ATLANTA – Exhausting. Exhilarating. Draining. Inspiring. Childish. Adult.
Mrcere writes: DragonCon in Atlanta is all of these and so much more. As one of the largest and most important genre conventions in the world, DragonCon is a red-letter event on any sci-fi or fantasy fan’s calendar and if it isn’t, it should be.
TheOneRing.net and KongIsKing.net were there again this year (first time officially for KiKn), pleased to get face time with fellow fans and pleased to help support the Tolkien contingent in Atlanta. Some assumed that fans of the Lord of the Rings would diminish as new interests cropped up and the pop-culture flavor of the month changed to something new but there was strong evidence that Tolkiendom isn’t going anywhere.
Fans from Atlanta and surrounding areas have formed a group that creates fellowship among Tolkien fans and builds the LOTR community along with the efforts of other groups like TORn and Allycatscratch.com/lotr/. Both of these groups had fan tables in the convention level of the Marriott – one of the two host hotels with a third set to join next year – where free tables can be reserved for fan organizations. The presence of three tables by LOTR fan groups shows that Tolkien’s followers aren’t going anywhere. Group leaders planned feeding times and events treated the entire community with respect and friendship. AOME was a particularly impressive host, especially considering the grass-roots flavor of the organization. Many of its individual members were generous with time and finances.
The ever-popular Bruce Hopkins and the regal John Noble both attended the event and were gracious with fans both on the convention’s “walk of fame” and as part of the Tolkien track of programming. Noble isn’t always a regular on the convention circuit but was a welcome sight by most fans. He was even kind enough to show up to an evening tradition of TORn’s, the annual karaoke night in one of the Marriott eateries, Champions. The bar and grill featured incredibly bad and indifferent service but the song-list was excellent.
TORn’s own Jincey is director of all the Tolkien programming – one of 27 tracks the convention features – and she was quick to give credit to helpers Sam and Balin, also part of the TORn family. Sideshow Collectibles was extremely generous to the Tolkien programming and sent a bundle of giveaway items. Kudos to Sideshow for providing yet another bright spot for many fans.
TORn and KiKn shared a fan table with the crew from “Ringers: Lord of the Fans” who used Dcon as the very last chance to get the word out about the expected November release of the film that in 97 minutes documents 50 years of Tolkien’s cultural impact on pop culture. “Ringers” will likely be available for presale soon in the U.S. and can be ordered now on Amazon’s UK site. The trailer for “Ringers” alternated play with the “King Kong” trailer on the fan table’s monitor. Each preview drew crowds and enthusiastic responses. Ringers also delivered three presentations informing attendees about different aspects of their film and DVD presentation. With the director (Carlene Cordova), writer (Cliff Broadway) and producer (Jeff Marchelletta) all on hand, attendees received a complete education and a dose of excitement for the pending DVD.
KongIsKing.net presented multi-media panels on both the site and the status of the film. Despite drawing the time slot on Friday when many of the guests are arriving and dealing with hotel check in and registration, the initial panel was packed. Sunday’s session in one of the bigger rooms in the convention was also filled to capacity and scores of people attending each of the panels made a point to visit the table and express delight with the prospects of the movie and the information from KiKn. With no official presence from Universal Pictures, the many fans of the classic King Kong used the panels and table as a base for discussion about films both old and new. With a show of hands, many at the panels were completely unaware of KiKn and many were delighted to find a way to track the progress of the film.
TORn and KiKn offered ball caps for the first time in many years as well as the usual shirts and even a few exclusive sweat shirts. Thanks to all the fans who supported the site with your purchases.
The track also featured a Friday night party with a costume contest at “A Night In Bree” featuring favorite folk band “Emerald Rose” who rocked the convention the whole of the weekend. The Georgia based band released its new album at the convention which sold extremely well. The costumes were excellent in both execution and in original thought. My personal favorite was the excellent Radaghast the Brown, complete with birds and their droppings.
TORn staffers Wee Tanya and Starlady were also at the convention and one of the best features of the event are the chance meetings of convention friends and the joy of simply hanging with people who love the same things. On the often-full elevators it was suggested that the convention is one of the only spots in the world where strangers on elevators actually talk to each other.
