Official The Hobbit thread

[FVD]

Nesbitt, Tennant, Fassbender For "Hobbit"?

WOW Michael Fassbender too huh? Well if that's the case CAST HIM AS BARD THE BOWMAN!!!

 

[redhawk23]

id laugh if tennant gets cast in this as there would be 2 dr. whos in this.

 

[Spider-Who?]

Let's get back to the topic of the thread please.

YOU'RE a topic!

It apears you misconstrued my jocular if minutely snarky witicism as an impertinent mockery of your tendency towards scribacious yet eloquent distpatches within this forum of genre oriented textual communication.

We've got a bad law, achieving the reverse of what's intended being passed under a defective process.

well, what do they expect when the bill was written and pushed to vote so quickly? I mean, the fact that a country changed its laws to stop a bunch of whiney guilds is, to me, ludicrous. There was no chance for the new law to be sound and equally accepted across the board.

 

[Marx]

YOU'RE a topic!

 

[regwec]

It apears you misconstrued my jocular if minutely snarky witicism as an impertinent mockery of your tendency towards scribacious yet eloquent distpatches within this forum of genre oriented textual communication.

Well, I get it a lot.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

Surprisingly, Sir Ian McKellen hasn't signed up and (for once) mum on The Hobbit. Sounds like they're in the negotiations phase.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/BW...ks_THE_HOBBIT_Only_Make_Believe_More_20101029

 

[Boom]

Considering how excited, vocal, and optimistic he's been for this project over the last two years, reading his comments in that interview give me the impression that you are right. I certainly hope that is the case, at least.

By the way, did anyone get the new issue of EW yet? There's a Hobbit article in there.

Also, statement from NL, WB, and MGM:

New Line, Warner Bros and MGM are pleased to have concluded successful discussions with the New Zealand government this past week. We’d like to thank Prime Minister Key, his Cabinet and the other dedicated New Zealand officials for their support and cooperation, which helped assuage our concerns and enabled us to keep The Hobbit in its proper home of New Zealand.

We’d also like to express very special appreciation to Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the people of New Zealand for their tireless support of The Hobbit and their commitment to maintain and grow their vibrant film industry. Filming is scheduled to begin in February 2011 and we look forward to returning to Middle-earth.

 

[Boom]

Found some scan of the EW article. Here's a transcript.

Peter Jackson talks up his Hobbit cast
The director describes how he found his Bilbo - and some handsome dwarves

After a couple years' worth of maddening false starts and production delays, hobbit-watchers have long needed some hopeful news - and possibly a hug. They got the former, at least, last week, when director Peter Jackson announced he had cast several key roles in his long-awaited adaptation of The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy novel. English actor Martin Freeman - best known for his stint as the deadpan cubicle jockey Tim Canterbury on the original BBC version of The Office and as Dr. Watson on the series Sherlock - will play the hero hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who is reluctantly drawn into a perilous journey to steal a dragon's treasure.

"Martin read for us months ago, and it instantly felt like we had seen Bilbo Baggins brought to life," Jackson says. "That's the reaction you dream about, but [it] rarely happens. From that point on, we continued auditioning, but we were naturally comparing everyone else to Martin. Bilbo is the straight man to 13 dwarves in some respects, but in doing so, he's terrifically funny, in that very English understated way."

For the role of Thorin Oakenshield, the gruff leader of the company of dwarves that brings Bilbo along on the quest, Jackson cast English actor Richard Armitage, who stars on the BBC series MI-5. The casting of Freeman was widely expected - he'd been rumored to be in the running for months - but Jackson's selection of Armitage raised some eyebrows among Tolkien fans, who were surprised to see such a hunky actor cast in the role of a dwarf. Then again, Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy provided breakout roles for Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), so clearly the man is not opposed to having some male eye candy in the mix.

"Thorin Oakenshield is a tough, heroic character, and he certainly should give Leggie and Aragorn a run for their money in the heartthrob stakes - despite being four feet tall," Jackson says. "In this partnership, we need Richard to give us his depth, range, and emotion as an actor - and we'll make him look like a dwarf!"

