parse every word in any of the forums I've posted in. Example--The Green Dragon is slower than the old Lit Forum, but I don't feel like I have to put on protective gear every time I go in. For me, at least, that's a lovely thing :) :) .

But on the history: ((((Bridget)))) for downloading the "old" thread! Even if it doesn't all fit on your site, knowing it's on someone's hard drive is wonderful! Maybe we'll have to release a CD sometime with "The Best of the Faculty Lounge Discussion." :p :p

Sheryl: Also regarding babysitters--If my mom's any example, look for a retired teacher ;) .

Still hoping for a midnight showing here. They didn't announce it too far ahead last year. Last year there was no problem about it being sold out, but if you got your ticket ahead of time you ended up with a better "screen." I don't think they were expecting as many people as they got, so they quickly opened a second room for the overflow, which was basically the people who just showed up and bought a ticket right before the movie. And the theater had three prints, so could probably have done a third if necessary. Wouldn't it be great if they had to do that this year? :)

Hope the long-range weather forecast doesn't hold up, though, or that will be a replay of last year--lovely weather right up to the evening I had to drive about 15 miles one way for the midnight showing--then snow, sleet, and ice :rolleyes: . Oh, well, lots of time for the forecasters to change their minds on that.

OOhhh.... I think this is when I start getting excited (and a bit anxious). When things change from thinking about the movie itself, to making plans to actually see it! :cool:

deluby - THANK YOU! :k :k :k That's amazing to see. And thank you for the additional description from the phac moment. Btw, the Gollum bit was in this video: enews-sean-120402.wmv - downloaded from Elve's place. :)

Sheryl, congratulations on the tickets, and good luck with the sitter!


Well, at least we know now that Aram's okay. :) I'm happy here too, and more importantly we're all here. So here is just fine. :D Btw, thanks Bridget, for saving the Imly thread for us, and continuing thanks to Sheryl too, of course, for keeping us backed up here. :k



TTT talk - no specific spoilers mentioned

Blossom, that's a truly encouraging quote from PJ!


I read the Frodo parts of Fatty's very detailed scene-by-scene account of TTT at warofthering.net . Assuming he was able to remember most of what he watched (he saw the movie twice) I think we Frodo/Elijah fans are gonna be all right. Frodo has many scenes - certainly many more than those that have been mentioned in previous reviews, and in proper proportion to what we get in the book. I can't say how purists will feel, but as an angst appreciator whose inner purist has been soundly silenced, I'm content and deliriously excited. :D


These are Sean Astin quotes, which are here because he talks about Frodo & Sam's friendship, and then he talks about teasing Elijah ... I've forgotten where I got these quotes from. :o


On the Frodo & Sam friendship:


Q: So is this a friendship you can find in real life?

Sean Astin: Sure! I don't think they *find* that relationship. I think they *make* the relationship. So its not something that happens by accident, I think its something that happens by design and I think everybody is capable of having this kind of friendship- especially if they're willing to sacrifice.. which is one of the things that is so special about, well... Frodo sacrifices himself for the good of Middle Earth by carrying this Ring and allowing himself to be dragged into the darker part of his nature. Sam, um, sacrifices... makes sacrifices on behalf of Frodo, and so it's an interesting tension there. Sam devotes his life to another. He devotes his life to Frodo, and if you're willing, if someone is willing to devote their life to another, um, hopefully, the person is as, as *worthy* as Frodo. And Frodo is always reciprocating, (he points his finger towards the interviewer) and appreciating. He always says in the films and the books, 'I wouldn't have gotten far without you, Sam,' and he's just, he always feeds back to Sam how grateful he is to have him around. 'I'm glad you are with me', he keeps saying. So yeah, it is a special relationship and a special friendship and I think it is one of the great things about the power of literature and of these movies- that it interprets that relationship, that people can use it as a *template* , a beacon, to sort of be drawn towards, and try and carve out those kinds of positive relationships in their own lives, and that's what I...that's how I like to think about it sometimes.



And on teasing Elijah - I'm sure 'it' here refers to the Ring ;) :

"I liked to fiddle with it once in a while when it was around Elijah's
neck - that bothered him, and I like that it bothered him - but I think it's wholly appropriate that Frodo keeps it."



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edit



SPOILERS

I wasn't planning to post spoilers but then I decided what the heck. Someone might be interested in these. :) From the Sean Astin interview at CHUD (http://www.chud.com/news/dec02/dec11astin.php3) (they're interviewing all the LOTR actors -- should be Elijah's turn soon).

