As you know, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies had its world premiere in London last week. Members of the cast and crew gathered in the city, with some of them seeing the film the night before the premiere, but many heading down the red carpet to experience the completed movie for the first time.
TORn Senior Staffer greendragon was there to catch up with the folks in Leicester Square that night. Amongst those who stopped by to chat with her were stars Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen and others, as well as director Peter Jackson and screen writer Philippa Boyens. In addition to hearing what they thought of the film, and how it felt to be at the end of their (long expected? unexpected?) journey, greendragon made sure to invite them all to celebrate at The One Last Party in Los Angeles next February – which, of course, YOU can attend too. (Click here for more information.)
Enjoy this footage from that star-studded night in London:
[Special thanks to cameraman and editor Matthew Rodriguez; should you be looking for a film maker in London, you can reach him at rodriguezrmatthew at gmail.com]
[Buy tickets to The One Last Party here]
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For the previous Hobbit films TheOneRing.net attended press conferences and brought you coverage the best we could. For the last film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” we delivered this transcript. Oh but now, here it all is on video!
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The final film from Middle-earth is out and making impressions world-wide but for the vast majority of fans, the wait is still ongoing. To tide us over and to whet our appetites, here is a clip of Thranduil, Gandalf and the title character, the Hobbit.
That is a different character entirely from the one who faints in his own home in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Enjoy your journey as we count down the days to the film hitting wide release. Thanks to spy theElf19101730 for the heads up.
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And so we come to it – the last Hobbit movie of our time…
Maybe not – but certainly this is the final film in what is now Peter Jackson’s sextuplet of Middle-earth movies. And I was lucky enough to see it today.
Here are some spoiler-free first impressions:
It is a beautiful film. So many lovely moments – great acting from our dwarf cast (who have very few lines amongst them, but who do wonderful, expressive things facially and with body language). Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Luke Evans and Richard Armitage are as fabulous as they have been throughout these films.
John Bell (Bain, son of Bard) is a stand out ‘supporting role’ in this film. There is a scene between him and his father Bard which is especially moving – it was the first scene in the film to make me cry! From the dwarves, Ken Stott (Balin) and Graham McTavish (Dwalin) both have well scripted, skilfully played scenes.
Christopher Lee is fantastic – Saruman is a force to be reckoned with in this film, even though he only appears briefly!
There are some typically over the top, ‘PJ’ moments – bits which made me roll my eyes, but which, on the whole, we’ve come to expect from this playful director. Legolas does more than shield-surfing in this movie… But when it comes to the quiet, downplayed moments, this stellar cast don’t let us down. I was moved to tears often; the scene when Bilbo takes his final leave from the company of dwarves is beautifully touching.
Howard Shore’s score is as effective as ever, and of course the production and costume design are wonderful. Is this the best of the three Hobbit movies? Maybe. I need to see it again to decide. Does it rise to the height of the Lord of the Rings movies? In places, yes. There are scenes of spectacular depth and emotion, as well as that incredible New Zealand scenery. There are CGI moments which, for me, are jarring – vast hordes of soldiers where it is all too obvious that the same CGI character is repeated multiple times – but on the whole, not so many in this film as there were in The Desolation of Smaug.
There are small things I might wish to change, but overall, this is a satisfying end to this trilogy – and a pleasing ‘lead in’ to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tonight on the red carpet, Peter Jackson asked me who would be the first person to watch all six films in order. I can’t wait to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies again; and I can’t wait to watch this film ‘in situ’ with the other five movies. It’s a worthy, emotional part of our Middle-earth journey; a three tissue film for me! We went there; we’ve come back again; and the journey has been well worth it.
Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party
We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a final toast to all SIX movies, both The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy.
We’re inviting you to join us and make it happen through our Indiegogo campaign — so we can all celebrate Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies together!
Visit our campaign page and find out how you can help!
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MIRAMAR, NEW ZEALAND — In the final few weeks of filming for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” a handful of journalists visited Peter Jackson’s set at Stone Street Studios near Wellington, New Zealand to do a final round of interviews during filming.
The invitation included TheOneRing.net. The pack of journos were given a lot of interviews in a short amount of time with the agreement with Warner Bros. to hold them until just before the final film. The veil is lifted and here is the interview, with minimal commentary. (Assume the less good questions aren’t from TORn!)
We met in the mess hall, empty except for us on a windy day. Pace is even more handsome in person than expected, dressed casually but smartly and he gave very thoughtful answers — as you will read — and appeared to be thinking while he spoke. In fact, at the time the interview seemed extraordinary, especially as he talked about his character. Some of these phrases could be engraved and hung somewhere. Reading through it more than a year later, I hope fans enjoy it as much as I do.
We were fresh from Weta Workshop, Academy Award winner Richard Taylor as well as interviewing Academy Award winner Dan Hennah and having a tour of the offices of the Art Department where we saw concept art and models and props of all kinds.
Here is the conversation: Continue reading “TheOneRing.net and Lee Pace on set to talk ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies””
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Here’s the transcript of a long but very interesting roundtable question and answer session that Ian McKellen conducted with a number of reporters just before his final day on the set of the Hobbit as Gandalf.
The transcript traverses not just his role — and legacy — as Gandalf, but also his Shakespearean endeavours, living in New Zealand, meeting Edmund Hillary, and the challenges that Sean Connery might have faced if he’d ever taken on the Gandalf role.
Continue reading “Ian McKellen talks on Gandalf’s last day”
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