News from the set

cool, everyone tells me to go see the notebook, but I haven't yet x) but drive sounded like a cool movie. It is very interesting when a character has few lines but still carries the message, if you know what I mean where the tension is in the un-said, sort of I like movies like that. Triggers the imagination

Indiana Jones should be higher up that list, for sure...

You've got quite the eye for handsome men, haven't you, Eldo.

Is this Ryan Gosling chap supposed to be handsome?? Is he the new Ryan Reynolds.?

Why is Loki from Thor on the list? Really random... but Gollum being #10
I've had a crush on Viggo since I was 6, so his #1 is fine by me!

Sylvester McCoy, who will play Radagast the Brown in “The Hobbit,” was recently interviewed with his “Doctor Who” co-star Sophie Aldred for by Shadowlocked for MinisterOfChance.com. Most of the interview is about their roles as The Seventh Doctor and Ace, respectively, but there are a few moments of interest for fans of “The Hobbit.”

“I cannot divulge anything about ‘The Hobbit,’” McCoy said, as he covered his mouth with his hand. This is his familiar comic routine every time he’s asked about the films. “Weta have got ahold of me and programmed me not to be able to talk about it at all.”

McCoy is known for his musical prowess on the spoons—his instrument of choice. When asked if he will be playing the spoons in “The Hobbit,” he suggested that he hadn’t filmed any jam sessions yet. “But I haven’t finished filming ‘The Hobbit’ yet, so who knows?” He explained that he got the idea of inserting his favorite instrument into every project he does from “the great and glorious and heavenly W.C. Fields.” Fields started off as a comedy juggler before he became known as a comedic actor.

“He was asked to play Mr. Micawber [in Dickens’ ‘David Copperfield’],” said McCoy, “and they gave him the script, and he read it and said, ‘Where’s the juggling scene?’ And they said, ‘Well, W.C., Dickens didn’t write a juggling scene.’ And he said, ‘Well, he has now. It’s in my contract.’ It was in his contract that he had to have juggling in every film he did. And that inspired me. That’s why I try to get the spoons in everything.”

Obviously, a lot of people recognize McCoy from his days as The Seventh Doctor, but he’s already seen his fanbase expand to fans of Peter Jackson’s yet-unseen films. “People are popping up at conventions, asking questions about ‘The Hobbit’ and about that whole world,” he remarked. “There’s a rumbling there, and think, ‘Oh my goodness. There’s a whole new fanbase out there. A rather big one, I believe.’”

Would he like to do more movies of “The Hobbit’s” scale? “Oh gosh, yes! I mean, if that came along, great. But if it didn’t, it doesn’t matter; I’ve had a great time doing this one. An amazing time. Working with Peter Jackson has just been such a joy,” he said. His face lit up when talking about the second unit director, Andy Serkis. “We got on really well because he’s a physical actor and I was a physical actor. We had a shorthand. We were part of the same tribe. So far, it’s been a joy being in it, and if there are more jobs like that coming along, yes! Bring them on.”

This is from the link Chris posted in the Sherlock thread from the interview with Cumberbatch-

"Now he is in New Zealand, voicing and "physicalising" Smaug the dragon in The Hobbit, in which Sherlock's Martin Freeman stars as Bilbo Baggins and Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf. McKellen said Cumberbatch's Smaug screen-test was amazing, I tell him. Cumberbatch splutters. "Has ... has he seen it?" Actually, Mc¬Kellen's words were "electrifying - vocally and facially". Cumberbatch looks ecstatic. "Wow! I'm very flattered." He seems entirely sincere. So how did Cumberbatch do the audition? "I went a little reptile on it," he says, enigmatically. He looked at Komodo dragons and snakes at London Zoo to see how the skeleton moves differently He says it's all in the posture, and he crouches forward, swivelling his eyes snakily, to demonstrate.
Cumberbatch's initial reference point for Smaug, interestingly, was his father, actor Timothy Carlton. "The Hobbit was the first book I remember reading at bedtime, and he characterised the whole thing," he says. "It was the first imaginary landscape I had in my head, so it's very close to me."