While the casting announcement - which also named seven lesser-known actors (Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow, and Peter Hambleton) in the roles of other dwarves - was an encouraging sign of forward momentum, there's still unrest in Middle-earth. Various international unions have continued to feud with the production, prompting Warner Bros. to threaten to move the shoot out of New Zealand. At press time, studio executives were en route to New Zealand to try to work toward a settlement of the standoff. In an interview with a Kiwi TV station, a clearly weary Jackson expressed uncertainty over whether the film would be relocated.

"Is the movie going to come or go? We don't know," he said.

The fact is , that's just one of the many questions swirling around The Hobbit at this point: Who will provide the voice of the dragon Smaug? How will the book be split into two films? Will there be any female characters? (The book is sorely lacking.) Answers may be slow in coming, but Jackson and his team are clearly on the march: "We are only partway through the casting process, and there are auditions happening most days, somewhere in the world."

Did I read that right? Heartthrob dwarf?

Oh God .

 

[regwec]

It will probably be no more of a stretch than Elijah as Frodo. I can accept that The Hobbit might begin to seem a bit Pythonesque if you had a small hoard of spluttering Gimlis. Having said that, no dwarf should have any more than the comedic brand of Jack Sparrow heart throbbiness.

 

[Spider-Who?]

Found some scan of the EW article. Here's a transcript.



Did I read that right? Heartthrob dwarf?

Oh God .

i wouldn't worry about it. Like the article says, its just another Legolas or Aragorn situation. The ladies dug those actors and their characters but their "leading man persona" didn't detract from the movie. I highly doubt we're going to see dwarves with glistening abs running around and posing for the camera.

 

[Doctor Jones]

This film doesn't really need any female characters. Not every film even needs them. I can't see it fitting in with this story.

Regarding the dwarves, he said they would still look like dwarves, and dwarves don't look anything like a hearthrob. It's more in humor I guess because the actor playing him looks more like one, but the joke is to not make him look like one because they'll make him look like a dwarf.

 

[regwec]

i wouldn't worry about it. Like the article says, its just another Legolas or Aragorn situation. The ladies dug those actors and their characters but their "leading man persona" didn't detract from the movie. I highly doubt we're going to see dwarves with glistening abs running around and posing for the camera.

I thought the movies' Aragorn was a bit too pretty. In the books, Sam said that he "seemed foul but felt fair" (I think). Elsewhere, he is generally referred to as looking "grim" or "haggard". Viggo was just a bit too generally "rugged" for the part, I felt.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I thought he looked pretty rugged. He looked like a man who lived off the land. Women just love the guy though. Just one of those things.

 

[regwec]

But that's what I mean; Viggo's looks are just a bit too sculpted for Aragorn, in my opinion. It's a clear and a sound commercial choice, and he plays the role reasonably well, but I think his good looks slightly impede his potential.

Aragorn and Arwen's complex and inviolate relationship is based on her immortality/beauty/Elvishness/perfection, and his mortality/roughness/humanity/nobility. If they both look like models, then I think a some of their contrast is lost, and some of the gravity of her sacrifice.

Just my opinion, though. Don't swarm me, legions of fans!

 

[Boom]

Sometimes I fantasize about what could have been...

Daniel Day-Lewis as Aragorn .

 

[regwec]

Apparently, PJ wanted it too.

Part of the problem, if I may call it that, however, was that Aragorn was written as a sympathetic character that people could relate to. The Aragorn of the movies doubts his right to his hereditary legacy, and his personal qualities as a leader of men, doubts whether he is worthy of Arwen, and has previously rejected his heritage. The Aragorn of the books never doubts a thing. He knows who he is, what he is capable of, what he is entitled to, and how to achieve it. He only has to test whether he is worthy in the game of fate.

DDL is a better actor than Viggo, and looks like somebody designed to play the role. But given the same script, he would have had to compromise the character in the same way.

