So what do you reckon it will be like?
Are you going to see it?
Do you think the cast are right for the film?
Do you think it will ruin the story?

(By the way i know there have been posts lik this before but this is asking slightly different questions)

I simply can't wait, everytime I see the trailer chills go down my spine.
I think it will be great not because of all the money they have spent, but because all the actors and the director seems to understand that this is a book that means alot to many many people. And there's also the thing that they made all three movies at once instead of doing it the traditional way of making one, see if it's a hit and then make the next one. Shows that they have got the point I think.

But there is allways a danger when they are mekaing something this big that they overdo it and ruin the whole thing...

I really am looking forward to it especially as there have been a few big film dissapointments recently and before that there was a long lull of no interesting films at all. Hopefully the commitment to making all three films at once shows that they are serious about doing things properly. My one big fear is that they decide to dumb it down for the masses, as happens all to often. These producers seem to forget that the originals weren't dumbed down and still managed to do really well :rolleyes: Oh well maybe its just another example of the modern consumer society - everything has to be quick and simple.

/me must stop ranting about stuff

Anyway, if you'd like to more about the film have a look at the following (though it seems a little basic considering how close we are to release). Also try downloading some of the picture links the Gandalf one is great.
http://www.lordoftheringsmovie.com/

Oh my God I've just noticed I've developed nasty little red eyes - die shadows die!

PS no wonder the first site is a bit dull. below is the official site:
http://www.lordoftherings.net/

[This message has been edited by Slappy (edited June 03, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Darien Noella (edited July 07, 2001).]

Well, even peter jackson (the director) said in one interview that he fully expects every true LOTR fan to walk away pissed off after at least one of the movies.

And I think the fact that he acknowldges that, that he understand how much people love these books, shows he knows he can't afford to screw up much.

I should clarify...the context in which he said that had to do with what time would allow him to include, that he knows he'll cut at least one of your favorite scenes.

The only really bad casting I saw was Liv Tyler. Yeah, she looks the part, but the girl CANNOT act. Wouldn't be so bad if we where just getting the straight story, since she has so few lines. But her role has been expanded using material from the appendixes, to include the full story of her romance with Aragorn prior to the start of the trilogy.

The gandalf having some big magic battle with sauroman while escaping thing is kind of lame.

I think, overall, this movie is going to be the best of all possible. Alot of people have critisized the use of american actors, but I'm sure we all heard accents of our own while reading. I think one of thier best moves has been hiring linguists, and trying to develop distinctive and unique "shire" "elvish" "rohanish" ect. accents, unregocnizable as any modern accent.

I don't know how many people saw the movie Rudy, but Sam was perfectly cast. The same with Frodo. Watch "The Ice Storm" and you'll see the potential.

Another encouraging thing is that Ethan Hawk was turned down for the role of Faramir, even tho he offered to work for scale. Peter Jackson definatly has some integrity, looking mostly for actors that love tolkien AND have the ability, disregarding the name recognition.

The casting changes I would have made? Ditch liv tyler. Steve Buscemi as wormtongue :)

(did you see con air or fargo? I'm tellin ya, he would have been perfect.)

My g/f told me that it is in 4 parts...and as i have the trilogy which only contains 3 books...i was wondering wether the first LotR movie would be on the Hobbit? Is it?

Jester I completely disagree with you. I think Liv Tyler is a good actress, she has chosen some really odd rolls and the most important part is who cares if she can't act :D .

I completely agree with you about Steve Buscemi as Wormtongue. He would fit the role perfectly.

the movies will be in three parts, each released about a year apart. the tentative schedule is around christmas this year, 2002, and 2003. so none of those star wars 3-4 year waits between films :)

Heh, I'm stickin to my guns on the liv tyler thing :) she sure does look the part, but after the less than stellar job she did in Armegedon....well, thats the only movie I've seen her in. we'll see.

side note: at the time filming started, new line cinema did not have the rights to the hobbit. *IF*, big if, these movies do exceedingly well, they MAY go ahead and film the hobbit.

