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October 29, 1999 - November 04, 1999

News for Nov. 04, 1999

Bree and Quarry Pics!

11/04/99, 7:05 pm EST - Xoanon

Super Ringer Spy Xtem has come across some amazing pics from the set of Bree as well as this quarry we're all hearing about! Take a look at these amazing exclusive pics!

!!WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Check it out in The Spy Reports

-More to come!

Ringer Animation! WOW!

11/04/99, 3:28 pm EST - Calisuri

Well, today I recieved an email from ringer Ron Bublitz. He mentioned he had an animated short he's been working on for 6 months and involved the final scene with Gollum at Mt. Doom.

Just FYI, TheOneRing.net is developing a multimedia section for such submissions, but this couldn't wait!

You can tell Ron worked very hard on this file! If you want to see some great 3d animation click on the below link. Its a 6.6 Meg file, so might take a while. But its well worth it!


Gollum.mov - 6.6 MEG


Great work Ron!

Crew Arrives in South Island

11/04/99, 8:37 am EST - Xoanon

Ian sends his report on the arrival of the crew to the South Island. And some clues to where they are filming. Check it all out in The Spy Reports

Media Watch 1: New Zealand Press Association

11/04/99, 8:36 am EST - Xoanon

Wellington, Nov 4 - Most of The Lord Of The Rings film's 400-450 cast and crew are to wrap up filming in the Wellington area next week and will move to Queenstown for a month. Filming of the $360 million project would resume in Wellington in mid-January, publicist Claire Raskind said today.

"More dynamic exterior scenes" would be filmed around Queenstown, Wanaka, and Te Anau. Of the $360 million being spent making three films, about 75 percent was being spent in New Zealand, Ms Raskind said. Cast and crew in Wellington had spent $20,000 on coffee alone to date.

Filming on the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy began in the Town Belt on Mt Victoria last month. Filming has also taken place at night at Fort Dorset, and from Thursday to Saturday last week at Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt. About 300 people watched filming at the park, even while it was raining, Ms Raskind said. "People came from their homes with their families. They were great.

There was some yellow tape that was put up and nobody tried to break the barrier. Everyone was considerate and polite. As we got into the wee hours people started fading. By 3am there were five die hard fans" she said. There would be a break in filming of about four weeks around Christmas and New Year, Ms Raskind said.

"We are shooting for such a long time obviously we want to make sure we give people the proper rest."

Some of the locations around Queenstown and the southern lakes resulted from suggestions from the public, Ms Raskind said. Mr Jackson appealed on TV earlier this year to people in the area to send him suggestions. Filming would also take place around the southern lakes next year.
(C) 1999 New Zealand Press Association.
NEW ZEALAND PRESS ASSOCIATION 04/11/1999

Thanks to Super Ringer Spy Daniel for this article and the next!

Media Watch 2: The Southland Times

11/04/99, 8:33 am EST - Xoanon

By Asher Julie.

THE producers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy are looking for up to 250-300 people to indulge in some serious horseplay. Lord of the Rings publicist Claire Raskin said auditions for equestrain pairs would be held throughout Southland this month.

Up to 250 riders and their mounts would be required for some scenes in the film, she said. Horses must be at least 15.2 hands and the riders must be experienced adults, she said.

"The horses must be okay with crowds, noise and so on - that's why we're holding auditions. They need to be able to perform on cue and not be distracted." The chosen pairs would be background players in the film and be dressed by the wardrobe department.

Hopeful horse riders should phone the horse wrangler on (04) 3880836 to register their interest and then go to their closest audition. Auditions would be held at Glenorchy on Saturday, Mossburn on Sunday, Mosgiel on November 13, Middlemarch on November 13 and Gore on November 14.
(c) The Southland Times Company Limited, INL.
THE SOUTHLAND TIMES 02/11/1999 P14

News for Nov. 03, 1999

Cast News: Brad Dourif on 'Norm'

11/03/99, 11:10 pm EST - Xoanon

Brad Dourif (wormtoungue) was up to his evil tricks again. He made a small yet hilarious apperance on 'Norm' starring Norm McDonald.





