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LOTR News 03/23

To Sir With Love
Entertainment Weekly

Ian McKellen stands as the favorite in his category -- His early decision to campaign for Supporting rather than Lead gives him the edge, says Dave Karger

Best Supporting Actor
How on earth could a guy who hadn't won a single award all season now be considered a front-runner for an Oscar? Easy, when his first name is Sir and he stars in ''The Lord of the Rings.'' Up until last week, Ian McKellen had been largely ignored by critics' groups and voting bodies -- competitors like Ben Kingsley and Jim Broadbent had won the lion's share of the early awards, along with eventual Oscar snubbee Steve Buscemi. But McKellen wisely advised New Line to switch his campaign from Best Actor to Best Supporting Actor, so that he would be considered a member of an ensemble. And ironically, that decision made him stand out even more. Before long he'd won nominations from BAFTA, SAG, and the Oscars and surged to the head of the pack for the big prize. His win last week at SAG was no surprise; it just sealed the deal.

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F/X wiz helped bring Tolkien's wizards to life
phillyburbs.com

"When my name was mentioned it was great. It was my 15 minutes," Forker recalled. "It was thrilling enough to have won, and then I saw my picture. I had no idea they were going to use it."

Expect Forker to experience similar exultation during tonight's Oscar ceremony. The 1973 Bishop Egan graduate contributed his technical prowess to the blockbuster "Lord of the Rings," serving as visual effects supervisor on one of the film's most dazzling scenes. Though he might not be mentioned by name again, he was part of a team that is expected to dominate the special-effect categories.

Forker designed the Fort of Bruinen sequence, in which horses rise magically from the river to thwart the deadly Ring Wraiths. The sequence, which required six shots, took 14 weeks to complete. Forker ultimately decided to shoot half the scene in real water (Niagara Falls) and do the other half with computer graphics. "Other people might have made the decision to do 100 percent computer graphics. This was just the way things evolved," he said. "I actually went into it thinking it'd be 70 percent computer graphics. But there were such good elements at Niagara Falls.

"We basically did shoot the horses in the water. They were starting to rush toward us, and the minute they were hit with the flood of water, we switched to the computer-generated horses. The handoff was at the moment of impact."

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A ring around the Oscar?
The Star

During the countdown to tomorrow's Academy Awards ceremony, Star movie critic Peter Howell has each day handicapped the Oscar odds of one of the five Best Picture candidates. This is the last nominee.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

Synopsis: The darkest of evils threatens the peaceful kingdom of Middle-earth in the form of a golden ring that enslaves and corrupts all who encounter it. The ring must be destroyed in the distant fires that forged it, a task taken up by a good-hearted hobbit, a wise wizard and their loyal band.

Why it could win: It has the most nominations, and Oscar loves films of epic scope and achievement.

Why it probably will: The leading nominee almost always wins this category. And in a year of uncertainty and threats from foreign aggressors, a story of good guys resisting evil has extra resonance.

Howell's line: One Ring to rule them all on Oscar night

Gruelling party plan for Rings contingent
The New Zealand Herald

If our Oscar nominees look a bit tired when they - hopefully - take the stage on Monday (New Zealand time), you can blame the big Los Angeles weekend they will have had.

The emphasis this year is on pre-awards parties rather than those after. Which means Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings contingent will be attending multiple functions in the evenings leading up to the 74th Academy Awards on Sunday night, Los Angeles time.

"Peter will be very busy going to many private and official functions," said Claire Riskind, a publicist with New Line Cinema, backers of the production.

Although Peter Jackson and the rest of the LOTR crew were to be the guests of honour, the emphasis, in accordance with Jackson's wishes, was to be on the whole New Zealand film industry.

But so busy is Jackson's schedule for the weekend that he and partner and co-nominee Fran Walsh were expected to leave early for another function at the home of Hollywood agent Ed Lamato.

This afternoon (LA time), Jackson is expected to attend the exclusive champagne reception honouring the music composers and lyricists nominated for Oscars. LOTR composer Howard Shore and singer Enya are expected to attend, with other nominees such as Sting and Sir Paul McCartney.

Jackson is also expected at the home of Bob Shaye, head of New Line Cinema, who is holding a private bash for the LOTR nominees.

