Plot:
Based on the the trilogy of books written by J.R.R Tolkien, there will be three movies filmed simultaneously to be released in 2001 and 2002. The movies follow Frodo Baggins, a young hobbit in the world of Middle Earth, who has inherited a magical ring. The ring is actually the ring of power, created by the evil Sauron in ancient times in his bid to control all. Sauron has returned and is desperately searching for the ring. Frodo is charged with the duty of taking the ring to Mount Doom, deep within Sauron's realm of Mordor and casting the ring into the lava to destroy it. He is accompanied on this journey by the hobbits Pippin, Merry and Sam, the wizard Gandalf, the human warriors Aragorn and Boromir, the elf Legolas and the dwarf Gimli.

News:

13 December, 2002

Peter Jackson spoke to Empire about the potential for extended versions of The Two Towers and Return of the King on DVD. "Yeah, we've got some good scenes that we didn't put in," Jackson told Empire Online. "There's a lot more stuff with Merry, Pippin and Treebeard. There's the sequence from the book where they drink Ent draught - which we shot but didn't end up putting in the movie because of pacing, but that'll be good for the DVD. There's a bunch of good scenes."

As for Return of the King, Jackson says, "Actually, we haven't cut it yet. I'll find out once we cut the film together, then we'll see what's in the movie and what we're going to leave out and finally, whether or not that's worth putting on a DVD."

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25 November, 2002

USA Today will be featuring a special poster for the film in their weekend edition for December 13-15. Here's their press release:

Exclusive USA WEEKEND /Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers poster This one-of-a-kind collectible introduces three new characters and depicts a key scene in the continuing epic adventure of Hobbit Frodo Baggins' heroic quest to destroy the all-powerful One Ring - and with it, the evil Sauron's rule over once-idyllic Middle-earth. The poster is styled after what the film industry calls a "one-sheet," an image designed to give a movie an identity. Unlike the official theater one-sheet for The Two Towers, our special poster not only features warrior-princess Éowyn, her downtrodden uncle, King Théoden, and the shifty, One Ring-obsessed Gollum (characters who will be seen for the first time in this sequel to last year's Oscar-nominated The Fellowship of the Ring), but it further reveals an image not used in any other Two Towers marketing materials: that of soldiers guarding the city of Osgiliath, where Hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are taken after being captured. There are 10 characters from the first film, including Frodo, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Arwen (Liv Tyler) and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen). The poster is bordered with verse from the original Tolkien books, a portion of which is rendered in Elvish, the language of Elves.

6 June, 2002

Pick up shots are taking place now in New Zealand. MTV spoke to Sean Astin on set and he said, "They've realized that there are certain things that they are missing, certain moments that they need...and then they flew us down here, and now we're going to film them."

New footage from The Two Towers will be shown tonight at the MTV Movie Awards.

5 April, 2002

Fellowship of the Ring has now moved into fifth place on the all time box office charts. It cracked the $800 million world wide mark, passing Independence Day to move into 5th. It still trails Jurassic Park by $100 million, making it unlikely it will move up again.

24 January, 2002

New Line distribution president David Tuckerman spoke to Page Six about their plans for the film. They may surprise fans of the film. They plan "at some point in time to add (additional footage at the end of Rings that) will be a lot longer than a trailer, but I don't know how much longer. We're going to give (moviegoers) a preview of (the second episode of Rings). We're going to change the last reel out and do a preview of Two at the end of the last reel. (People) are screaming for it."

When would this happen? "I'm sure (it would be) after the Oscars are voted and the ballots are done," Tuckerman said. "I'm pretty certain we'll end up doing it."

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20 December, 2001

Early reports are coming that estimate the movie's box office for the first 5 days will be in the $60 to $70 million range. Midnight showings were sold out around the country. You can check out our reviews of the film here and here.

28 November, 2001

The first reviews of the film have appeared online. Both are very positive with only some minor complaints. One is at AICN and the other is at Home Theater Forum

8 November, 2001

Entertainment Weekly is having no less than five covers devoted to the Lord of the Rings for an upcoming issue. You can check them out here.

Oh, by the way, you can now find the entire score for Fellowship of the Ring at this site.

6 November, 2001

How would you like a chance to preview the score to Fellowship of the Ring? You can do just that at Soundtrack.net. You can download 30 second pieces of each track of the score. Check it out quickly while you still can.

1 November, 2001

A bunch of new posters have been released for The Fellowship of the Ring. These include a shot of the Fellowship on the move, one of Frodo, one of the hobbits, one of Aragorn, one of Legolas, one of Gandalf and one showing the Ringwraiths on the move. You can find the pictures here.

26 September, 2001

The latest trailer is now available from the official website. You can find it in just about any size you need here.

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18 September, 2001

This amazing shot is the first seen of Gandalf the White at Helm's Deep.

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17 September, 2001

Tonight's season premiere of the show Angel on the WB network will also feature a preview of the movies.

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29 August, 2001

There is yet another new poster out. This one is for The Fellowship of the Ring and uses some artwork rather than a photo of Frodo for a change. Very nice looking piece and it can be won at Moviephone.com.

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24 July, 2001

A preview of the movie was shown at this year's San Diego Comic Con. Our Hollyfeld was in attendance and filed this report:

Then came the Lord of the Rings presentation, which was easily the most disappointing presentation of The Con. Not only was the event set back by HALF AN HOUR in order to let everyone in who wanted in, in, but they showed us, more or less, NOTHING. After the premiere of thirty minutes of footage at the Cannes Film Festival, I thought that the least they would do is show us a scene or two, but no, instead we get "treated" to a couple of "Making Of" segments, each about three minutes in length, that will be on the internet in a couple of weeks anyway. I wasn't alone in feeling really gypped, frankly. To their credit, however, Christopher Lee, Sir Ian McKellen and Ian Holm took time out of their schedules to do a personalized introduction, as did all four of the hobbits featured in the film.

For those interested, the two segments were entitled "Hobbiton Comes Alive" and "The Fallen Kings," respectively. The first one focused on the scope and scale of creating a real life Hobbiton, which to be fair looked really nice, and the latter on the creation of the Ringwraiths, which was easily the more interesting of the two, but even then only gave us a little bit of new information. One of the visual effects that director Peter Jackson is using for the effect of the Ringwraiths has "all of nature" being afraid of them, resulting in all manner of flora and fauna reacting to their presence. Sounds cool, but apart from a single spider crawling down on of the hobbit's tunics, we didn't see it happen.

Again, I felt gypped.

You can read the entire report from the Con here.

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20 July, 2001

We now know who Sauron is. Novice actor Sala Baker will be playing the dark lord. Here's the story as reported by TheOneRing:

Sala originally was a 2nd Unit worker in the production who landed this role after being spotted by the filmmakers. He has never been in a film before.

