Re: The Desolation of Smaug pre-release thread [3] [SPOILERS]

[Pettytyrant101]

Having seen the extended scenes I cant think of any of them apart from Bilbo wandering Rivendell on his own that is actually worth including in an edit- the rest of the 'extra scenes' had they been in the theatrical I would have been editing back out anyway.
So I will get it to edit in the Bilbo/Rivendell scene- but I wont be paying anyone for the dubious privilege.

[Eldorion]

Do you think (strictly CINEMATICALLY speaking) that DOS will be better than AUJ?

PJ always finds new ways to surprise me, so I wouldn't put money on this, but I do think that DOS will be a better film than AUJ from a strictly cinematic perspective. There will be more going on plot wise, as well as more interesting settings, and the main characters and much of the backstory (though not all since we know there will be more flashbacks) have been established by now. I think this alone will make the film more interesting. Hopefully there will be some entertaining battle scenes too, because while there were a number of small skirmishes in AUJ there was nothing that held a candle to small-scale fights from LOTR like the Chamber of Mazarbul or Amon Hen. (I don't count the flashback Battle of Azanulbizar because we didn't really see anything except an indiscernible mob of orcs and dwarves hacking at each other for a couple of minutes.)

It'd help if the filmmakers decided on a tone and stuck with it.

I definitely agree with this. I'm actually hoping that they drop some of the more juvenile stuff in DOS. That's part of what I love about the book The Hobbit, but PJ has no idea what to do with it, so I'd rather see him not even try (sort of like Tom Bombadil; it's better left offscreen).

[David H]

the rest of the 'extra scenes' had they been in the theatrical I would have been editing back out anyway.

So it sounds like you and PJ see eye to eye on quite a few scenes then, at least judging by what he chose to cut from the theatrical edit.  

[Pettytyrant101]

Yes but I would have cut the rest of the film too, burnt all the evidence out of sheer embarrassment and started again with a proper finished script.

[RA]

In a nutshell most Middle Earth projects lately

[Pettytyrant101]

SFX magazine interviews-

http://thorinoakenshield.net/2013/11/13/sfx-magazine-desolation-of-smaug-interviews/

I had to stop reading due to severe crabbit at the point where Boyens, describing the crap they have made up says- "We've tried to again keep it real, tried to keep it almost historical like these events really happened."

  Do they even know whats in their own script? Have they actually tried watching AUJ?
What kind of fucking realistic history is that supposed to be you lying bastards!?      

[Bluebottle]

Well, they have been claiming to take the newly written material from the appendices for well over a year. Yet the only thing it seems that will actually be taken from the appendices is the Thorin meeting Gandalf in Bree scene.

Everything else from the appendices have at best been a slight inspiration, like the white council story-line, but most of it they have changed completely, like the Azog nonsense.

So I don't think you should expect either consistency or truth from them.

[Mrs Figg]

hey the good news that 'historically' there were Elves.

[Norc]

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-11-14/sir-ian-mckellen-filming-for-the-hobbit-made-me-think-i-should-quit-acting

Sir Ian McKellen: Filming for The Hobbit made me think I should quit acting
The veteran actor, who plays Gandalf in the Tolkien films, reveals that the isolation of “green screen land” was so “distressing and off-putting and difficult” that he considered leaving the production - and even his acting career

[Mrs Figg]

Holy crap, poor guy. I HATE green screen even more now.

[Bluebottle]

He certainly didn't say that after the Lord of the Rings films.

Remember Martin Freemans despondency the other day as well. Could there have been a falling out between cast and director?

[Pettytyrant101]

Well Viggo also said a few critical things, particularly about RoTK and its deviations.
And bloke whose name I forget  that played Gimli also had some thinly veiled complaints about getting so many script rewrites he stopped reading them.

This isnt new. And actors rarely make critical comments as their profession is so tricky to maintain work in. So when they do I tend to think they must be very crabbit indeed about something.

[Mrs Figg]

its very strange Viggo and 'Gimli' didnt get cameos, or maybe it was because they critisized PJ after LOTR.

[bungobaggins]

They shouldn't have cameos either way. John rhys davies did vist the bag end set when they were filming the party scene though.

[bungobaggins]

I think I remember Davies comment about the constant rewrites. He said that because his stuff was never rewritten, that he stopped reading them.

[Mrs Figg]

I agree about the cameos, but at this point they are nearly all in it anyway.

[Pettytyrant101]

He said that because his stuff was never rewritten, that he stopped reading them.- Bungo

The interview I saw was the opposite! He said there were rewrites pushed under his hotel door at night (the blue pages of doom!), and when he got up in the morning there was another rewrite under the door, and when he got to set it had all changed again, so he stopped reading them and just did whatever they told him on set.

[Mrs Figg]

thats not the opposite.

[bungobaggins]

I'm on mobile for the next few days so I can't try to find the video. I would otherwise. Also, this why there will probably be a crap load of auto correct errors in my posts. So they might not make sense. Grrrrr

[Mrs Figg]

so this Breaking Bad thing, is it for guys? I havent watched it because it looks like I wouldnt really get it. I dont need pink unicorns but I do like a bit of ying to the yang.

[bungobaggins]

BoYZ OwnLee nOo GURLZ AllOWwed!!qq! Ewww COOOOTIES!

Spoiler:

[Mrs Figg]

ok. It looks quite interesting might give the first episode a go.

fake edit, tell you what I will do you a deal, if I watch the first episode of BB you have to watch the first episode of Merlin. howzabout that? Lets see who gets hooked.

[Eldorion]

Damn at the Ian McKellen interview. I remember from the LOTR documentaries they used green screen for one or two scenes (I think mostly just in Bag End) and all the actors seemed to loathe it.

[Mrs Figg]

just goes to show its not natural, it feels foul although it looks fair.

[Tinuviel]

I mean are they just lazy or stupid? They have so much more money this time around! Instead of using it on special effects, use it to buy helicopters so you can build sets and shoot ON LOCATION!!!!! The movie The Fall was filmed completely on location, and it was fantastic and gorgeous! Green screens are cheap cop-outs for lazy directors who are focusing too much of their energy in the wrong places