Hey folks, Harry here... Well, I have filled 2 other postings with over 5000 words a piece about the Lincoln Center LORD OF THE RINGS presentation. CLICK HERE FOR THE FIRST ONE! CLICK HERE FOR THE SECOND ONE! So far we have heard almost exclusively from the Lord of the Rings faithful, our first report comes from Mr. Beaks... And Mr Beaks isn't a Hobbitnite, he's a Bastard. One of Peter Jackson's bastards... of the legion of Bastards. And this Bastard landed in Lincoln Center and had this to say....
Pre-production for Peter Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS began in 1997. Before the film had a greenlight. Hell, before the film even had rock-solid studio backing. Following the unceremonious dumping of his KING KONG remake by Universal (who must be kicking themselves for having been so afraid of GODZILLA and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG), and the box-office disappointment of THE FRIGHTENERS, it’s a wonder Jackson didn’t simply shrink away from Hollywood and return to FEEBLE-sized films in the bucolic confines of his native New Zealand.
Luckily for us, Peter Jackson is a Derek. And Dereks do not run.
If this rather bizarre sentiment leaves you a-scratchin’ the ol’ noggin, know that Derek is the name of the hapless character essayed brilliantly by PJ in his bug-fuck debut, BAD TASTE, which, residing as it does on the other end of the budget spectrum from LORD OF THE RINGS, was a Herculean task nonetheless; shot over a four-year period, and, then, inexplicably financed by the New Zealand film commission when they were impressed with his footage. If you’ve seen BAD TASTE, the fact that any government would finance a film so loopy and ridiculously gory is a miracle in and of itself, and further reason why I’ll move to New Zealand once I make a mint for some lucky studio willing to finance my two-part epic on the life of Chester A. Arthur.
Please excuse my digression, but BAD TASTE is perfect illustration of the PJ M.O.; a labor of love pursued doggedly, but never – to the best of my knowledge – maniacally. Jackson, with his cherubic, decidedly non-intimidating demeanor, emits a conspiratorial warmth to those around him, giving his on- and off-screen collaborators the sense of participating in something epochal, an approach that may have resulted in the new gold standard for fantasy filmmaking.
Last night, New Line, in conjunction with the New York Times, gave the Tolkien – and, in my case, PJ – faithful a glimpse into the exhaustive research and passionate execution of these beloved tales; in essence, an evening of DVD extras prior to seeing the actual film itself, hosted by the film’s producer, Barrie Osborne and the Visual F/X director, Christian Rivers. From the videotaped pitch used by Jackson to interest other studios after Miramax put the project into turnaround, to the test footage of WETA’s ingenious artificial intelligence software, the presentation served not only to whet the appetites of those already ravenously awaiting the finished films, but to also, as Jackson did with cast and crew, give the audience a sense of being a part of something special. Adding immeasurably to this feeling was the attendance of Elijah Wood, Sean Bean and Orlando Bloom, three of the film’s principals. Quite frankly, their appearing at this event, on the heels of devoting a full year of their lives to such an arduous production, was as impressive as the presentation itself. That they seemed as excited as the rest of us to see some actual footage confirms that this project is an anomaly in big-budget filmmaking.
What stands out above all else is the attention to detail in every aspect of the film’s design and execution, which is best exemplified in Osborne’s anecdote concerning the making of the chain mail armor, an insanely labor-intensive task that ended up expending 7 miles worth of PVC rubber. More amazingly, one of the workers whose dull task it was to attach these electroplated PVC beads was so happy to be working on LORD OF THE RINGS, he considers the job he holds down now boring in retrospect. This kind of cheerfulness seems to pervade the entire production; even the ostensible horror stories of being locked in by a landslide, or losing a day to an unforeseen snowstorm are imparted with a chipper tone.
And when they did get around to showing us a tantalizing sliver of the film – the Balin’s Tomb sequence – it served as confirmation that the four long years of toil poured into these projects has resulted in a fully-realized world seemingly bereft of the commercial-induced pandering of the last two STAR WARS episodes, yet still bursting with the imagination and hefty production value crucial to immersing the audience in a world unlike anything they’ve ever seen. The sets look lived-in, the armor battle-worn, and the Cave Troll….. in all honesty, without an ounce of hyperbole, words cannot do its sheer malevolence justice (if you saw the spot that ran during the MTV Video Music Awards last week, you saw a snippet of this puppy). If the rest of the film is as tightly edited and breathlessly exciting as this, there’s every reason to expect that New Line will be rolling in Tolkien loot for years.