Brad played the Devil, nuff said i guess. He was 'urging' the viewers to let the 'kiddies watch'. With a sick evil giggle, great stuff :)

Thanks to Siamese Twins Gandalf and Gamgee for the tip!!

Media Watch: One News

11/03/99, 10:43 pm EST - Xoanon

The News item Xtem was talking about has been posted on their website. There's a RealAudio clip of the article. But just in case you can't access it here's the text:

WELLINGTON ENJOYS RINGS PROSPERITY

Filming of the three part
blockbuster 'Lord of the
Rings' is proving a big
winner for Wellington.

Cafes, landlords, hire
companies and retailers all
say they are reaping
benefits from the making of
the movie.

"We're hoping for a lot more
from it. It's good work,"
says Vaughan Clark from
Triple A Cranes.

'Lord of the Rings' is
spending a hundred million
dollars in Wellington alone.

They are hiring a thousand
locals as extras, and the full
time staff from overseas are
keeping real estate agents
busy.

"On the residential side it's
stopped the decline and
that has got to be good for
everybody. On the industrial
commercial side it's taken
up slack that nobody knew
what to do with," says Brian
Baker from Home Rent.

Director Peter Jackson has
taken over factories and
warehouses that were left
empty by the demise of
other businesses.

And he is keeping
booksellers happy too.

"Since the movie started it's
just been amazing. We can't
get enough of it basically.
The publishers find it hard
to keep up with supply,"
says Bruce Caddy of
Dymocks Booksellers.

Supplying food for the stars
is also big business.

"They come for lunch or they
come for a quick morning
tea or they come for
takeaways," says Penny
Pennington of the Chocolate
Fish cafe

And locals seem to be
getting the odd glimpse at
the stars.

"One day Elijah Wood yelled
out to Liv Tyler, 'You don't
need your sunglasses and
your collar turned up here
Liv, it's quite casual'",
Pennington said.

The hobbits the elves and
the auks invade
Queenstown next week


Published Wednesday, November 03, 1999


Thanks to Spy-Hunter for the tip!

Xtem Checks In

11/03/99, 2:30 pm EST - Xoanon

Super Ringer Spy Xtem checks in with the latest. (A note to all kiwi Ringer Spies, keep those VCRs on standby all the time!)

Channel 1 news here in New Zealand at 6pm tonight featured a report on the filming. They showed shots of the Harcourt Park set, with a close up of the fake tree that was created, with a good shot of the leaves. Then it switched to an interview with Rick Poras, associate producer. With a stand-out American accent, he basically said that he hoped that the tree looked as good on the film as it did in real life...

For the rest, check out The Spy Reports!

More on 'Jamboree'

11/03/99, 8:39 am EST - Xoanon

Super Ringer Spy J send me some interesting trivia regarding the fake script cover.

Thought you'd be interested to know that Peter Jackson's choice of "Jamboree" as a misleading title on script covers of LOTR has a pretty cool reason behind it.

After the original "King Kong" - Jackson's favorite movie - came out in '33, its great success prompted the studio to immediately begin work on a sequel, "The Son of Kong". However, because they feared that the set would be besieged by people wanting to know about the film and see how the giant ape and other prehistoric denizens of Kong's island were created, they gave the project the false title of "Jamboree", which allowed them to maintain secrecy.

Clearly, being the dyed-in-the-wool geek that he is, Jackson is tipping his hat to Kong with this deception. And this is the reason why I would always immediately snatch up a script called "Jamboree".


Thanks to J and Just Another Ent for the tip!

Do you have $6,500 to Spare?

11/03/99, 8:35 am EST - Xoanon

Grishnakh sent me this interesting little article from ebay.

Title of item: LORD OF THE RINGS. Tolkien 3 Vol. 1st UK w/DJ
Seller: atamelio@cris.com
Starts: 11/01/99, 18:20:53 PST
Ends: 11/08/99, 18:20:53 PST
Price: Starts at $6,500.00

To bid for the item over at ebay, click here

Caling All Hobbit Wannabes

11/03/99, 8:32 am EST - Xoanon

This casting call comes from Daniel it may be about a day old. But I'm sure there will be another one soon.

production company Three Foot Six Ltd is holding casting calls tomorrow at Hamilton's Riverlea Theatre for extras for Peter Jackson's $260 million film version of Lord of the Rings. The company is looking for men and women aged from 40 and 90 of "rounder proportions" between 143cm and 168cm tall. They are also seeking children from 6 to 15 years old and between 118cm and 128cm tall for roles later this year and next year. About 200 people are needed for filming at Hinuera, south of Matamata, beginning in December. Children will be auditioned from 10am to noon and adult extras from 1.30 to 4pm.
(c) The Waikato Times, INL 1999. WAIKATO TIMES 30/10/1999 P3


Thanks to Daniel for the tip!