We've discussed and pondered this tennis court scene so often, it's about time we got the final story:


Sean Astin: So the next thing we knew, we were driving to a Ramada Inn-type hotel and there were some polystyrene rocks set up on the tennis court and we started filming one of the climactic scenes from the third movie! Elijah and I looked at each other that morning and were like, "Uh, we're not ready yet." Somehow, through the make-up process and through the sheer terror that we both felt, we found a way to get there. We filmed one of our sides, meaning one of our close ups, that day. Then we ended up filming the other side of that scene like thirteen months later. I remember thinking, "Wow, we're so much better now, can we go back and do the other side?" "No, it's good!"




This is what Sean says re: the controversial Frodo-Sam-Sting scene. ;)

Q: What about the fight scene with Frodo, which was not in the book, and was done in reshoots? That is such a pivotal scene.

Astin: Yeah, I can't wait to see the extended version DVD and see if they put more of that in, because we filmed a MUCH more aggressive, much longer fight scene. The emotional complexity of the characters is so rich in the books that it's really hard to dramatize. It's hard to explain what is going on psychologically with certain characters without extended voice over narration or characters talking philosophically about themselves, which is sort of a buzzkill dramatically. So I think that Peter is a devotee, a true purist, as far as being a fan of the books, but he is not a slave to them. He is very confident with the fact that this is his interpretation of them.




END SPOILERS





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


I'll be away for the weekend, so I'll catch up with you guys again next week! {{{{Faculty}}}}}

KD is my home now and I'm stickin' with it! Why would I want to leave such a cozy, comfortable, welcoming place?

I'm glad Imladris is back, if only so that people can retrieve posts or threads that are meaningful to them. But as far as posting and following the daily conversation goes, THIS is the place for me.

TG, your idea about a "Best of the Faculty" CD gave me an idea: What if we were to compile such a CD and send it to the inspiration and reason for the thread's existence?:eek: :cool: :p

Woah, that's kind of weird having Imladris back just like that! There's no word up at CoE about it that I could see though. I'm quite happy here btw, though as I've stated before I'll follow you guys wherever you may go like a sheep :D

Cadmo - my work's going fine (apart from having to work with a very moany colleague, who just nags about everything but I'm learning to ignore her :D ). I've got my work's Xmas party tonight, so I'll have to go now and get glammed up! :D

Thanks as always for all your quotes and pictures and stuff sorry I've not had time to comment on them at the moment!

Will speak again soon,

x

This morning hubby greeted me with, "Woah, I had a Two Towers nightmare."

I said, "What about? You were in Cirith Ungol, getting clobbered in a battle, what?"

He said, "No, not that kind of nightmare. It was a nightmare about PJ's TTT. I was in the theatre watching it and he'd modernized the whole thing, there were people running around in cars and stuff, it was awful, and I stood up in the theatre and yelled, "Where's the book? What happened to the BOOK?""

Oh. One of thoooose nightmares. :D

I should share Maeg's "LOTR:The Disney Version" and the one Narya posted to the Faramite thread on "What if someone other than PJ was doing LOTR" - they would at least give his nighmares more color. ;)

ainon,
Thanks for the Sean A quotes - I love that guy!

Blossom,
Thanks for the PJ comments on ROTK

Concerning Imladris - I like it better here. Prim is right - Imladris is the site of our first grief. Our only grief as an entire group thus far, I think. Sheryl crosses her fingers that this will continue to be the case. :p I would like to think we made a new start when we moved to CoE, and I will always remember that the vote to move to KD was almost unanimous among those with an opinion - even though we're notorious for having pretty closely split votes. ;)

Plus, we were welcomed here. Moggy welcomed us, the mods welcomed us, KDers welcomed us, the Harem and the other Formerly Fandom threads welcomed us. Until they tell us to get lost, I think we should stay put. :D But if I'm speaking out of turn, just trout me.

And I have a sitter! Not a teenage boy or a retired schoolteacher, but one of our regulars called last night just as I was getting the address book out for her phone number - she remembered I meant to go and said she'd be glad to skip choir to do it. The kids adore her - they write stories together and do all kinda fun stuff, so that'll be great. :) Life is good.

Now if hubby and I could just sleep. :( This is ridiculous - the movie's a week away and my brain is just buzzing every night, going over and over the spoiler clips I've seen. Not sure this is a bad thing, perzactly, but sleep would be good. ;) And hubby's one of those who usually hits the mattress and he's out until the alarm goes off, and he isn't sleeping either. I guess we're both just hopeless geeks. :p

And I'm sure there was more I meant to respond to, but I'm going to go see if I can con the youngest into a nap and lie down myself.

