Additional Info and Correction..... LORD OF THE RINGS tidbits

Harry here. Seems that the scooper misconstrued their report about the 'banning' of THEONERING.NET, and the warning was issued to one of their NZ agents... and... apparently the reasoning behind that 'Trespassing Notice' was wrong on the part of the LOTR production. This doesn't rule out any of my... SPY 101 stuff though.... That's all very serious. While you're at it... head on over to THEONERING.NET and check out their scoop about BOROMIR, however... if you haven't read the novels... don't. It's mighty spoilerish... Here's what Xoanon reported on his site about the whole deal....

Well, Harry over at Ain't It Cool News received a report from a NZ spy saying that we are banned from the production or something to that effect.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In effect, as reported before, our dear Tehanu was issued a trespassing notice for the Helms Deep set. A set she has never even visited before. And that's about it, this will in no way effect the way we handle our news and spy reports

He folks, Harry here. Attention you New Zealand readers... If you caught this telecast on video and digitize any of the images... Get back to us ASAP. Lots of curious folks are craving the taste. Here's the report...

Hi Harry,

Im a long time informee first time informer!

Tonight New Zealand TV3 news did a massive report on the Lord of the Rings production. They showed sets (which look absolutely amazing) and an interview with the associate prod, who said security on the set is higher than any other movie in history, "we want everything to be a surprise when you see the movie for the first time". They were preparing to film a giant Uruk-hai battle scene, which was being kept tight under wraps, but is reportedly using hundreds of extras decked out in Uruk-hai get-up. We got to see a few glimpses of the Urak-hai, and I was very impressed, I have a gut feeling that Peter Jackson isn't going to let us down, no way! If he can make a great special effects movie like Brain Dead (aka, Dead Alive) on such a tiny budget, whats he gonna do with all those millions, I cant wait!

Also on another note, theonering.net has been slapped with a 2 year tresspassing warning (not aloud to go near the land where LOTR is being filmed for 2 whole years) for leaking info on the movie and obviously tresspassing. Thats a shame as it was probably the best source for LOTR info, as the site maker lived just across the street almost. Anyway I hope this info is of any use to you and I'll keep you updated on any further reports.

(Animatorguy)

Hey there folks, Harry here again, with a few comments about the warning that THEONERING.NET guys got slapped with. You see... There's a reason that you keep your spies secret. Why missions are best undertaken by people ALREADY ON SET. Now do we take risks? Yeah... We do. But there is also a bit of honor involved. I've been watching with great interest the fantastic coverage that THEONERING.NET guys were doing. And at the same time, I began to wonder if it wasn't a bit too much. Two Years before release of STAR WARS EPISODE ONE.... Noone had the script. Hell.. the plot was just a wild assembly of rumors. All sorts of stories. About a year before the film we began to get our first look via Bothan Spy. But... Beginning about 8 months away... Everything started to break. I got the script. Character Design sketches began appearing en masse. Advance images from publishers and promotional departments.... Pepsi cans and candybar wrappers. Hell... I remember when I told people there was a character named Jar Jar Binks... and people called me a liar. TheForce.Net thought I was kidding... Same with Red5, T-bone and a ton of others. And... it was a lot of fun. The virtual prequel site went up. I went to England, drove by where they were filming.

However, there's a bit of a strange difference between covering STAR WARS and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. With Episode One, we didn't know story, characters, score and visuals. With THE LORD OF THE RINGS, we know the story, characters, character motivations, basic visuals... And the movie doesn't come out till Christmas... 2001.

Something that alot of folks don't understand is the context of these images that are coming back from NEW ZEALAND. Every single frame of the film is going to be... altered. Lighting, faces, proportions, buildings. By... oh... let's say snapping a picture of Elijah Wood in hobbit garb and feet... something is actually quite wrong about the picture. First... his scale. He's going to be about 30% shorter (or more). Two... His eyes will be larger than they are on his face. And Peter only knows what other tweaks will be done.

Those shots of Ring Wraiths.... In all likelihood... those horses' heads are going to be replaced... and altered in slight scary ways. There's so much going on, that the reason Peter and crew are going to try their best to keep people from taking pictures is this. NOTHING YOU PHOTOGRAPH WILL LOOK RIGHT EVER. And the last thing he wants is a bunch of out of context images that just look kinda funky. Go take a look at those 9 images on the official Lord Of The Rings site. That's what you'll be getting.

When being a spy... anonymity and a sense of purpose are your two best allies. I have wigs and corsets... Been brunette, blonde and jet black hair. Clean shaven and with short hair. Moriarty? He's been old and young, tall and skinny, bald and fuzzy. It's amazing that an old half blind geezer like him can still do it, but dammit... You never tell the other side that you live across the street. This is SPY 101.

The first rule of being a SPY is to be casual. You don't charge a set in broad daylight (Lincoln?) You do what Indy said, "Blend in, disappear" You don't have a big ol camera round your neck. You figure out someone who's on set, slip them a palm sized camera or that new digital camera watch, and let them go to town. But at all times you have to remember the words of John Saxon in ENTER THE DRAGON.... "There's A Point I Won't Go Beyond." You must realize your own limitations. Studios know what I look like, so when I wander onto a lot... I go looking exactly like me. And act like I belong. A couple of weeks ago Moriarty and I were wandering the SONY lot. I had Moriarty act like a tour guide, opening doors for me... and everyone just assumed I must have had an invite. We were never stopped. Did we have a plan if caught. Oh yeah... in fact we even had paperwork to vouch for us. An office to call. This is very complicated stuff sometimes. You need support crews. IT's the reason why folks like Dr Fu Manchu and Mysterio come so in handy. Their vast network of cohorts and henchmen and assassins with prayer scarves come in handy.

As for how to handle what has happened to THEONERING.NET and their coverage of LORD OF THE RINGS. Don't worry... We have ONE YEAR and ELEVEN MONTHS till the movie hits... Lots of time my friends.... Lots of time.