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Oscar's 'Mind'-set
Washington Times

While harboring no ill feeling toward "A Beautiful Mind," I would prefer Peter Jackson's adventure spectacle, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," to win in all 13 eligible categories. Twelve or more would set an Oscar record, surpassing the 11 shared by "Ben-Hur" and "Titanic." Although it's the only finalist in a position to rewrite the record book, "Fellowship" probably will have to settle for seven or eight Oscars from the so-called craft categories, plus an overdue award for Sir Ian McKellen, as best supporting actor.

The numerical bragging rights for the evening favor "Fellowship," but "A Beautiful Mind" probably will prevail for the major prizes. Some of what signals this: Mr. Howard has been named best director by the Directors Guild. Mr. Crowe has won as best actor at the Golden Globes and within the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Mr. Goldsman got good omens from the Globes and the Screenwriters Guild. Jennifer Connelly, who plays Mr. Nash's wife, Alicia, was the supporting actress choice at the Globes but came up short in the SAG balloting, which favored Helen Mirren of "Gosford Park."

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Poll: Enya, Warren Are Oscar Frontrunners
Billboard

Enya's "May It Be" and Diane Warren's "There You'll Be" are the favorites to win the Oscar for best original song at the 44th annual Academy Awards, according to Billboard.com readers. Out of 3,523 fans who expressed themselves in Billboard.com's latest poll, Enya's track from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and Warren's "Pearl Harbor" contribution -- sung by Faith Hill -- each garnered 34% of the votes.

Next up was Paul McCartney's title track to Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky," which pulled in 14%. "Until...," Sting's contribution to "Kate & Leopold," netted 11%, while Randy Newman's "Monsters, Inc." song "If I Didn't Have You" ended up with 7%.

Enya, Hill, McCartney, Sting, and Newman are all expected to perform their respective songs during Sunday night's (March 24) ceremony at the new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The event, which will be hosted for the second straight year by Whoopi Goldberg, will be broadcast live on ABC, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The big Oscar prizefight
North Jersey.com

RUSSELL BAILLIE looks at the prospects for Oscar nominees in a year which promises plenty of drama - perhaps poetry. It's hard to know what's weirder. To be genuinely excited about an Oscar race for the first time in years, or to find yourself regarding a certain movie as "ours" and already bracing yourself for possible disappointment come Monday. It's not like that certain movie is really the little Kiwi battler, either. It's the biggest moneymaker and most nominated of them all. Those numbers would usually make Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring a shoo-in for best picture. But this year something radical has happened to Oscar.

Best picture

OUR PICK: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (of course).

WHY: The leading nominee with 13 nods has proved the most popular film in the running. Like category winners Gladiator, Titanic, and Braveheart before it, it's an ambitious epic - the most "movie" of all the movies in the category.

Also, it's taken out the top prize in some important peer-voted pre-Oscar awards from the American Film Institute and the Baftas. Its wide range of nominations suggests it's got support right across the Academy's technical guilds, if not its biggest branch - the actors.

Its success has bolstered its Hollywood studio backers New Line out of the doldrums, and the company has mounted a huge pre-Oscar campaign to ensure it has Academy Award bragging rights to go with the box office bonanza.

OUR REVIEWER SAID: "The Fellowship of the Ring - the first of Peter Jackson's three films of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy - has the frequent capacity to make you go: 'Good Lord! Look at that!'

If your optic nerves are getting a delightful battering, even better, perhaps, is the film's capacity to make your heart leap as high as your imagination."

THEN AGAIN: As we've been constantly reminded "fantasy" films don't win best picture (and Gladiator was "reality"?) like when the multi-nominated punters' favourite Star Wars lost to Annie Hall. And maybe the Academy voters are thinking: Let's see how the next two turn out ...

SO IT WILL PROBABLY LOSE OUT TO: A Beautiful Mind

WHY: It got the next-highest number of nominations and it's a serious drama about an old Oscar favourite - the guy who triumphs over his mental problems, complete with a showy central performance.

THE WILDCARD: Gosford Park - American veteran Robert Altman directs an English country manor murder mystery. What could be classier?

OUTSIDE THE RUNNING:Moulin Rouge - it reinvented the musical, without any new tunes, and was released too long ago compared to the competition. In The Bedroom - despite his brilliant debut, director Todd Field isn't nominated in the directing category, indicating the film hasn't got much traction.

Best actor

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'Rings' director has an indie attitude
North Jersey.com

That's the story of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," and it seems strikingly apropos, now that "Rings" could receive as many as 13 Oscar statuettes. The Academy Awards, among film's most coveted prizes, will be handed out Sunday night.

