Reports from MrCere in New Zealand on the filming of ‘The Hobbit’
Richard Armitage listens to a question during a press conference before the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand.
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.
John Callen sits with his “Team Oin” jacket on during the press conference at Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. Each actor choose a unique approach to wardrobe, just as in the movie, showing their personality when there was little dialog to go around.
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.
Philippa Boyens (l to r) Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and Dean O’Gormann react to a question from the media. The reporter asked Freeman if he could eat dinner with anybody, living or dead, who it would be. Martin seemed a little stunted by the question.
Martin Freeman, who plays the leading role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, tries on his Hobbit Halo next to Peter Jackson.
John Callen sits with his “Team Oin” jacket on during the press conference at Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. Each actor choose a unique approach to wardrobe, just as in the movie, showing their personality when there was little dialog to go around.
Jed Brophy and William Kircher, fresh from playing Red Carpet Tours and TheOneRing.net’s combined party two nights before, speak earnestly about their experiences acting on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Richard Armitage listens to a question during a press conference before the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand.
Be sure to check out our *LIVE* webcast happening in about 1/2 an hour! Every week Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway hosts TORn TUESDAY, bringing very cool live chat technology right to your computer; allowing Ringer fans from across the world to interact and join hobbit actors, authors, artists, and more for a lively virtual moot and discussion! We have extra special guest Erica Challis today, one of the original founding members of TheOneRing.net community, coming to us via Skype from Wellington, New Zealand — where she and RED CARPET TOURS are preparing a fantastic HOBBIT Pre-Premiere Party! Learn how you can attend! Join our Live Event page here and be part of the show — it all begins 5:00pm Pacific Time (Tuesday) and 2:00pm New Zealand time (Wednesday)!
Weta’s Ben Hawker is a brilliant guy and he worked with the creative and fun folks at Air New Zealand to create the ideas that became perhaps the most popular airline safety video in the world, collecting 8 million hits since it was launched a week ago. TheOneRing was honored to play a part with Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway and I (Larry “MrCere” Curtis) appearing to help represent fans from across the globe. Well, they also asked us to chime in on the behind-the-scenes video which features J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandsons Royd and Mike, the genuinely excellent and beautiful airline employees Kara, Mark and Will (plus others not in the video), the film’s director Josh, the soon-to-be superstar Dean O’Gorman, Peter Jackson and that Hawker guy. TORn may have its own version of a story and photos from that set before long but Air New Zealand has a great video to follow up last week’s starting off with a familiar face. Also fun, many of the crew making this video also worked on The Hobbit. Check out the short clip on the next page! Continue reading “A secret look inside Air NZ’s Middle-earth safety video”
Join us in about 30 minutes for our *live* weekly webcast TORn TUESDAY! Your congenial host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway will bring in fellow TORn Staffer and esteemed Middle-earth journalist Larry “MrCere” Curtis to talk about new Line Parties co-crafted by YOU the *fans* using TheOneRing.net’s exclusive Line Party interface — and also the Wellington premiere party for THE HOBBIT; and we’ll even check out the new T.V. spot! Perhaps we may even begin the OFFICIAL TORn HOBBIT LIVE READING straight from the original book, time permitting. Join us at 5pm Pacific Daylight Time and be part of the chat at our *LIVE Event Page* right here, which includes Barliman’s Chat! www.theonering.net/live or even turn on your webcam and join us at our Stickam page here — www.stickam.com/theoneringnet
We all listened to and read Peter Jackson’s words from Comic-Con about three possible “Hobbit,” movies carefully. But we didn’t listen to all the words and we missed a few things.
He told us. He told us — he did.
He said exactly what he meant, he said it plainly and the media and fans (and me) tried to figure out what he meant when he told us in plainness. Monday, Jackson dropped an atomic bomb of news and fandom reacted accordingly.
“The Hobbit,” adapted for the screen from the 300-page, 75-year-old book by J.R.R. Tolkien changed from from two movies to three in the blink of a Facebook post.
AMBITION
More on the words we ignored in a minute. We need to figure out when these films break, what it means for fans and websites and studios and cinema and the director, but lets not rush past the size and scope of this news. Lets not walk around Paris admiring all the cafes and churches without also pausing and noticing the big tower in the center of town.
We witnessed, the last few weeks since Comic-Con, something monumental, unprecedented, unparalleled and a little bit crazy. Jackson (and when we say “Jackson” we always mean the director and Walsh, Boyens and a team of others supporting their vision) is in unchartered territory here. Continue reading “The bold ‘Hobbit’ trilogy decision and what to expect”
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!
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.