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17 July, 2001

Here's one of the odder things I'll ever report about this movie. Riot Entertainment has struck a deal with New Line Cinema to secure exclusive wireless interactive game rights to the film trilogy. The company already has an audience of about 110 million people through its existing partnerships and expects that will expand to about 300 million by the time they start rolling out Rings content.

Jan Wellmann, CEO Riot Entertainment Ltd, said: "Partnering with New Line Cinema on a project on the scale of The Lord of the Rings is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase the immense potential of wireless marketing and entertainment to a global audience. Through our partnerships with Marvel Enterprises Inc., Twentieth Century Fox and Helen Fielding, Author of Bridget Jones's Diary, we have shown that we can get thousands of people hooked on an idea - and transformed the way they think about their mobile phone as an entertainment device. We aim to get millions of people interacting in the Lord of the Rings wireless community, building their awareness of the movie and feeding their imaginations with exciting content around what is set to be the movie event of 2001, 2002 and 2003."

Make of this deal what you will.

In other news today, Caltanet spoke with David Wenham about the film and playing Faramir. Here's a small piece:

Q: Faramir, son of Denethor II and brother of Boromir, is a great warrior but also very gentle and fragile. What do you think about him and his brother Boromir?
A: Boromir is more hot-tempered, more red-blooded. Faramir nearly is like the ideal person, the ideal man. In a way. There is a wonderful stuff in the book about the fact that he'd never killed a creature whitout a good reason. He's a man that is very easy to respect.

Q: Which was Peter Jackson filmaking approach to this part, a little bit soaping, of the story?
A: What Peter has done not only with this part of The Lord of the Rings but with all the book and all the story, is to be as truthful and real as possible in every situation. He was adamant about that and so hopefully about that this part of the story will come across as very real and very believable for the audience. So it won't be greatly pathetic from the audience to swallow the fact that Eowyn is nearly changed between her obsession for Aragorn and then her love for Faramir.

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30 May, 2001

You collectors out there should start getting ready. The action figures for this movie are on their way. The shots below are of the figures for Frodo, Gimli, Gandal and Aragorn.

29 May, 2001

Christopher Lee had some comments on his official website concerning the whole production, cast and crew.

"Most important of all, from my point of view, were the people who came from New Zealand. There were those that came from the US, some from Canada, some from Europe, and the UK, but for me the high point was, besides the party that was excellent, the high point was the fact that Richard Taylor the special effects wizard, was there with his partner. They really have created magic with these three films, and the word is magic, he was there he had come from New Zealand, two of the production secretaries also came from New Zealand, and quite right too, considering the amount of work they've been involved in over a very long period of time. Phillipa Boyens, came with her daughter, Sean Astin came with his wife and daughter, who is 4 years old and quite remarkably clever."

"But most important of all, Peter Jackson. And I was looking at the german video ages ago, from the party Sunday night, and all of us were talking about how proud we were of this wonderful achievement. But I would like to add to that, because I didn't then, but have many other times, that it is all due to the genius, stamina, stability, and the vision of Peter Jackson, who really is one of a kind, they broke the mold, and his fair wife, and co-producer, and co-writer Fran, who was also there. They must have been exhausted, they've both just come from New Zealand. Peter got out of the car, doesn't speak french, had driven for 2 days, from somewhere near Paris, right down to Cannes, without getting lost, that gives you an idea of what a remarkable person he is. I can't pay too high a praise to him, he is responsible, well so are others, but giving him the opportunity, New Line, and they were there, because without them these films would not be made. Bob Shaye, of New Line and Michael Lynn, but the one person from New Line who had the most faith in the production from day one was Mark Ordesky, Mark was there, he was the guiding hand, he was helping us do what we were doing, during our time at Cannes."

22 May, 2001

The latest copy of Entertainment Weekly featured this nifty photo of Ian McKellen as Gandalf.

Meanwhile, Xoanon at TORN sends us word of the next trailer. An anonymous source got a chance to see it and sent in a fairly detailed report of what we can expect. It sounds like a damn good reason to hit the theater.

The next preview trailer - No it does not have the Balrog in it. It is very very good - much better than the 1st one. I do not know when it is going to be shown - very soon (within a week) I would guess.

There is a lot in the thing - some things just one frame. But I had not noticed (or forgot) there is a very brief scene where the orcs are coming down the pillars (looks OK to me), A scene where Galadriel and Frodo are facing each other, you see a nice close up of the ring (with fire runes visible), there is some sort of "fire-bird" swooping down on the shire (I guess it's in the shire - there are hobbits), - I do not remember it either from LOTR, at first I thought it was just some magical fireburst, but after looking at again it is definately a pterydactyl-looking bird swooping down on a hobbit. It is transparent - like made of fire - very brief shot. [Gandalf's fireworks? -Tehanu] There's shots of the party oaring canoes of some sort. As I've said the important thing (to me anyway) it's a very nicely done trailer and I hope it generates a lot of buzz in the general public. I can't wait to see it on the big screen!

It opens with a beautiful aerial shot of some forest region with a river running through it. Then we see Gandalf (looking very afraid and haggard !?) asking if the ring is safe -- to Frodo. Then we hear some narration about the ring and see Mt Doom in the distance (not too realistic). There are multiple fight scenes (very cool), we hear more dialog (all very good), There is some breathtaking scenery. One very cool scene we hear Gollum say "My precious" and make... well a "gollum". This comes right after Frodo says "There's something down there" Very well done I might add - very creepy voice.

Near the end, Aragorn asks Frodo if he is afraid and he replies yes then Strider says "Not nearly afraid enough" - Very well done -- Very very good trailer - should get a lot of people excited.

There is more of course, I don't have photographic memory or anything. Some things I have not seen on some of the pictures so far - Ringwraiths shown in negative, a female being chased by a number of cloaked riders (aerial view), There is some footage of the council with Boromir saying "The Ring is a gift from the enemy - let us use it against him," then Aragorn saying "No one can wield the Ring" All in all I was very excited to see this!! You will not be disappointed. The only thing I noticed is that Gandalf looked a bit crazy, not like the calm wizard I imagined.

One other scene comes to mind - Gandalf (I think) narrating about the Ring says, "Sauron could bring a second darkness on the land if found," and "his whole mind is bent on finding it" or something like that. Very exciting stuff. BTW the sound was incredible!

27 April, 2001

This amazing photo comes courtesy of Elostirion.com. What is it you ask? It's none other than the Gates of Moria. It's a pretty damn impressive photo but I'm a little confused as to just what Frodo is wearing on his feet. It sure doesn't look like hairy feet.

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12 April, 2001

Xoanan at TheOneRing.net sent us this great interview with LOTR artist and LOTR Conceptual designer for the films John Howe.

Earlier on this morning during your lecture you mentioned there are some characters you find hard to draw. Can you give us an example?