News for Nov. 02, 1999

Image From AICN

11/02/99, 11:55 pm EST - Xoanon

!!WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!

Harry has an image from what he says to be an image from the production on AICN. It's supposed to be from a Japanese artist. Harry has an odd little report about it. Read on.

LORD OF THE RINGS.... wanna see Sauron's Eye?

Hey folks... heh... Have I got something for you. I have been working secretly on a set of nanobots, really small little suckers. Their job is to go out there and find me some very cool stuff, then hop it back to Geek Headquarters for debriefing and download.

Nanobot 1, has just returned. Ya see... last time I was at L.A.'s International Airport... I turned about 3000 of these buggers loose... Nanobot 1 made it's way to New Zealand by way of Japan. Originally, Nanobot 1 was programmed to go to Hawaii to gather FINAL FANTASY info, but... well... I still have programming work to do. Here is the report that I have decoded from his C++ gibberish...


Go to AICN for the rest of the article.

Click on the Spy Reports to see the image.

!!WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!

More Informix Computer Coolness

11/02/99, 4:18 pm EST - Xoanon

Aiglos here,

I found this rather long article about Media360 and its use in Lord of the Rings...enjoy:

Date: 10/15 07:54 EST

INFORMIX UNVEILS MEDIA360, THE INDUSTRY'S FIRST END-TO-END MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT SOLUTION BETA CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS APPLAUD THE POWER AND Flexibility of Web-Based, Complete Solution

GENEVA, Oct 15, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- TELECOM '99 -- Making further strides in helping customers solve their complex business problems, Informix(R) Corporation, the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, today announced Media360(TM), an end-to-end media asset management solution designed to help businesses manage their valuable digital assets throughout the enterprise.

Informix's Media360 solution addresses the business problems encountered by every organisation that needs to create, store and distribute content. This includes traditional and new media companies, broadcasters, film production, radio, retail, publishing, finance, education, government and brand management organisations.

...

Weta Weta Ltd., the Southern Hemisphere's premier visual effects facility, will use Media360 to archive and manage up to 1,500 special effect shots that the company will create during the production of Peter Jackson's screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Weta has created award-winning special effects for films such as CONTACT and The Frighteners.

After closely evaluating competitive products, the company chose Media360 because it needed an end-to-end system that could handle at least 60 terabytes of model, animation, texture and image data that will be produced over the course of the $260 million, three film project.

"The creation of visual effects for film is a very data intensive process," said Jon Labrie, Weta's chief technical officer. "A shot that passes in a mere 5 to 10 seconds may contain dozens, sometimes hundreds of separate image elements-and each of these elements may be the end result of many other operations. The majority of visual effect shots we will produce for Lord of the Rings will be very complex, and will include computer-generated images that interact with human characters. Weta needed an asset management system that is powerful, flexible, and easily extensible. Media360 is the only solution that met all of those criteria. It's in a class by itself."

Approximately 80 Weta artists and 40 production staff will use Media360 to create, manage, and search a library of shots. The Informix system supports complex queries for particular types of shots and images. A key factor in Weta's choice was Media360's object relational capability. Media360's functionality will accommodate Weta's object work model, and allows each department to have a customised view and workflow.

Telecinco Informix has developed a digital multimedia archive with the Spanish TV Company Telecinco that is at the forefront of digital archive technology. Media360 has enabled Telecinco to gain competitive edge by being one of the very first European broadcasters to exploit its digital video assets online.

Telecinco's archivists and journalists can access video footage and associated operational data with much greater speed and precision, allowing them to use the material more effectively as a result. By deploying this system, Telecinco will also be in the vanguard of companies addressing the needs of future consumer-led video-on-demand services.