I happened to share a ride up one elevator with New Zealander Daniel Logan who played the young Boba Fett in the new Star Wars trilogy. We conversed a bit while waiting and when the doors opened a troop of fan Storm Troopers in full costume awaited us.
“Are you guys from Star Trek?” he asked them? When he received no response he continued to give them a friendly hard time while the two of us had a good laugh and while the troopers simply wondered who this outgoing and bold teen was. He sent each away with a farewell as they disembarked, “Good bye Star Trek”. With his humor in tact, we wish him happiness and a long career.
Dr. Anne “Just Anne” Petty was also part of the Tolkien track and was kind enough to join a group of us for dinner at the Hard Rock Café after the convention was winding down. I admit I was a bit chagrined that we were taking somebody I considered of grandmother age and who deserved respect as a genuine Tolkien scholar to such an undignified and loud joint. A short time into the meal it was discovered she is a closet hard rock / heavy metal fan who has toured around with Yngwie Malmsteen http://www.yngwie.org/ and considers herself a surrogate grandmother to the Swedish guitar virtuoso. She is extremely fond of Danzig, System of a Down, Ramstien and a gaggle of other just-as-unlikely bands. I joked that she probably knew Norweigen death-metal bands and she proceeded to name one that she likes. Consider her officially outed and look for her name in the “thank yous” on the Malmsteen disc. Those present urged her to use “Metal Mamma” as her TORn board and chat room handle.
The real experience of DragonCon lies in just the atmosphere of being around thousands of costumers – each more outrageous than the one before – and simply just being immersed in a culture of fans, unlike any other. I managed to snap some photos of many of the Tolkien costumers all gathered together at one time before the weekend was over. I snapped many, many other photos as well, but will post only the most interesting here to TORn.
Oddly, many find that when it ends, they miss the weekend, although surviving on little sleep and poor nutrition, the energy of thousands of folks sharing similar passions for genre culture is a unique event that is all at once exhausting, exhilarating, draining, inspiring, childish and adult but that really defies all description. It simply is DragonCon. Make plans to join us next year!
Ringer Celebriel attended John Noble’s Saturday presentation at Dragon*Con. Many fans don’t know John as well as other principals in the film, and some may think he’s as fearsome as his character Denethor. Nothing could be further from the truth. John is engaging and personable, and both knowledgeable and highly articulate about his craft. He’s also well organized, starting out by giving answers to FAQs and getting them out of the way.
John explained that he’s not a Tolkien scholar but an actor, with an actor’s point of view. He takes his work very seriously, and views it as a great responsibility. He would have chosen to play Denethor, he says, because he is such a great character to portray, on the scale of the great tragic Shakespearean roles. “It’s what I do. I feel more alive when acting than at any other time. I am more myself in the creative process than at any other time,” he added.
While not all roles are great, John believes that the actor “is responsible to do it to the best of your ability – don’t get jaded or cynical.” He enjoys any work that’s challenging and fun, noting that in a recent horror film he played another father who tries to kill his son. “I keep having these great deaths,” John commented. He recently played a villain put to death by being quartered by rowboats. He says it’s fun to play bad guys: “What I do is access the dark side in all of us….I try to make them real.”
One aspect of “The Lord of the Rings” he and his fellow actors especially enjoyed was access to screenwriter Phillipa Boyens to suggest additions and changes to the script, noting Peter Jackson had said, “Make sure you pay attention to the actors because by the time they get here they will know more about the roles than we do.”
Noble has the greatest respect for Peter Jackson, calling him “the man who led an army to produce this masterpiece,” adding that he never saw any complaining or temperament from cast or crew, despite the long days and endless changes. He later commented that “many directors are for hire – they do a good job but are not as totally committed or as sure of their vision as Peter Jackson was.”
John believes that Denethor is a noble character, “He’s not a bad man, he’s a great man who made poor choices.” He played him as a man believing the choices he made were the best at the time. Denethor had a huge responsibility, as head of the last bastion of a threatened land. “I played him as totally insular. He doesn’t react to any other characters… I played him as someone who had never recovered from the loss of his wife.”