((((((((Faculty)))))))))))

Sheryl

Sheryl! Congratulations on the sitter. So you'll get to see it? right?

I'm amazed at folks having nightmares about TTT *before* seeing it (although given the spoilers floating around, I understand the anxiety). It's just that I didn't have trouble sleeping until *after* I saw FoTR, because I found it so powerful and memorable; somehow it invaded my unconscious and it took a while for my unconscious to process it.

We've been welcomed so warmly and modded so tactfully since arriving here at KD, I am loathe to leave. I'm glad that Imly is up and running again, though, and I wish Aram the best.

Hi all,

can I just add an "what everyone's already said" about KD? I am very happy here, it's a great place and a good home for us. Like Sheryl, I am very grateful that Moggy offered us this place to settle down and that we were made to feel so welcome by all.

In fact, I had come so much to terms with the old thread being lost that it just feels kind of strange going back there now. Although thank you very much, Bridget, for saving it. :)


A pity we didn't get any questions through on that AOL chat. Thanks so much to Hallah for trying. According to her, the questions that were passed on by the chat moderator sounded like this: "Oh Elijah, you're my hero. What advice do you have for an aspiring actress?" :rolleyes:

Now, Elvensies has said she'll be kind enough to re-submit the questions for the MSN chat (when is that?). If none of them gets through in that one either, perhaps we should think about re-phrasing them a little bit? For instance, my question on stage acting would then sound as follows:

Oh, Elijah, you're so fantastic!! Are you, like, ever going to act on stage so we can get to see you? Are anyone offering you stage acting roles, cause I am sure you would be soooo wonderful, I think they should write a play just for you, and I'd like to be an actress myself, and wouldn't that be cool? You're my hero!

OK, lame try. :rolleyes: Someone better at this than me should do the re-write, I guess.


Ainon, thank you for the Sean A. quotes. Wonderful stuff. I especially liked this part: The emotional complexity of the characters is so rich in the books that it's really hard to dramatize. It's hard to explain what is going on psychologically with certain characters without extended voice over narration or characters talking philosophically about themselves, which is sort of a buzzkill dramatically. Reading this, and similar quotes from Philippa Boyens and PJ, I tend to come completely to terms with whatever changes have been made, in the sense that there is a sound and valid rationale and careful thinking behind making those changes, as well as thorough analysis of what the characters *are* going through psychologically. Not everything done to dramatize and action-ify the complex emotions will work equally well, I suppose.

Nevertheless, I have just come here after reading the extremely detailed TTT review over at "Warofthering.net". That one, in addition to *a lot* of other reviews, interviews and after seeing all those clips, ensure I'm about as spoiled as it's humanly possible to be. And I don't regret that at all! It's given me a chance to think through and come to terms with the major changes: Now I know which small and great angsty scenes to look out for, I eagerly anticipate seeing the clips in context, I fully expect to be totally overwhelmed, and I'm even pretty certain which scene I will dislike the most. (Fortunately, that one has nothing to do with Frodo and Sam). Yes, I'm entirely happy I've done the spoiler thing this time, unlike last year.

And in fact, 6 days from now I will be in the middle of my first TTT viewing. :) :) :)


Luthiea, hope the X-mas party is fun! :)

Whew… Finally…

Originally posted by Maeglian
[B]We used to dissect every small tidbit of information and every little picture in the most minute detail, happy that any new thing came our way. And now there's such a flow of information it's almost impossible to keep up!

Maeglian – I love you. You say everything I mean to say – and better. I will just follow you around and say, “Yeah, what she said…”:p

Absolutely! I am beyond overwhelmed.

On Oscar watch - :rolleyes: I have little hope, but I am pretty sure the special effects are going to get it this year if nothing else. It sounds like Gollum will blow everyone away as well he should. Anything else is gravy. About the only thing that threw me was “Best Adapted Screenplay”. From what I have heard, TTT will deserve that far less than FOTR did – and we all know how that came out. Ah, well, keep my opinions in check until I’ve seen it!

Reading and editing… I will never keep up with you ladies!

Ariel

{{{Ariel}}} :) :) Been missing you.

Anyway, popping in very, very quickly before leaving for work and the weekend.

AOL chat transcript up at TORn.
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/7/1039722666

Would have copied and pasted it here but it requires some editing for space.

