According to Deadline.com, upcoming super-star Luke Evans (You know, Bard the Bowman in ‘The Hobbit’) has landed the lead role in the re-launch of ‘The Crow’ series.
The Crow will fly with Welsh actor Luke Evans playing the title role in the F. Javier Gutierrez-directed franchise reboot for Relativity Media. Evans was the original choice, but he has been incredibly busy. He was just cast as the lead in Dracula Year Zero, he is the villain in Fast & Furious 6 and is Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Read the full story! [Click here]
There once was a little hashtag looking for a cause. Over the past eleven days, #VoteBilbo became a lightning rod of attention and excitement among Ringer fans the world over. In the words of another reporter: “it went beyond viral.” A resounding victory was pulled off by the unlikeliest fandom — an unorthodox lovefest — for an unexpected little hero. Here’s the story of how TheOneRing.net galvanized a remarkable fan audience to achieve a sweet victory!
It started when this year’s MTV Movie Awards announced their vote-in contest for the category “Best Hero” — allowing Instagram and Twitter users to employ hashtags like #VoteIronMan or #VoteHulk — and especially of interest to this phenomenon #VoteBilbo. A few days actually went by without us even noticing there was a contest. Over Easter weekend the staff of TheOneRing.net was working to deliver a great presentation before packed crowds (many hundreds in the standing-room-only hall) at WonderCon, happening right on the tail of a very successful April Fool’s Day prank — so no wonder we were looking elsewhere.
TheOneRing.net first brought attention to the contest on April 3rd with this tweet:
We saw that Kristen Stewart’s character Snow White (from that hunky HUNTSMAN movie) had a stunning 13,556 votes, far more than the other nominees… while poor Mr. Baggins was in very last place with only 226 votes. A pathetic showing that would have me old Gaffer shaking his head in shame.
By using Twitter to muster our troops, within a mere 24 hours we saw a mighty surge of thousands of votes — yes THOUSANDS — and it kept going strong from there. We hit the Twitterverse so hard that #VoteBilbo started trending, everyone outside of our community actually picked up on it, K.Stew quickly lost her lead (causing her fanbase to respond), and thus “The Great Battle of the Fandoms” was in full swing.
We realized that TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN fans were supporting their chosen actress, *not* the character she portrayed, a bit of irony not lost on us. The category “Best Hero” did not really mean “Best Actress You’re A Fan Of From Another Franchise Because You Didn’t Really Watch This Movie.” Their rigorous support for the actress rather than the character made the whole contest a bit of a sham, in that context. Rather unfair, in this Ent’s personal opinion, that a true statement of how we regard our heroes was being skewed so badly. Undoubtedly Twi-hards have been a huge segment of MTV’s target audience, and plenty of naysayers told us that we didn’t have a chance to tip the scales. We were glad to have a challenge: a task to show what genuine fan-love of a heroic character really looks like, with numbers not seen since the Muster of Rohan!
The meteoric trending of #VoteBilbo caught everyone’s attention. Warner Bros. Pictures officially supported the effort with this missive from their Twitter account ‘TheHobbitMovie’ on April 5th, which spurred tens of thousands of new votes:
The other nominees were floundering: Batman and Catwoman were left in the dust of a deserted Gotham City as Bilbo VS. Snow White became a runaway viral showdown. But the numbers were not quite right. Certain fake Twitter accounts (spam-style “bots”) were discovered processing blank-except-for-the-hashtag #VoteSnowWhite tweets, but they were reported and shut down. Our support for Mr. Baggins was quite organic, and the funny thing was that votes were not coming from some hardcore group of Martin Freeman supporters, though they exist, but rather from Tolkien-lovers who really wanted to make a true statement about Bilbo Baggins.
April 6th proved to be a huge day! The media-watch group WHO TRENDED IT? posted this tweet on April 6th, giving TORn proper credit:
Then our friend Emil Johansson at the LOTRProject Blog gave us something masterful: he launched a special page to show statistics of the voting and how it changed in real-time. He tweeted this:
Within his wonderful vote-tracker page we could see exactly what was going on, relative to the timing of our announcements on TheOneRing.net (and our Facebook timeline and Twitter, of course). When there was doubt our votes were less than stellar, we rallied again!