The level of detail in sets, props, and costumes set a new standard. He mentioned, for example, that Denethor carried a beautiful and intricately detailed sword that was never drawn, its details never seen by the audience. “Film is about illusion,” he noted, “but Rings wasn’t about illusion – so much was actually created.”
“The difference between a good piece of work and a great piece of work is the detail,” says Noble. Even dialects and accents in LOTR received special attention. John explained that there were specialist dialect people on set. He was sent a tape with samples of the Gondorian accent, which had a different “o” sound when compared to received pronunciation, which was spoken by the elves (received pronunciation is a pronunciation of British English originally based on the speech of the upper class of southeastern England). “Most of my dialogue is pure Tolkien – it needs articulation so it has a certain weight.”
John shared some wonderful behind the scenes stories. In Denethor’s tomato-eating scene, he said Peter Jackson loved when the splash came out of his mouth, asking, “Can you do that every time?” (Long time fans will be aware of PJ’s love for gore). He also mentioned that a fan at a convention brought him a basket of cherry tomatoes. He believes the scene is “one of the finest pieces of film ever” because of its complex structure and brilliant editing.
When Billy Boyd sang Pippin’s song, John said the set came to a complete stop. He loves how the song plays against Denethor’s cruelty and Faramir’s self sacrifice. He’s also a big fan of Howard Shore, saying he met him at a symphony performance and they had a chance to talk at the party afterwards. He also refuted Internet stories about scenes or publicity stills of him with the palantir, saying “It’s a lie. I didn’t see a palantir until I saw Billy Boyd with one.”
He explained that his costume was heavy and hard to work in. There was always a fear of falling down stairs. “In one scene I had to go backwards in the costume and hit a mark very close to the camera.” He said he probably looked a bit strange as he walked the pattern repeatedly while on a break. “The wig was made by Peter King especially for me… I would disappear as the wig and makeup went on and Denethor appeared.”
The oil pouring scene was fun, John said. It had to be filmed in one take, because the wig and costume would be wet for the rest of the day. He loved being able to flick the wig and scatter the oil drops, though it was difficult to balance on the wood for the pyre.
And he really enjoyed his “exit” saying that security and safety are always at their highest when a dangerous scene is being filmed. It was one of the more dangerous stunts in the film. The stunt man was covered in protectant but it was still dangerous because of the long run. The scene also used very traditional film devices, such as reflecting flame into a mirror and onto the lens to create the effect.
Noble thinks of his fellow “Rings” actors as a band of brothers and sisters who keep in touch and remember their excellence in working together. He views “Rings” as a once in a lifetime experience. “I can’t imagine another project of this nature, where everything fits together like a Rubics’ cube, starting with the greatest material of the 20th century.” He looks forward to working with others in the Australian LOTR contingent – including Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett, and David Wenham.
He did mention that for some reason, unlike most of the cast, he never received a farewell gift such as his sword, a clapper, or other memento. He even asked Barrie Osborne about it, but apparently by then everything had been disposed of. John never had to go back to New Zealand for pickup shots, but 18 months later he returned to shoot a new scene with Boromir and Faramir that appeared in the Extended Edition. He was glad the scene was added, as he felt it was essential to show the relationship between Denethor and his sons, especially to develop Faramir’s character and motivation.
In January 1999 he agent called about an audition for “The Lord of the Rings.” A few months later he read for the parts of Saruman and Denethor at a meeting in Sydney. He didn’t hear anything, and later he read on The One Ring.net (yes, he’s a reader!) that Christopher Lee had gotten the part. But then he did get a call about Denethor, and 12 months later he went on set.
Noble has had a long and distinguished career in his native Australia and elsewhere as a voice, stage, and screen actor, and stage director, but he became an actor by accident. At university in Australia, John was a law student, but he had a flatmate who was an actor. John took an acting elective, was encouraged by his teachers and soon was working in the profession. “Once I did it, I knew it was what I wanted to do. It’s the canvas I’ve been given to work on. I can try my best to do a good job.” One accomplishment yet to come is to play King Lear, “when I’m old enough,” remarking that it’s a complex role about the relationships of a parent and children.
