Re: The Desolation of Smaug pre-release thread [SPOILERS]

[Eldorion]

Just be grateful that he cut the rapids scene from FOTR or we might have seen something similar there.

[Pettytyrant101]

I fear my editing skills may not be enough this time!

[Eldorion]

My biggest concern would be that there's not enough material worth keeping. Maybe if you hacked the entire trilogy down to three or four hours...

We should take bets on whether or not Legolas will be involved with the escape/barrel scene in some way. I wouldn't put up much money against it, though.

[Pettytyrant101]

Well the first film edited is about 1hr 20 I think- so I would guess at best AUJ and DOS together will make 1 normal length modern film.

[CC12 35]

i hope the barrel ride is something like when the gang is running though goblin town

[Pettytyrant101]

You are very sick CC.

[Eldorion]

I still want to see this as a DVD bonus feature:

http://youtubedoubler.com/6l9i

[CC12 35]

looks like no one is going to reply god know i waited long enough okay that's actually quite fittin

[Eldorion]

Thanks CC.

[CC12 35]

caraline

[Norc]

Enter the Dragon, Tolkien-Style


Mention Smaug, the classic storybook dragon of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” and a ray of delight flickers across Benedict Cumberbatch’s pale eyes.

Smaug, “a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm” of Tolkien lore, is for many children their first encounter with fire-breathing, scaly dragons. “First one for me,” Cumberbatch is quick to add. “My dad read the book to me and it was a bedtime treat if I had done well. If I had been a good boy, I’d get two chapters as opposed to maybe one or none if I had been really bad.”

As his father, actor Timothy Carlton, brought the colorful characters of “The Hobbit” to life, a film played out in young Cumberbatch’s mind – decades before he would be cast as Smaug in Peter Jackson’s own film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”

“It became the first literary experience that played out as a visual fantasy or film in my head and really drew me into reading,” says the 36-year-old actor. “That particular world, it was so clear in my mind what that film was to me as a kid.”

Cumberbatch, star of “Sherlock” and “Star Trek Into Darkness,” singles out his father’s interpretation of Smeagol (“I’m convinced that Andy Serkis must have visited when I was being read bedtime stories”), but it was the dragon Smaug lording over the pile of gold that held the most allure.

“This incredibly vainglorious, beautiful, fantastical creature of myth with such power and human frailty, his vanity and self-promotion and ego being his own self-destruction really, and not realizing his weakness and his strength, and having a literal Achilles heel — it fascinated me,” he says.

To inhabit the character for “The Desolation of Smaug,” which is scheduled for a Dec. 13 release, Cumberbatch used Smaug-like powers of persuasion to convince director Jackson that he should do motion capture in addition to voiceover work. As he tells it, the conversation went like this:

“He wasn’t that in need of it but he said, ‘do you want to do it?’

I said, ‘Absolutely, I do. That’s the great appeal, trying to bring this –’

He said, ‘But–’

I went, ‘I know what you’re going to say: I’m a biped mammal, I’m not a serpent with tiny claws or legs. I don’t have a tail, I can’t breathe fire or fly, and the rest of the things that aren’t dragonlike about me. But I do think in my imagination I’ve got something which might at least push the WETA animation into a direction.’

He went, ‘Come down and play.’

So that was an amazing thing, I’d never been so free. You feel like a tit when you walk onto the stage and there are dots all over your face and your body, but the motion-capture volumes pick up every motion and turn it into an avatar.”

Cumberbatch says he’s inspired by, and indebted to, his father in coming to play Smaug, calling it “a beautiful full circle.”

In fact, Cumberbatch also performs as the Necromancer, doing both the voice and movement, but he won’t go into as much detail. “It was a huge challenge, but I’ll tell you more about that next time we speak,” he says. “I can’t say too much about it otherwise the forces in New Zealand will be on my back.”

Speakeasy will have more with Benedict Cumberbatch so check back in. Follow @barbarachai for more arts and entertainment news.

the article(source)

[Pettytyrant101]

I have high hopes for Cumberbatches Smaug- I really think he is a very good choice for the role. But I worry about the dialogue PJ will give him and I am praying beyond hope for once, PJ will use Tolkiens dialogue for the Converation with Smaug. If he doesnt, then really what was the point of doing TH at all?