Seemed suitable for putting here. So he really is doing Smaug physically then! Should be interesting.

The man IS a reptile! No one else could play the part!

Tinuviel wrote:The man IS a reptile! No one else could play the part!

totally agree he's perfect for the role!

Cumberbatch's initial reference point for Smaug, interestingly, was his father, actor Timothy Carlton. "The Hobbit was the first book I remember reading at bedtime, and he characterised the whole thing," he says. "It was the first imaginary landscape I had in my head, so it's very close to me."

This seems really encouraing to me, if TH was a bedtime tale it seems he is likely to retain his childhood memories and this should be good! (also makes his comment of the necromancer at the battle of the five armies is more liely to be a snarky joke, possibly at the expense of journalists who don't do their research before the interview

Sure.

Ayup All...

Sounds like a Pedalling Backwards as fast as he can, 'oh-shit-I-upset-the-fans' BS remark after the stupid comments he made, TBH.

I am generously going to give him the benefit of the doubt- but probably only because I am such a Sherlock fan and its hard to think ill of him after watching that.

Stephen Fry expected to arrive in Wellington tomorrow. Filming must be ready to start again.

Actor Stephen Fry is back in Wellington filming The Hobbit, fighting jet lag with the help of Kiwi coffee.

Fry, who plays the Master of Laketown in the two-part film version of the Tolkien classic, arrived in Wellington on Wednesday and began work yesterday.

Famous for his prolific tweeting , he wrote he was "Off to work in a sunny Wellington. My brain has quite simply no idea who I am what I'm doing or how to operate its legs. Ho hum".

He kept his fans up-to-date this morning, letting the world know he had slept in.

"Gaaah. Overslept. Driver had to ring my doorbell - On way to make up ashamed. First time in 30 years I've not been up in time for a pick up," he said.

Later adding: "I'm the kind of person who'd rather be an hour early than half a minute late. Everyone v sweet as someone was later so I don't feel so bad."

The actor also seemed to pick up spirits with the help of a little caffeine injection: "Worth travelling the world for the sake of a good New Zealand Flat White..."

Fry was last in New Zealand for filming The Hobbit in August 2011. The first part of the film, An Unexpected Journey, is due out in December.

Interesting to hear for sure that filming has started up again after the holiday break. It's strange to think that there's only about five months left until shooting on both films wraps in July. We keep getting closer and closer to the release (Hobbit Day, or H-Day, as I'm thinking of it now )!

only ten months to H-Day!

Dont know if this tells us anything or not but foound it on a Who forum.

Sylvester McCoy will be playing the lead role as Mr Peters in Plume by the Tron Theatre Company in Glasgow; it runs from 1st-17th March.

Which means he cant be in NZ during those dates for the second block of shooting. Is his part over I wonder?

I think this is actually the third block of shooting (the first break was when Martin Freeman returned to the UK to shoot Sherlock series two, IIRC; the second break just ended) so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of smaller roles have wrapped already.

What is your Hobbit name. Mine is Mungo Chubb

http://chriswetherell.com/hobbit/index.php

Elven name is Valandil Melwasul

http://chriswetherell.com/elf/index.php

Haha, mine is Dimple Brandybuck of Buckland or Ruby Brandybuck x)
my elven name is Nienna of Dorthonion, wherever that is x)

Norc wrote:my elven name is Nienna of Dorthonion, wherever that is x)

Darth Onion is the villain in the carrot version of Star Wars. He tries to destroy the Carrot Ship of the Rebellion

Well my elf name is Eö Calaelen (need a lore check to see what it actually means or if its just pretend elvish)

But I demand the entire webpage be taken down and destroyed after it turned Petty Tyrant into the hobbit name 'Lardo Deepdelver'- I am not a Lardo!!

My name in Sindarin is Authiel. I translated that myself years ago, as a proper nerd. Later I found this:

http://www.elvish.org/elm/names.html