IGN.com has a great video interview with the dwarven cast of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘ that is well worth 8 minutes of your time today. Watch the company squibble and squirm as they try to answer a variety of Tolkien trivia. In-between the humorous answers, you’ll see some great clips from the film. (Who knew Galadriel was the name of Gandalf’s sword? đ ) Enjoy! [Video]
Category: Aidan Turner
Courtesy of Warner Bros Belgium, here is an amazing 13-minute look into The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It features behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and many, many other key cast and crew members where they discuss the inspiration for, and direction of, the story the first film reveals. Plus there’s plenty of new, previously unseen (at least by me!) sneak previews of what you’ll see on the big screen! So I guess I’ll add: spoilers! Continue reading “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 13-minute TV special!”
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- Aidan Turner
- Alan Lee
- Andy Serkis
- Cate Blanchett
- Christopher Lee
- Dean O'Gorman
- Elijah Wood
- Graham McTavish
- Hobbit Movie
- Ian McKellen
- James Nesbitt
- John Callen
- John Howe
- John Rawls
- Ken Stott
- Mark Hadlow
- Martin Freeman
- Peter Hambleton
- Peter Jackson
- Philippa Boyens
- Production
- Richard Armitage
- Richard Taylor
- Sylvester McCoy
- The Hobbit
Only hours before the stars walked the red carpet in front of 100,000 fans on the street of Wellington, nearly the entire cast gathered at Te Papa Museum for a pair of press conferences.
Peter Jackson and stars Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman attended both press events while most of the rest of the principal cast and screenwriter Philippa Boyens attended one event or the other.
Media was invited by Warner Bros., the studio that was handling press from around the world during the week. TheOneRing.net was included in the press invite, not the only online fan site to get the call, as our friends from herr-der-ringe were also there. MGM and New Line were also announced as presenting the press conferences.
Te Papa, a world-class museum, arranged a long table for the events and switched name cards in front of native Maori art. Called a Marae, translated as “big house” but serving as the symbolic center of Maori tradition, the event started with singing and then a forehead-to-forehead welcome to the participants. With the unique and beautiful colors behind, each of the question and answer sessions lasted about 40 minutes and was moderated.
Flash photography was not allowed, although clearly TheOneRing took quite a few stills. In the back of the room rows of cameras shot video, including for TORn. We audio recorded the event as well and hope to present a transcript of it in a day or two. Meanwhile enjoy some of the best handful of photos. The participants included: Cate Blanchette, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Mark Hadlow, Stephen Hunter, Peter Hambleton William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood.
Six new clips have surfaced from The Hobbit all at once. These aren’t TV spots, and they’re not teasers. They’re full-on sequences of action and dialogue lasting for as much as a minute and a half. It’s so revealing that your head will spin. See as much as six minutes from The Hobbit right now. Warning: some heavy spoilers. We’re not kidding here. Continue reading “OFFICIAL: Six incredible video clips from The Hobbit”
Two years ago I wrote a story asking the question, âTo be Hot or Not? That is the Dwarf Question.â
While essentially a joke — one which spread like wildfire â a real concern for some fans prior to casting âThe Hobbitâ was whether or not a film featuring a supporting cast of 13 short hairy men would be interesting to studios and audiences unless those short hairy men were transformed into attractive short-statured hunks, the likes of which would send diehards into fits of horror.
The question was, would the filmmakers be forced to go that route, and also â did we want them to? Should there be Hot Dwarves?
(From here on this will contain minor spoilers, so those of you who wish to remain âpure,â turn back now.)
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With the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, we couldn’t help but admit that we were conflicted. Supremely talented actor. But could he look dwarflike? Did he have to? Wait, yes, he has to. But should he? Head said yes, hormones said no. Shut up hormones.
As the other actors were added, fans’ questions grew. And as stills of costumed dwarves began rolling out, the discussions raged on in fandom â Were the dwarves too cute? Too bad-assed? Too dwarvish? Not dwarvish enough? Too KLINGON? Second guessing gave way to infinity-guessing.
The movie a year or more off, poring over images and studying production diaries provided much fodder for speculators. Beyond Thorin, beyond Aidan Turner’s Kili and Dean O’Gorman’s Fili, the whole company was under intense scrutiny.
With the exception of Thorin, dwarves aren’t the leading characters in âThe Hobbitâ and yet the film would live or die on them. Too comical and audiences wouldn’t buy into the story. Too Hollywood-handsome and audiences wouldn’t buy into the story. Should they fade into the background entirely then it simply wouldn’t be âThe Hobbit.â Nor if they became Robo-Dwarves-of-Doom, chewing on the scenery.
So, with the âUnexpected Journeyâ finally here, how did it all turn out?
Fabulous.