Ents. Ents are very hard to draw, yeah I find many... I find the Elves very hard to draw as well because they are so beautiful. I like the way Peter Jackson portrayed Legolas, I think he's great. I mean it's not at all the way I see him, but I think he looks wonderful. And the other Elves, I'm very surprised by Elrond, the guy from the Matrix, but I think it's a great choice, he looks really, really good. Maybe half of the things in the movie I don't see the way as the movie does, but I'm not making the movie. It's difficult to find men to play Elves you know... Elves should be tall, they should be incredibly beautiful. It's difficult to find male faces for such parts. As for the Ents, I have not seen the way they are going to show the Ents, I mean, we saw the miniatures they were working on, but I have no idea what it's going to look like on the big screen.

What was it like working as a concept artist for the Lord of the Rings movie? How closely did you get to work with the set designers, props designers, costume designers etc. etc.?

Well... it was all very 'organic', there were very few lines drawn. I mean there were rules, but generally a good idea was a good idea, no matter who it came from. So there was not really a situation in which everyone else but Peter Jackson could veto an idea. And it was up to us to simply put forward the best we could come up with, and then it went from there. And we were allowed to go in and work on the sets ourselves, and the miniatures... There was a lot of continual feedback going back and forth all the time.

Do you sometimes draw on Tolkien's own art for inspiration?

Well, I draw on his art for information not so much for inspiration. I think the information contained inside J.R.R. Tolkien's art is very deep, it's a... what am I trying to say... There is a lot of information directly available inside his pictures, but the style is very, very diffirent from what I'm doing, so it's not a question of actually drawing any inspiration from him. But it's a very clear representation of what he thought, so I find that quite usefull some times.

You can read the entire interview here.

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3 April, 2001

Xoanon over at TheOneRing.net sent in some great photos from promotional materials for the movie. There is a great big one here of the cast and you can find the rest here.

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27 March, 2001

Cate Blanchett was interviewed by a Brisbane newspaper in which she commented on the movie. "It was like stepping into a video game for me."

She talks enthusiastically about Galadriel. "I basically did it so I could have the ears. They were so sweet, because they actually made little bronze castings of my ears. I loved all that stuff."

She even spoke a bit about Elvish. "Tolkien actually wrote a language called Elvish, and there are, to my astonishment, Elvish experts, people who speak fluent Elvish." She says the language is "really beautiful, similar to Welsh and a melange of other Celtic languages."

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5 February, 2001

The first theatrical teaser is now finally available for downloading to your computer. It has been posted on Apple's site in compressed formats for easier downloading.

• Lo-Res MOV 7MB
• Hi-Res MOV 17MB

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23 January, 2001

Gandalf is everywhere these days. His latest appearance is in the 2001 Preview issue of the LA Times. If I had to guess I would say this shot is from the mines of Moria.

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22 January, 2001

Entertainment Weekly featured a number of new photos in their 2001 Preview issue. Included are shots of Arwen, Gandalf, the Hobbits, Elrond, Aragorn, Peter Jackson in Hobbiton and some orcs.

11 January, 2001

Tommorrow is a big day for Tolkien fans. The first trailer for the movies will be attached exclusively to New Line's movie Thirteen Days. Anticipation is very high. Remember the lines that formed early for The Phantom Menace? Well similar lines are apparently sprouting up just to see this trailer. If you want more details, head over to the Tolkien Guild, which is organizing some of the lines.

While you wait, definitely head over to the National Post, which has posted a bunch of pictures from a calender sent to. Included are photos of Gandalf, Legolas, Galadriel, Bilbo, Boromir, Frodo, Saruman, Aragorn, Arwen, Gimli and some orcs.

6 December, 2000

Today we have a couple of fascinating photos. The first, sent to us by 'Xoanon' from TheOneRing shows the inside of The Prancing Pony Inn at Bree. The hobbits you see in the foreground are doubles to the real actors. These doubles are used to create the illusion of the hobbits' small size.

The second photo, which appeared over at Stuff NZ, is a nice overhead shot of the Minas Tirith set. We've seen several shots of this before but they were at a good distance and either looking up at the set or straight on at it. This is the first time we've been able to look down into the set. It really adds considerably to the detail and provides a real sense of scale.

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4 December, 2000

Xoanon over at TheOneRing was kind enough to send along a bunch of photos taken at the Minas Tirith set in Heyward Hills. You can find several more of these over there.

Xoanon also has a couple reports from people who were at the SFX conference in Wellington recently. Some of the tidbits that emerged from talks with WETA's Animation Supervisor Adam Valdez:

• He said that the "fell beasts" were cool and that they were basically dragons with longer, more snake-like necks and bat-type wings.
• He said that the effects were not going to be typical Hollywood, but would rather be quite unique, and that he truly believed they have raised the standard.
• One person asked how they will manage the continuity in the films concerning the rapid eveolution of special effects. Valdez responded that they were lucky in that the films naturally lay out so that more special effects is needed in each successive movie. This means that there won't be heaps of cgi in film 1, which means they have more time to work on finer details for 2 and especially 3 (esp. concerning Gollum).
• "Valdez also said that the Balrog was "a half apparition, half monster thing" and that the Ringwraiths (and Frodo when he has the Ring on) see things differently to us: "We see light and colour, and they (the Ringwraiths) see ... oh, well, I shouldn't go into that". Damn, he was so close!!!!

Finally, Christopher Lee spoke to Empire Online about playing Sarumen. “I was bowled over by it, line for line – and still am. It is magical,” says Lee. He wasn't letting out any real secrets though. “I can’t discuss anything about it. I signed a confidentiality agreement. I can tell you who I’m playing, of course, because that is common knowledge”.

He would discuss a little bit on Sarumen. “He’s more than just a wizard. They are immortals. But they are human-shaped. They’re called the istari. They are immortal. They are maiar. They are sent by the valar, who are the creators, to Middle Earth. There are three wizards to concern yourself with, and I am number one: the most powerful. The most brilliant. The one of the greatest strength: Saruman, the White. The point is, power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, famous phrase, and that’s what happens to him. He’s meant to be the white wizard, but it comes out that he’s gone to the dark side. That’s all in the book. That’s all in the film. And that’s all I can tell you.”

What do you think they're building exactly?

14 November, 2000

Could we be seeing the first teaser trailer soon? Apparently so according to Xoanon over at TheOneRing. According to sources inside New Line Cinema, the trailer will be attached to copies of the Cuban missile crisis drama, 13 Days. The main thing is timing. The trailer is being worked on so if it can be finished by the December 20th release date of 13 Days we should see it.

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9 November, 2000

Here is someone I'm jealous of, an anonymous scooper that actually lives near the filming of the movies and got to check out some of the filming.

Being a true believer (read purist fanatic) where else would I live at the moment but New Zealand?

The sets are great, the detail is incredible, the costumes/props/prosthetics amazing. I've watched them filming, been inside Stone Street, talked with some of the cast & Peter J. I've even seen a lot of the final footage & it really does justice to the books. Eat your heart out!

Hopefully this un-named snoop will drop back in on us with some more details.

8 November, 2000

Coming Attractions scored a huge scoop by unveiling the teaser posters for all three movies. Each posters features a Middle Earth symbol and a specific color. Anybody know what they mean?