All the actors he worked with on LOTR were “fantastic.” He loved working with Ian McKellen, whom he called “the senior actor of the English stage.” Since LOTR he’s worked with John Rhys-Davies (in a film called One Night with the King – a big, sweeping, historical drama, based on the biblical story of Esther with gorgeous production design, sets, and costumes, plus Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. I could not locate an exact release date – IMDB just says 2005).
And he enjoys attending conventions, noting of his fellow actors, “We’ve moved on with other projects and with our lives, but it was a great honor to be part of it.”
Ringer Celebriel talked with Bruce Hopkins at Dragon*Con about his new projects. In February 2005 Bruce formed indiPact Films, an independent film production company based in Auckland, with partner Amarbir Singh. They aim to produce films with private investment and help further expand the country’s film making base. Their plans also include TV series, commercials, and music videos. Mr. Singh comes from Bombay, India but has lived in New Zealand for eight years.
Their first film, “1 nite,” was released on DVD in New Zealand in late July. It was made in 2003 and first shown at the International Film Festival in Auckland in July 2004. At the 2005 New Zealand screen awards the film won the award for Images and Technical Contribution to a Digital Feature (Cristobal Araus Lobos, cinematographer) and was a finalist for the Sony Best Digital Feature award.
“1 nite” is an 80 minute film that tells four stories, all taking place in and around Karangahape Road (“K’Road”) in Auckland in the course of one night. (K’Road is lively, ethnically diverse area with lots of clubs and restaurants.) The film was produced, Bruce explains, with a budget of $400, a crew of two using a hand-held Canon XL1 digital camera, and some willing actors. The cast worked without a formal script and relied on improvisation based on suggestions given by the director and close interaction among the actors. Bruce commented that he’s very comfortable working this way, as he has a good deal of experience in TheatreSports.
IndiPact hopes to reach several target markets for “1 nite,” Bruce explained. His fans and fans of Lord of the Rings are one obvious segment, but they also want to reach film schools and film libraries around the world, given the film’s innovative filmmaking production and storytelling techniques. A third segment is the Indian independent film market, given Amarbir’s Indian background and the large Indian film market.
IndiPact is working to raise $1.5 million to complete their second film, currently titled “P120,” made in a fusion of film and digital. Like “1 nite,” it will be filmed in and around Auckland. This second film traces the story of a character that embarks on a journey to fulfill what he sees as the potential in his life. At his Sunday panel with John Noble, Bruce screened both the trailer for “1 nite” and the teaser for “P120,” giving Ringers a good introduction to indiPact’s work.
Find out more about indiPact Films at indipact.com. You can order the 1 nite DVD, which includes bonus features, online through the website in formats for ALL regions. The price is NZ$29.95, and Bruce and Amarbir will sign it for you if you want!
Bruce is also hosting a New Zealand call-in radio program called “The Dawn Parade” that airs from midnight Saturday to 6 AM Sunday. The show is on a new network called RadioLive and, best of all for Bruce’s worldwide fans, it’s available on the web at radiolive.co.nz. Listeners discuss a different topic each week. Another program feature is called Chance of a Lifetime, in which listeners call in to sing or play music, sharing their talents with the community. One blind singer who phones in regularly so impressed Bruce that he put him in touch with a major New Zealand sports team, with the idea of singing the national anthem at games. Ian Brodie, author of The Lord of the Rings location guide, was also a recent visitor.
As many Ringers know, Bruce is very generous with his time and makes himself available to fans at various gatherings. He explains, “My experience in the films was so wonderful, I don’t mind reflecting on it.” Be sure to also visit Bruce’s official website at bruce-hopkins.com for all the latest news on his work and appearances.
Emma writes: My apologies for the delayed report – going Edinburgh straight to Toronto, home for a week, then Hooligans premiere (I’m throwing a line party) followed the next day by leaving for Toronto Film Festival – I’m a bit strapped for time!
Anyway, I had always planned to go to London for the Green Street premiere, but when we heard that it was, in fact, going to premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival, I figured I’d just have to forget going. But with the help of a last-minute airfare drop (from “preposterous” down to merely ridiculous) and the assistance of some friends with a room and travel plans, I was able to go.