No, Thorin does not harken back to the droopy-eyed Rankin Bass incarnation, nor does he resemble Tolkien’s description of a blue-hooded, silver-tasseled grump. But neither is he a Chippen-dwarf. He embodies the essence of the character â the haughty nobility, the impatience and simmering anger. The sadness. This is not the hot dwarf you were looking for, but so much more.
Voice, body language, costume, prosthetics â all combine to transform Armitage into the strong, surly Thorin Oakenshield. One dimensional images fade from mind and the focus shifts to the character in action, as it should.
It will be interesting to see where the second and third films take Thorin. At the conclusion of âUnexpected Journeyâ he has an emotional encounter with Bilbo â much, much earlier in the action than what occurs in the text. And that exchange adds another layer to a complexity that outweighs looks.
And what about the rest of the company?
While âThe Hobbitâ on page is essentially a child’s tale, Peter Jackson hasn’t filmed a child’s tale. There is a vein of darkness running through the movie, brought by material added from the appendices and the established âLord of the Ringsâ visual style.
For the action scenes to be believable â particularly in the higher frame-rate and in 3D â the dwarves must be warrior-like, to appear capable of fighting with the agility and intensity required. In the company of these dwarves, Gimli would appear soft.
And yet, the dwarves retain a whimsicality that makes them distinct. Like Thorin, their appearance is an expression of personality. With less time at the forefront, how they look is a large part of how we get to âknowâ them.
Balin with his luxurious white beard, the elder of the company. Bofur’s quirky cap and quick wit. The soft-spoken Ori in his cowled hood. But the things that seemed over the top in stills â Bifur with the axe-impaled forehead â aren’t in your face. Remarkably, at least in âUnexpected Journey,â we’re spared Bombur sight-gags.
Which brings us to Kili and Fili.
No, they do not look like dwarves. Kili even less so than Fili. Even in the company of dwarves, they do not look like dwarves. And yet, they look as if they belong with the dwarves. And while I’m pretty sure that might not make sense, I think once people see the film, you’ll understand what I mean. In the context of their behavior and actions â they work as dwarves. They fight like dwarves. It helps that Peter has not indulged in long, lingering, soft-focused glamor shots of Aidan Turner or Dean O’Gorman. Thank you, Peter.
While looks are possibly one of the more trivial aspects of the film â seriously, I do recognize the ridiculousness in all of this â a noticeable amount of effort has been put into crafting each dwarf’s appearance and then stepping back from focusing on it. It’s a measure of subtlety we didn’t expect.
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In the meantime, the phrase âHot Dwarvesâ has spread across the globe since my story was first published.
At San Diego Comic-Con this summer, Carrie Fisher fell for our âI <3 Hot Dwarvesâ t-shirt. In Wellington, Aidan Turner, who wanted a shirt for his own, was gifted with a âHot Dwarvesâ button.
The phrase crops up in most stories I’ve read, is at alluded to in many interviews, raises its head in pop-culture memes and ⌠well, last week showed up on the red carpet of the world premiere itself. [Watch]
âHow do you feel about being one of the pin-ups in the The Hobbit,â said an interviewer to Richard Armitage.
âI thought you were going to say ‘hot dwarf.’â he graciously responded with some humor.
As I said at TheOneRing.net’s Comic-Con panel: Thank you, Richard, for being such a good sport. Bravo!
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Related stories:
The Hobbit: an expected masterpiece in a distracting frame
The Hobbit’s dwarves: Too hot to handle?
MrCere reviews âThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyâ
Staffer Garfemaio reviews ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’
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With the help of a group of Dwarves and New Zealandâs Prime Minister John Keys, the Green Dragon officially opened for business Thursday. Located on the Hobbiton Movie Set near small-town Matamata, New Zealand, visitors can now have some ale as part of their visiting to the fully immersive movie immersion.
Press from around the globe were on hand for a full day showcase of what the site has to offer as they dispersed from the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand the previous day.
Keys cut the chains on the door as the Alexander family, who owns the sheep farm the set is built on, welcomed him and the new addition to the set tour with the help of the actors who played dwarves in the latest Middle-earth film. Dean OâGorman, Aiden Turner, Adam Brown, James Nesbit, John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, William Kircher, Peter Hambleton and Graham McTavish were all on hand for photos at the door and media interviews around the Hobbiton setting. Royd Tolkien was also in attendance along with key figures from the farm and New Zealand tourism.
Visitors were then treated to New Zealandâs finest wines, tasty snacks and cheeses and of course, ale. Several of the dwarves wore matching rings and revealed that just as the original Fellowship of actors in the LOTR movies all were tattooed together, this group, including lead Martin Freeman all share these specially crafted rings.
Hadlow summed it up, calling the rings a symbol of the actorâs brotherhood.
Please enjoy a few pictures from the event and from the Red Carpet the previous day.
Note: Correspondent Larry D. Curtis is in New Zealand but is having computer failures. Expect much more content in the days to come.