Stars from the LOTR Film Trilogy and even newer actors from THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY jumped on board! Their timing was perfect — and because these actors are actually paying attention to what fans are saying on Twitter, it felt like a genuine grassroots effort was brewing. We had tweets from Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc Brandybuck) and Dean O’Gorman (the dwarf Fili) on the same day Evangeline Lilly (upcoming new character Tauriel) retweeted our comments — pleased as we were to ultimately learn that retweets counted as full votes!):
Then Sean Astin (my favorite hobbit) joined the fray:
More ambitious creative folks within our Ringer ranks started posting videos designed to bring a smile to your face as well as playfully jab at Bella Swan — and MTV reported on it, realizing that the race was getting quite aggressive between the two camps. ‘If you liked it then you shoulda put a Ring on it’ had a whole new meaning with Speigel Ei’s Vimeo clip:
single-bilboooo from Spiegel Ei on Vimeo.
“HOBBIT fans went straight for the gut of Team #VoteSnowWhite,
who have to watch as several of the characters from Middle-earth court
Kristen Stewart to their side over Edward Cullen,” declared the MTV blog, and we realized this was indeed a chance to show our resplendent fandom in a unique way. The fact that we have been in love with Tolkien’s HOBBIT characters for 75 years since the book was first published supported the sky-high numbers of votes.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VOTES POURED IN DAILY. When the final weekend of the Awards telecast began on April 13th, we broke 1 million votes. K.Stew voters were trying to keep up; sometimes we crossed above or below their high-end total. Fans started to create one-click Twitter vote buttons, and we supplied a host of #VOTEBILBO avatars and funny images to become viral memes. Fans started creating their own images (with familiar LOLcat fonts) and sharing them.
Our lovely lady friends Kili and Fili from our HAPPY HOBBIT video channel did a fun little P.S.A. style announcement asking Ringers to bring their votes to bear! We were really building momentum as a community. There was more spirited fun to be had with this contest than we first suspected!
Did we have crossover from other fantasy fans? You betcha! *wink* GAME OF THRONES featured our very own Sean Bean (Boromir) in the first season and of course it was appropriate for him to support his halfling friend.
We were not just sending empty or meaningless tweets with a hashtag in place — we wanted to make this relevant. In an effort to really bring our feelings and honest passion to the center stage, TORn decided to host a concentrated “Tweet Quest” on Sunday April 14th, the day of the MTV Movie Awards. During a tightly-concentrated 1-hour block, and then another encore 1-hour, we asked Ringers to declare why Bilbo should be named ‘Best Hero.’ So we put forward the call to arms.
Boy oh boy, did they respond with a flood of hobbity lovin’!
Fans declared things that mattered to us, that mattered to readers, and as lovers of Tolkien we could certainly relate: “#VoteBilbo because he was the one person who willingly let the Ring go, when no one else could,” was my personal favorite sentiment. We have an audience that included older-generation folks who had never used Twitter, so we gave quick and easy instructions to help guide our friends toward their goal. We provided everything we could — and most importantly we gave this effort true SPIRIT.
It was a phenomenal success. In the end the final tally was:
#VoteBilbo: 1,637,179
#VoteSnowWhite: 1,532,571
See Emil’s final infographic here!
Giving our furry-footed reluctant adventurer a lead of well over 100,000 to claim the win! Although MTV broadcast the announcement of the winner as a throw-away commercial bumper for Axe body spray (indeed it was shown offstage, not really part of the “actual ceremony”), and although no cast member from THE HOBBIT film was present to receive the award, we here at TheOneRing.net were entirely thrilled to have succeeded with a kind of social networking wizardry that was fueled by you, dear readers.
Such a long way to go from only 226 votes! Such an outpouring of love!
One of our volunteer staffers, Magpie, had this to say: “It was like a flash mob. We did it for us (We defined as the greater Tolkien fan community with TORn functioning a major player in focusing that fan community). It was a community campaign that was an event in itself.”