I have said it once and will say it again.
The guy who plays Frodo does not look the part. No then as i have also said before that if he starts to speak with an american accent i will scream!!!!
I have a lot of respect for americans but i am sorry to say that this film should have nothing to do with americans.
It was written by an englishman ()born in south africa) and should be kept how he invisioned it!

Ps) my father knows one of Tolkeins Grandsons
Isn't that so cool!!!!

Avooch, Less than half the leading cast is american, virtually all of the extras and supporting cast are new zeelanders. Your not going to hear an "american" accent (as if there is just one...anymore than there is a "british" accent..we both know better)

Frodo will speak a little different than the other hobbits, which is a good thing. but just to make it clear, thats how far they've gone with the accent thing, that frodo, being better educated, will have a bit more of a "higher class" shire accent.

They've given hours of consideration to how bree haflings will sound different from shire haflings.

If they get what they're shooting for, you won't recognize any accent you hear in the film, british or otherwise.

I don't think we can climb inside tolkiens head, but luckily for us, he was a linguist by profession. He left VERY in depth notes as too accent, many of which you will find in the handy appendix at the end of ROTK :)

I don't know if you've checked out the official website for the film, but it may help to allay a few of your fears. This is far from being an american production. Peter jackson was still a kiwi the last I checked :)

Elijah Wood is to my mind a great choice for frodo, and I would be hard pressed to find a better choice. He portrays the youth and the weariness(sp) quite well. Don't make the mistake of judging him by a snapshot, he's quite a good actor (radio flyer or The Ice Storm).

I don't know if you remember the horrible semi-animated film that came out in the late seventies. You where probably lucky enough to miss our network made for tv 80 minute animated version of ROTK. These movies won't be perfect, but they are being made by people who love the books, and are doing everything they can to stay true to them.

That being said, I am VERY glad hollywood didn't get ahold of this. Harrison Ford as Aragorn, Val Kilmer as legolas, we all know how it would have gone.

But doing it right means getting the budget. And getting the budget means appealing to an entire world full of tolkien fans. It won't match my perfect vision or yours. It probably won't even match the directors.

No film can destroy your frodo or mine. I have a feeling you grew up on these books as much as I did. But just think, more copies have been sold world wide in the last 2 years than in the previous ten. How many people are going to read them once the films are released?

Give it a fair chance and approach it with an open mind. Honestly, as long as I don't see ents mowing down orcs with acorn spitting machine guns......

I'm excited but nervous about the movie - Mostly because it's one of my favorite pieces of fiction.

The only casting I didn't like was Sean Bean as Boromir. I think he'll pull it off, but I always thought Boromir was a big, strong, sturdy looking guy with black hair. That's the image I have when I picture him!

I'm also a little nervous about Arwen's expanded role.

Sir Bel, I agree with you. I think so many people love LotR so much and have pored over it so much, there is no way everyone will be happy. The problem is we all have our own images of what things in our minds look like. No director can please everyone.

On the other hand the more the director strays from the text of the story the more people will be angry. I'm not in favor of the whole Arwen bit. Why have her meet the party at the bridge/ford at the end of book one. Is she going to fight the black riders? :)

I think they are keeping things true but if I ever have any concerns I just have to pull out the LotR animated movie and cringe in fear. :D

I wish i could remember the name of the elven lord they meet there. Just drawing a blank. (glorfindel? maybe, damnit)

Anyway, I think they are basically having her fill in for him. pretty stupid.

I think it kinds of tends to reduce the contrast between Arwen and Eowyn. By rejecting Eowyn, it seems to me aragorn kind of gives up his strider persona too (strider woulda loved a shield maiden).

I think turning arwen into a warrior of any kind lessens the impact of that.

In the book, Glorfindel met them at the Ford. I've heard that Arwen and Glorfindel's parts have been merged for the film. But that's moviemaking....Uggh!

Is there a website i can go to have a good look at the actors/actresses that will be staring in the film? The only person i know is the girl from ammegedon.

Oh yeah, Boromier should be tall, tanned, well built, muscular body, strong jaw, has a helmet with two horns and a beard and moustache.