Well, take care, everybody. :)

Hello Faculty!

Just popping in quickly to say that, being an observer of the MSN chat at this moment I can say that it seems very similar to the AOL version. A lot of questions we've heard a million times ("Had you read the books before..?") and some agonizingly ditzy ones ("what gift would you like to recieve...?"). I find it strange that he still seems to be shirking the issue of whether or not he has read LotR - because his answer to that question was a rather ambiguous one that seemed to imply that he had, but not until he got to the set. :confused: I'm more inclined to trust Elmtree, as we all know he's very concerned about being killed by the fans concerning that topic.
But, I only saw half of the chat, so I'll leave the real commentary to someone who saw it all.

Oh! I got my TTT tickets too!! Yay, less than a week!!

edit- anion! thanks for the transcript, now we know for sure that Thumbsucker is back on the table! Now if only that mystery about Keanu Reeves could be cleared up...

editII...well I see Hallah was really on the ball, and paying much better attentoion during the chat than I was! Go Hallah!
wonders if her own post should be deleted.. :o

Sorry if I'm jumping ahead of someone else who intended to post this, but here is the transcript from the MSN chat this evening:


DishDiva says: Welcome to MSN Live! This afternoon we are pleased to welcome Elijah Wood (Frodo) who stars in the new film "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

Elijah_Wood_Live says: Hello everyone around the world. There aren't many opportunities to say something like that!
DishDiva says: Elijah, this film has become such a phenomenon. When you first accepted this role did you have any idea it would become this worldwide hit?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I didn't. I think I assumed it would have a pretty wide apeal, but I didn't expect it to become as massive as it's become, I don't think any of us did. I think part of it came from immersing ourselves in the land of New Zealand, it took us all slightly by
Elijah_Wood_Live says: surprise. It is definitely gratifying.

farseanean in Onstage_1 asks: Hi. This is so great to get to talk to you. I'm a big fan for a long time. You must receive a lot of scripts for movies to consider. How do you choose which movie you want to do next? What kinds of movies/characters are you looking for in future roles?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: It's always difficult to choose scripts. I'm pretty picky and opinionated when it comes to movies because there is a lack of really good scripts that come along often. They only came along once in a while. For me, I just want to grow as an actor, just
Elijah_Wood_Live says: things that are different than I've done in the past. Maybe older, darker roles.

Star7707 in Onstage_1 asks: What was is like working with people like Sean and Orlando, especially Orlando? Was he really as crazy as he appeared to be in the extra footage? Was YM the first time you were on the cover of a magazine?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: (laughs!!) Orlando is crazy! He's probably one of the most impulsive/energetic person I now, he can't sit still for a finite period of time. He was constantly trying to talk us into buying bikes, go bungee jumping, (laughs). He is really funny, the ideas: just kept flowing. He's always fun to be out with because you never know where you'll end up. It's like a spinning top, you pull the string and off he goes! (laughs)It wasn't the first cover, I can't remember my first cover, but that wasn't my first cover. Insidently I shared that cover with Orlando. They did two covers and Orlando did the other one.

Melyndie in Onstage_1 asks: The Lord of the Rings story often contains a sense of hopelesness, especially for your character. Did filming the movies ever contain this feeling for you since you had to "get into" your character?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: No, it actually wasn't. Even though we were there for so long and involved with the characters, we were able to still turn it off at the end of the day. We could leave the set and focus on something else. Not only to leave our character, but leave work.We would go to work, go home, sleep a little, and dream about work, then wake up and go back to work, so it was important to be able to leave for a bit. I've always been able to leave my character, which is good because if Frodo stayed with me it could have been dark there.

DishDiva says: I heard the weather in New Zealand was a challenge.

Elijah_Wood_Live says: It was very cold. But it's part of the journey and I wouldn't have it any other way.

coldbloodkittie in Onstage_1 asks: hi Elijah I heard that YOu and the other nine members of the "fellowship" got tattoes of the elven nine where did you get yours?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I got mine on my hip. Lower hip.

AlmightyPlum in Onstage_1 asks: Most of us have heard that you loved to play loud music at the early hours of the morning... But I'm just wondering what type of music it is that you're into?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I love music and I'm incredibly passionate about it. It's difficult to answer because I love so much about music, it's so wide spread it's hard to answer. In terms to what I'm listening to now, Spoon, The Kinks, Roots, Coldplay, White Stripes, The Hives, Led Zeppelin, so it's all over the place.I'm kind of insane when it comes to music, a little obsessed.I get to host about an hour of music videos tomorrow on MTV. I get to choose the videos, I'm very lucky.

