Peter Jackson and company swooped into Comic-Con and unleashed some footage for the ravenous fans there but now he has unleashed Vlog #8 from his Facebook page full of spoilers, Comic-Con footage, John Howe, lots of actors saying hi and a little nostalgia from the crew. If you can stand a view of stone giants, Beorn’s house, Andy Serkis jamming on a sax and an absurd amount of “Hobbit” stuff, it is a must watch. The film hasn’t been released yet and already producer Michael Pellerin and his crew of behind-the-scenes people are making us nostalgic for it! And, sure sounded like Jackson reads TheOneRing. Find it on his Facebook page or watch it below:

In December last year, I declared the first trailer a study in character.

Introducing and differentiating thirteen different dwarves to a wider audience most likely unfamiliar with the Hobbit and its ultra-beardy cast was critical for Peter Jackson. So Jackson used an entire trailer for the task.

But, because that trailer was so light on plot, we’ve been wondering ever since what degree of fidelity the story will possess and exactly how it might unfold.

The EW storybook addresses this at a single stroke. EW isn’t calling it a storybook, but that’s what Jackson has created. A gorgeously illustrated storybook that guides us through the key points of The Hobbit.

Read on for a spoiler-filled scene-by-scene review of The Hobbit — storytime with Peter Jackson! Continue reading “Storytime with Peter Jackson reassures and puzzles!”

Our message board members were quick to pick up on this very cool scrolling montage of pictures from the upcoming Hobbit movie over at Entertainment Weekly.com. What’s cool is there are new scenes we’ve never seen before. What’s even cooler is you can scroll over the pictures to get a closer look. Check it out and let us know what details *you* pick out on the very active thread in progress on our Hobbit discussion board! Read More…

A week or so ago, we reported that Dean O’Gorman was about to debut a an exhibition of his artwork and photography in Wellington at the PageBlackie Gallery.

Now PageBlackie has uploaded a small sample. They really are beautiful pieces of art, and well worth a look. You’ll also probably note the resemblance of some pieces to certain actors from The Hobbit.

O’Gorman dressed and set up the shots himself… [roping] in friends to play the soldiers, and fellow cast members from The Hobbit. (One features British actor Adam Brown who plays the dwarf Ori, and another has Luke Evans, who plays Bard the Bowman).

O’Gorman, who fell in love with photography at school, was a big fan of Vietnam War photographers including Larry Burrows and Don McCullin, as well as other war photographers such as the legendary Robert Capa.

“They were beautiful images and I loved how they made me feel. I loved the rawness and the humanness that was captured. I thought wouldn’t it be cool to try and stage something that could allow you to potentially feel something similar, but wasn’t actually real?

“I’m not trying to trick anybody, but I’m just trying to play with the idea of how do you feel about something that is not real but is made to seem real?. Movies do it all the time, but a lot of times in photography I find it’s approached with quite an obvious parody, or quite an obvious irony, and I wanted to try to be a bit more sincere.”

Thanks to Ringer Dragonslayer731 for the heads-up.

[Gallery] | [Stuff.co.nz feature]

THERE AND BACK: today on our *Live* webcast TORn TUESDAY, our intrepid host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway has just returned from New Zealand where many magical things were witnessed ON THE ACTUAL SET OF THE HOBBIT, but secrecy abounds! Be tantalized and teased with a unique 1st person account of travels to the real Middle-earth! We also pay tribute to our fallen friend and Memorial Day remembrance for our brave heroes abroad. Come join the show via Stickam (account “theoneringnet”) using your own Skype login or via our Live Event Page with our unique Barliman’s chat embedded in the show!

Tune into our show at 5:00pm PDT (that’s L.A. time folks — click here to see when it is in your city!), and just click to our Live Event page.

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Bronson Steele (double for Stephen Hunter - Bombur)

Message board member Carne recently did some brilliant research on the stunt performers who will be filling in for some of the actors playing the dwarves in “The Hobbit.” Per Carne: “These people are too often overlooked, so I thought: “Why not?” I also thought it might be fun to see which stunt performers most physically resemble the actors they’ll be filling in for.” Right you are, Carne! Take a look at these pictures Carne put together and let us know your thoughts on our Hobbit forum or Barliman’s Chat! Also, please let us know if you know of (or personally are) a stunt double so we can add to the list! …More

Continue reading “Just For Fun — Meet the Stunt Doubles!”