Thoughts from Wilhelm of Eregion: “Though this is just a speculation from the text, if you were looking for a place to slip in a more dramatic visual presentation of Sauron, it seems more likely that Peter Jackson and crew would have visually expanded upon Aragorn’s experience of wrestling with Sauron for the control of Orthanc palantir. In this portion of the narrative, Tolkien used his somewhat familiar literary device of describing that confrontation after the fact. From a cinematic perspective, Jackson could create a tangible Sauron in the nether regions of “Palantir” reality and still keep true to the stated fact that Sauron could not take form in this reality without the possession of the Ring, (not to mention build a considerable amount of dramatic tension that would culminate in the necessity for the riding through the “Paths of the Dead”). And, on the other hand, doesn’t it seem somewhat redundant for Aragorn and the forces of Gondor to confront the “Mouth of Sauron” in front of the Black Gates only to be going toe to toe with the actual Sauron a few frames later. What would be the purpose of sending a messenger if you planned on making an appearance at the same time ?”
Ringer Syphon12 sends in some great images from a recent visit to New Zealand and The Stone Street Studios, where ROTK reshoots were taking place. And for those of you who missed the giant gollum at the Embassy Theater, Syphon12 also sends in a great picture of the imposing remnant from the premiere! (Who wants to bet that next year’s premiere will have Shelob above the theater!)
NZboy had a bit of luck living in Wellington:
“I was just walking through town and saw a sign outside Dymocks bookstore, saying that Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz) will be in store at 2pm today. Time was 1:30pm and had left my camera at home, rushed around looking for a disposable camera, bought one and went back.
“Looked around for some books to buy, to get them signed. Got a couple, and then the big man entered the store. He was with Gino Acevedo from Weta. While waiting in line to get my books signed, he was talking away with people, saying how certain scenes happened, some of the funny moments but wouldn’t give any clues about ROTK. When my turn came, he happily signed my books and posed for a couple of photos.” Photos to follow.
Whether or not this makes the final cut or not, we now know for certain that Sauron was FILMED as a physical presence taking part in the events of ROTK. This came in from Dave:
“I used to flat with a guy in the NZ army, and when he was in the filming for the big battle in front of the gates of Mordor, Sauron was there fighting. I believe he will appear. I mean there is only so much you can do with a giant eye.”
Alex writes, “Well I saw something that could be a possible spoiler for ROTK. On the FOTR DVD extended edition, I don’t remember where but I know that it was on disc 3, there is a two-second clip of what looks like Peter Jackson directing the movements of an actor dressed in Sauron’s costume and there is a blue screen behind him. When I first saw this I thought PJ was just filming a scene from the prologue with the battle of the last alliance. But I looked at Sauron who was using a sword, and in the prologue, Sauron wielded a mace. This could be some more supporting evidence of Sauron’s apearance in ROTK. Of course it could just be somethiung PJ redid but I just thought you might like to know.”
M sends this along: (someone I know) was asked to participate in a music recording session for the ROTK video games (Playstation, X-box, etc.). They recorded various choral selections such as Gimli’s War Chant and Forging of the Ring…lots of wierd stuff, he said, including some Black Speech. Cool and creepy. He was told the recordings would be also used for the upcoming Middle-earth online game, which the organizers of this recording session said would host up to 100,000 people at a time. He said there were other musicians there, including fiddles, flutes, etc. doing what he called “hobbitty stuff.” Can’t wait.