DishDiva says: Do you know any of the videos that you will play?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: Yeah, I will be playing Smashing Pumpkins, "Only You" by Portoisehead, Queens of the Stone Age.

DishDiva says: I hear you love films. Do you have any favorite movies?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I have LOTS of favorite movies. I don't have one favorite, "Delicatessan," "Harvey," "Night of the Hunter," "The Graduate."

wannabeMegWhite in Onstage_1 asks: What makes you feel self-confident when you're at a set, what makes you feel that you're doing the right thing?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I don't always feel confident. In the early days of filming you are getting your feet on the ground and trying out your character. I think in those early days it's good to have the confirmation from the director helps, and after that knowing you are doing what you want for you and for the director, the comfort level increases, and you can concentrate on the rest of the movie. Also getting to know everyone you are working with and developing a camaraderie, then I feel most comfortable on the set with them. We're all working for the same goal. I love that process.

CeleM in Onstage_1 asks: What kind of cultural differences are there between you and your British costars?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: That's a good question. The music, television, movies, those are all kinds of differences that they knew things I didn't know because I wasn't exposed to the same television or music. There were plenty of recommendations from the actors on the movie
for music and movies. There's a massive pop culture in England, I was aware of it because I've spent time there, but I really integrated myself into that perspective when I got there. A beer and a pub become very important especially with friends.

SleeplessMarea in Onstage_1 asks: This is for my daughter: What is your favorite line from Fellowship? (We already know Billy's!)

Elijah_Wood_Live says: One of my favorite lines is when Galadriel says, "Even the smallest person can have an effect on the rest of the world." Which is what she says to Frodo when he's alone and feels the burdon of wearing the ring. You have within you the ability to have an
effect on the world around you.

sgchik in Onstage_1 asks: You said you were into film editing, how about one day directing?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I would absolutely love to do that. I'm just scratching the surface of film editing. I feel so lucky to have been working as long as I have, it's like being in film school for 12 years. I love all the departments that pour out their heart to create a
collective effort. To be part of "Lord of the Ring" and see the process, it's fascinating, I would love to be a part of the process from a different perspective.

UtilityPorpoise in Onstage_1 asks: I've heard there will be five months of reshoots or pick-ups next year for ROTK. What all will that entail?

SwedishSuzy2 in Onstage_1 asks: We're all excited to meet you.Is there a person YOU would love to have a chat with?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: There are so many people I'd love to chat with. Tom York from Radiohead because I find him fascinating and incredibly talented. I always think of people in music because I gravitate to music and musical artists. Prince would be interesting, I'm
rediculously curious what his perspective is. Also directors like Lars Von Trier, Spike Jonez, there's tons of people.

DishDiva says: Have you met Steven Spielberg?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: Yes, have you heard of his Shoah Foundation? He’s got a foundation that educates people on the holocaust, there are about 80 survivors and what they experienced. I had the honor to do some narration and they did interviews with older people who were child
children at the time and their perspective.

IndieDontCare in Onstage_1 asks: I just got turned down for the part of Lady Macbeth in the school play. How do you you react if you dont get a part that you really wanted?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: First off, I'm really sorry you got turned down, that's aweful. I think if you're looking forward to a role and it doesn't work out, it can be disappointing at the moment but I think what's meant to be will be. I look back on movies I couldn't be a part
of that I really wanted to do, it left me open to do something else that I really enjoyed doing. It can be disappointing, but there's always something else, hopefully. It can be. I don't know. I feel like if I'm not cast in something and they don't want me to be a part of it, then that's ok. They want someone else, and they'll do good. I wanted to be a part of "Rushmore" and I'm glad now that I wasn't in it because Jason was awesome.

DishDiva says: Did you already know the J.R.R.TOLKIEN books before the invitation for the movie?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: Yes, I read "The Hobbit" but not "Lord of the Rings" until I got there. The excitement of getting the role was pure and I didn't need the emotional connection with the book to have the profound connection I had. I wanted to work with Peter Jackson, I also really wanted to play Frodo, and to go to New Zealand.

DishDiva says: In which ways do you resemble Frodo?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: That's a difficult question, eqating qualities or yourself and character. I relate to him because he has a worldliness coming from stories from Bilbo. So I related to that being able to travel around and learn from people. Also what makes him a hobbit,love of food, land, and I apply that to my life as well.

