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LOTR News 03/22
An interview with head of WETA workshop, Richard Taylor
Dawn is Lard of the rings
Lord of the gongs
Mick Jagger to once again star in film about Australian bandits
Hobbit and Mad math geek vie for glory
National Geographic Launches Beyond The Movie: The Lord of the Rings
Black Hawk Down DVD release
Awards turn up everywhere this weekend
Rings favourite to sweep Oscars
Peter, on his way to the big night
Game firm lords it over cult film
Oscar Quest
The Star
Frodo had it easy.
Sure, the hobbit hero from The Lord Of The Rings had to dodge shrieking ghouls and fanged beasts in his continuing quest to rid himself of some nasty jewellery. But he had the good wizard Gandalf to guide him, and a posse of pals to cheer and defend him.
We Oscar predictors aren't so fortunate. We're on our own this time on the dark and twisted road to Hollywood, with no hand to hold and only the faintest of clues to guide us. The usual signposts have been muddied and dark forces — smear campaigns and studio hype — have tried to cloud our minds.
There hasn't been an Oscar race this hard to call in years. But like the reluctant Frodo, we must press on regardless, watching out for shrieks, teeth and swords:
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An interview with head of WETA workshop, Richard Taylor
Action-Figure
If you’re wondering just who Richard Taylor is, you’ll probably be surprised to know that his work is now known by just about everyone in the world. He is the president of WETA, the New Zealand Special Effects Company who created all the SFX for Lord of the Rings. He is also the first film technician to ever receive 3 academy awards nominations in a single year, (nominated for Visual Effects, Costume Design and Makeup in the 2002 Oscars)
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Dawn is Lard of the rings
The Sun
LARGER-than-life funnygirl Dawn French goes for big laughs in a hilarious send-up of The Lord Of The Rings.
Dawn, 44, dressed as hairyfooted hobbit Frodo from the movie blockbuster to film her comic spoof with telly partner Jennifer Saunders.
The magical takeoff — with 43-year-old Jennifer as wrinkly wizard Gandalf — is among scenes in their television comeback on BBC1.
The 40-minute Easter special will be their first show together for two years. They will be joined by a string of guests, including Dale Winton.
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Lord of the gongs
The Telegraph
FOR the first time in ages, the Baftas got it right.
Naming Peter Jackson as best director and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring as best picture was an unusually pragmatic acknowledgment of the effort and artistry that goes into a fantasy genre piece. Of course, its cause isn't harmed by the 'classic' literary status of the source material.
But on the cusp of this year's Oscars (the 74th), will the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deign to bestow its highest honour on Jackson and his fantastical menagerie?
The Academy has always proven extremely conservative in dishing out accolades to genre pictures: it could be argued that in 1977 while Annie Hall was terrific, it was no Star Wars and we won't go into Ghandi beating E.T. in 1982. So can the Hobbits and Orcs overcome the vested prejudice of a geriatric voting body?
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Mick Jagger to once again star in film about Australian bandits
Gary Graff
Launch
Mick Jagger's next film will have him treading some very familiar ground. Jagger will co-star with Heath Ledger (The Patriot, A Knight's Tale) and Orlando Bloom (The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, Black Hawk Down) in The Kelly Gang, an action movie about the 19th century Australian bandits that's based on the Robert Drewe book Our Sunshine, according to the trade publication Variety.
It will be Jagger's second go at the Kelly history--in 1970, he played the title character in Ned Kelly, the role Ledger will handle this time out.
The Kelly Gang should start filming in late April in Australia. It's expected to wrap in time for Jagger to begin rehearsals for the Stones' 40th anniversary tour, which is rumored to begin in the late summer or early fall.
2002 Oscars - Presenters and Performers
Host: Whoopi Goldberg
Presenters:
Mel Gibson
Kevin Spacey
Gwyneth Paltrow
Ben Stiller
Julia Roberts
Russell Crowe
Helen Hunt
Owen Wilson
Tom Hanks
Jennifer Lopez
Kristen Dunst
John Travolta
Maggie Smith
Ian McKellen
Nathan Lane
Hugh Jackman
Halle Berry
Josh Hartnett
Denzel Washington
Tobey Maguire
Cameron Diaz
Marcia Gay Harden
Benicio Del Toro
Sandra Bullock
Jodie Foster
Hugh Grant
Ethan Hawke
Samuel L. Jackson
Ben Kingsley
Ali MacGraw
Ryan O'Neal
Ryan Phillippe
Will Smith
Sharon Stone
Naomi Watts
Reese Witherspoon
Performers:
Faith Hill (performing "There You'll Be" from "Pearl Harbor")
Enya (performing "May It Be" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring")
Sting (performing "Until" from "Kate & Leopold")
Paul McCartney (performing "Vanilla Sky" from "Vanilla Sky")
Randy Newman/John Goodman (performing "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monster's Inc.")