I arrived in time to see the second showing of Billy Boyd’s “On a Clear Day” with a few other fellow travelers who were there early (others came in later that night or the next day). After the movie, we were lucky enough to be able to still get tickets to a talk with the writer, Alex Rose. It was fascinating to hear about getting a book from paper to screen, and overall, Mr. Rose’s experience was generally a very positive one since he and the director (Gaby Dellal) had very much the same vision for the movie. He did mention that Billy was very funny and quite good at ad libbing, and originally quite a bit of what Billy added was used in the movie. But when they picked up a distributor after Sundance, it was felt like there was a little TOO much humour, and it changed the balance of the movie. So the version we saw in Edinburgh (and which everyone else will see), has some of the humour (and in particular, some of Billy) excised. Not to worry, though – Billy still plays a huge role in the film. I heartily recommend the movie – it was so much better than I expected, and very engaging.
The majority of the group I was with – we called ourselves the Edinburgh Hooligans, and were 25 women from 10 different countries who met via LiveJournal – decided to meet outside the cinema at noon for the premiere of “Green Street.R21; 3 of the ladies who only arrived that morning decided to forego checking in to their hostel and instead went straight to the cinema – so we had a presence there from 9AM onwards, with the majority arriving at noon, and a few stragglers later in the day. We spent the day getting acquainted, listening to “One Blood” (Terence Jay single from the movie, available on ITunes), and the latest Gogol Bordello album (some of which will be on the “Everything is Illuminated” soundtrack). I had some t-shirts made from the promo poster/postcard for the movie in the US, and also made some laminated badges with the same image, and the location and date. Another of the group designed a button, and we had a supply of those as well – which would prove very popular, well beyond our group!
A couple of hours before the movie, after we had been standing there all day, they finally began setting up the area – and advised us that we had to stand on the other side of the street! Much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth ensured, and eventually, the Powers That Be told us that, indeed, the early arriving fans are normally allowed to stand against the actual barriers – so, those of us who’d been there all day took our proper places, hurrah! I will say that the actual film festival staff couldn’t have been nicer – there were a few security people (not with the festival itself) who seemed ill-informed and occasionally a bit brusque, but the people who mostly worked with us were unfailingly helpful and polite. And most of them went home with our “Stand Your Ground” buttons!
About a half hour before showtime, Lexi Alexander showed up, followed by Leo Gregory, Elijah Wood, and Charlie Hunnam, in rapid succession. (There was one other actor – I think it was Christopher Hehir – there, but I somehow missed his arrival.) I had met Lexi at the Tribeca Film Festival, and she remembered me – which made it really easy to talk to her this time, and to have a better chance at the others. Everyone was very nice and signed for as many as they could get to, at least on our side of the barriers – Elijah also crossed the street and signed for those who hadn’t been there early enough to get to the actual barricades. And of course, he happily stopped for several minutes to sign and chat with a group of women in wheelchairs.
Although Edinburgh has now strictly banned camera phones and cameras from the theatre during the screening, they have a procedure whereby all such items are claimchecked, then brought back into the theatre immediately following the movie so that you can have them for use during the question-and-answer period. Thanks to that, I do have a few photos from the Q&A as well. It was only lit by houselights, so the quality of the photos isn’t quite up to snuff.
Everyone had quite a lot to say and the Q&A was lively; a lot of questions centered on how the film was being received in various quarters – USA vs. UK, by the firms themselves, by West Ham United, and so on. Having seen the film first in the US, I did notice that the British audience did tend to focus on a few different aspects than we had over here, but while I had been worried that they would be turned off by the way the film was pitched at the US market (Matt Buckner serves as our introduction into the world, and things are explained to him so that they are also explained to us), it didn’t seem to bother them much. They seemed also willing to overlook (to an extent) that all the accents weren’t quite accurate, because the dialogue itself seemed to ring true to them.