DishDiva says: For all you girls out there. . .

Crazy_Sexy_Cool88 in Onstage_1 asks: We hear that you're a real romantic, what sort of thing do you do to make a girl feel loved?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: I don't know. I am a real romantic, not in the classical, or cliche like flowers all the time, but I think I'm romantic in the sense I believe in passion and the moment, and words that mean something in a special way. I guess I'm really tactile and I love the sense of touch from someone you care about. And expressing one's emotion in an honest way and that can be romantic. I think one of the most romantic things is waking up to someone in the morning, I find that beautiful. waking up next to someone in the morning.

DishDiva says: Wow. OK!

Mariand6 in Onstage_1 asks: what gift would you like to have?

Elijah_Wood_Live says: It's funny, this year has been difficult to think of one thing I want. I enjoy DVDs and books. This year I want a Palm Pilot, I'm a bit of a pack rat and lose things easily so to have something to organize my life would be beneficial. Or a new video camera, mines a bit out of date.

DishDiva says: Elijah, thank you for joining us tonight on MSN Live!

DishDiva says: From all of your fans from around the world best of luck with "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

Elijah_Wood_Live says: Good night, good morning, good afternoon, thank you so much for waiting so long to chat with me. It's been so much fun for me and brilliant and a nice respite from the normal junket questions. I appreciate your love and support.

Hallah, you a quick one! Well, I'm attaching it as a text file if anyone wants. Unfortunately, no Faculty questions made it in. Still very geared toward people who are not very familiar with Elwood.

I'm sure some of you have seen this before but....

Warning: Not for the faint of heart :eek:

Hi everyone!

Am back again, twice in one day! You can't keep me down! :p

enaiowen :eek: Bruce Gamgee and Tom Baggins watching the elves departing from the set of Die Hard With A Minority Report! Or is it Sam Willis and Frodo Cruise?! That is one scary picture! :D

Hallah, thanks for taking time to type up that MSN transcript. Ainon, thanks for the torn link to the AOL transcript. Oh well, maybe one day we will get our questions answered, we can live in hope. Maybe more direct action is needed :D

Gollum sounds really great, I can't wait to see him. Even my mother's looking forward to seeing him and that's saying something! :D She's been really on the ball lately, LOTR-wise. She even shouted me downstairs today with a bellow of "Come quickly, Billy Boyd's on the TV!" She's learning fast! ;)

My brother went and got an Elijah-do today. My mum went pseudo-mad again, God, it's only hair! :D

Sheryl - congrats on your tickets and babysitter! As I'm taking my seat at 7.50pm on 18th December I will be thinking of all the Facultiers throughout the world who are doing, have done or are about to do the same!

About the Mirror article - that's the first I've read about him being depressed. I wonder how reliable this is, was it an *actual* proper interview?

Originally posted by Maeglin
Oh, Elijah, you're so fantastic!! Are you, like, ever going to act on stage so we can get to see you? Are anyone offering you stage acting roles, cause I am sure you would be soooo wonderful, I think they should write a play just for you, and I'd like to be an actress myself, and wouldn't that be cool? You're my hero!
LOL, Maeg :D

Xmas party was good btw, the venue was very nice too.

Here's a new magazine cover - http://www.digitalpose.com/mbr/1/10755/p/155133_1272469159575714226_vl.jpg
Nice shot of The Eyes. Wish he'd get rid of that disgusting object though (not talking about the Tee-Shirt btw :rolleyes: ).

Here's a new interview that I've not seen anywhere before, I got it at AlwaysandForever -
http://www.rtl.de/videopopup_content.php?be=kino&he=Elijah+Wood+%28Frodo%29&ri=1&rd=1&wi=1&wd=1&vi=ssss_v_20021209_51_hdr_int_01__1&player=real_isdn
Is it just me or does our boy sound and look very tired? Must be all that travelling and promoting TT :( Always the professional though {{{Elijah}}}

I've had just one TTT nightmare so far. I dreamt that I was watching the movie and the action was split right down the middle like it's done in the book, with the first ninety minutes devoted to Aragorn and the last ninety minutes devoted to Frodo. Okay, maybe that doesn't sound too bad, but in the dream it was awful!

I've booked my tickets for noon on the 18th, which means I've also taken the day off. It's come to the stage now (I know it's sad) that I'm actually counting the hours in the hope of it going a bit quicker. Er, it's not working :) FotR is on next Monday on the big screen. I'm still debating with myself whether I should go see that again. Oh, decisions, decisions.