• Fellowship of the Ring teaser poster
• The Two Towers teaser poster
• Return of the King teaser poster

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2 November, 2000

Getting your photos developed in New Zealand can be really slow. That's if you're playing an orc in The Lord of the Rings that is. Extras who play orcs in the trilogy get their photo taken in full costume and make up. That's pretty cool right? Well their is one little problem. They don't get the photo for two years.

Meanwhile, E! Online posted another report on the filming. They focused on the Battle of Pelennor Fields for being filmed Return of the King with 230 Orcs, 250 Rohan soldiers and 50 plus stunt men on hand. That means 250 horses and around 800 people on the set.

To transform extras into orcs, WETA puts them in black nylon bodysuits with gray rubber orc skin over the top. Costumes and armor come later. In the meantime they spend time with physical trainer who teach them how to walk like orcs. Orcs are pretty easy to dress according to wardrobe coordinator Janis MacEwan. "They're foot soldiers--they scavenge through the bodies of their victims and steal bits of clothing," she explains. "So, we can borrow from other costumes we've got."

It's a great article with plenty of detail. I highly recommend checking it out.

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31 October, 2000

Sir Ian McKellen's website has updated again, this time with some interesting photos. One shows a silhouete of McKellen as Gandalf. The other shows Gandalf and Bilbo watching the prepartations for Bilbo's big party from a hillside.

12 September, 2000

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5 September, 2000

The folks over at Scoop managed to get some great photos of the buildings erected for the Hobbiton set. The picture here is just one of them. Click on the picture to see the rest of them.

Meanwhile, over at TheOneRing.net, they have pictures of the set of Minas Tirith, formerly the Helm's Deep set. The current structures are being heavily modified to be a new location. They also have more detailed shots of the set that features that weird spiked wheel everyone is confused about.

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24 August, 2000

Sir Ian McKellen has updated his website yet again, answering questions on his work in the trilogy of movies. Answering a question about dealing with Gandalf's beard he says, "After 5 months I am reconciled to having my face disguised by false hair all day and even find some comforting security in the wig, moustache and flowing beard. After all, without them, I wouldn't look (or feel) much like Gandalf. When the wind, or wind machine, blows and the odd wayward hair tickles my cheek or forehead and Jeremy Woodhead is called on set to comb and tease it back, I can get distracted from the acting. At lunchtime, my wig is pinned back and the beard is bundled into a hair-net which snoods it out of the way of salad and dessert. Gandalf the White's beard is more restrained than the Grey's and we can dispense with the hair-net."

Do you recall that picture awhile back that appeared to show Gandalf leading a cavalry charge? Well that wasn't McKellen in the shot. It was his riding double Basil Clapham.

McKellen confirms that the scene in which Gandalf is rescued from the top of Orthanc by the eagle Gwaihir is in the movie. The giant eagle will be digitally created.

The French website CineBobine got a hold of several new photos from the film. Below you can see two of them. One shows the hobbits with swords drawn and the other shows Aragorn ready to fight. The third picture from TheOneRing.net is a spectacular shot of the Edoras set.

  

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17 August, 2000

You might think that casting would be pretty much done by now but you would be wrong. Joel Tobeck has been added to the cast as Smeagol. That is who Gollum was before he found the ring and became corrupted by it. Tobeck will obviously be appearing in a flashback scene. Looking at his picture I can honestly say that he's a great choice.

Those guys over at Scoop NZ must have real hobbits working for them. That's the only way to explain coming up with pictures like this one taken on the Helm's Deep set. Great work guys.

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16 August, 2000

Howard Shore has been confirmed as the composer for the trilogy of films. Shore is well known for his scores to Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and The Fly. Coming out this week is The Cell which he also scored. In a statement to Music from the Movies, Shore said "Yes, I am doing The Lord of the Rings Trilogy."

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9 August, 2000

Just to add to the confusion surrounding yesterday's photo, Sir Ian McKellen has stated on his website that that is not him in the picture. To further add to the head scratching he helpfully points out that it wasn't Christopher Lee in the picture either. McKellen was on that set at the time. Lee wasn't, being in Australia to film Star Wars Episode II at the time.

You should check out the most recent update at McKellen's site. He gives an excellent account of the filming and his time in New Zealand.

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8 August, 2000

An interesting photo appeared today in New Zealand's Evening Post. The photo to the left expands to show a lot more but don't click on it if you're leery of spoilers. In fact, don't read the rest of this story if you're leery of spoilers.

Still here? The scene depicted in the photo shows Ian McKellen as Gandalf, impaled on a spiked wooden wheel. I'm guessing that this scene takes place following Gandalf's fall into the pit at Khazad-Dum during his battle with the Balrog. Filming of this scene took place at a set on Peterkin St in Taita on Tuesday. The crew were moving the wheel during shooting.

1 August, 2000

Sean Astin sat down with E! Online for an interview about the movie and his role as the hobbit Sam. When asked what he had done so far at the halfway point of filming he responds, "I've been everywhere, man! We were in the Shire in January, we've been inside the crack of Mount Doom, to the path of Kathhardrath, Lothlórien, the swamps of Mordor...I can't imagine we have anything left to shoot! [Laughs.] We've got the Shelob stuff coming up--and the internal scenes at Hobbiton, though."

What was it that attracted him to the role? "Sam is the personification--I should say the Hobbitification--of loyalty and goodness. He doesn't talk very much; he's not Gandalf or Frodo or Saruman--vocally grappling with these weighty issues. But Sam is always there and always faithful to Frodo. That's something you don't see a lot of in contemporary society."

One of the great questions from the book is what is it that allows Sam to resist the power of the Ring. "Everyone who reads LOTR will have a different take on this. For me, there's a certain simplicity to him. It's very easy to overlook simplicity--it frequently gets mistaken for stupidity. Sam has an amazing commitment and loyalty. He's aware of what Frodo is up against, and he's terrified about the dangers of the quest, but he sticks with Frodo and remains loyal. I don't think he's untarnishable, because anyone can fall victim to the dark forces of the Ring, but he has an inner strength, and he just doesn't give way to the evil, even though he faces death. That's what I love about him."

When asked his opinion of director Peter Jackson, Astin says "I'm learning so much. He has this quality of being incredibly focused but really relaxed. He's not laying back on an easy chair with a piña colada. He's very hands-on. He literally grabs the camera, throws it on his shoulder and lays down in the dirt or jumps onto a stand. He's forever as dirty as anybody else on the set."

31 July, 2000

Empire magazine had a mention of the movies in its latest issue along with a previously unseen photo.

"Even better news is that Fellowship now has a UK release date - it's all set to make its bow here on December 14, 2001, which apparently means that in an unusual coup, British cinema audiences get to see it a full five days before American moviegoers! More teaser trailers are set to make their mark online [at www.lordoftherings.net] between now and Christmas"

12 July, 2000

Currently the production is in the midst of a six week hiatus. Have no fear, the break is planned. Considering that filming has been going on for nine months with more to go, a break is probably in order.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas, WETA was busy showing off some props and designs at the VSDA convention. On display were a pair of shields, a pair of helmets and a model of a dwarf.

