There’s so much cast news, so little time. Here’s a bouquet of the latest snippets for those of you who follow the LOTR stars careers.
First, thanks to Bella from Toronto, who transcribed this Cate Blanchett news from the National Post:
“Margaret Atwood’s novel “Alias Grace” is to be turned into a movie with Cate Blanchett starring in the role of Grace Marks, one of Canada’s most notorious female criminals.
“The movie will be directed by Dominic Savage, a rising talent in England who directed the low-budget drama “Out of Control”, which won the award for best new British feature at least year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film will be written by John Brownlow, whose credits include a film on Sylvia Plath for BBC Films.
“Blanchett will play Marks, who was convicted of the murder of her employer and his mistress in 1843. The script will focus on her relationship with a young doctor who helps her find the truth about the murders by using psychology.
“Blanchett, who has recently starred in “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” and “The Shipping News”, brought the project to the U.K.’s Working Title Productions after Jodie Foster’s film production company, Egg Pictures, failed to get it off the ground. Casting on the film should be finished by the end of the year.”
Oh, and here’s a pic of her on E!Online’s Fashion Police page, where she gets a good review for her dress sense. [More] Thanks to Isabela for the link.
From Wales (I assume,) Claire writes, “Further to Nia’s message here about John Rhys-Davies appearing on Welsh TV’s ‘Popcorn,’ some viewers in the UK may be able to pick up terrestrial S4C if they’re within reach of transmitters in Wales, but may have to tune in a spare channel on their TVs. Otherwise, those with Sky digital can get S4C on channel 184.
“The non-English-language bits of the programme will be subtitled in English (bring up Teletext page 888 on terrestrial or select ‘Subtitles On’ on digital). I won’t be doing the subtitles for this particular programme, but hopefully they’ll be adequate. :-)”
Atrus writes, “According to the Internet Movie Database, Troy (With Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean) has begun filming. Its release date is 21 May, 2004. This movie also has Eric Bana in it.(From this summer’s, The Hulk) [More]
And concerning Sir Ian McKellen:
“My local paper’s review of X2 has this interesting comment about Ian McKellen’s recent movie performances (mainly X-Men 2 and LOTR).
‘”While X-Men 2 remains as chaste and child-like as most American mainstream fodder, it does boast those wonderful British actors Stewart, McKellen and series newcomer Cox, who bring a surprising, almost Shakespearean, richness to characters who in the hands of lesser actors would remain fixed on comic book parallels.
“In fact, one of the unimagined benefits of digital special effects is the elevation of McKellen, with his parts in Lord of the Rings and Magneto, to the status of one of the most ubiquitous, compelling action heroes of our age.
“If digital fx can make a 64-year-old gay acting knight, who has spent his career on the English stage, now effortlessly kick the butts of teenage punk, I say: bring it on. In fact, forget Mel Gibson for Mad Max IV – I want Crazy Ian McKellen.”‘
Thanks to Jacobi for that.
Eogwyn writes:
Recently a friend of mine, Colin Duriez, was interviewed by Brian Sibley for the TTT extended DVD, it was a 30 minute piece devoted to the life and work of Tolkien. Colin is a Tolkien expert and has written several books including The JRR Tolkien Handbook, his earliest, which was used as a reference for the piece.
He says the interview lasted several hours and covered a vast range of topics but as the whole piece is only 30 minutes and includes other interviewees (as well as Brian Sibley) he’s not sure how much will be used.
He just missed meeting Christopher Lee who was also being interviewd that day for the extended DVD although maybe not the same bit.
Ringer Spy Taniwha dropped us a line to let us know that some construction has begun at Stone Street studios. Looks like the re-shoots are on the way …
He writes:
Looks like things are getting ready to happen at Stone St Studio – the Oliphaunt rigging is back up …
Remember this photo?
There’s also some buildings being constructed, as well as a bluescreen wall mounted on shipping container, and a curved container wall for either shade, wind shield, or shelter from prying eyes … Have a look!
Ringer BeastyBunny sent us a small video clip from the ‘Return to Middle-earth’ documentary, which appears to show a scene from Return of the King. Right before a commercial break, we get a quick glimpse of Eowyn pleading with Aragorn as he rushes off camera. Could this be Eowyn begging him not to take the Paths of the Dead? You’re guess is as good as ours, but we’re certainly intrigued! [More]
Viggo went Horseback Riding (headline)
Actor Viggo Mortensen, famous from The Lord Of The Rings Films, visited Iceland in the past week. Like Aragorn he is a great horseman and he went with his son, Henry Mortensen, on horseback twice with the Laxnes Horse-Leasing Company. Both times they went for two hours in the area around Laxnes, according to Haukur Thórarinsson owner of the Leasing Co. who went with them the second time.
Did his own dishes (second headline)
“He is an exprienced rider and had fun. They cought some bad weather and lots of rain the first time but had fun nevertheless. They had soup afterwards and he even did his own dishes,” says Haukur about Viggo’s down to earth personality.
Father and son like the Icelandic horses. “I understand that he had not tried Icelandic horses before but he was very pleased,” says Haukur
As an example of Viggo’s love for horses he requested that Aragorn would be more on horseback in the films than first was thought. He always kept his horse close and went riding when he was not shooting to strengthen the relationship between rider and horse.
The Mortensens left the country yesterday, but 15 year old Henry has also appeared in movies like his father. He played Viggo’s son on the white screen in the film Crimson Tide from the year 1995.
Haukur is a big fan of The Lord of the Rings, both books and films and was very pleased with the visit. “It was a great honor”
captions:
(1) Viggo Mortensen with Kristján Ara, son of Íris and Haukur, in his arms.
(2) Henry Mortensen, horseman and actor Viggo Mortensen, Íris Kristjánsdóttir, Haukur Thórarinsson and their son, Júlíus Hauksson.
For Orlando Bloom fans, there are lots of ways to catch a glimpse of him in his new role in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’
Liam sent the link for the new Pirates of the Caribbean trailer – it’s here
April writes, “Heads up for all you Orlando Bloom fans. Buena Vista will air the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean on Sunday, April 6th on all of their affiliate TV stations. They are calling it a trailer roadblock. That includes, ABC, Family Channel, Disney Channel, etc. It will air sometime between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Only in the United States, I think.”
Cleolinda writes, “We’ve updated our Pirates of the Caribbean preview–we’ve now got 220+ screen caps of the full Pirates/Caribbean trailer that’s set to debut Sunday night on ABC/Disney-owned channels.” [More]
