Although actors like Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, not to mention writer-director Peter Jackson and producer Fran Walsh are often credited with the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the real folks responsible for bringing them to life are the crew members behind the scenes, led by Weta workshop president Richard Taylor. Since the beginning of the film series, Taylor has provided vital, insightful information about the making of the films, and helped flesh out their journey from page to screen.
This week, Warner Home Video released the theatrical versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy on Blu-ray. The good folks at WHV offered Hollywood News an opportunity to talk with Taylor about the process of blowing up the films to Blu-ray, and they caught up with him late last week while driving to San Francisco for Wondercon. Although Taylor admitted outright that he hadn’t seen the new discs and had little to do with the high-definition remastering, the effects guru spoke about his interest in the films as new iterations arrive in fans’ hands, and then offered a few brief details about his upcoming work on The Hobbit, which is among Hollywood’s most highly-anticipated future films. More.
To promote the release of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-ray DVD Richard Taylor dropped us a line to talk all things ‘Rings’. Richard is hard at work on production of the The Hobbit, and during the chat we spoke a bit about blu-ray and 3D technology effecting the way the folks at his WETA Workshop go about creating sets and props. Our very own MrCere also had the chance to chat with Richard, be on the lookout for his report as well.
Click here for the chat!
Order Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (BD)
at the WBshop.com! Continue reading “TORN Chats with Richard Taylor”
The guys over at MTV caught up with the incredibly talented and extremely busy co-founder and director of WETA, the Oscar Award winning Richard Taylor, right after he got off “a big meeting about how to make the new designs of armor for the new film” no less. Taylor shared a deal of information regarding the early pre-production that’s been going on in New Zealand while the rest of the world is anticipating the long-awaited greenlight for the two Hobbit films.
“The lovely thing about ‘The Hobbit'”, says Taylor, “is that the race of the dwarves comes to the forefront in the story, and [we’ll depict] the uniqueness of the collection of the dwarves. There’s a journey through the story with Bilbo, and that’s something that’s incredibly exciting — that we’re going to have a chance to feed and develop and watch them take on a much greater presence than the one dwarf named Gimli was able to in the Lord of the Rings. Gimli had an incredible presence, of course, but he was only one character. And it’s fantastic to think that we’re going to be able to develop the dwarves to such a higher degree … the richness of their culture. The fact that through so many different dwarfs, you’ll get to appreciate their cultural differences, where they come from, them as a people.”
Taylor had more to say concerning the early design phase that they’re currently in, about the new and wonderful worlds that the story of The Hobbit takes you to, and about working with Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson.
Read the entire interview over at the MTV Movies Blog.
TheOneRing.net has a long tradition of convincing and slightly irritating April Fool pranks. We believe this one was one of our best in both respects. Hope you fell for it! And let’s all hope we have real good news about The Hobbit films in the near future!
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According to a source very close to the production, this draft of the official press release is supposed to be released with the launch of the LOTR Blu-Ray set on April 6th. But as always, TheOneRing.net has it exclusively for you first! Read on!
“The Hobbit” to begin Principal Photography in New Zealand in October
Guillermo del Toro Directs International Cast
1st film release scheduled for late 2012
(Los Angeles, April 6, 2010) — The Hobbit films will begin principal photography in Wellington, New Zealand, on October 11, 2010, under the direction of Guillermo del Toro, it was jointly announced today by Barry M. Meyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros; Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros; Stephen Cooper, President and Chief Operating Officer of MGM; Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Cinema. The date marks the 11th anniversary of the start date of filming of “The Lord of the Rings,” trilogy, also in New Zealand.
The production follows the tradition of Middle-earth movie-making by filming the two films in the saga — “The Hobbit,” in two parts — not consecutively but concurrently, as though they were one giant motion picture production, a feat first established by “Lord of the Rings,” director Peter Jackson who along with Fran Walsh, serves as Executive Producer for this production.
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel originally written for children and beloved by readers of all ages, the film will have a same-day red carpet premieres around the globe on Tuesday, September 21st, 2012, the landmark 75th anniversary of the publication of “The Hobbit.”
Those high-profile premiers will include cast, crew, guests of the film studios and media including a celebration in the writer’s native Oxford, United Kingdom. Other participating cities are Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Salt Lake City, Tokyo and Wellington.
General release for the public will be on Friday, December 31, 2012.
“You see,” joked director Guillermo del Toro, “we kept our promise to fans and released this film before the end of the world,” in a reference to the Mayan calendar which concludes time on that date. “We recommend everybody take Friday off to catch an early screening — just in case!”
The Lord of the Rings franchise stars (in alphabetical order) Cate Blanchett, Marton Csokas, Martin Freeman, Mark Ferguson, Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving with other cast members to be announced before production begins.
The screenplay is written by del Toro (Hellboy, El laberinto del fauno) Jackson (Meet The Feebles, King Kong); Walsh (Heavenly Creatures, The Lovely Bones) and Philippa Boyens (Lord of the Rings, District 9). The producers are Barrie M. Osborne (The Matrix, Face/Off), and Rick Porras (Contact, Lord of the Rings).
* MGM and Warner Bros. will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.
* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line, under direction of Warner Bros. will manage the production of the films.
Thanks to Ringer Alex for sending along this link today.
HONG KONG – One of Peter Jackson’s frequent collaborators says the “Lord of the Rings” director passed the torch to Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro to give the trilogy’s two-part prequel, “The Hobbit,” a fresh look.
After the huge success of the “Rings” series, Jackson is now working on adapting the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel that takes place before the trilogy. But this time the Oscar-winning New Zealand filmmaker is producing and working on the script, relinquishing directing duties to Del Toro, whose credits include “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the two “Hellboy” movies.
Read the full story at Yahoo.com. [Read More]
Linuxelf is building something of an online video archive of New Zealand news segments involving LOTR. Linuxelf writes “I dont think any of this stuff has been seen outside NZ so I thought it would be good to post them so other people can see them”. Take a look at these! Ngila Dickson & Richard Taylor Interviews, plus a segment about Hobbiton Tours. Continue reading “You Want Your Classic NZ LOTR News Segments? You Got ’em!”