Wish he'd get rid of that disgusting object though (not talking about the Tee-Shirt btw ).

I totally agree. Anybody here good with Photoshop or something care to airbrush that thing out of the picture so I can bare to look at it again? :)

Edit: Oh yes. I also meant to tell my best news of all which is that I finally got my hands on the BBC Radio version of LotR in the post this morning. Now, should I wait to see TTT before listening or not? I don't think I can wait that long, so it sounds like a weekend spent listening to this version. Who says Friday the 13th isn't a lucky day?

Yes, definitely thanks to Hallah for the transcript--and for braving the chat room :eek: ! There were a few good questions, but they were mostly ones we already knew the answers to ;) . Regarding Elijah's favorite movies, I don't know The Delicatessan or Night of the Hunter, but the fact that he named Harvey was a little "Awww... that's so sweet" moment for me, and I was also glad he mentioned The Graduate. We've talked about him being in The Graduate either on film or on stage, but he'd also be great in the Jimmy Stewart role in Harvey--not much angst (except for his family trying to shut him up in a mental institution), but absolutely perfect for Elijah's dead-pan, well-timed humor. And that one might be about due for a remake! Wonder if the bunny get-up from Try Seventeen put that one in his head ;) . (His mention of Harvey sounds almost too "sweet" and I find myself wondering if he's referring to some really off-beat movie I've never heard of that has the same title :confused: .)

I'd love to read the article that goes with that cover, Lutheia. Even though I agree about the one nasssty thing in the picture, the whole cover seems like a joke (that Elijah, I don't doubt, completely participated in), down to the "damn hobbit" comment and the Burger King shirt (was there a Verizon phone somewhere in the pic that I missed :p ?). Anyway, the humor makes me want to read the article all the more.

And, Lutheia, did your brother get that "Elijah-do" because of Elijah, or did he want to do it anyway? And your mom... :) Your family is getting crazy, girl (and I mean that in the best way :p :) :) ).

Which brings me to a dream I had last night--no TTT, no visible Elwood (although in the dream I knew he was a friend of mine, which is fun to realize now that I'm awake :) ). But, in the dream I had a shaved head! Obsessed? Obsessed? Who's obsessed? :p :p [BTW, I have hair down to about the middle of my back, which I have no intention of cutting short, much less shaving off :eek: ! ]

Just saw Elwood on the Today Show talking to fellow buzz-cut Matt Lauer. I'm sure the die-hard Faculty will type up a transcript but Elwood didn't say anything really new. The only major plot point I got was that Frodo "betrays" Gollum, but doesn't really mean to. Forbidden Pool? is all I can think of.

They start with the nice little bonding session of one buzzcut to another. Massive Paraphrase:
Matt: I see you have the buzz-cut too.
EW: Yeah! I did it just because I was inspired by you!
Matt: Well, you did it for no reason. [touches bald spot in back] I did it for a BIG reason!
EW: Welllll.....

Me: Go on, say it. Say it! Damn! What were you going to say!?!!

EW seems to have lost his English accent. Now he sounds like a combination of a ForSure Valley guy, and a drawly Midwesterner. Those with more linguistic accent experience please feel free to trout or correct.

One important point: at least three times Lauer referred to TTT as the "second installment" rather than the "sequel." :) :cool: There is a great deal of discussion among those who are keeping track of the official reviews, and what we're finding is that many of the negative reviews hinge their negativity on the no ending/no recap/middle child aspect, which is of course completely compromises their position as a professional reviewer. It's okay for Joe "the Newbie" Twelvepack to be in the dark about this, but someone who follows movies for a paycheck? :rolleyes:

erendis: I just saw the Today show schtick. You are absolutely correct, there is very little new. The "betrays" comment must refer somehow to the Forbidden Pool, unless there is some variation on that scene that PJ et al have created. Good point about the installment comment. The Today show researchers must do their homework; or the NewLine PR machine must be efficiently feeding the talking heads the lines they want them to speak. :p
If I hear anyone else ask about the 16 month shoot, and the "fellowship is real" stuff again, I think I will :rolleyes:

And did you see the group of nurses that Al Roker talked to on the street before the segment with EW? Their sign said, "Hello to Al and Elijah!"

