Behold, THE HOBBIT
Jun 24
There he is: Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, mop-headed eponymous erstwhile ring-bearer. Looks like hobbit shopping-lists are a bit of a fucking drag, eh?
More images, and some frothy words from director Peter Jackson, can be found here.
14 December 2012.
Peter Jackson details why THE HOBBIT is shooting at 48 frames-per-second
Apr 12So we have lived with 24 fps for 9 decades--not because it's the best film speed (it's not by any stretch), but because it was the cheapest speed to achieve basic acceptable results back in 1927 or whenever it was adopted. ”
–Peter Jackson
In a surprisingly interesting facebook note (who knew, right?) director Peter Jackson has taken a moment to publish information on how and why he is shooting The Hobbit at 48 frames-per-second. A very tidy and interesting read for even a part-time movie buff.
Read the complete ‘note’ here.
THE HOBBIT starts shooting; there’s even some set photos and everything
Mar 21I’m still waiting a for a truly great movie to come out in 3D. Maybe The Hobbit will be the one. Peter Jackson and co. have officially started production on the Lord of the Rings prequels, and they’ve tossed us plebs some set photos to get us excited. The first Hobbit flick comes out December 2012. Go here for a tedious cast list and press release.
First pictures of Spielberg and Jackson’s TINTIN rear their uncanny heads
Nov 02
The trouble with adapting popular things from people’s childhoods is that you can never do nostalgia justice. The best you can hope to do is generate fresh nostalgia, like what Michael Bay miraculously did with his Transformers flicks, or you risk alienating the audience.
I was never super excited for a Tintin movie in the first place, and these motion-capped pics do little to instill anticipation. I don’t know what it is about the pictures — maybe I was expecting a more faithfully-cartoony visual style — but they seem to come across as something interesting shoehorned into something crushingly familiar.
Tintin is a collaborative project between industry juggernauts Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. The first film, due late next year (2011), follows the plot of the book (comic?) The Secret Of The Unicorn. I’m pretty sure I read most Tintin books as a kid, but the only one I remember distinctly is the one with giant mushrooms that land on an asteroid, or something, so don’t ask me to summarise the plot.
It stars Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as boy wonder Tintin, Andy Serkis (Gollum from The Lord Of The Rings) as Captain Haddock, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson, Daniel Craig as Red Rackham, and Cary Elwes in some kind of bit-part.
So here we have the first few images from the project. Make of them what you will. They come courtesy of Empire magazine (buy the next issue for more, etc.).
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (another franchise with unwieldy titles, neato) is due on 28 December 2011 in the States. We’ll probably get a Boxing Day release, something we’ve come to expect from Jackson’s films over the years.
Peter Jackson will direct THE HOBBIT after all, but probably not in New Zealand
Oct 22
The last few months have seen The Hobbit (the two-film prequel project to The Lord of the Rings) undergo some pretty traumatic challenges. First Guillermo Del Toro quit as director, then Peter Jackson didn’t want to direct, then the studio was too poor to afford funding the film, then people said the film was greenlit, but it wasn’t, and then an Australian / New Zealand actors’ union protested the film’s shooting conditions, and then everybody was confused… The Hobbit has been in and out of news headlines on a daily basis, but there hasn’t actually been anything worth reporting until now.
Peter Jackson is directing The Hobbit. He’s even announced who will play Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit‘s protagonist): Martin Freeman. He played Arthur Dent in the generally depressing Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie, and as such occupies a place in the dark corner of my brain I reserve for people associated with grave and upsetting memories. He’s probably a great actor, though; hopefully I can pull him out of that dark corner by the time the film arrives.
This is what a Martin Freeman looks like.
Jackson also mentioned a bunch of names attached to half of the films’ 13 dwarves; check out the announcement here and see if you recognise any of them. Andy Serkis and Ian McKellan are “expected” to return as Gollum and Gandalf respectively, but we’ll believe that when we see it.
So the project is officially underway. But it probably won’t be shot in New Zealand. The Australian-driven “blacklist” imposed on the film alarmed the studio and producers, so Warner Bros. is looking overseas (even though sets are already under construction): there’s been talk of “Eastern Europe” (which stood in for Narnia in the, er, Narnia movies), as well as the Leavesdon studios in London, where Harry Potter recently wrapped. Warner Bros. was planning to open the Leavesdon studios as a tourist-attraction / museum of Harry Potter sets — now it’ll probably become a Harry Potter / Hobbit double-headliner. If the film leaves New Zealand — it’s all still up-in-the-air.
Check out a video below covering the union-dispute, with input from Peter Jackson himself, and editorialised stuffed-shirt villain Hellen Kelley. The shooting of The Hobbit is kind of a big deal in New Zealand; it looks like it’s consuming the entire country — Jackson wants the Prime Minister himself to back him up. Is it too early to trademark the term Hobbit-gate?
The Hobbit will come out sooner or later; patience is probably in order. Stay tuned for casting and location updates, etc.
OPINIONS COUNT