LOTR behind the scenes.

[BUFFJEDI]

I'm in absolute SHOCK! that you guy's havn't been in here talking about it .(opps maybe ya'll have alife:D ) anyhoo, I flipped back and forth from Smack down to LOTR S and found it , very interesting. I didn't relize christpor lee and liv tyler where in it as well as sean aston (boy's put on some fat ).the film clips and such they showed looked very interesting (better than I have seen) but the line up of the cast seems to be alot of lower standard than I thought they would have - Lee of course. After seing that I fear HP may not have that much competition from LOTR,oh maybe at first but not in the long run.. I will say though the Book is getting better by each page:)

[ReturnOfTheCB]

I'm still not quite sure...I want LOTR to challenge HP, and I think it's entirely capable of doing it, but I don't know how the public's going to react, though I've read 4 or 5 reviews of people who've seen screenings already, and they were all amazed by it, with very little criticism. I've also read that many countries have broken advance ticket sales records (selling more than Potter's advance), and in Sweden and another country, can't quite remember, advance ticket sales have exceeded 1% of the population. I also think that if the good reviews keep coming in, and word of mouth is good, it could indeed be serious competition for Potter, and I hope it takes it down, smacks it around, and makes Potter give credit where credit is due, to the story that's one of the reasons Potter is even around...

I only caught the last minute or two of the special...I'd stopped by Burger King before heading back to my dorm to get one of the LOTR glasses, which are pretty cool IMO, not the usual cheap crap you get from fast food merchandizing, so I only caught the clip they showed from the Moria scene at the end, but I was simply amazed by what I saw...I know where I'll be on December 19th...

[darth_mcbain]

I think that LOTR has what it takes to go up against HP. HP has been out already for a few weeks, so it should be on the wane. Now whether or not LOTR can actually make as much as HP remains to be seen, but it will have a big opening, and will throw a ripple into the HP numbers. I am hoping that it will be big for a few weeks and offer good competition to HP. I'm guessing both movies will do well, but the competition between them will probably leave them both short of the numbers they could have obtained if they had gone solo.

CB, are those glasses any good? A buddy of mine went to Burger King and said they looked pretty cruddy, but I only heard it second hand...

[ReturnOfTheCB]

I actually like the glasses. They're about 6-7 inches tall (maybe taller, I don't have a ruler and I'm horrible at height estimation), made out of real glass, with a detachable base that lights up, so you can take the base off to wash it. I was expecting something plastic and about 1/3 of the size, if even that, based on the commercials (I don't know, they looked small in the commercials to me), so I was surprised when I found out it was quite larger than I'd expected and made out of real glass, and it's only 1.99 when you get a combo meal, which I don't think is too bad, if you're going to eat the food anyway :D (I was hungry anyway, so I didn't mind having to get food with it)

I got a Frodo though, I'm wanting to go back and get a Strider and a Gandalf...

[Jedi Master Carr]

The glasses are cool I only got dumb Arawen(s) but I will get all of them.
As far as your complaint about the cast I disagree LOTR has a great cast. Ian Mckellan is a terrific actor and is pretty well known since he did X-men, Elijah Wood is not a huge star but he has been in a lot movies so most people recognize him, you also have John Rhys-Davies, from Indiana Jones fame in there (though you probably wouldn't recognize him), also have Cate Blanchet and Liv Tyler (regrettably) who are pretty well known and also you have Sean Bean who is a heck of villain actor. Also I think Jackson didn't want to go with a lot of huge stars much like SW has done in the past even the more recent films (really besides Neeson and Jackson the rest of the actors aren't widely known) I think its better that way so you can concentrate on the story and not whose in it.

[BUFFJEDI]

yeah I guess you are right (master carr) but I just can't get past wood,tyler and aston.I know specially in this type of movie,you should have more attention to the story,but I always watch the Actor more than anything.(guess cause I'm one) kind of. Do you think they will hold true to the books.I'm deeper into it now and is starting to really get my interest.If they said so I missed it.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I know they are cutting a few things out like the whole Tom Bombdali story, I like EW's quote, "he is the Boba Fett of LOTR." and there are a few minor things but I am not sure of anything else off hand. As far as the actors I don't mind Wood I have seen him in a few good roles he played a killer in Homicide and he was eerie in that role, Sean Astin is a good actor, mostly, just haven't done anything really since Rudy. Now Tyler is a different matter, I don't really like her as an actress luckly she has a small part for the most part some fans are mad that they have added some to here role and beefed up the love story of her and Strider. (even though it was included in the Appendix of ROTK), it could have been worse though they could have added her as one of the fellowship then giving her an even larger role.

[Figrin D'an]

If you are interested, there is a link on the front page of www.tolkienonline.com that gives a complete list of the changes implemented in the film.

The removal of Tom Bombadil is the most significant change, and of course there will be some fans that will criticize this move (and already have), but from a film-making standpoint, it's understandable. The scenes involving Tom Bombadil and Goldberry would be rather difficult to write dialog for, much less actually film. Once the hobbits leave the Barrow-Downs, Bombadil is only mentioned once or twice more later in the Trilogy. Besides providing a bit of additional information on Middle Earth, Bombadil's apperance really isn't relevent to the rest of the story. So... I understand why those scenes are being left out. Additionally, I think that a lot of casual movie-goers, those that haven't read the books, wouldn't really understand Bombadil's significance, so it's probably better to avoid the confusion that his apperance might cause.

The other major change is Arwen's screentime, especially her apperance at the Bruinen Ford to meet Aragorn and the hobbits, rather than Glorfindel, and her carrying Frodo to safety on her horse, rather than Frodo alone using Glorfindel's horse to flee from the Ringwraiths .

Other than that, there are a few minor changes involving the Council of Elrond and the arrival at Lothlorien, but most of it will stay pretty close to the book.

I also read that Sean Astin purposely put on weight to play the role of Samwise... Sam is generally described as a bit on the pudgy side, so it seems fitting...

[RHJediKnight]

Yeah. The changes, to be honest, don't seem all that extreme to me. They're actually pretty understandable. Bombadil really has no importance to the story, he was only there for some silly songs pretty much. And the Arwen thing I don't really have a problem with, either. In these days people expect movies like this to have a romantic story in it, especially fantasy movies. It's like a given, really. I'm not too sure about Liv Tyler, but I wasn't crying or screaming about her casting; I really have nothing against her as an actress, seriously there are worse. Judging from the rest of the cast Jackson has managed to get, I think he knew what he was doing when he chose Liv Tyler for Arwen. I have faith in the man.

[Darth23]

From everything I've heard, this Bombadil dude soudn like cutting room floor bait to me. ;)

"I also read that Sean Astin purposely put on weight to play the role of Samwise... Sam is generally described as a bit on the pudgy side, so it seems fitting..."

I think Rudy just ate at the Peter Jackson traing table to prep for the role. :p

The action scene they showed was really impressive - even though I don't like the way the orcs look, and the big giant thing looked really fakey.

I think LOTR will de really well - but I DO think those Burger King commercials are hurting it. The latest one I saw looks worse than the last one - it looked like it was basically making fun of the Fantasy genre.

[darth_mcbain]

I found a pretty good advance review... Looks like it will be a good one...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/666107.asp?cp1=1

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah I read that article, this is the same guy that hated HP so it is interesting how much he like this movie. I can't wait for it though I think it is going to be great.