Right about now, after a day’s worth of raving from various attendees on AICN and elsewhere, there should be a backlash kicking in, which, in a way, is understandable since rarely does a much-hyped film live up to its buzz nowadays. And while I don’t begrudge anyone their skepticism until December 19th, I will ask that you consider the many ways I’ve listed in which Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS differs from contemporary event filmmaking, and, perhaps, temper your misgivings in light of these circumstances.
This is the kind of epic fantasy the studios have long held to be unprofitable and, therefore, not worth the gamble. What they’ve never taken into account is what would happen if that four year period of development was spent solely for the good of the project, rather than on hectoring the filmmakers, or blowing wads of cash on pay-or-play deals. In three months, we’ll finally know for sure.
Faithfully Submitted,
Mr. Beaks
MrBeaks@Yahoo.Com
Here's Reno, who was gobsmacked by what he saw... and finally sees the context of Moriarty and mine's mania for this project... Ahhh the light was shone into the eyes of those at Lincoln Center
Hey Harry,
Reno here with some thouhts about the "Lord of the Rings" presentation at the Lincoln Center last night. I can't say for certain what I was expecting out of last evening's presentation, I just knew that it was going to be a good way to start of a week's vacation.
I'd like to apologize Harry, for not sending this in sooner. I figured that by the time I made the 2 hour trip home you would have been inundated with reports from Gothamite AICNers. But then again, when I receive a command from the Head Geek hisself, I respond . . .
I, too had been at the 7:30 presentation. On the factual level, all the other posts hit the high points; re- showing the trailer, video presentation of behind the scenes footage, production design all leading up to the screening of the first half of the sequence in Balin's tomb. On the way out, I was talking with two other guys whom were in line next to me. "Hey is the Elijah Wood who just walked by?" one of them asked, pointing.
I shook my head. It couldn't be. I had just seen Elijah Wood on the screen and the guy that was being pointed out to me was clearly taller than 3 foot 6. That's how convincing a job Peter Jackson and his crew have done. Oh sure, I've seen the trailers numerous times but, to be honest, the shots are edited together so fast that I've never really gotten a true sense of the scale between the various actors. I first got that true feeling when during the first ten minutes of the presentation, while they were showing some of the behind-the-scenes footage.
It was a simple shot, viewed on a camera monitor. A long shot, Gandalf and Frodo riding in a cart across a Hobbiton field. At first, nothing remarkable, you've seen similar in shots in Westerns and other period type films. But then we cut to a two shot and that's when I got what Moriarty described in his piece on the Cannes footage- "The Holy Shits". Just five or seven seconds of dialoge, though I couldn't tell you what the content of their discussion was. My brain was too busy processing the verisimilitude of the image being presented. Even when the illusion is revealed a moment later as simple forced perspective, I was still overwhelmed.
Harry, you've written much about how much attention to detail Peter Jackson and crew have put into the making of these films, how much time has been spent on fleshing out the seperate design asethetic for each of the races. We've heard about the guy who spent a year slicing PVC piping to make the chainmail. Stats and figures have been tossed around and while impressive sounding, they don't really give a hint as to what I think we're going to see on the screen.
The clip from Balin's Tomb that other's have written about here is as stunning as reported. Although presented with some effects that they stated will be redone, in 2 track stereo and with no music, it still manages to grab the viewer by the shirtfront and drag them along. It was something I was turning over in my mind as I walked svereal blocks across Manhattan to catch the ferry back to Jersey.
Some TBers have taken Moriarty for task by saying that these films may just redefine how we look at blockbusters. I'm hoping that Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" will change how Hollywood looks at Blockbusters. It looks like Jackson will be giving us an epic story that is serviced by the special effects, instead of the having the story in service to special effects. That's an idea that seems to be lost on a majority of studios.
For me, the next 90 some days to December 19th are going to be extremely long ones.
RENO out.