Cirque du Soleil
Hobbit and Mad math geek vie for glory
ABC
Oscar Poll Shows Tight Race for Most Popular Film
Frodo Baggins inches past John Forbes Nash Jr. in public preference for the Best Picture Oscar — but as any mathematician will tell you, it's within the margin of error.
While The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring trounced its fellow nominees at the box office, it's locked in a tight race with A Beautiful Mind as the public's favorite flick. Thirty percent say Rings should get the Oscar; 28 percent, Mind. The musical Moulin Rouge places a distant third with 12 percent.
Rings, adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic, is boosted in large part by younger Americans, who place it well ahead of the other four contenders: Thirty-nine percent of those ages 18-34 choose Rings as their top choice.
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National Geographic Launches Beyond The Movie: The Lord of the Rings
National Geographic
National Geographic's Beyond The Movie: The Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring has been released this month on video and DVD. A companion web site has been launched as well at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngbeyond/rings/. The site offers streaming video clips and other content that helps users discover the history, myth, and cultural forces that inspired The Lord of the Rings. Also, users can explore the parallels between the imaginary world of Middle-earth and our own.
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Black Hawk Down DVD release
Cinescape
Columbia Home Video has announced the June 11 release of Ridley Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN.
The DVD promises to be a special edition of the film, which tells the story of a vicious firefight in Mogadishu in 1993, though specifics of the release aren't quite ready for public consumption yet.
More when the specifics are here.
Awards turn up everywhere this weekend
Newsday
OSCAR, OSCAR, who's got the Oscar? We'll find out Sunday night when Whoopi Goldberg hosts the 74th annual Academy Awards ceremony at 8:30 on WABC/7. But this weekend, lots of other channels also try to lay claim to Oscar in some way or other with their own pre- and post-awards hoopla.
Full article...
Rings favourite to sweep Oscars
BBC News
The Lord of the Rings is going to win seven Oscars at Sunday's ceremony - at least according to bookmakers, who say it is likely to walk off with more statuettes than any other film.
The epic has been strongly backed by UK punters, especially over the last week, while A Beautiful Mind has lost support, according to Cantor Index.
Bookmakers had thought A Beautiful Mind was as good as guaranteed the best picture prize, but recent bets on The Lord of the Rings have persuaded Cantor Index to decide that it is still a two-horse race.
The Oscars ceremony is taking place in Hollywood on Sunday.
Bookmakers had thought A Beautiful Mind was as good as guaranteed the best picture prize, but recent bets on The Lord of the Rings have persuaded Cantor Index to decide that it is still a two-horse race.
The Oscars ceremony is taking place in Hollywood on Sunday.
If the bookmakers are to be believed, Denzel Washington may upset Russell Crowe's chances in the best actor category, while Halle Berry has been gaining support for the best actress prize.
Cantor Index say A Beautiful Mind will win five awards to The Lord of the Rings will leave with seven.
In the race for best picture, the other nominees - Moulin Rouge, In the Bedroom and Gosford Park - do not have a chance, they said.
Crowe is still favourite to be named best actor, and Training Day star Washington is the only man who can beat him, according to their odds.
The best actress category is slightly more open, with In the Bedroom star Spacek leading the field.
A lot of money has been put on Berry, for her role in Monster's Ball, making her second favourite ahead of Moulin Rouge star Nicole Kidman.
A Beautiful Mind's Ron Howard is strong favourite to win best director, with Peter Jackson second for The Lord of the Rings, but Gosford Park's Robert Altman cannot be ruled out, Cantor Index said.
The Lord of the Rings got the most nominations, with 13, and is also widely expected to triumph in a number of technical categories.
Box office success
Academy members are likely to have been impressed by the scale of the project, which took five years to complete, and the fact that the film is based on such a renowned novel, according to Cantor's Dominic Crosthwaite.
"On top of that, two things - great special effects and box office success - mean the academy should look upon it very favourably," he said.
But two more Lord of the Rings films have already been made and are due to be released over the next two years - and this could count against the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, he added.
That could make the academy reluctant to give it too many prizes, he said, because they would hasve to do the same for the next two films.
The Oscars ceremony is broadcast live on BBC Two on Monday 25 March from 0045-0500 GMT and reported live on BBC News Online.
Peter, on his way to the big night
Scoop
Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and friends were spotted by chance today at Wellington Airport on their way to Los Angeles for the Oscars.
Scoop happened across the world's greatest director and took these snaps. Big Ups to staff at CyberZone for assisting in bringing these images to you.
Click here for pictures
Game firm lords it over cult film
Cambridge News
A COMPANY near Cambridge which makes Lord of the Rings games has been working at full tilt as demand rockets for all things Tolkien.
Since the release of the recent film, based on JRR Tolkien's cult book, orders for the board games have gone through the roof and it has been translated into 15 languages.
Sophisticated Games, from Shelford Road between Little Shelford and Harston, won the international rights to make the games based on the book and has been producing them for more than a year.
Three-quarters of a million of the sets have been sold worldwide and the firm is working on new versions to keep up with fans of the game.
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