  

 

21 June, 2000

Several new images for you to check out today. Up first are a pair of images of the Nazgul. In the first you can see the Black Riders chasing someone on a white horse. The second is a close up of one reaching toward the camera. Next is what is supposed to be a poster for the movie. I'm not sure if this is real or fan generated but it does have some previously unseen images in it so it could be real. Finally another piece of promotional material for the movie that has been appearing in trade magazines.

 

 

16 June, 2000

Sir Ian McKellen was good enough to post more answers to fans questions on his website. One fan asked about the rumors that the character of Arwen accompanies the Fellowship, which does not happen in the books. McKellan put a quick end to this rumor. "Arwen does NOT accompany the Fellowship in the movie."

He also responds to a question about Gandalf's sword Glamdring. "I worked with Bill Hobbes years back when I played Hamlet onstage - dagger and rapier. I have never had any general fight training, so each time I have to wield a weapon I start from scratch. In "Lord of the Rings" I have trained a little with Gandalf's staff and Glamdring, which he carries once the Fellowship is en route for Mordor."

Fighting is easier onscreen than onstage. The camera rarely sees the full figure, whose silhouette is crucial to convince a theatre audience. Hence the use of doubles who save the actors' time and bloodied knuckles. You can be pretty sure that when you can't see the characters' faces during a film fight, that doubles are being used. That leaves the actor with his close-ups, wielding an off camera weapon , sometime minus its blade to avoid slicing the operator!"

Below are a pair of pictures that appeared at a licensing show. Originally appeared on Dark Horizons but TheOneRing.net managed to get larger versions.

12 June, 2000

Even more fascinating pictures are turning up for your inspection. The first one below is a shot of Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins. The second is a shot of Hobbiton.

6 June, 2000

TheOneRing.net managed to get their mitts on a fascinating pair of photos. The first one is a shot of Frodo and Gandalf riding in a cart together. This was mentioned on the official site at one point so we can now see how well forced perspective works in making the actors playing hobbits look the proper size. The cart in question was designed so that Elijah Wood (Frodo) actually sat further back than Ian McKellen (Gandalf). The camera is head on so it doesn't pick up the fact that they aren't sitting side by side. It creates the illusion that Frodo is much smaller than Gandalf. The second shot is a close up of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. This is the first good look we've gotten of him in the film.

30 May, 2000

A huge assortment of photos for you to drool over today. First off are a trio from TheOneRing. These include the first photo of Gimli and a clay sculpture of Gollum and a rough computer rendering of Gollum. Now with the pictures of Gollum, I've blurred the thumbnails in case you'd rather not know what he looks like in advance. These pictures have no texture or color to them. They are just the shape of Gollum so they can't be considered completely accurate descriptions of his appearance. You've been warned. There are several more at TheOneRing if you care to look.

Moving right along we have more pictures, this time from 'Cirdan' of the German LOTR fan site. These pictures came from Woman's Week magazine and are shots from the Mordor sets. Two of them show Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, as Frodo and Sam respectively, heading for Mount Doom. The other shot is a group of armored warriors from Gondor. There are several more shots at Cirdan's site if you want more.

22 May, 2000

More pictures to get excited over! TheOneRing.net managed to get their mitts on pictures of Saruman and Arwen in costume.

17 May, 2000

Click on this link right away. What you will see is a photo taking during shooting that shows Gandalf the White leading a cavalry charge.

16 May, 2000

Add a couple more names to the cast list. New Zealanders John Leigh and Nathaniel Lees will play the parts of Hama and Ugluk respectively. Leigh has worked for Peter Jackson before in The Frighteners.

Also of interest is an article that appeared in NZ's The Evening Post. It includes a great photo of the set under construction at Mount Potts. The crew would not specify exactly what scenes the set was for. All they would say is, "it's a plains scene with the Rohans, and there will be some big battle scenes with Orcs and things." Whatever it's for it looks pretty damn cool. The article is attached to the picture so you can read the whole thing for yourself.

12 May, 2000

To the left is a picture from the movie. I'm guessing it's from early on when the hobbits are hiding from the Black Riders on their way out of Hobbiton. If you want to see a couple shots of Peter Jackson on his set you can check out the source of this shot at the German LOTR Fan Site.

3 May, 2000

Karl Urban has signed on to play the part of Eomer. Eomer was Theoden's lieutenant in charge of the Rohan army. Urban is a native of New Zealand and has done a fair amount of work on NZ television and theater. He is apparently a skilled horseback rider which should serve him very well in this role.

1 May, 2000

What will Sauron look like? Tolkien never described him apart from the red eye. Will that cut it in a movie? That's probably one of the biggest questions surrounding the film. We don't have an answer for this question but E! Online managed to find out a little.

We were allowed to "see" Sauron on our last set visit, during a scene from the second age. Sauron, played by a stunt actor, was completely encased in shiny, jagged-steel armor and a ragged, dark blue cape. The armor features a poison-ivy motif. Sauron's helmet, which masks his face completely, is like a sheep's skull with six jagged spikes. Think medieval knight meets kitchen appliance.

The report also confirmed that Australian actor David Wenham will play the role of Faramir. Ethan Hawke was reported to have the role early on but lost out to Wenham. Ian Holm and Christopher Lee have both completed filming of their roles. The 78 year old Lee said, "I hope I'm still around to see the results."

7 April, 2000

At 12:01 AM this morning, the first footage of the movie became available to the general public. Running one minute forty four seconds, the teaser starts with some behind the scenes footage and Peter Jackson talking about the project. Then the picture goes to widescreen as a massive army marches across a plain in front of a huge mountain, presumably Mount Doom.

Short clips from the movie are intercut with a shot of the one ring, with the runes on its inner surface lighting up in fire as it rotates. This is extremely impressive. I just went from excited to frothing at the mouth excited.

Download the trailers, various sizes.

Below are a number of images from the teaser for you to check out.

You can watch the footage here.

3 April, 2000

The official website for the movie is going to be releasing that much desired footage shown at ShoWest to the public. They have been sending messages counting down to the release. There will be approximately two minutes of footage along with behind the scenes stuff. It should be broadcast starting 3PM EST on Saturday Apri 8th.

New Line Cinema presents J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

A first look at the HEROES

A first look at the CREATURES

A first look at the TALE that inspired millions

Included in the messages are these images from the movie.

 

 

29 March, 2000

Ian McKellen's website continues to be a great source for info on the production. He updated it recently to answer some more questions from the fans. Answering a question about the considerable riding that Gandalf does he says, "I have already met the horse playing Shadowfax and expect to mount him on occasion. But as usual on film when there are any equine manoeuvres that would be dangerous for an inexpert horseman like me, a stunt rider will double as Gandalf, wearing the character's clothes and makeup but with his face averted from the camera. I am happy with this arrangement, which also applies to unusual physical action or violence. My friend Roy Kinnear died having fallen from his horse on slippery terrain whilst filming The Four Musketeers."

