Neil Finn talks to Andrew Dickens of News Talk ZB about recording “The Song of the Lonely Mountain” for the end credits of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Choice quote regarding the “anvils” used in the song:
“I’d love to paint a picture of a big, blacksmith’s anvil sitting in the middle of the studio but, in actual fact, it was my son Liam […] poised over an electronic keyboard.”
At the beginning of August, TheOneRing.net reported on allegations by a former animal wrangler that “incompetence” lead to the deaths of several animals used in the production while they were being housed at a farm outside of Wellington.
Now, The Associated Press has spoken with three other wranglers who said the farm near Wellington was unsuitable for horses because it was peppered with bluffs, sinkholes and broken-down fencing. They said they repeatedly raised concerns about the farm with their superiors and the production company, owned by Warner Bros., but it continued to be used. They say they want their story aired publicly now to prevent similar deaths in the future. Continue reading “Animal wranglers say farm was unsuitable for horses”
Philippa Boyens. Photo: KENT BLECHYNDEN/Fairfax NZ Wellington’s Philippa Boyens is one of the most successful screenwriters in the world. She’s won an Oscar, a Bafta and has been a nominee for many more, including a Writers Guild of America Award.
Boyens owes much of this to her screenwriting debut with Sir Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. She went on to co-write King Kong and The Lovely Bones with Jackson and Fran Walsh, as well as co-produce both films.
So with the fruits of her most recent labour, the US$500 million trilogy The Hobbit, soon to be revealed to the world with the release in December of An Unexpected Journey, we’d be forgiven for assuming Boyens was keen from the very beginning to return to Middle-earth.
When asked, there’s a long pause before she answers. “I loved the world. I loved [JRR] Tolkien’s writing. [But] I think there was a quality about myself where I felt like ‘I’d done it’,” she says while in Wellington.
HotHouse Music (the music supervisors and film composer agents at Abbey Road Studios in London) report on Twitter that — after three months of recording and mixing — The Hobbit score is finally complete.
Choice quote: “It’s going to be epic. #TheHobbit #Needaholiday”.
It’s all getting serious now. Isn’t the film supposed to be signed, sealed and delivered in a day or so, too? Thanks to Ringer Tolktolk on the forums for the heads up!
Australians Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Barry Humphries will all attend the world premiere of the first Hobbit movie in New Zealand next week.
Warner Bros. has announced the stars who will attend the first screening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in Wellington.
Filmmakers Sir Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens will also be joined by Martin Freeman, who plays the central role of Bilbo Baggins; Richard Armitage, who stars as the dwarf warrior Thorin Oakenshield; Andy Serkis who plays Gollum and Elijah Wood who plays Frodo Baggins.
There may be a nearly 10-metre statue of Gandalf the Grey above Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, but the actor who plays the character, Sir Ian McKellen, won’t be there to see it for himself.
McKellen said he was sorry he could not attend. “I know they (the cast) will have a wonderful welcome from the fans and I envy them. As ever, my heart is in Wellington, and I send my love.”
As part of their weekly Sunday countdown of top classical music and movie scores, the U.K. station,Classic fm, will be playing exerpts from Howard Shore’s score to “The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey.” The countdown show is playing as I type this with the #1 slot set to begin around 6:30 p.m. GMT (that’s 11:30 a.m. EST (New York) and 7:30 a.m NADT (Auckland). Follow this link to listen live on your computer: classicfm.com. Read More…