Speaking of PR: have you noticed that Elwood is the one doing all the talk shows, etc. (even more than PJ!) here in the states? (Not that there is anything *wrong* with that! :D ) Having seen Viggo on Charlie Rose, I guess NewLine isn't sure they can count on him to spout the party line. And Dom and Billy, as cute as they are, are as unpredictable as the Chicago weather. And Liv? (well, just ahsk Hobmom!) My impression is that EW is the one shouldering the burden of promotion because he is just so professional. He has certainly memorized the script: there are certain terms you hear again and again (well, you do if you are obsessively listening to or reading his every word. :rolleyes: ). Can you imagine: he flew to Paris for one day, then flew back to the States, did a promo while driving in from the airport, did the TRL, and more press, is doing the same today, and then is probably flying to LA for the next round of press and premieres. Isn't he scheduled to be at the NZ premiere, too? If he is looking tired, just look at the schedule.

I loved Sean Astin's comment at the London premiere, that Elijah was "out making money for the movie." What a sweet guy he is!

My USA Today newspaper came with a full color picture of Elijah and PJ. My Parade magazine on Sunday will have EW on the cover. Oh, and I embarrassed myself at the grocery store this morning by buying YM with EW on the cover. Even the bag boy was smirking at me! :eek:

I am still processing all the new quotes, press stuff and what all. But it looks like we WILL get Thumbsucker! WICKED!

How cute is this?

http://members.truepath.com/bananachunks/usatoday.jpg

From the Weekend section of today's USA Today.

elevensies: :k for posting that!

WoW, folks. inspired by the news that Thumbsucker is actually going to be made, I checked in at Videoeta.com and found these tidbits for you:

Ash Wednesday will be out on video on Feb. 18, 2003

Try Seventeen is scheduled for theatrical release in February 2003 (no date specified, but they must have found a distributor!)

and Chain of Fools is still "estimated January 2003" to be released on video. sigh.

Originally posted by Vita S-B

Oh, and I embarrassed myself at the grocery store this morning by buying YM with EW on the cover. Even the bag boy was smirking at me! :eek:


Vita, Vita, Vita. You've always seemed so much more...mature than I. Now we're doing the same things!

'Cept I read YM at the airport in LA.

erm...May I borrow your copy? I promise not to drool on it. Much.

:p

Edit: A few posts since I started mine (not unexpectedly), so I've added a bit upfront.

Vita, thanks for those dates! I hope they come true! And it was when I was nervously buying YM that I happened to have a check-out girl who's a fan of the movies, so she didn't think I was strange at all, even though I was buying two other magazines with TTT on the cover at the same time. (She did raise an eyebrow when I told her I'd seen FotR in the theater 22 times. :o )

I'll have to ask my mom to save the Parade magazine for me this week--she gets it, but I don't. I think they sell that weekend USA Today all weekend, so I might be able to get one of those yet.

RE USA Today photo:
Ele--Awwww is right :) .
Suggested caption: Can you identify the hobbit in this picture?

erendis--Thanks for your quick post on the Today interview. For some reason I had it in my head that it was scheduled for tomorrow and didn't even have the TV on. But your note gave me time to catch it the next hour in my time zone :) .

And, regarding the:
EW: Welllll.....
My take wasn't that EW was going to say something about his hair, but that this was more a guy reassuring another guy, "Welllll... it's not that big of a reason." (In other words, Matt's bald spot isn't that big.)

No, not much new (except that I hadn't seen the "We're going in circles/We're not alone," clip with both audio and video before). The Today Show didn't show a single Frodo&Sam clip when PJ was interviewed, but I guess it would have been hard to avoid it with Elijah there ;) . I thought it was reassuring, though, that he said Frodo's journey is internal, and that he responded to the usual question about TTT being darker and more violent by saying it gets "more dramatic"--referring mostly to the F&S storyline, I'd imagine.

There was one point near the end of the interview when I thought, "You sneaky little..." (in a good way :p ) -- When he said the characters "succeed" in the third movie, and then added, "That's not really giving anything away, because almost everybody's read the book." Yeah, and for anyone who hasn't read it by the time they go see RotK, you just sent them on one heckuva roller coaster ride! Reminded me of the standard reply when a Tolkien virgin asks who wins at the end of LotR: Well, the Ring gets destroyed. :p

Regarding publicity--On the list of TV interviews that's been posted, I did notice that Liv is scheduled to be on David Letterman. Maybe they learned from last year that Dave spends more time talking to attractive females :rolleyes: .

It seems Billy and Dom do a fair amount of interviews and appearances in Britain--possibly whoever makes those decisions is a little more sure that their particular sense of humor will be appreciated there than in the U.S.? :)