It was interesting to find out that Charlie Hunnam, who plays Pete (the head of the GSE firm), had no background in football at all – he hadn’t been a fan as a child, despite coming from Newcastle (a hotbed of football fans). Leo Gregory, on the other hand, obviously supported a London team other than West Ham, but he wasn’t saying which. Lexi herself had a brother who was in a firm in her native Manheim (Germany), and she was somewhat of an affiliated member of it for a time (they didn’t allow her to actually fight, since fighting either with or against a girl was felt to be demeaning). Elijah talked a little about how this level of passion for a sport is beyond anything he’d seen in the US.
After the Q&A was over, Lexi stopped by our group again to thank us all for coming and supporting the movie, and posed for a photo with us.
Then, it was time for bed for some, and for the pub for the rest of us. Little did we know that we were only a few bars away from where the director and cast were celebrating a successful premier – oh, well! Then it was off for some to the London screening (the following day) or home, and the rest of us stayed on to see the movie again the following evening, minus the celebrities.
Ed writes: Hi, I was at the LOTR symphony in Bergen Saturday Sep 3 at the Festplassen (open-air park stage). I am in Norway for 3 weeks and decided to overlap my stay so I could see this concert. This is my fourth time seeing a LOTR symphony. The first was the very first performance by Howard Shore during the Wellington world premier of ROTK back in Dec 2003. Hard to beat that, honestly. And I saw it in Seattle where I live twice.
So I can say a few things overall: it was a good performance by the symphony, with solid vocals and Sissel soloing.
This was put on by Hydros, a huge natural resources company in Norway (think oil, gas, fertilizer, and thankfully alternative and future energy sources unrelated to fossil fuels). In one of a few videos they displayed on the large viewing screens dotting the park area, they made it clear they are investing a lot in the future sources not necessarily being from carbon fossil fuels, which I liked. Of course, well see if it pans out that way…
Anyhow, this was a daylong concert series of artists celebrating Hydros 100th anniversary as a company. There were some popular Norwegian bands preceding the symphony, more like a Lollapalooza, which suddenly morphed into an 80 to 100-seat orchestra and 40 to 50 vocalists. Oh, and Sissel guest soloed most of the boy soloist parts, the notable exception being the solo immediately after Gandalf falls in FOTR and they emerge on the Lothlorien side of Moria. The boy who did that hit it nicely despite being nervous I’m sure, as the crowd was very large for that park.
A note about the park attendance: it was crammed with people, and they set numerous rows of chairs up in the center for elderly and disabled people, which was a very welcome touch. Of course there’s always smart asses who rush in and take seats meant for those challenged people, even in Norway. But only a few thankfully. Everyone was cheerful and you get the sense that Scandinavian places like Bergen are in a sense a homecoming for Tolkiens’s work and Shore’s music. The crowd was respectful (again, there’s always some scattered talking but not bad. Everyone stood the entire concert except the afore-mentioned seats. Norwegians are in better shape, especially the middle aged and older people who probably hike every weekend for fun, since the area around Bergen is full of great day hikes and strolls. So they stood 2-3 hours just fine, and a lot of the elderly who could have taken seats just stood.
There were 6 movements, with each movie’s songs roughly split in half to give 6 pauses for applause and to let the orchestra and vocals rest a minute. So here are my musings on what I noticed, and I won’t just repeat the set of songs since everyone knows them by now (and yes, they appeared to follow the set I had seen before without deviation – which I have some comments on at the end).
– Sissel was spot on in all her parts. And she looked really good 🙂 Despite being spot on however, she did print her style on parts like Into The West, which had vibrato in places that Annie Lennox doesn’t do that, and a few other minor things that throw you of only if you are looking for details like I was. But she hit all the notes unwaveringly, which as you all know is hard to do in a lot of those pieces.
– The boy soloist was a little nervous who wouldn’t be, but did fine in his parts like the post-Moria mourning.
– Sissel did Gollum’s Song with somewhat of an attempt at the breathiness of Ms. Torrini (sp?), but although it sounded fine, anyone who knows the sound and characteristic voice would recognize that she was going for that sound but couldn’t quite get it.
– The version of the Beacons was awesome!! Finally an orchestra (that I have seen), which plays the damn thing at the right tempo! Everyone else slows it down so much it plods, imo. They played it at the same tempo as the movie, and the violins were ripping through the crescendo in keeping with the energy inherent in that piece.
