GEARING UP FOR ‘THE HOBBIT’

Yesterday, executive producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro answered some man Q&A online about The Hobbit and its announced sequel. Here’s the condensed version (or highlights if you will):

Guillermo has begun sketching designs. He plans to write and begin early conceptual work for the rest of the year. 2009 will be pre-prod on both movies and 2010 will be shooting year for both films back to back “with a small break to breathe and to reconstruct certain sets and have time to reassess”

Casting has not begun yet and plans are for it not to happen till the scripts are written. Del Toro insists that:

“Unequivocally, every single actor that originated a role in the Trilogy will be asked to participate and reprise it. If Health, availability or willigness become obstacles - and only in that case recasting would be considered. [Ian Holm will be utilized] in some fashion for sure but the difficulty of the role will be better assessed after [the screenplays are completed].”

Del Toro revealed that he also has plans for Ron Perlman (surprise surprise), but it will not be as the voice of Smog.

The two films will be PG-13, shot @ 2:35:1 aspect ratio (like the Trilogy) on film. Howard Shore is in talks to return to compose the score. Much of the original production team will be brought back supplemented by choices from del Toro.

Middle-earth will return to its home on location in New Zealand with real set construction preferred over green screen. They plan on rebuilding Hobbiton “bigger and even better” in the same location.

As for the special effects, del Toro plans…

“to mix CGI and PHYSICAL in such a way that your eye wonders which is which- keep you mind busy but NEVER allowing for the weaknesses of either tool to take over. … Imagine a physical creature with a radio controlled muscle / facial system but with partial CGI replacement on the head or mouth, etc and you’ll start to get the idea…”

Del Toro described his vision:

“The book, I believe, in echoing the “loss of innocence” England experienced after WWI, is a passage form innocence to a darker, more somber state- The visual / thematic progression should reflect that in the camera style, color palette, textural choices, etc.” “I hope that Mirkwood can be pretty scary but not graphic, I hope Riddles in the dark has an element of fear and suspense and to be deeply atmospheric but still allow the ingenious, engaging contest to take place. And Smaug should be all shock and awe when he unleashes his anger so, it will be pretty intense but not gorey.” “The world must feel like the same world [as the one showed in Jackson's films]. The aspect ratio, music, essential established costume and production design trademarks but I would love to bring a lot of new flavours to the table. THE HOBBIT is, in essence, an overture to a massive Symphonic work so main themes are reprised but new modulations and new colors are introduced, thematically and texturally.” “I am all for trying to preserve every idiosyncrasy the novel has- the very things that seem “unfilmable” and that - in my mind- will make it thrilling as a film.”

The second film doesn’t have a title yet, and won’t until the script is written. del Toro says

“The idea is to find a compelling way to join THE HOBBIT and FELLOWSHIP and enhance the 5 films both visually an in their Cosmology. There’s omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain the HOBBIT in a single film.” Jackson says “If we wished to write one of the LOTR characters into the narrative of Film Two, we would only do that with that actors blessing, and willingness to take part. Otherwise we’d take the writing in another direction.”

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‘CASPIAN’ TOPS BOX OFFICE!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian got off to a good, but not great, start at the box office this weekend, debuting at Number One with an estimated $56.6 million, AP reports. That compares with the $65.6 million opening weekend for its predecessor, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in December of 2005. The first film went on to gross $745 million worldwide during its theatrical run. The third in the franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is due in summer 2010. The Narnia movies are based on author C.S. Lewis’ classic seven-volume fantasy series.

Iron Man, which has dominated the box office grosses for two weeks, slipped to second place this week but remained strong with $31.2 million in ticket sales, bringing its North America total to $222.5 million. The big-budget CGI-live action adventure Speed Racer continued to disappoint, finishing fourth with $7.6 million, and has earned just under $30 million in its first two weeks.

The next Hollywood blockbuster of the summer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, arrives in theaters Thursday (May 22nd). The film debuted this weekend at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

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Where No Fan Has Gone Before…

Well for a mediocre fan film I must say that I’m shocked that this series is getting this sort of treatment. It turns out that Slice Of Scifi has reported that the fan film STAR TREK FARRAGUT is getting its own version of the 1974 STAR TREK ANIMATED SERIES.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

A landmark announcement was made at the end of last week about a collaboration, spearheaded by the cutting edge CGI production house, NEO f/x and the dramatic talents of the live action fan film, Starship Farragut, which will see the first Star Trek cell animation since the demise of Star Trek, The Animated Series in 1974! This is ground-breaking not only because of the scope of the project but because of the amazing array of fan and professional names that have been gathered to make it happen, led by Chase Masterson (Leeta on Deep Space Nine), Tim Russ (Tuvok on Voyager) and Vic Mignogna (the voice of Edward Elric on Fullmetal Alchemist).

Now while I am excited to see this sort of a thing happen. I’m not sure if STAR TREK FARRAGUT was the way to go with this. Why? Because frankly the show was mediocre at best…with away team gossiping that made me feel like I was watching The Hills more than a STAR TREK fan film and a long and tedious trudging scene that led up to a short lived phaser fight with out of shape Klingons…STAR TREK FARRAGUT in my humble opinion fell far short of being a stellar fan film worthy of this sort of treatment. Will I watch it? Sure I’m a Trekker so I will embrace this as I did its parent show…but if it disappoints…I’ll let you know that too.

The full article including voice cast and who’s involved can be read here.

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‘Charlie Jade’ comes to SciFi

As it turns out not everything that does well comes from us here in the US…of course anyone who’s ever seen Doctor Who can agree with that. Still it seems this “lil show that could” has finally made it to our shores! Or at least it will. The series focuses on rogue private detective, Charlie Jade who moves through a greedy multi-national corporations run world.

When Charlie sees the corpse of a beautiful young woman, he realizes that she has no identity, something inconceivable in Charlie’s world. While investigating the case he is led to a parallel universe and is drawn into a conflict with far-ranging, multi-dimensional effects.

The series has aired in France, Italy, the U.K., Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Canada and South Africa. Post-production and CGI for the series was handled by CinéGroupe in Montréal, who over the last year have produced two series, “Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension” and “Tripping The Rift,” for the U.S. networks.

“I am delighted that SCI FI has agreed to acquire ‘Charlie Jade’,” said Jim Howell, the CEO of Park Entertainment. “Since the show was made, the Internet has been abuzz with enquires about when the series will be shown on television in the U.S. and available on DVD and to download. I am pleased to say that sci-fi fans will not have to wait much longer!,” echoed Robert Wertheimer.

Source: Slice of SciFi

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