Again, these are just my opinions. Don't get upset or panicky, guys!

 

[redhawk23]

Regwec I hear you entirely and largely can agree with you, but Viggo hardly looks or looked like a model.

 

[regwec]

I suppose you're right, but he still had a face that teenage girls were happy to put next to Legolas' on their walls.

 

[Boom]

Makeup, a wig, and a light beard can go a long way for one's appearance.

I wouldn't call Viggo Mortensen a heartthrob. Just look at him in A History of Violence. While he isn't bad-looking by any stretch, he definitely looks haggard and grim in that particular movie. And certainly dangerous.

 

[regwec]

He is better cast in that movie, I think because he is the kind of actor who is more convincing as a dangerous individual behind an unimpressive exterior. Somebody like Daniel Craig or Gerard Butler wouldn't have been as effective, because they are more physically imposing anyway.

To my mind, Viggo couldn't quite pull off the archetypal hero in a vagrant's guise. Partly I think it was a lack of gravitas. Though much of Viggo's performance was good, his heroic monologues were really underpowered and fell flat. That meant he suffered in comparison with Sean Bean's Boromir, who was much more rousing in his big moments.

Viggo did a good job, and let's face it, it's a difficult role that could have been a lot worse. But I feel his face was a little too youthful and handsome, his stature was a tiny bit too slight, and his performance lacked a bit of weight. All of that is only partly his fault; the role was transformed into a romantic lead for the movie. But again, it's a thing I would have changed.

Edit: I just wanted to say that the moment in the extended version of ROTK when Aragorn beheads the Mouth of Sauron is really stupid. It amounts to cold blooded murder and breach or parley, and it's not something Aragorn should do.

 

[Boom]

Edit: I just wanted to say that the moment in the extended version of ROTK when Aragorn beheads the Mouth of Sauron is really stupid. It amounts to cold blooded murder and breach or parley, and it's not something Aragorn should do.

Agreed. I hated what they did with the Mouth of Sauron (design-wise) and how PJ handled the scene overall, which further pisses me off because that was one of my favorite chapters in the book. Hell, the Mouth of Sauron is one of my favorite characters.

And I agree about Viggo's monologues paling in comparison to others'.

Theoden's war speech >>> Aragorn's war speech.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

"Let the Lard of the Black Land come farth!"

Viggo's voice goes to hell when he has to shout.

 

[regwec]

Well, his accent in general wandered a lot. I don't really think it was English breaking into American; from what I can gather, the language coach intended him to retain a rustic pronounced "r", in order that he sounded like somebody who spent his nights in the inns of Bree or halls of Rohan (or else under a hedgerow), and less overtly aristocratic than the Gondorians.

The problem is that it ebbed and flowed at different times. In the Prancing Pony, Strider sounds like a Breelander, which makes sense as he is effectively undercover. At Rivendell, he sounds more aristocratic, which also makes sense. But why does he tell Arwen to "rrrrroide hooarrrrd"? Compare that to his warning that "the gap of Rohan leads us too close to Isengard." He delivers that line in RP ("Queen's English"). The two lines sound like they are spoken by a completely different character, and there is no difference in context to make sense of that.

I think that, by asking an American to use an English accent with variable rustic inflections, too much was required of Viggo. The language coach should have just brought him round to the same RP accent as Gandalf, Saruman, Theoden, Boromir etc.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

You've clearly thought about this more than I have. I just think he sounds a little nasally when he has to yell.

I will say this. If I were to change one thing about the movies, I'd swap Viggo and Sean Bean's roles. Viggo never really felt 'kingly' to me in the way that Bean did (and the heir of Gondor should), and Boromir as I remember him from the books was a much rougher-edged guy. I think both performances would have benefitted if they'd been swapped.

But I haven't read the books since I was like 12, I might be way off base.

edit: Losing Bean's death scene would be harsh, I might have to rethink this.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

I'm wondering when the best time to end the first film would be. Any ideas?