"Using this advanced technology, Telecinco has very quickly implemented innovative business processes that allows us to maintain a position at the forefront of European broadcasters," said Jose Luis Romero, director of Telecinco's IT division. "Media360 has improved our work processes and provided great savings in both time and money."

Informix will exhibit Media360 with customer demonstrations throughout the International Broadcasting Conference in the Rai Center, Hall 3, Booth 142.

About Informix Informix Corporation, based in Menlo Park, Calif., provides innovative database solutions that assist the worlds' major corporations to attain competitive advantage. Informix is widely recognised as the technology leader for corporate computing environments ranging from small workgroups to very large parallel processing applications. Informix's database server, application development tools, superior customer service, and strong partnerships enable the company to be at the forefront of major information technology solution areas including media and publishing, data warehousing, high performance OLTP, and Web/e-commerce. For more information, contact the sales office nearest you or visit our Web site at www.informix.com.

Thanks to Aiglos for the tip! For more on Informix and it's computer capabilities. Read Tehanu's NZ Exclusive 'Non-industrial light and magic'.

Mithril Miniatures Update

11/02/99, 3:00 pm EST - Xoanon

I have just updated the list of out of production Mithrils. Some early figures have been added due to us finding some old stock in our factory shop.

Click here for the list.

Thanks to Adam: Mithril Web master, for the tip!

For more LOTR related goodies, check out our shop.

Exclusive Script Scoop!

11/02/99, 2:10 pm EST - Xoanon

Quickbeam, our ever faithful Ent from GreenBooks, has come through with a rather neat little bit of coolness!

He managed to get his woody little branches on a fake cover for the final draft of LOTR. Studios often do this to dissuade people from 'borrowing' scripts. Let the old Ent tell you himself. Check it all out in The Spy Reports!

Rings Cycle

11/02/99, 8:36 am EST - Calisuri

Check out shop.theonering.net for this LOTR story.

News for Nov. 01, 1999

Cool 3D Computer Pokery!

11/01/99, 9:20 pm EST - Xoanon

From: The Press, Christchurch, 2 November 1999

3-D scanner for films

A laser scanner developed in Christchurch is being used to reconstruct 3-D images for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. David Armstong explains.

"A hand held scanner invented by a group of Christchurch scientists is being used by the film industry in New Zealand and the United States for computer-based animation.

The laser scanner and associated software can reconstruct in a few seconds a digital 3-D image of any irregularly shaped object, arranging the data in formats ready for use in popular computer-aided design and animation software packages.

After three years of development backed by government-agency grants, Applied Research Associates has begun reaping some rewards as its US-based distributor, Polhemus, this year has sold the high-tech product to some of the leading players in the film industry.

One Fastscan unit is being used by Peter Jackson's Weta Productions in Wellington to help animate the Lord of the Rings Movie."

Thanks to Dean C for the tip!

Did you go through ALL your candy already?

11/01/99, 9:17 pm EST - Xoanon

And have nothing to show for it? Want to win some cool toys from ToyVault? Get back into the middle-earth costume and snap a photo and send it off to us!

The top 3 winners get some great toys from ToyVault, including, Gandalf in Hobbiton, Balrog of Moria, and Gollum!

You have until November the 7th to enter. All rules and info is just a click away!

Gaming News

11/01/99, 8:21 pm EST - Xoanon

Berendir head gamer over at Gaming Havens posted some news:

Sierra needs a Software Engineer

At GameJobs There is a notice that Sierra has a job opening.

Description: We are seeking an experienced engineer to drive the development effort on one of Sierra's hot new multiplayer role playing products...

Check out Gaming Havens for the rest of the article

Have You Looked Around Lately?

11/01/99, 4:14 pm EST - Xoanon

We've grown! Along with TBHL we have Gaming Havens, for all you gamers out there. Green Books of course, for the literary look at LOTR. And now we bring you this!

Ever wondered how will they shrink people or how will they create Gollum... ever asked yourself what does chroma-key really mean... well, now theonering.net has just the place for you... The L.o.t.R. Movies Special Effects Site is now online!

Check it out! Amyd works hard to bring you all the latest in SFX from WETA to ILM to DD and all the rest of the alphabet!