Staffer Justin who produces our Live webcasts and our weekly show TORn TUESDAY had this to say: “Over 27,000 Bilbo pictures on
Instagram in one week! Take a look at all the comments and tweets we
got, there is something for everyone to run with. Thank you all for making #votebilbo happen. I received several messages at the beginning saying I was ‘crazy’ and it was ‘Folly against Twi-hards,’ ‘Who cares about MTV,’ and ‘What’s the point of a stupid teenage online popularity contest?’ But this is why fans love being fans. Achieving something together. To Prove Their Quality.”
And that, my friends, is indeed the feeling I have at the end of the day. That we have stood up with a flag of unity once again. That we have proven our quality of thinking creatively and acting with great energy! It feels like it was months in the making but it happened over such a very short length of time (making it the more surprising).
The love that brings us together is our love of J.R.R. Tolkien and his works are evergreen. No separation of older to younger generations or access to technology can slant that. The truth will out!
Hulk sad. Too bad.
Batman gave up the ghost. Because we are the most.
Iron Man clad in shame. Shoulda played his own game.
Catwoman felt an itchy pox. Put kitty back in her smelly box.
Snow White drifted. Twi-hards were sifted (out).
But #BilbotheHero wins the day! We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Much too hasty,
Quickbeam
————————–
Follow Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway on Twitter: @quickbeam2000
Follow TheOneRing.net on Twitter: @theoneringnet
The countdown, how exciting!
- Live Stream starts now… with Jed Brophy at the Post Production house
- Peter is reading the newspaper
- spoiler alert, it’s great weather on Monday
- Cricket scores shared for the English fans
- Motion capture stage visited, with Azog and another Orc, more fighting with the orcs, including orc archery
- Dam Busters, someone should remake it so Jed can be in it.
- James Bond walk of fame is rather cool
- Pre-vis department, Pre-visualisation (animated sequences)
- I see Smaug poster
- Rather comic version of Smaug on a computer screen (psych)
- the T-Rex with wings look a bit like Pete’s Dragon
- Rivendell library is rather cool looking, even if never used
- Jed loves Goldfinger
- And then we enter the Editing room with Jabez Olssen
- One Million years B.C was the poster over PJ’s bed as a kid
- Now to see editing happening
- Bard is taking the Dwarves and their barrels across the river, in a boat.
- Bilbo – I should never come along, we have a saying in the Shire “never venture east”.
- He seems rather miserable
- “I should never have left Bagend. We have a saying in the Shire, we learn it from birth, Never Venture East.”
- Peter and Jed agree that Aidan is one of the Hot Dwarves (Lisa)
- Jed looks very waterlogged
- We get the final cut – and it’s Bard saying “So Master Hobbit, why did you venture East?”
- Yeah Luke, sends a little message to say hello to the fans. The One Ringer, that’s us!
- Jed teases that Bard is out of the film but Peter says that Bard is one of the cool things about the next film
- Here come the video questions.
- Chris asks about problems with a middle film?
- PJ answers – middle films are complicated, but with multiple story lines different character arcs and plot lines take over.
- Thranduil on his throne, awesome.
- elf troop, with Legolas and Tauriel, fighting orcs
- Laketown and the Master looking smarmy, and his manservant looks a bit like Grima.
- Stephen Fry says he’s taking over from Orlando as the most desirable man in the films
- Stephen sends a video, and mentions that England is decimating NZ in Cricket
- Chinese girls ask questions about Legolas and Orlando and why he was cast and whether or not he’s similar to his Elf
- Orlando sends a video to ask PJ a question – he wants to know what image he is most excited to see onscreen.
- PJ says fans are most excited to see Smaug and Bilbo together and so is he.
- Stephen’s video has been running in the background because he’s so wordy, but he says he has no idea if he’s in the last film
- Marina in Canada – asks about new characters
- PJ answers – Thranduil, Bard (part of the family now), They’ve made Bard like Robin Hood, is he good or bad. And of course, Tauriel is new, a new creation. Yay for her costume, finally getting to really see it.
- Tauriel wears a leather
- Brazilian kids asking questions, call it LOTR and pronounce it as a word
- The kids ask about PJ’s favorite weapons, theirs is Gimli’s and Gloin’s axe.
