THE HOBBIT (2012/2013): News, Rumors, Pics Till Release

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Skywalker, Mar 21, 2011.

  1. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    ^ Speaking of which, theonering.net has an article in which someone spotted Hugo Weaving in Wellington.

    he has reported seeing Hugo Weaving here in Wellington this afternoon ... it’s probably a bit too hasty to assume that he’s here to be in The Hobbit, but I can’t think of any other reason why he would come here right now, just when they’re discussing Rivendell scripts. It’s certainly not for the weather (it’s howling a cold southerly gale out there at the moment).
    Source
     
  2. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    Sounds promising!
     
  3. Argus Skyhawk

    Argus Skyhawk Commodore Commodore

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    I was right!
     
  4. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Keep up the good work, Nostradamus. :D
     
  5. Worf2DS9

    Worf2DS9 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Thanks for that tidbit on Weaving, Samuel Walters!
     
  6. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    ^ My pleasure. Speaking of casting rumors here are two more (one already fairly well-established, the other more recent):

    Christopher Lee reprising his role as Saruman:
    Farrell on his blog ... mentioned that Lee was ”getting ready to reprise his role as Saruman in Peter Jackson’s two-part production of The Hobbit”.While there is nothing on the video discussing The Hobbit nor is the statement itself a confirmation, the fact that Farrell recently spoke with Lee and chose this particular phrasing of words (without hedging) suggests this was part of their conversation and that Lee directly stated this. It could be a case of an over-zealous Tolkien fan reading too much into that statement but TORN followers may want to scour any future videos for tidbits of information. Source

    Orlando Bloom reprising his role as Legolas:
    “I’m going to bet on it,” [Bloom] said in an interview with MTV. “But I can’t really talk too much about it at the moment because it’s still sort of in the ether. But I would love to go back to work with Peter Jackson. It would be an honour.” Source
     
  7. Davros

    Davros Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    My problem with Saruman being in this movie is that I do not remember him ever being in the book. If you have to cut out parts of a book to make it into a movie, why add in parts that were never there?
     
  8. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Saruman being in the movie fits with the intent to include what happened when

    Gandalf leaves the Dwarves and Bilbo at the borders of Mirkwood to attack Dol Guldur. The White Council confrontation with Sauron (The Necromancer) is heavily implied by the book -- it essentially happens "off screen" -- so including it in the film isn't all that different than including the scenes in which the Ents attack Orthanc in The Two Towers (an event never explicitly described in the book, even though we see it happen on screen in the movie). Since Saruman was, at that time, the leader of the White Council, it makes perfect sense to include him.
     
  9. Klaus

    Klaus Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^^that's what I assumed from the beginning in order to fill out 2 movies. And similarly, Legolas is Thranduil's son, so it would make sense to see him in the Elvenhalls in Mirkwood when the party is captured.

    Which reminds me... is "Attercop!" going to be in the movie??? :D
     
  10. Skywalker

    Skywalker Admiral Admiral

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    The only thing about Christopher Lee coming back is he's said that at his age, he doesn't want to fly all the way out to New Zealand. Maybe they'll bring the requisite cast up to England and film the White Council scenes up there.
     
  11. InklingStar

    InklingStar Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I would love to have Christopher Lee as Saruman for the White Council scenes. He is an ally at this point, and for new viewers (if there are any left) it will come as quite a twist for him to betray Gandalf in FotR.
     
  12. John O.

    John O. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    This may be like, OT or non-contributory to discussion specifically about this film, but my problem with the making of The Hobbit is that I'm a huge, huge JRRT fan - and it's taken years to get this project MOVING, much less completed, I think the estimated release date is in 2012? or 13?

    But my gripe isn't how long its taken, it's the fact that for all this work, for all this waiting... to be prefectly honest, the Hobbit is the retarded kid of the bunch - there are SO MANY MORE interesting stories to be told OTHER than The Hobbit. If they managed to get production companies onboard for a 2-part Hobbit movie, they could've probably gotten them onboard for a 2-or-3 part story based on the Silmarillion... AND BEFORE I hear one damn whiney little LOTR-poser of a JRRT fan bitch and moan about how the Silmarillion is like an encyclopedia that you can't tell as a story, I've read it like 5 times, I've read the entire history of middle earth, the tales of numenor and middle earth, the poems of tom bombadil tales from the perilous realm - and The Silmarillion ABSOLUTELY has a primary continuous storyline that could be followed - the war of the jewels.