Media Watch: The Christchurch Press

11/01/99, 12:04 pm EST - Xoanon

From: THE CHRISTCHURCH PRESS 28/10/1999

By John KEAST.

Sculptor Sam Genet is torn between hobbits and matters rural. During the week the Wellington-based artist works for film-maker Peter Jackson, creating sets for the film Lord of Rings, but when time allows he heads for Hinds in Mid-Canterbury. There, on the side of State Highway 1, he is creating a piece of rural magic on a gigantic piece of Mount Somers stone. His mission, as part of a Hinds millennium project, is to sculpt a family of four - mum and dad and two children - and blend in a dog, a horse, a cow, a pig, and a tractor and plough. The work, mounted on concrete, is taking shape, and Mr Genet - who calls himself a high school art drop-out - must have it finished by year's end. So far, he has created the family, and is set to create a working dog - a collie for preference.

Mr Genet, originally from Christchurch, says working with the hard stone is a lot different from slicing up endless amounts of polystyrene for film work, but he enjoys the challenge. "You can't be afraid of the stone - you just have to hit it and carry on," he said.

The vast sculpture is seven metres long, three metres high, nearly a metre deep, and weighs more than 40 tonnes. Mr Genet said he only began stone-work after attending a symposium in Christchurch several years ago, and "one thing led to another".

He works to the accompaniment of rock music. His island-hopping is the result of securing the Hinds contract before getting work on the Lord of the Rings set.

(c) The Christchurch Press, INL 1999. THE CHRISTCHURCH PRESS 28/10/1999 P4

Thanks to Daniel for the tip!

More Possible Filming Locations

11/01/99, 9:59 am EST - Xoanon

David C sent me something today about a possible location for some more filming in Upper Hutt. Check it out in The Spy Reports

News for Oct. 31, 1999

The Bastards Have Landed!!!

10/31/99, 9:51 pm EST - Calisuri

Just in case you didn't check in this Halloween weekend, here is what happened:

TBHL!
The Offical Peter Jackson Fan Club

http://tbhl.theonering.net

More on Tree Pulling and Dark Riders

10/31/99, 2:19 pm EST - Xoanon

Nikki has sent some great news stuff about the goings on in her back yard. Check it out in The Spy Reports.

!!Minor Spoiler Warning!!

More on Wojciech Kilar in 'Ninth Gate'

10/31/99, 12:55 pm EST - Xoanon

I've been looking for some sound bytes for you folks. I have gotten a bunch of emails telling me that the 'Dracula' Soundtrack is on CDNow. I however cannot find it.

But you can always check out the official site for the creepy Roman Polanski film 'The Ninth Gate'. If you can go through the 'Flash' version. During the flash intro there is some music that is no doubts Wojciech Kilar's work.

Bean Looking Boromirish?

10/31/99, 10:37 am EST - Xoanon

From Nona





Sean Bean (Boromir) has a 4-part tv drama coming up on ITV in the UK starting November 11th. It's called Extremely Dangerous. Just got some new images of Sean from Extremely Dangerous, and I thought you might like to have this one - perhaps it's closer to the way Sean might look as Boromir?

More on that Norwegian Article

10/31/99, 10:31 am EST - Xoanon

Another Norwegian Ringer Spy Tormod sent me other sections of the article which were missed:

I saw that you had some stuff from a Norwegian newspaper, so I translated most of the part about lotr. I't seemed like you didn't have a direct translation.

DAGBLADET: Why do you think it (lotr) still appeals to people?

ETHAN HAWKE: I read it over again last year, before I knew about the film project. It's one of the worlds greatest books.

D: Shall your wife also be a part of the movies?

EH: I don't know. I know that there have been rumors and that she has spoken to the producers. But we are skeptical about working together.

D: Why?

EH: It's rely not us working together that's the problem. The problem is that it will be marketed in a bad way. They are going to try to sell the film on a basis of our marriage.


Hrm, looks like maybe Uma is having her doubts..

Thanks to Tormod for the tip!