Check out:
www.lordoftherings.net (http://www.lordoftherings.net)

you can get all the pictures of the cast and other info. I think this is the "offical" web-site for the movie.

It looks like Boromier was cast with his betrayal of Frodo in mind. He's kind of greasy looking. Oh well, maybe cleaned up, he'll look good. (At least he has the mustache!)

[This message has been edited by Mathetais (edited June 04, 2001).]

actually, I thought he looked a bit slimy too, but I think that the first pic they put out of him was at the betrayal. I saw a few others where he looks better.

Heh, yeah, he is too small though. Should be aragorns height (almost) with another 40lbs of muscle.

D&D wise I think aragorn would be a 16-17 str and boromier about 18/35 or so.

I´m looking forward to the LOTR movie with mixed feeling. Some scenephotos I saw were actually cool though thei don´t match the impression I had in mind when I read the book - unasvoidable, I know.

But I however heared terrible things like that they want to skip the parties encounter with Tom Bombadil and stuff like that.

:D So I will hurry to finish the books for the eight time before I see the movie to be able to mock about every scene competently, harharhar :D

I just hope die hard fans aren't too strict and hate a great movie for missing a word of dialogue. Sometimes people need to relax and be happy we have any fantasy films at all...especially lotr

To be honest I won't miss Tom Bombadil. He's a little nuts if you ask me. If I'd let any part be cut out of the movie it would have been him.

But let's not start down the slippery slope.

Another good site to check out is: www.theonering.net (http://www.theonering.net)
It has a lot nice stuff on it.

~Bel

The premiere of the movie will be 19 December. I really look forward to it, I saw a trailer with the location they use, what they gonna use as Rivendel, Edoras, Helmsdeep, Mordor, Hobbiton etc. I don't know where I got it on the internet but I uploaded it to my homepage-space. It's 11.83 MB and the url is: http://home.hetnet.nl/~mkarssenberg/realmofthering-sets.mpeg

I hope the movie will be great however I doubt if it's possible to make a good movie based on a Fantasy-story. For Fantasy is something in your mind and it's not like our earth, where the movie of course is made. A second is that I heard that except for the Quest of Frodo, the filmdirector gives too much attention to the realtion between Aragorn and Arwen (and Eowyn) wich Tolkien doesn't, and that even the story was changed a little bit (Arwen appears at Helmsdeep in the movie, I heard)

Oh, the battle of Minas Tirith and the battle in front of the gates to Mordor. I can't wait to see the battles. A pitty most of them will come in the later 2 movies.

And unless there comes also a movie of The Hobbit we even won;t see the Batlle of the Five Armies....

Do you think there will be 'nice' Nazgul puppies in merchandising?

Well...it's not impossible to make a decent fantasy movie :) oh, hmm, princess bride is pretty much the only one...sorry... you may be right.

Supposedly, all the aragorn/arwen romance stuff will relate to the fleshed out story tolkien gives in the appendix. I think they made the mistake of casting to big an actress in the role and then felt like they had to give her screen time.

If they had to cut anything...tom bombadil is probably the best cut since he doesn't relate to the main story line and LOTR doesn't reveal who he is.

At least they aren't cutting the cleansing of the Shire.

I havent heard a word about ents, thats starting to worry me.

It could be great, but it could also get sickening!

The Lordoftherings.net web-site actually has the blurb "One Burger to Rule Them" with a link to:
http://www.burgerking.com/flash.htm

Yes, the Lord of the Rings is brought to you by the Whopper. In the land of burgers, the Whopper is the (returne of the) KING!

On the ENT note, the official web site does have a picture of an extra in stilts. I can't figure out what else that could be.

God protect us from another over-marketed Christmans season!

Slightly off the subject, but probably the best true fantasy to date is Willow. Just my two cents' worth. Incidentally, anyone ever read Lucas' follow-up trilogy the "Shadow War"?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=005174948248396&rtmo=3HrAurxM&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/6/5/nburg05.html

More on the LOTR hype. The title of this article is "Movie deal is Lord of the Burger Kings"

I'm getting scared!!!!!!