    A Silmarillion film would have way, way, WAY more solid storytelling material to work with than The Hobbit. You've got fantastically interesting characters like Feanor, Fingolfin, the whole House of Elwe, the killing of the Trees of Valinor by Morgoth and Ungoliant, and story of the Noldor, the story of Turin Turambar and Niniel, these huge epic battles that took place between the Elves and Morgoth, the fight of the first Balrog with Glorfindel, the story of the fall of Gondolin; you have plenty of opportunities to reference or even include familiar characters from LOTR like Elrond and his brother the first king of Numenor Elros, Galadriel, possibly Arwen since her date of birth isn't set in stone, Celeborn, even antecedents of Aragorn like his ancestor Earendil, you've got the early history of Numenor if it went that far, I mean if it were ambitious enough you could lead right into the prologue of FOTR with the battle where the ring was cut.

    The Hobbit was written in the 30's, basically for Christopher, as a little children's story side project, it just so happened to take place in the same universe. LOTR and The Silmarillion have far more in common in terms of style, composition, and story elements.
     
  13. Skywalker

    Skywalker Admiral Admiral

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    They don't have the rights to The Silmarillion, and as long as Christopher Tolkien lives, the Tolkien estate won't give them up.

    And The Silmarillion would need probably about five movies to really have enough time to tell all the most important stories.
     
  14. John O.

    John O. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well he IS getting pretty old, it probably won't be too long. Dumb question but I don't know much about this legal stuff - how were the rights to the Hobbit acquired?

    I bet they could do it in 3 - but they'd be long like the trilogy - and I'd agree it probably couldn't be done in any fewer.
     
  15. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Nah, apart from the fact that he's Christopher freakin' Lee, his calling Hobbits "halflings" is a dead giveaway. ;)
     
  16. Set Harth

    Set Harth Vice Admiral Admiral

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    But not a consistent group of characters. You could do it as a miniseries with almost a whole new cast in each installment, if the public would go for that.
     
  17. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    And let's face it, comparatively few people ever read the Silmarillion as opposed to the Hobbit or the LOTR trilogy.

    I owned every JRRT book at one time, but never read the entire Silmarillion.
     
  18. Skywalker

    Skywalker Admiral Admiral

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    I actually really like The Silmarillion, but yeah, it's a pretty dry read, even compared to LOTR.

    If by some miracle a series of Silmarillion movies (either theatrical or television) happened, I'd split it up something like this:

    Movie 1: The forging of the Silmarils and Fëanor's quest to retrieve them after their theft by Morgoth (Ainulindalë and the pre-Silmaril history of Arda summed up during opening credits)
    Movie 2: Dagor Bragollach, death of Fingolfin, Beren and Luthien and their quest for the Silmaril
    Movie 3: Nirnaeth Arnoediad, capture of Húrin and the tragedy of Túrin Turambar
    Movie 4: Tuor and the fall of Gondolin
    Movie 5: Eärendil's journey to Aman, the War of Wrath, and the end of the First Age (final scene being the Edain sailing for Númenor)
     
  19. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    As someone who read the Appendix to the Return of the King, even I think the Silmarillion would make a bad movie. Maybe it's just the way the story was told. The LOTR was a personal story focusing on characters. The Silmarillion is sort of detached folk lore. It has an omniscient narrator throughout if I recall correctly. It doesn't lend itself to the same style as everything else (while the Hobbit does, aside from being a lighter tale).
     
  20. AJBryant

    AJBryant Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Dude, it could be EPIC.

    The Silmarillion is not ONE tale. It's a collection of unrelated stories. Beren and Luthien would make a hell of a movie. And, man... the story of Feanor and his sons -- that would be majorly BITCHIN.