Media Watch: Io Donna

10/31/99, 10:26 am EST - Xoanon

On Saturday, 30th October 1999, in "Io Donna", a weekly magazine sold on Saturdays along with the popular newspaper "Il Corriere della Sera" (about 1 million copies), the films were mentioned in an article entitled "Business in rete" (meaning "Business on the Web") written by Fabiana Giacomotti. It talks about the website and the films. Sorry, the link provided in the article does not exist.

Thanks to Italian Ringer Alberto for the tip!

Ethan and Uma News

10/31/99, 1:35 am EST - Xoanon

Norwegian Ringer Spy Martin send the latest on Ethan and Uma:

From the newspaper DAGBLADET (www.dagbladet.no). The interviewer is Eirik W Alver. It was in the "FREDAG" section of the Friday edition. He is interviewing Ethan Hawke.

Dagbladet: There have been rumors about you appearing in the upcoming 'Lord of the Rings' movies?

Ethan: It's no longer a rumor.

D: What role will you be playing?

EH: I will be Faramir, the brother of Boromir, in the third film. 'The Lord of the Rings' happens to be one of my favorite books.


There's something about Uma Thurman's involvement in there as well.. Basically he says he doesn't know, but
she's talked to the producers.. They're a bit hesitant to work with each other, he says.

Hope it helps you out.

You can check out the article yourself click here.

Thanks to Martin for the tip!

Pronunciation

10/31/99, 1:27 am EST - Xoanon

From: Ryan

Yesterday I had the chance to talk to Dr.Tom Shippey who is involved in the Lord of the Rings production. Although he could not tell me anything I didn't already know he told me that he was involved in the project to make sure that everything will be pronounced the way Tolkien had in mind. You guys probably already knew this but I thought this was interesting as it is another way PJ is staying true to Tolkien.

I like the attention to detail...

Another Halloween Birthday

10/31/99, 1:01 am EST - Corvar

Halloween marks the birthday of something other than Peter Jackson, though aniversary is possibly a better term. Today is the birthday of the Nightmare LPMud. On the Nightmare LPMud is where I met Calisuri, where some of the original planning for TheOneRing.net occured, and some of the early TheOneRing.net virtual meetings took place there.

The Nightmare LPMud can be reached by telneting to nightmare.imaginary.com 1701. You can read more about the Nightmare LPMud and muds in general here.

Now as a side note, if you are interested in finding out what Nightmare is like normally wait until Monday. Halloween has long had a special significance on Nightmare.

News for Oct. 30, 1999

Twas his Birthday Present!!!! Honest!!

10/30/99, 4:43 pm EST - Xoanon

In a few hours (Greenwitch time, not counting daylight savings, ugh, my head hurts) it will be October 31, Haloween you say? bah!! Forget that it's Peter Jackson's Birthday!!





WAAY back in 1961 our favorite director was born, how do we honor this? By giving him back something he lost not to long ago! (not that)

It is with great pleasure that we announce the grand reopening of The OFFICIAL Peter Jackson Fanclub: The Bastards Have Landed.

In it you'll find the all the great stuff that was there before, concerning PJ's past films, his awards, interviews, photographs and all!

And now YOU can become an official BASTARD when you sign up for the fan club!!

Check it out, the old team are still there Reno and Lewman working hard for you! The Fans!

Concerning Fire and Smoke

10/30/99, 11:22 am EST - Xoanon

Buzz our Ringer Spy from Mt Victoria sent us a report. Seems that the weather has been a factor in NZ, he aso talks about some of the SFX (not CGI, but physical effects). Check it all out in The Spy Reports

Ethan '3 Picture Deal'

10/30/99, 1:01 am EST - Xoanon

For those of you who doubt Ethan's involvement in these films, check this out:

I live in the Chicago area, and one of the most popular morning drive shows is the "Eric and Kathy" show on 101.9 FM. One of my friends, knowing about my interest in this movie project, happened to hear an interview with Ethan Hawke on this show. Ethan said that he was going to be involved in a three-movie project in the near future. He supposedly did not name any roles, but since his name has been bandied around lately regarding the Lord of the Rings project, I thought you might like to know.

Very interesting...Will find out more soon :)

Thanks to The Glaze for the tip!