- PJ loves Theoden’s sword, with the horse motifs.
- And back to London and Stephen Fry’s video still running 😉
- PJ was punishing Stephen about his comments about the NZ Cricket team
- Twitter question about how difficult it is to stay on track or schedule
- They mention the Flood in Nelson as one thing that messed up shooting
- Surprise question with from Stephen Colbert – asks about the Sindar Elves and the Avari elves? PJ says yes about the Elves
- So PJ rags on Stephen Colbert about two different sizes of mugs on his show, and how the quality of the printing on the mugs is poor quality
- Twitter question – does he edit barefoot? Yes, he can be barefoot.
- Lee Pace, woohoo, looking rather fab, as usual. Lee is looking forward to seeing the animosity of Dwarves and Elves in his own halls.
- Twitter question – would Jed like to inflict any dwarf torture on PJ?
- Jed says maybe, but has to say no because he wants to continue to work with him.
- Great story about the Dwarves on the spit, and how Mark Hadlow got sick and asked to take a break and no one heard him. Poor thing
- Billy Boyd sends a video question – In FOTR, they went as far as the Misty Mountains, but he knows in The Hobbit they go further East. Billy wants to know about any new Wildlands.
- PJ answers about Mirkwood, and shows artwork the darkness and foreboding nature of Mirkwood. Misty and mirky and hard to walk through, to be sure.
- Evangeline sends a question – What will Thranduil’s realm be like?
- PJ mentions that Green Screens is why she does not know what the realm looks like. The artwork shows a bridge over a raging river to a structure like Rivendell, but inside the forest. The realm looks like Rivendell and Lorien mixed together, but underground.
- Dom Monaghan asks a question, he is holding the camera himself.
- What is the best PJ rumor you’ve heard that is not true?
- What are you happiest about in transferring book to film?
- PJ answers about the craziest rumor – people asked him if he was going to move his family to a ship off the coast to avoid paying Taxes. He gets too seasick to do that.
- Twitter question – will the Necromancer play a bigger part, and PJ says yes and nothing else.
- Here comes a look at the movie, but the Trailer is not ready yet.
- PJ says that Gandalf goes to see the tombs of the Witch-king
- Gandalf in a cavern, showing a dark doorway that appears to be blown open from within. He then goes inside, and sees a bird flies out of broken stonework, and then sees Radagast. The Nine tombs were broken open from the inside.
- The vlogs will be starting up again, even though this is very much like one.
- Sequence of action from throughout the film concluding with ‘We are the Dwarves of Erebor, we have come to reclaim our homeland’
- Ran for about 55 minutes
Remember, if you missed the Peter Jackson hosted first look at “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” or just want to watch it over again, a modified version will be archived on the Trilogy’s official website www.thehobbit.com/sneak. To access the footage, use your UltraViolet code on your copy “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack or 2-Disc Special Edition DVD.
Also, be sure to stay tuned to TheOneRing.net for a detailed analysis. Coming soon!
Via Ringer Marandhir: Luke Evans is interviewed about his personal style in British magazine GQ. He doesn’t really talk Bard the Bowman –- but he does mention going to Hobbit AUJ premiere.
Luke Evans is sat alone at Soho Beach House, pondering a purchase that would have made a lot more sense in modern day Miami than mid-Nineties Cardiff. “I remember spending over £100 on a pair of sunglasses, which was an extortionate amount of money to be spending in Wales in 1996.”
[Read More]
SPOILERS! Just a week before the worldwide release ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,’ EW.com has acquired some amazing new images from both ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug‘ (Dec 13 2013) and ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ (July 18th 2014). The first pic showcases Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman and Orlando Bloom reprising his role as Legolas taken from what looks to be a battle prep scene in ‘There and Back Again.’ Check out the EW.com article for some insights into the photo from Peter Jackson himself. [here] The second image features Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Desolation of Smaug‘ climbing on a great pile of gold. If you look closely, it looks like he is wearing The One Ring – but it could also just be a gold piece covering his hand. Jump over to EW.com for more details about the pic and talk of how The Hobbit is not just about a quest to regain gold from Smaug. [EW.com]