[Norc]

i agree .

[chris63]

Our good friends over at our partner site Tolkiendrim.com reported here that shooting of pick ups for the next two Hobbit movies begins on May 15th – that’s already today in many parts of the world! And a good part of ‘today’ has already passed in New Zealand – so we’re assuming that filming is already underway. Shooting is scheduled to continue until the end of July.

Of course, the question we’re all pondering is: what scenes will be slated for this period of filming? We already know that 3 foot 7 were looking to cast extras with ‘character faces’, as described in their ad, here. Spanish Tolkien site elanillounico.com and French site Tolkiendrim.com both report that, apparently, these extras are sought for scenes which will take place in Bree; which of course does seem to fit with a need for character faces.

And this is where the wild speculation begins – get ready, because we’re guessing outside the box here! What scenes for The Hobbit movies might be set in Bree? Surely there is no need for An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition material to take us back to Bree on the journey of Bilbo and the dwarves? More interestingly, perhaps it could be a flashback to Gandalf and Thorin’s first meeting on the road, when they passed a night at Bree, as described in The Quest for Erebor? What important information might the film makers wish to disclose in such a scene – more about the back story of Azanulbizar and the disappearance of Thorin’s father, Thrain?

In their article, our French friends go even further and speculate that this may be a chance for some of the oft discussed ’bridge’ material between the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps we will get to see Aragorn and Gandalf meeting in Bree, during Aragorn’s ranging days in the North, before the beginning of the hunt for Gollum. Viggo Mortensen only recently stated again, this time to Total Film magazine, that he would be keen to play a role in The Hobbit trilogy. He is reported here as having said, ‘Would I play Aragorn again? Sure, if it seemed sensible to do so. He’s not in the book of The Hobbit, but if they’re working with the appendices they may be intending to bridge the 60-year Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings gap.’ Mortensen went on to say, ‘I think I would have heard by now so I have to assume [not]… But Peter Jackson is famous for his reshoots, so you never know!’

Now that is something exciting to think about. Total idle speculation of course; we don’t even know for sure that scenes ARE being filmed in Bree. But it’s fun to dream of a little glimpse of Strider….

[Eldorion]

Dear God, some people just cannot fucking let go of the bridge film idea, can they?

[Norc]

noo bridge!

[Pettytyrant101]

Not sure what this i really- but seems to be official- and where th ehell is the green bit suposed to be- that better not be representive of Mirkwood!

[Eldorion]

Looks like an online flash game to me. I doubt it was made with much input from PJ and co.

[CC12 35]

that's pretty good flash work though fair play

[Pettytyrant101]

Looks like an online flash game to me. I doubt it was made with much input from PJ and co- Eldo

Dunno its put up by WB and its on a pretty official looking Hobbit Movie site-

http://www.thehobbit.com/middle-earth/

[CC12 35]

who'd play that now jagex have rereleased 2007 runescape

[Eldorion]

Dunno its put up by WB and its on a pretty official looking Hobbit Movie site-

Well yeah, that's the official website for the films, but it's undoubtedly run by the WB marketing division. The game was clearly designed as a way to increase interest in the movie, which is why I doubt PJ was involved.

[Pettytyrant101]

I doubt he was involved but I also doubt they just made the visuals up without basing them on the films- in which case that green place must be somewhere based on somthing in the next film. No?

[Eldorion]

I've played some pretty terrible tie-in games that had no practically no connection to the movies they were based on before. That wasn't the case with the LOTR games but those weren't marketing tie-ins. It's possible that the marketing people were given some concept art to work with, but I wouldn't say it's a given.

Come to think of it, PJ did show some concept art from Mirkwood during the DoS sneak peek thing, and it looked nothing like the green blob from the game. Skip to five minutes into the video below.

[Pettytyrant101]

I was thinking the river in the forest- it looks under water to me.