Harry here... Next we have Ninvainiel who was a part of Daniel Dravot's group that he told us about earlier... It should be noted that what they saw in the clip from the NEW LINE sale pitch was in fact, AT THE TIME, the design for the Balrog. It has gone through some changes in both look and scale. I've seen both. I now believe that the Lincoln Center people did not see the entire Sale Pitch tape as that tape not only clearly has Peter Jackson showing the Balrog and telling you about the lava like blood flowing within and the licks of flames coming up through the cracks of the skin and the mane of flames, while showing you the image of the Balrog... He also shows you one of the early macquettes for Gollum, and since not one report mentions this... I can't believe that it was shown last night.
I just wanted to add a little note to Daniel Dravot's fantastic report - I was one of the friends who went back into the theater with him to meet Elijah, Orlando, Sean, Barrie and Christian, and I must admit that I was rendered so completely speechless by the event that I didn't even manage to stammer out a hello or a thank you or a can I have my picture taken with you - quite a feat considering that I am generally a completely jaded New Yorker and such things don't phase me!
At any rate, I wanted to disagree with his asessment that the model we saw was of the Balrog's head; my first thought was fell beast - but I guess we will find out in 99 days and whatever hourse, minutes, and seconds!
Secondly, since nobody seems to have mentioned it, not only were the three actors completely fabulous and approachable and, oh yes *swoon*, totally hot, Barrie was quite friendly as well - on his way out of the building, though he was carrying a heavy case which I'm guessing contained some of the footage that we saw, he stopped to ask us how we had liked the presentation. By this point I had regained enough of my wits to mumble that I was completely speechless, to which he smiled and walked on.
Oh my. This is going to be amazing, as if that even needs to be said.
Apparently they have a couple of Hungarian guys who are able to go back and digitally manipulate color and whatnot after filming (which apparently is going to have some effect on how the DVD's are made; I didn't quite catch it) and it judging by the Balin's Tomb sequence we saw it is going to be absolutely beautiful. I can not emphasize enough how extraordinary the sets and locations are - they are Alan Lee's watercolors brought to life.
When the drums started beating in Balin's Tomb, I thought I was going to faint - you know it's going to happen, and suddenly you hear the ominous BOOM. The first half of the fighting - Legolas and Aragorn shooting morian orcs through breaks in the door, the hobbits banding together, swords drawn, the crash as the troll enters the room - was all done without music and horrendously frightening. And then as the music kicks in, the situation grows all the more desperate - I could not stop shivering. I can not even imagine how amazing this wil be with the full on finished sound.
A tiny quibble, just because I need to be critical of SOMETHING is that everyone kept referring to this blond headed horse loving folks from Rohan as 'The Rohans'. Rohirrim, perhaps?
Still, I think when the movies actually come out I am going to have to go in wearing Depends undergarments or something, because I nearly wet myself just watching the 5 minutes they showed us. 2 hours and 45 minutes? Oh dear!
--Ninvainiel
Next is Wnut... and Wnut was fixating upon the physical lighting of the sets, the style they were built in and brings a rather unique perspective to the evening's footage...
Hey Harry,
I attended the 930 presentation last night, and while I agree with most everything that has been written about the event, I thought I would throw in a quick 2 cents regarding the footage that was screened. Many people have talked about how gritty and authentic the sets and effects look and feel.... However, I felt the Balin's Tomb sequence had a very old fashioned soundstage feel to it. I didn't feel for a second that I was being taken inside a dank, dark stone room cut into the belly of a mountain. Everything was very brightly lit, and had a blue-green tint to it. And there were not as many tight-framed shots as one is used to seeing in todays action sequences. I felt the same way about the brief snippets of Feathertop and the Council of Elrond as well.
But to be fair, I think this is actually a look PJ is going for: The overall effect is not in-authentic or cheap, but rather in the vein of old school Fantasy art direction. An oil-painting and soft-focus quality. While I personally envisioned Helms Deep as much much darker and more claustrophobic (think of the film Pitch Black), I think the more magical look will serve the films better in the long run. (I should also note that the films presenters did make a point of saying that the footage we viewed did not reflect the final digital color balance that was being out in place as we speak. Also, we were told that this is the only scene in Helms Deep that has any natural light)
What I really liked about the Cave Troll CG was the choreography... it reminded me of the some of the better Raptor antics in the Jurassic Park films. CG is CG - This movie is not going to revolutionize digital effects themselves, but it may break new ground in the way they are incorporated into live action. The "MASSIVE" battle effects and Cave Troll scenes gave me great hope that this may be the case...