– The vocals of the choir were overshadowed somewhat in a few places where both the instruments and voices are supposed to swell, like the Mount Doom and Pelennor Fields sequences. But they did quite well given they only had half or less the number of vocalists that some performances of this symphony have used. Plus the acoustics may have played a part and they stood behind the orchestra on risers but under the same enclosed weather cover.
– My only real annoyance, and it was a big one in places, was the panpipe guy. And to a lesser extent the woman playing that instrument which reminds me of a zither used for the Rohan theme. I wonder if they just don’t know the music in its original intended form and theme, or they just like showing off silly flourishes where there are none written in the score. You know what I mean, twilling triplets and stuff like that when the score calls for (nay begs for in some cases) simple straight tones such as the various places especially the slower less joyous ones (the pan pip guy was just silly in how many flourishes he injected), and the return to Hobbiton where they realize in the green Dragon that they are indeed out of place (the zither lady was trilling like the pan pipe guy always did believe it or not). Sorry, but it took me waaaay out of the mood of those pieces, since some were precisely those moments of greatest emotional simplicity in the movie. For God’s sake all you future soloists and instrument lists on this symphony: DON’T NEEDLESSLY EMBELLISH PLEASE, THANKS!
– I really liked the pace and tempo of the score throughout, they kept it up like the movie versions and didn’t slow them down to a crawl, which makes many of the pieces almost painfully slow. Very nice conducting throughout.
Okay, just those nits otherwise a beautiful rendition.
Now I cant end this without some general “Why did they do that?” observations about the symphony, in any venue it pops up in…
– Why do they play Treebeard’s song at all? It is horrible in a concert setting, especially given so many worthy pieces being left out.
– Why not play more pieces, which aren’t even available on the CD? There are numerous ones that would be awesome in concert like when Gandalf falls (beginning of TTT), the actual melting of the Ring, the full intro to Minas Tirith as Gandlaf and Pippin approach.
– Including a few bits from the Extended versions, like Sam and Frodo watching the wood elves on their way to The Grey Havens, and the “Which way Gandalf, right or left” in Rivendell. Great job, now add more of those please :))
It was unique to me to see this concert in the very heart of Scandinavia, and everyone appreciated it immensely. That alone was worth the trip.
Gregory writes: I went to the New Starcon IV in the Netherlands today (newstarcon.com). At this convention celebrities appeared like Erika Eleniak (Baywatch – and her first convention ever!), Robert Englund (Freddy), Adrian Paul (Highlander), Carl Weathers (Predator, Rocky,…), Brian Thompson (X-files, Cobra,…), John Breck (Jeepers Creepers), and quite a few other names from movies and television series. But my main goals of course, were the two LOTR guests attending. Since John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) cancelled at the last minute, only Jed Brophy (Snaga, Sharku, Ringwraith) and Sala Baker (Sauron) were present.
For reasons I don’t know – maybe the nice weather or something like that – there weren’t a lot of visitors attending at all. Therefore there was practically no queue, so I had quite a few moments to chat with Jed and Sala. Especially Jed is a very nice guy to talk to. Since I am a LOTR autograph-collector I was mainly interested in who played the other Ringwraiths, cause I am always on the look out to find out new people to contact. I already am aware of the fact that Paul Shapcott played a burning Ringwraith on Weathertop, that Shane Rangi was on the Felbeast hovering the Dead Marshes, and that Jono Manks played a Wraith used in close-ups.
Well, there were definitely more than nine Wraiths! For the scenes that were filmed with the Wraiths mounted on horses, they trained a team of 14 horsemen during a period of 3 months. After some time, a few stuntmen even quit the job, because the physical part was just too demanding, Jed told me. They all had to wear boots that were locked in the horses’ stirrups, so it was quite dangerous too. Well, Jed continued the training and filming and can now be seen in FOTR when chasing Arwen and Frodo. Afterwards Jed even bought one of the Rohirrim horses used for close-up scenes at the Battle of the Pelennor in ROTK. He has been riding since he was eleven years old, so you could say they did the right thing by hiring Jed to play one of the Wraiths…