Tolkien's ring empowers and corrupts. And some would accuse Oscar of doing the same. But "Rings" director Peter Jackson says that one or more Oscars on his mantelpiece wouldn't cause him to "go Hollywood." Like the kindly, rural hobbits in his film, the independent New Zealand director is an outsider who intends to remain so.

"People think [winning an Academy Award] somehow opens the doorway to Hollywood or something, which I have no interest in," he says. "I've always regarded myself as an independent filmmaker. I live in New Zealand, I've always worked and shot films in New Zealand, and I'll continue to do so."

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Lord of the Rings becomes the second-highest grossing film in Canadian history
Canada Newswire

TORONTO, March 22 /CNW/ - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has grossed $50.2 million in theatres across Canada since its debut on December 19th, making it the second-highest grossing film of all time in Canada surpassed only by Titanic, confirmed Alliance Atlantis's Motion Picture Distribution Group.

"The Canadian box office results represent an astounding 17% of the cumulative North American box office to date. Not only is it the most successful film ever distributed by Alliance Atlantis, it's also a significant endorsement of the marketing and distribution strategy we deployed that was tailored to the Canadian market," noted Victor Loewy, CEO of the Company's Motion Picture Distribution Group.

The success of the theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings is especially gratifying because it bodes well for the anticipated results of the remaining two segments of the trilogy (The Two Towers and The Return of the King), set to be released December 2002 and 2003 respectively. This impressive box office performance also speaks to a strong release for video and DVD products beginning this fall, Loewy added. "Overall, we are well positioned to sustain this momentum well into 2004."

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Form guide: best director
The Guardian

Peter Jackson

Directed: Lord of the Rings

Prospects: Ron Howard's strongest challenger. Jackson is closely identified with the success of Rings, but his lack of previous hitmaking weakens his chances in the ballot.

What the critics say: 'The playful spookiness of Jackson's direction provides a lively, light touch, a gesture that doesn't normally come to mind when Tolkien's name is mentioned' - Elvis Mitchell, New York Times. 'Jackson has told a fast-moving, if at times confusing and repetitive tale with considerable verve, and he's used to magical effect the New Zealand landscape' - Philip French, Observer.

Form For Lord of the Rings: best director, Baftas; best director nomination, Golden Globes. Others: best screenplay nomination, Heavenly Creatures, Oscars 1995; silver lion, Heavenly Creatures, Venice film festival 1994.

Odds 15/8

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Form guide: best picture
The Guardian

Lord of the Rings

Produced by New Line
Directed by Peter Jackson

Prospects Massively popular with audiences, and wins credit for its financial risk (as well as thoroughly eclipsing Potter). Fantasy has a hard time at the Oscars, but Rings is a good bet to buck the trend.

What the critics say 'A blockbuster that actually delivers the goods, an exciting adventure epic that is humane, scary, thematically rich, visually inventive and stuffed with wonderful characters and stunning sets and sights' - Cosmo Landesman, Sunday Times. 'By the end the film adds up to more of a sword and sorcery epic than a realisation of the more naive and guileless vision of JRR Tolkien' - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times.

Box-office take to date $773.1m (£544.4m)
Form Best film, AFI awards, Baftas; best film nomination, Golden Globes.
Odds 13/8

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Kiwis in Rings-fever prior to Oscars
The Economic Times

WELLINGTON: A fantasy epic's chance for Oscar-night glory is exciting a country usually more keen on sports than Hollywood's big night.

New Zealand is expected to grind to a halt on Monday afternoon for the awards ceremony where Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is up for 13 nominations, including best picture and best director.

"The entire country is in a state of great excitement about Monday and is hopeful that Rings will pick up some key awards," said Katherine Drumm of the NZ Film Commission, which funds and promotes New Zealand films.

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The Oscars Film specials
FT.com

It was one of the biggest gambles in movie history - handing $300m to shoot an epic trilogy in one go to a virtually unknown director with no record on big-budget Hollywood pictures. And letting him do it 7,000 miles away, so that studio executives had little control over what actually happened on the set.

There were plenty of recent examples of how a huge investment in what seemed like a sure-fire blockbuster had backfired, leaving massive dents in the studio's finances - Waterworld, Heaven's Gate and so on. Somehow, though, Lord of the Rings did get made and having taken $292m so far at the US box office alone, and notched up 13 Oscar nominations, it's easy to forget the scale of the risk involved.

But for Peter Jackson, the film's New Zealand-born director, and his agent, Ken Kamins from ICM, the story behind the Lord of the Rings is one of a project that very nearly failed to see the light of day.

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