Reviews A Plenty

10/30/99, 12:57 am EST - Xoanon

The cast of LOTR have worked on other films as well, believe it or not. And a few are hitting theatre screens at the moment:

Check out the latest Christopher Lee film 'Sleepy Hollow' review. A rather biting review, where Lee's preformance is considered '(he) adds nothing to the film'. Read the review here.

Meanwhile, you can always read the reviews of the latest Cate Blanchett film 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'. This reviewer didn't like the film either, calling Cate's preformance as 'laughable' (jeez some folks are harsh), check out that review here.

You can always go to the more favorable review of the latest Ethan Hawk film 'Snow Falling on Cedars'. And this reviewer doesn't like the film either! oh well, check out the review here.

All these reviews are on Ain't It Cool News. :)

News for Oct. 29, 1999

Look where they're filming next!

10/29/99, 9:18 pm EST - Tehanu

I can't understand all the excitement about the locations so far. If you want scenic, check out these links that Tiggy got for us. There's a map of NZ and a whole lot of stuff about Queenstown, where filming starts next week or so.
Amazing anyone gets any work done down there.
OK, click here or here for pictures of Queenstown, go here or here for pictures from the area, and here for a map showing you where it all is. It's worth checking out the relief map on that page too.

Scouring of the News

10/29/99, 2:55 pm EST - Xoanon

Rookie Ringer Spy Aiglos Sent me the following. Before you get excited about the casting, read my news I added at the end. The hidden part concerns stuff in the film, highlight if you want to know!!!

- The scene being shot today (29th) in Harcourt Park is part of the prolouge. This scene briefly outlines the hostile situation between dwarves and elves ( i.e. the trees being chopped down and the fighting ). This was necessary to show the exceptional aspect of the Legolas/Gimli friendship. Other parts of the prolouge may include the making of the ring, Isuldur's battle with Sauron and Bilbo's use of the ring to escape meeting the Sackville-B's.

- The scene with the hobbits crossing the Brandywine river was shot in Manakau on the 20-21st of this month.

- I have heard ( from an undisclosable sourse ) that American actor Nick Nolte will appear in The Return Of The King, possibly playing the role of Eomer or Beregond.

- I have heard from a very good sourse that their will be considerable quantities of Elvish in use in the films. Some actors are receiving tution in order to speak some lines in Elvish which will be accompanied by English subtitles. Tolkien's own pronunciation appendix is being used as a guide.

- Earlier this year in Dublin Ireland, Hubbard Casting were in meetings with several Irish actors. One of them was ex-Strider Stuart Townsend, however more actors than just Townsend were contacted. It appears that there was at least one more Irish actor approached and possibly signed for a different role. I will have more details on this in the coming days.


My news concerning Nick Nolte. I called both his agent ang publisher just now, they have not heard a thing about this.

'The first I heard about this is from you'

so there you go :)

Concerning Tree Pulling and Orc School...

10/29/99, 11:25 am EST - Xoanon

Gordon came through with the most well thought out, detailed and longest spy report ever! He was there during the scenes in Harcourt Park, amazing stuff! Check it all out in The Spy Reports.

!!Warning!! Minor Spoilers!!

Cast News: Lee Profile on NPR

10/29/99, 9:08 am EST - Xoanon

Ah, just the type of Spy Report I love. A tiny little tidbit on the cast here:

Just thought you might be interested to know that National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" did a profile on Christopher Lee this morning (what with Halloween coming up, I guess they figured it was appropriate). It was a nice story, noting his landmark "Dracula" work, and included several comments from himself. (Wow, he has such a great voice!)

I checked he NPR Web site but they haven't posted the story yet. If you want to check at www.npr.org later today or tomorrow morning it should be posted by then.

PS: They didn't mention LOTR :-( but they did note that Lee's next on-screen appearance will be in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow."


Thanks to Nimrodel for the tip!

Cast News: 'Joe the King'

10/29/99, 8:44 am EST - Xoanon

The latest Ethan Hawke film 'Joe the King' is out in limited release today in the US. Most likly so it can be up for Oscar contention.

Ethan plays 'Len Coles'.

Check out the bizzar 'Joe the King' site here. Check out a review of the film on AICN here. Ethan has still not officially been confirmed as Faramir, but we like to keep you up to date all the same!

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