When asked about how Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog, he replies, "Mainly technical as the Balrog will be digitally realised to fit in with my solo movements on film."

In response to a question about Gandalf's shift in purpose from The Hobbit through to the end of The Lord of the Rings McKellen responds, "The events of The Hobbit are properly referred to in the screenplay but Gandalf is seen only within the Lord of the Rings story. The change you refer to is most marked when Gandalf the Grey is superceded by Gandalf the White. In the first film, there is plenty of scope in the early scenes in Hobbiton to portray the wandering wizard who dominates The Hobbit."

27 March, 2000

Below are some images that could very well be the construction of the Rivendell set. If this is the case then this should be a stunning set when its finished.

Rumors are floating about that Faramir may have been cast. The person in question is David Wenham (Dark City). There is no confirmation on this so treat it as definite rumor for the moment.

Finally today, we've got a report from the ever imformative Cirdan, who managed to see the ShoWest footage from the movies. I am of course insanely jealous but will try to go on anyway.

Some days ago I got this kind of message "We have to show you something. Visit us at March 23rd, we will pay your costs" So I visit some influential people and they showed me the LOTR-Footage!

Now I will tell you what I saw. Sorry, it´s not in the chronologic order, just everything I remember.

I saw 200.000 Orcs marching through Mordor in the background Orodruin --CUT-- I saw the "Green Dragon", many hobbits at the square and a cart driving over a bridge --CUT-- Frodo looks at the ring --CUT-- Far away wolfs howl, Aragorn with brown hair and with what looks to be a 3 day beard draws his sword --CUT-- two Armies crash together --CUT-- Gandalf and Frodo in a cart in the Shire --CUT-- Gimli and Legolas fighting many Orcs --CUT-- The camera flys about Middle Earth, then we can see some people at the horizen, we fly closer and see the fellowship --CUT-- Arwen riding a white horse. Four or five Nazgul chase her --CUT-- Gandalf walking through the snow --CUT-- Sam and his daughter in hobbiton --CUT-- Bilbo with grey wooed hair --CUT-- Orcs detailed faces --CUT-- Christopher "Saruman" Lee in white with his Palantir-staff --CUT-- we see the inside of a hobbit hole--CUT--at the end Boromir (in a rocky landscape) looks at the ring and spoke with sad words about this little thing --CUT- then in big letters

LORD OF THE RINGS

IN PRODUCTION

FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - CHRISTMAS 2001

THE TWO TOWERS - CHRISTMAS 2002

RETURN OF THE KING - CHRISTMAS 2003

In Addition some CGI-Shots from a Trolll and Gollum, Interviews with Alan Lee and John Howe, Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin...Some Shot of Lorien-Designs (looks a little bit like a filigree version of the ewok-houses) and Cate Blanchett and many many more...

This Footage will appear online the next months and I really wish you all will see this wonderful film reel!!!

13 March, 2000

Ian McKellen posted more answers to fan questions on his website. Asked about the differences between Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White he says, "There will be changes to costume and general appearance and awareness that Gandalf the White is younger-looking than his earlier incarnation. Otherwise we shall both have to wait and see. With 10 months filming ahead, I am absorbed still with Gandalf the Grey."

In response to questions about any scenes he was particularly looking forward to, he says, "I was most looking forward to Gandalf's arrival in Hobbiton for the long-expected party -- food, fireworks and a pipeful of Longbottom Leaf. A wonderful chance to show Gandalf's crucial fascination with the Hobbit world. Otherwise the face-off with the Balrog should be exciting, although I expect it will involve camera trickery more than physicality from me."

It's now confirmed that Bernard Hill will be playing Rohan king, Theoden. Marton Csokas has also joined the cast in the role of the elven lord, Celeborn.

One last thing for today's update. We've got a picture of the four main hobbits in the movies. This picture comes from Vanity Fair and shows Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), Meriadoc Brandybuck (Dominic Monoghan), Peregrin Took (Billy Boyd) and Samwise Gangee (Sean Astin) going clockwise from the top left.

6 March, 2000

E! Online got a great interview with Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen, the two wizards in the trilogy of movies. Lee is a huge fan of the books and reads them once a year. He talks describes his character Saruman as "an extraordinary role. He is the most brilliant, the most powerful, the most accomplished of the wizards. And he becomes corrupted by his lust for power."

The challenge he says, is in harnessing "all Saruman's evil energy, his sarcasm, his bitterness--and at the same time, his wit, which is vicious."

"He realizes eventually he is Sauron's slave. He accepts that. He thinks, right up to the end of his life, that he can overthrow Sauron and become the next Dark Lord. At the same time, he is terrified of Sauron."

McKellen talks about playing Gandalf. "The scenes we've filmed are mostly from the beginning of the story, where Gandalf is the old man, the old friend, the traveler."

"I'm aware that it isn't like a regular part, where you might settle on the character and follow him through various episodes. There's Gandalf the leader, the man of action, the commander of the journey. His character literally dies and is resurrected as Gandalf the White, who he says is a completely different personality. It would be perfectly possible to have Gandalf played by two actors."

The challenge for McKellen is working on that second personality. He says he's "a little apprehensive as to what the next stage of the character is I have to get to grips with. I haven't got the character all mapped out yet."

McKellen also mentions working with director Peter Jackson. "I've seen him under enormous pressure," McKellen says, "and probably under pressures I don't know anything about, like the financial issues of making the films. But he is always so calm. He spreads that calm over everything. The atmosphere on set is like you're making a home movie."

The article describes several of the scenes being shot as well as the Orthanc set. Check it out.

2 March, 2000

Hugo Weaving has been cast as Elrond. Elrond is the elven lord who leads the council at Rivendell that decides to assemble and send the fellowship of the Ring to Mordor to destroy it. Weaving is probably best known for his role as Agent Smith in The Matrix. I don't know about you but this strikes me as particularly sharp casting. Not only is he a good choice as an actor but I find it hard to picture someone else who looks the part more than Weaving.

It is also rumored that Miranda Otto (The Thin Red Line) might be up for the part of Eowyn.

Does Agent Smith make a good Elrond? Tell us on the Forums.

28 February, 2000
Just a quick follow up on the Dragon Boat Festival. A couple of shots are below from the event. There is a description of the action from TheOneRing.net.

Orlando "Legolas" Bloom, Elijah "Frodo" Wood, Billy "Pippin" Boyd and Dominic "Merry" Monaghan all took part in the celebrity bath tub race.

The bath tubs turned out to be rather difficult to manoeuvre and the event degenerated into a swimming race. Elijah seemed to be the weakest swimmer as all thoughts of fellowship were abandoned, bath-tubs were boarded, pirate style and the contestants swam for the finish line.

