February 20, 2002
From Madrigal

Monday, February 18th, 2002
Q&A and Book Signing at Brentano's in Century City Plaza
"Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
Attendees: Peter Jackson, Sean Astin, Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh

The event was a Q&A and book-signing at Brentano's in Century City with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Sean Astin - director, writers, producers and actor who made "The Lord of the Rings". The Q&A was to be limited to the first 50 people, with the book-signing to follow.

There wasn't much advance notice for this event, so when I found out about it, I jumped at the opportunity. When I called Brentano's for information, they mentioned that some people were planning on getting there at around 6 or 7am for a 2pm signing. Gulp. Did not want to wake up *that* early, so I took my chances and arrived there at 8:45am. There were about 30 people already in line, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. There was a ruckus later in the day, as some of them were saving places for people, and those of us who had waited diligently in line all morning might lose out on getting into the Q&A through no fault of our own. (Personally, I think people who ended up being #50-#58 still have cause for complaint, as I was around #34 when I got there and ended up being #42 by the time they issued the passes...hmmm.) And I'm very curious to hear what the final head count was; by afternoon, it was swamped.

But aside from that, everyone was having a great time and there was much bonding going on. (BondING, you silly people, bondING.) That, in and of itself, made it a fun day. Go, us!

The Q&A:

After waiting five hours (!) we were finally let in and lead to the back of Brentano's, where a very intimate setting had been arranged. There were some seats, but I was one of the last people in and had to stand again – my feet were KILLING me, but I did get a fabulously clear view (will get pictures up soon) of the four VIPs, so no big deal. TheOneRing.net will probably post a detailed account of the questions and answers, but here are my impressions.

I can say that most people tried to direct questions at all four LOTR folk, so nobody would feel left out. Peter Jackson and Sean Astin fielded a good deal of the questions, with Philippa Boyens replying to a specific writing/adaptation question, and Fran Walsh was fairly quiet. Questions were asked about the storyboarding process, adapting the material (funny bit #1), the casting process, the continual evolution of the screenplay (funny bit #2), and tidbits about the upcoming trailer and the DVD (yes, the current theatrical reel will include footage from "The Two Towers" at the close of the film, in mid-March; and the DVD will have 30 minutes of footage not in the theatrical version, namely the gift-giving at Lothlorien, some crucial character developments regarding Aragorn, some Merry and Pippin stuff, and the whole Gimli/Galadrial elf/dwarf antagonism. Yae!)

Peter Jackson, Sean Astin, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh were very casual and chatty, with no pretensions and all seemed genuinely tickled by our various questions. Members of a fan club presented them with an absolutely gorgeous painting of a scene from the book, with which they were very impressed and flattered. And while there were many great moments, I found the following to be most amusing:

Funny bit #1: a question was asked regarding the re-forging of Narsil. In the movie, the shards of Narsil, the sword which cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, appear as relics on display in Rivendell. In the book, Aragorn wears Narsil, broken blade and all, and reveals his true heritage to the hobbits in Bree by drawing his blade and announcing his identity behind closed doors. Well, Peter Jackson said that he changed this bit because he couldn't really envision how to film that scene and NOT illicit laughter from those who hadn't read the book. He said, "Can you imagine..." and then mimed Aragorn announcing his heritage, dramatically drawing his sword, and...whoops, no blade! Peter Jackson just didn't want that moment to come across as comic - hence the change.

Funny bit #2: a question was asked about the various revisions of the script. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens stated that there were CONSTANT revisions during the entire shoot, and then started joking about the actors' involvement in that process: "Is that Sean Astin coming to the office? Does he have the [Tolkien] book in his hand? Oh, no!" At which point Sean Astin stated that he had no problem with so many revisions, and Philippa Boyens just started cracking up, like, "Yeah, right!" and was poking a lot of fun at him as he stated his willingness to learn new dialogue each day - implying good-naturedly that he wasn't quite as willing as he was saying!

The Q&A lasted a good 45 minutes, but the time just zipped right by. It was over far too soon, but I was completely happy with the whole thing. I mean, I'm sure we could have kept them there until closing time, fishing for information! But, things needed to move along and we had to leave so they could set up for the signing.

The Signing:

Luckily, the 50 of us who had gotten in to the Q&A *did* get to have our materials signed. Originally, those of us had been there the longest and had the privilege of attending the Q&A were going to have to go to the very back of the line again once the signing began. Well, it soon became very clear - as the line stretched from the plaza well past Beverly Glen - that we weren't going to get anything signed and were quite outraged seeing as how we'd been there first thing in the morning!! But management had come to their senses and re-mixed us back in with the line, and I was very happy to get my old copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" signed by these wonderful people. (Scans provided!)

Sean Astin (actor, “Samwise Gamgee”) was first in the line-up. Let it be said that at this point in the day I was dealing with A) having no more energy at all, and B) being overwhelmed with gratitude for these people who brought something I loved so much to life. I was afraid that I would just burst into tears the second I said anything at all, so basically I was pretty quiet. Sean Astin signed the book and commented on its age, the yellowing of the pages, and I pointed out the Tolkien-painted artwork on the cover. Sean said, "Oh, yeah, I've learned to appreciate his artwork - I actually have a book of his artwork." Before I could say much more, I got the wave to move along...

Peter Jackson (director/writer) was next. This was the kicker - I got choked up and almost lost it. He took the book, grinned and said, "Well, this is a well-loved copy, isn't it?" I explained that I first read it when I was nine, and then all I could do was thank him sooooo very much for giving us this film. He was very kind and appreciative, and probably because of the state of the book seemed to realize just how much it meant to me. Very, very cool.

The next person to sign was Philippa Boyens (writer/producer), who was absolutely fantastic! She got the book and said, "Oh, this is wonderful! Look at this!" and seemed to be impressed with the love-worn nature of it. I thanked her profusely for her miraculous adaptation of the material, and she was very grateful, and we kept talking as I had to move along - I wished her good luck on Oscar night and she laughed and said, "Well, the fun thing will be figuring out what to wear! I've never done anything like this!" She was striking and gregarious, and I was very impressed.

The last person to sign was Fran Walsh (writer/producer), who was still very quiet, but incredibly kind. She, like Peter Jackson, also seemed to realize just how touched I was by the movie, and with that final autograph, I was ushered out of there.

It was really a fun, fantastic day. I had a great time with all the people around me in line ("Flash! Ah-aaaa!" - hi, guys!), loved hearing more information about the making of the film and the extra bits to come, and finally, the whole reason I stood in line all day...I got to personally thank Peter Jackson (& Co.) face to face for his version of Middle Earth, which I loved visiting just as much as Tolkien's. I’m a happy camper. *g*

The Pictures: I haven't developed pictures yet, as I need to finish the roll, but I do have scans of the book & autographs.