In any case, my girlfriend, Sam(wise), and I both left the theater very wide-eyed. And to think there is 9 more hours of this stuff to come gives me small fits.
All the best
WNut
Next we have a Cat Named Claudia who dug the use of tongues on the set of LORD OF THE RINGS... read on.... MEOW...
I've never written before, but I just wanted to add my own take on last night's LOTR event at Lincoln Center.
I've definately been anticipating these films for a long time, but after last night's presentation I don't know how I'll be able to wait for December. I'm a Star Wars addict, but I'm now more excited about The Fellowship of the Ring than Episode II!
Forget the footage, I'm talking about the making of this trilogy. What impressed me the most wasn't the CGI characters, but the care and detail that went into this production.
They had linguists on set everyday who specialized in the languages of the Elves, Dwarfs, etc.., as created by Tolkien. They built the Hobbiton set a year in advance so that the gardens would have time to grow naturally!!!! They created different architecture styles for each race. They developed different fighting styles for each race, taking pieces of various martial arts disciplines and creating something new. We are dealing with filmmakers who not only have an understanding of the books and their mythology, but actually care about it all.
Sorry, if this is old news to you and everybody else out there, but I am now officially impressed (and that is hard to do).
A Cat named Claudia
And now for a lengthy look from Hanny...
I'm a bit late writing in but I didn't get home to Jersey until 1:30 am this morning from the LOTR show and had to work all damn day! I'm going to try not to rehash anything because everything seems to have already been touched upon. However, I felt the need to write, being a big LOTR fan, to tell everyone what grand goodness we are in for this Christmas and what a pleasure it was to attend such a great show that was hosted for the fans.
Before I left my house to grab a train i stared at my LOTR teaser poster for awhile debating wether or not I should even bother bringing it with me. What were the chances of any of the stars of the film being there? Not to good I thought. I grabbed it anyway figuring it was worth the chance but most likely it would just end up being a burden to carry around all night.
That all changed as I entered the theatre. Right I away i spotted the Ring Bearer himself, Elijah Wood. Next to him stood Orlando Bloom, which i didn't know at the time because he was unrecognizable. I didn't expect for him to look like an elf but he didn't look anything like the blonde haired elf we have seen in the trailers. Next to Legolas stood the man who will be tempted to steal the ring, Boromir. The fine actor who goes by the name Sean Bean.
Right then and there my knees started trembling. I don't go goo goo ga ga over actors usually because they are just normal (just richer) people like us. These weren't any ordinary actors though. These were three of the Fellowship of Nine. These were the people that were stepping into the roles of characters that I loved since I was a young child. I remember sitting in the theatre as a child with my father staring in awe at the animation that Bakshi brought to the screen. At this time in my life I still watch the animated LOTR in awe.
It wasn't until about 6 years after the animated movie came out that i was old enough to sit down and read the genious that was Tolkien. It was at this point in my life that i first realized that movies are nothing like the books. The novels were more in depth and more fascinating than i could possibly imagine.
Flash forward to the late 90's and I read on AICN that Peter Jackson will be helming not one , but all three LOTR movies. Then pictures are posted of the construction that was being done to make Hobbiton. I could not believe that this was happening. My favorite characters were finally being brought to the big screen in live action. A dream come true.
I sat in Lincoln center last night in disbelief of what lengths the crew went to to bring his movie accurately to the big screen. From the sets, to the costumes to the millions of chain links from pvc pipe they had to make for the armor.
After awhile the lights went out and we were treated to a great scene! Balin's Tomb! I got the goose bumps when the fellowship was trapped inside the tomb and Gimli said something to the effect of, "I'll let them know there's still one dwarf inside Moria that can still draw blood". Woohooo! Arrows were flying and Legolas was walking on the back of the rampaging cave troll. Great stuff! Folks, we are in for a treat this Christmas.
Also, the part when Pippin knocks a suite of armor down the hole in Balin's tomb was quite amusing. Gandalf just stared at him for a few while Pippin makes some amusing faces and then Gandalf belts out, "Fool of a Took".
As the show ended I saw Wood, Bean and Bloom heading for the door. I politely asked for them to sign my poster and all three obliged. They made it personally out to me and Bloom even added "Legolas" to his signature.. I felt like the happiest man in the world with the best god damn poster in the world. Not because I met "stars' but because I met actors who were playing beloved characters from beloved books that generations have enjoyed.
Hanny
