Lording it at Cannes
Which was hotter – the Rings preview or the bash after? Twenty minutes of Rings footage had seasoned critics standing to applaud; the party, complete with sets shipped from New Zealand, was the one ticket…
Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings (The)
Buzz From Cannes
“This will be the biggest movie of all time” – John Rhys-Davis in National Post preview and cast interviews; Rings “hottest show at Cannes” in The Age; BBC reports “gargantuan bash”;…
Blanchettes
Maybe it was all the fresh air and vigorous activity? Cate Blanchett says “working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand made her feel especially broody”.
Web savvy
Lord of the Rings producers have played it cool with net marketing – giving away photos and info titbits to keep the fans keen. The redesigned Rings site has already clocked over41 million…
Ringing up the gold
Lord of the Rings has brought the gold into Wellington, the city of “tearooms and sea views”. View the New Zealand setting in the round at the official site.
Trailer Lords
“There’s an advert currently going out on Virgin radio encouraging listeners to go to the cinema this Friday. It does urge you go to a film but only because this is the first opportunity…
First Baggins off the rack
“The most ambitious undertaking in the film world recently has been Peter Jackson’s filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand. If the results are as epic as the production, the first…
More Cate
“I’m so excited to be doing all three movies,” says Blanchett. “It’s thrilling. I wanted this project so badly. We’re talking Peter Jackson. And Tolkien – my God! That man, Tolkien, created a whole…
Change your life
Get prepared for Rings-mania: Brush up on your Tolkien makes number 16 on the list of 99 ways to change your life.
Rings v Potter
“If the budget on Lord of the Rings is sky-high, so are expectations surrounding the films. Fans of Tolkien’s 1,000-page trilogy about hobbits and elves in the fantasy land called Middle Earth are truly…
In the Pink of Elf
“Cate Blanchett is looking particularly ethereal…perhaps it’s just a little leftover glow from the four months spent in New Zealand playing the Lady Galadriel…”
Escape from Middle Earth
With a $100 000 budget and all the glamour Wellington could muster, the Rings wrap party was like “something straight out of Tolkien”.
It’s a Wrap
Lord of the Rings is due to wrap three days before Christmas, right on schedule. Director Peter Jackson notes the authenticity index has climbed during filming: “way back at the beginning we thought there…
Join the army and let the world see you!
New Zealand defence personnel will feature on big screens around the globe – as extras in Lord of the Rings. The soldiers were perfect when the filmmakers needed “big numbers of people who were…
Three Foot Six and still growing
Vanity Fair estimates the cost of Lord of the Rings at NZ$623 million. If correct, Wellington company Three Foot Six is producing the second-most expensive movie ever.
Virtual Hobbits
“In a nondescript suburb of New Zealand’s capital, the team at Weta Digital, an offshoot of Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films, is producing more than 1,200 visual effect shots for the three Lord of…
Gaping Gandalf
In the The Grey Book, acclaimed actor Sir Ian McKellen’s diary of the Lord of the Rings film shoot, McKellen raves about the scenery: “New Zealand would amaze and enrapture anyone who responds to the wild landscapes of…
Cate Blanchett Talks About Me, My Elf and I
Blanchett, Academy Award nominated for her performance in Elizabeth is in the final stages of filming another Queen, the role of elf Galadriel in Lord of the Rings. Blanchett explains why an attraction to…
Wellywood
Hobbits boost the local carpentry trade: “They haven’t begun construction of a new Hollywood sign yet on the steep hills that encircle New Zealand`s capital city of Wellington, but it would not be surprising…
Bean Says Boromir No Gamble in Lord of the Rings
Sean Bean has trodden the tightrope between Hollywood Bond villain and small budget independent movies enough times to know that the movie world has its ups and downs, but he says “it’s definitely worth…
“It’ll make Star Wars look like a weekend in the lavatory”
Ian Holm, the British actor who plays Bilbo Baggins, oozes enthusiasm about Peter Jackson’s big-budget adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. “There are 130 special effects people and it’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”
Bilbo buzz spawns rumour about a hoard of treasure
The Lord of the Rings folklore continues to spread. Fox chronicles the Ring rage: the record breaking previews, websites, esoteric and precious fans, mammoth investment and eager anticipation that the project has spawned. “To…
Cate’s Elvish Ways: standing up for the sisters in
Cate Blanchett, playing the role of the enigmatic and beautiful elf queen Gandriel in Lord of the Rings, found a unique way of keeping up with the lads on set – she wore platform…
Peter Jackson: “One of the Most Creative Directors Around”
Chicago Tribune, backs the talent of Jackson and a “top notch cast” as Hollywood indemnity for the Lord of the Rings. Jackson was recently voted 7th most promising director for the 21st century in…
Hollywood Hobbit Brings Trouble to Middle Earth
Literary fans who are devoted to the purity of Tolkien’s Middle Earth ouevre are angry at rumours that Frodo Baggins is ready to flirt. The introduction of glamorous Hollywood stars such as Liv Tyler…
Tolkien epic is lord of the net
The $200m epic, in production in New Zealand and not due for release for a year and a half, is already burgling box-office treasure and causing a storm on the internet, with a promotional trailer breaking…
Gandalf: Lord of the Seas
Sir Ian McKellen takes a break on Auckland Harbour from playing the wise wizard Gandalf in the 16 month long shoot of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. He is immersing himself in the…
The Hobbit; Or, There and Back Again…Already?
Currently being filmed in New Zealand on a mammoth 18 month shoot, the first film won’t even be released until Christmas 2001. Despite this the film’s official site is up and running. “Preview” footage…
Kea Aura: Cool Queenstown is a Hot Destination
Tipped to be the hottest destination for trendsetters travelling Down Under this summer – not just because of its Winter Ice festival, when the whole community goes crazy with street parties, jazz parades and night skiing, but…
Phantom Menace Humbled by Diminutive Hobbit
The record number of downloads set by the trailer for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, has been dwarfed by the the Internet preview of of Peter Jackson’s epic movie trilogy The Lord…
Forget About the Brass Ring
Some 1.7 million fans hit the movie’s new website in its first 21 hours up, compared with only 1 million downloads the first day the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace site was open for…
New Zealand Wilderness a Hit with Big-budget Filmmakers
Ever since Jane Campion brought the surging savage West Coast of Auckland’s Karekare beach and the rain-soaked bush to the world in her award winning film The Piano nearly a decade ago, more and…
Tolkien Teaser Runs
“Attention fantasy fans: New Line Cinema is about to lift the veil of secrecy — just a little bit — that has shrouded Peter Jackson’s massive adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the…
Notes from Ian McKellen
“What a congenial country New Zealand is for visitors from what used to be called “the home country … It all seems half-familiar with a style of friendliness that is a change from English…