The actors happily posed for photo ops with fans and seemed to enjoy themselves tremendously. Orlando claimed victory but Elijah seemed to think that Dominic had taken the gold medal.

24 February, 2000
Okay this isn't exactly news on the production but you might find it to be of interest if you live in New Zealand. Several of the stars have agreed to appear in a charity race at this weekend's Wellington Dragon Boat Festival. Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd and Orlando Bloom will all be taking part in the celebrity bathtub race this Sunday, February 27. The event will be raising money for the Ronald McDonald House. Further information can be found here.

On his website, Ian McKellen is posting responses to emails he has receieved from fans. He had several things to say about Lord of the Rings.

"Oh dear I was enjoying these early days playing Gandalf's first entry into Hobbiton until you reminded me of the rigours ahead. The Balrog beckons! Don’t worry, film actors are well protected from too much exertion and I shall be only too happy to let a stunt double do anything that looks dangerous. Christopher Lee and I fight it out in Orthanc one day soon and Bob Anderson [Swordsmaster/Art Action Choreographer] has shown me the rudiments of battling with a quarterstaff. The only sort of fighting I enjoy is rehearsed fighting where no one gets hurt and no one gets angry."

22 February, 2000
Add Bernard Hill to the cast list. You might remember him as the captain in Titanic. Here is what Xoanan of TheOneRing.net had to say about it.

A few choice phone calls has confirmed that Bernard Hill will be in LOTR yet we are not sure who he will be, word was (from a fuzzy UK pay phone) that Hill will play 'Theodus, or something greek like that', since we know Kevin Conway will play Theoden (and I asked, 'are you sure it's not THEODEN?', no, my contact replied) there still is a mystery as to who he may indeed be playing.

21 February, 2000
The official website has finally updated and there is some cool stuff to be found there. You can listen to some commentary from the set. Clair Askin, unit publicist at the Wellington, New Zealand Bagend set describes the twin sets used there. One is a small scale version so that when Ian McKellen enters it, he appears to be eight feet tall. The other version is built normal size so that the actors playing hobbits look normal inside of it. Later the two sets will be digitally merged.

Also on the site are some small images from the shoot and a browser based on the movie.

Thursday, February 17, 2000

Craig Parker has been cast in the role of the elf Haldir. You might remember that Haldir is the elf who leads the Fellowship to Lothlorien. So far Parker is best known for his appearances on the tv series Young Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess. Thanks to Joram at Ringbearer for the scoop.

In other casting news it appears that Uma Thurman is out of the production. New Line president Michael Deluca confirmed it for 'Cirdan.' Thurman had been expected to play the role of Eowyn.

Wednesday, February 16, 2000 12:04:39 AM

This is a really great shot from above the Helm's Deep set. It really provides some great detail of the set and is a lot less blurry than the earlier shots. Fewer orcs though...

How does the Helm's Deep battle look? Speak out on the Forums.

Monday, February 14, 2000 12:03:52 AM
Below are some great shots taken at the filming of scenes for the battle at Helm's Deep. The sets have been under construction for weeks and now we can actually see some of the shots in progress. The pictures are fairly blurry as they were taken at a pretty good distance but you can clearly see the Uruk-Hai orcs attacking the walls of Helm's Deep. There is also a shot of a human actor climbing the walls.

2 Februay, 2000
Elijah Wood grabbed the coveted role of Frodo Baggins. This is old news, we knew that. What's new is that he finally had a chance to talk about the movies. In an interview with E!, Wood talks about the demands of the costume, the character and filming.

Speaking of Frodo: I think he has a sense of strength, that he's able to take on this quest and take it to the end, which is very interesting to me. And what happens to him on the way interests me as an actor--you know, the fact the Ring starts to take hold and he starts to go mad and loses himself. It's an incredible arc, to watch that happen over time.

Discussing the feet: They actually are very comfortable, thank God, but it does take a while to put them on. Initially, that was so exciting. Got the feet, got the wig and the ears. And then it was like, Ooooo-kay...I could do without this in the morning! Then I put on my wig--it's the first time I've worn a wig in a film, so that's exciting--and the [prosthetic] ears, which fit on very well, so it's cool. You feel like a hobbit. We really transform in the morning, which is neat.

The article goes on to talk about the filming. They describe several of the actors in costume.

Orlando Bloom, the young British actor playing Legolas the elf, arrives and takes a few photographs of the cast's named chairs. Standing about five-eleven, he's the perfect elf: tall, thin and sporting the best pair of legs since Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Makeup lightens his complexion and heightens his (already impressive) cheekbones. A long, blond, plaited wig and blue contact lenses complete the look. He wears a forest-green jerkin, metal bands on his forearms and knee-high leather boots. Slightly less pretty but no less impressive, Gimli the dwarf's LP double arrives. With a long red beard and long red hair tied in a ponytail, he's wearing short-sleeve chain mail covered with armor, a sword at his left side and hobnailed boots.

Hearts flutter when Sean Bean (Boromir) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) arrive. Most of Aragorn's outfit is concealed beneath an enormous, mud-splattered coat. The jeweled Sword of Elendil hangs from Mortensen's belt. With his rugged, unshaven features and long, greasy hair, he looks every inch the nomadic hero. Bean wears a red tunic with gold stenciling on the sleeves, chain mail, leather gloves and knee-high leather boots (obviously the new look in Middle Earth this summer) under a full-length leather coat.

To read the entire interview and article, go here.

13 January, 2000
A couple more pictures have popped up from the set. These are both shots of the Black Riders. The one shows a closeup of them, revealing their faces. These are just simple black masks for distance shots. For close ups they will either have better makeup or their faces will be replaced digitally. The second is a nice shot of them on horseback.

29 December, 1999
Below is part of a fascinating interview with the movie's stunt coordinator, Bruce Brown.

Can you describe some of the stunts?

There's some falls where the guys get shot with arrows off a cliff into rapids, there are guys scaling massive ladders up castle walls and the ladders are being pulled back as the invaders are shot off them by arrows. We pivot the ladders at the bottom, and have the stuntpeople falling onto an airbag.

And then there's stuntmen falling off castle walls into these new crashmats we've come up with. With high falls you normally use a double airbag.

I went to the States and bought a lot of new equipment, including a double bag. It has two fan blowers and a bottom layer that's four feet thick, and above that another layer six feet thick, and it's 30 feet by 25 feet across. It's rated to take up to 80 foot falls.

But the problem witht he airbag is when you fall into air escapes and it collapses, then you have to wait for it to reset. With a normal gym foam crashmat, it's 16 inches or 400mm deep, and it's 1.5m wide by 3m long. But a body only absorbs onto the mat by about a quarter of its depth.

So we designed a foam mat with solid foam on the outside, and it has longitudinal hollow sections running lengthwise and crosswise, vents on the sides and ends of the mats. Two of these - one on top of the other - enables us to do a 40-foot fall into two stuntmats, which means you can be in, roll off the mat, and within a second or two you can have another guy in behind you. It speeds up the process. We can have 10 guys going of the wall at once, and another 10 right behind, rather then one at a time into an airbag.

