December 14th is the day when Peter Jackson will unleash the first of his Hobbit films, but that doesn’t mean it’s practically in the can. Jackson is bunkering down in the Park Road Post Production facility in Wellington, New Zealand to finish up the first in the trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey . “It’s due to be completed literally two days before the premiere. Hopefully,” Jackson comments in the film’s latest production video (below). “You’re going to see a lot of sleep-deprived people in this blog — everybody’s working around the clock to get the film finished.” The behind the scenes look shows Jabez Olssen and Jackson editing the film, final construction of hundreds of CGI shots and working on sound effects for the feature which stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Cate Blachett and Elijah Wood. “We’ve got another three weeks…and then another couple films,” Jackson said. “The journey’s long from over, it’s just really starting.” Meanwhile, a new clip from the film also rolled out. The scene shows Gandalf (Ian McKellen) giving a magical sword to Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). It’s rather quick and Gandalf seems to forewarn of its pending need. Peter Jackson interview : First clip : [ Sources: Wired , The Film Stage ]
“Home is now behind you. The World Is Ahead,” Ian McKellen , as Gandalf, says in voiceover in this latest official trailer from Peter Jackson’s first installment of The Hobbit trilogy, which is subtitled, An Unexpected Journey. The movie is set for release on Dec. 14, and the trailer offers glimpses of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, McKellen as Gandalf, a CGI-assisted Andy Serkis as Gollum, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel and Hugo Weaving as Elrond. And what would a Hobbit trailer be without lots of swordplay, dwarf comedy and portentous pronouncements from the always-top-notch McKellen as Gandalf. My favorite: “Why Bilbo Baggins? That is because I’m afraid — and he gives me courage.” Must be the hairy feet. Behold, ye hirsute bi-peds: Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Peter Jackson’s upcoming saga The Hobbit will be three films , the director confirmed on his Facebook page. Previously, only a sequel had been confirmed. He called the expansion to three films “an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, ‘A tale that grew in the telling’.” “…On behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, MGM and the entire [cast and crew], I’d like to announce that two films will become three.” The first installment, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters December 14, with the second film already set for December 13, 2013. Jackson made no mention of a schedule for the third film, but said after watching the first and shooting part of the second, a trilogy felt necessary. “It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made,” he said in his statement. “Recently I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie – and a large chunk of the second.” “We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life.” “All of which gave rise to a simple question: Do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? The answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘Yes’.” “The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story, of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth,” wrote Jackson.
After bringing 12 minutes of The Hobbit to Comic-Con — where Peter Jackson purposefully did not present footage in the 48 frames per second/3-D presentation that perplexed audiences at CinemaCon — the Lord of the Rings filmmaker spoke further about his desire to explore even more ground in the fantasy universe created by J.R.R. Tolkien. One possibility may be a third Hobbit film culled from Tolkien’s expansive LOTR notes and appendices, though Jackson admitted that the author’s posthumously published Silmarillion might present more of a challenge. Familiar faces filled the screen in the Hobbit preview, which gave Comic-Con fans glimpses of Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel, Ian McKellan’s Gandalf, Orlando Bloom’s Legolas, and new cast member Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in the two-parter, which will hit screens in December 2012 and 2013. Speaking with press, Jackson acknowledged his choice to present the footage in 2-D rather than the 48 fps that earned mixed-to-negative buzz at CinemaCon. “We have to try to figure out ways to make this cinematic experience much more spectacular, more immersive,” he said. “But you know, Hall H isn’t the place to do it.” Neither is showing just ten minutes of footage in 48 fps an adequate way to introduce the format to thousands of uninitiated fans who may not even be used to big screen 3-D, he insisted. CinemaCon seems to have also taught Jackson not to let 48 fps overshadow the actual film at hand. “I didn’t want to repeat the CinemaCon experience where literally people see this reel and all they write about is 48 frames a second. That doesn’t do us any good. It doesn’t do 48 fps any good. To accurately judge that, you really need to sit down and watch the entire film.” Meanwhile, Jackson and collaborators Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh are in the early stages of looking at a potential third Hobbit film based on the vast 125-page appendices in Tolkien’s Return of the King , some of which was used to flesh out The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again . “Philippa and Fran and I have been talking to the studio about the other things we haven’t been able to shoot and seeing if we can possibly persuade them to do a few more weeks of shooting — possibly more than a few weeks, actually — a bit of additional shooting next year,” Jackson said. “There are other parts of the story that we’d like to tell that we haven’t had the chance to tell yet.” Jackson looked to the additional Tolkien notes to fill in certain character backstories and events missing from the primary texts. “For instance, in The Hobbit where Gandalf mysteriously disappears for chapters on end and it’s not really explained in any detail where he’s gone, much later Tolkien fleshed those out in these appendices,” he explained. “It was altogether a lot more dark and more serious than what was written in The Hobbit . And I do want to make a series of movies that run together so if any crazy lunatic wants to watch them all together in a row, there will be a consistency of tone.” A completist’s cinematic tour of the LOTR world might include Tolkien’s Silmarillion , a collection of universe-building mythology edited and posthumously published by Tolkien’s son Christopher in 1977. The problem, Jackson says, is in who controls the rights to the work. “ The Silmarillion is the big volume, but that’s owned by the Tolkien estate,” he said. “It’s not owned by Warner Bros. or MGM — and I don’t think the Tolkien estate are very fond of these movies, so I wouldn’t expect to see The Silmarillion any time soon.” Read more from Comic-Con 2012 here. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
McKenzie had small roles in first and third ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies. By Gil Kaufman Bret McKenzie Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Gettu Images It’s “Business Time” for Bret McKenzie. After showing up briefly as an extra in the first and third “Lord of the Rings” movies, the “Flight of the Conchords” co-star has joined the sprawling cast of Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” prequels. And the New Zealand native won’t have to travel far, since once again Jackson has set up shop in his home country for the films, which began filming two weeks ago. Variety reported that McKenzie will play the role of Lindir, an elf of Rivendell, in the 3-D films, which will be shot over the next 14 months at a studio in Wellington and other locations around New Zealand. McKenzie joins a cast that already features Martin Freeman in the lead role of Bilbo Baggins, as well as returning “Rings” vets Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Andy Serkis . “The Hobbit” is set 60 years before “LOTR” and follows the adventures of humble hobbit Bilbo, who rises to heroic stature as he leads a group of fellow dwarves on an epic journey to reclaim a treasure from the dragon Smaug. With the “Conchords” on permanent hiatus after wrapping their second season of the show on HBO in 2009, McKenzie was freed up to join the “Hobbit” cast. Some movie sites have already begun speculating that given his higher profile now, McKenzie may have a beefier part than the three seconds of screen time he had in “The Fellowship of the Ring” during the Council of Elrond. After that appearance, fans began referring to his character as “Figwit,” which stands for “Frodo is great … who is that?” McKenzie’s wife, Hannah, even made a short documentary about the Figwit phenomenon that she submitted to the Auckland International Film Festival in 2004. The “Conchords” also paid homage to McKenzie’s star turn in season one with the song “Frodo, Don’t Wear the Ring.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos Meet The Cast Of ‘The Hobbit’