We've tested these mats up to 40 feet. Anything over that and we'll go back to the airbag. The mats were built to our design in Auckland by the Boat Cover Company.

Tell me more about the fighting styles? Are they recognisable, or did you 'invent' them?

They're styles developed for each particular character. Some are creepy and cockroach-like, some are quite smooth and dainty - flowing gracefully, and some are just crash-bash-nothing-stops-them killing machines.

How do you devise the fight sequences?

We've been very lucky ... the production has brought out a chap called Bob Anderson, who's the world's top swordmaster, An amazing guy - he's 77, and he worked with Errol Flynn. Even now, he moves like Bruce Lee. When he has a sword or weapon in his hand, he makes the hair stand on end. He's English, an Olympic fencer. He's done all the Zorro films and and TV series, he did First Knight and all the Highlanders, and he played Darth Vader in all the early Star Wars films.

He's been taken on as TLOTR swordmaster, to choreograph the weapon and fight sequences. We get on like a house on fire.

There's also plenty of explosions, as well as sfx with Steve Ingram. He's got a massive job ahead of him, the equipment he's building is out of this world. He and his team have built the biggest wind machine you've ever seen, 450 horsepower and a V8 engine. It will blow you over.

Explosions?

The Wizard Saruman creates a primitive form of gunpowder. There is a battle scene where castle walls get blown up.

14 December, 1999
When it rains it pours. Shortly after the emergence of yesterday's photos, a whole new batch appears. The first shot is a close up of one of the actors in Nazgul costume. I imagine special effects will be used when there is a shot that shows the Black Riders' faces as this person just has black paint on his face. The second shot is another version of the shot seen yesterday of Arwen on horseback with a hobbit. This one is clearer and shows more. The third shot is a much better version of yesterday's picture of the nine Black Riders. Detail is much better this time. Finally the last shot is of Elijah Wood getting some lunch on set. That wouldn't be interesting if he wasn't wearing his Frodo costume. He is, so it give us the first glimpse of a hobbit. None of these shots are stills from the movie. As such they should only be considered an idea of what things might look like.

13 December, 1999
The first images of characters have emerged. The first two shots below show Liv Tyler as Arwen. In one picture she is riding on a horse behind a hobbit. The other shows her on set with the same hobbit. That is not an actor portraying the hobbit. It's a dummy standing in for where the image of the reduced size actor playing the hobbit will be inserted later. The third picture is presumably of the Nazgul. These pictures come from the Australian magazine Woman's Day and were really fuzzy. Even still they're pretty cool shots, particularly the one of the Nazgul.

11 November, 1999

These images are from a Russian magazine Ogonyuk. They are shots of the crew's reconstruction of hobbiton. I think they've done a solid job of capturing the look of the place. After aging a bit it should have a great lived in feel to it. I think that's probably a requirement for hobbits. Click on any of the pictures for a closer look.

3 November, 1999
This is a production drawing of Sauron's throne. The light you see in the middle is his eye. That's about all the detail you can expect. Sauron is never described as a physical being in the books. His appearance is essentially left to the imagination. This drawing follows that trend. Keep in mind that this is just a concept. It isn't necessarily the final design. It's just one of many designs being considered. That said I like the direction they're taking with this. The appearance of Sauron is potentially the most difficult part of bringing this movie to the screen. What we see hear is a nice bridge between.

20 October, 1999
It looks like they're going to need a whole lot of extras real soon. Director Peter Jackson had worked out a deal with the New Zealand army to use them as extras for battle scenes. Unfortunately for Jackson, the Royal New Zealand Army has to leave, most likely due to their commitment to trouble in East Timor. That means that he will have to come up with upwards of a couple thousand extras in a hurry. Could be a great opportunity for people wanting to be in the movie.

Thanks to The One Ring.

18 October, 1999
It's official, Stuart Townsend is out and Viggo Mortensen is in as Aragorn. It would appear that after beginning filming, director Peter Jackson quickly came to the conclusion that Townsend was wrong for the part. This feeling had been long held by the suits at New Line so their wasn't any argument when he wanted to make the switch. Rumor has it that the part was ofered to Daniel Day Lewis, who turned it down, not wanting to have anything to do with the project. So the part falls to Mortensen. After thinking about this for a few days I believe it's an improvement. The worst problem with Townsend was that he was way to young for the part. Mortensen on the other hand has the proper age and look. He's a pretty good actor who has never gotten the breakout role prior to this.

Thanks to The One Ring.

Plus we've got a great shot of a hobbit hole. Now I don't know if this is supposed to be Bag End or just a random hobbit hole. Whatever the case it looks great. They've really nailed the look. You might notice that there is a person working on the garden in front of a door. Is this a person portraying a hobbit or just a crew member working on the garden? Hard to say unfortunately.

Thanks to AICN.

14 October, 1999
Could Stuart Townsend be out as Aragorn? That's the current rumor. Apparently he is not fitting in well with the rest of the cast. So who could be his replacement? It has been reported that the part has been offered to Viggo Mortensen. I'm not sure what to make of that. He looks the part more than Townsend did but I'm not sure he can carry the part. It's still rumor at this point so don't get too bent out of shape. Yet.

Thanks to AICN.

This isn't really news but below you can see the two page ad New Line Cinema took out in Variety to announce the beginning of filming. Pretty cool.

Thanks to Onering.net.

13 October, 1999
Lots of cool pictures to check out today. The first three are from the set for the town of Bree. The town is being built in what was previously army barracks near Wellington. The fourth picture was taken for a newspaper article. The local news has stated that shooting has been of the scene where the hobbits are hiding from the Nazgul early on in the first book. This horse may be the mount of a Ringwraith. Total speculation but it looks awfully cool. Click on any of the pictures for a larger version.

Thanks to Scoop and AICN.

30 August, 1999
AICN is reporting that Sean Bean is the leading contender for the part of Boromir. He isn't signed yet, but is in negotiations, so it looks like he's the guy. Yet another bit of quality casting for this movie. So far it's looking as if this will be a great trio of movies.

27 August, 1999
Liv Tyler has been confirmed by New Line Cinema for the part of Arwen in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Tyler has been the favorite for some time but casting was delayed as arrangements were made to work around her existing schedule. Reportedly she will be using an english accent in her portrayal of the Fairy Queen.

Thanks to Cinescape.

30 July, 1999
According to TheOneRing.net Stuart Townsend has been cast in the part of Aragorn/Strider in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Townsend is pretty much an unknown but has appeared in several movies, including Resurrection Man and Shooting Fish. He looks a bit young but make up can take care of that. I've been informed that he is an excellent actor. Jackson apparently fought very hard to cast him. New Line Cinema was a little leary of him being a virtual unknown.

23 July, 1999
According to AICN Ian McKellen has been cast as Gandalf in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Furthermore, Ian