Andrew Serkis Talks about playing Gollum

Andrew Serkis Talks to Indie Wire about playing Gollum

And what’s it been like revisiting Gollum in the Hobbit, his breakthrough performance capture character from a decade ago? “Again, now the computers can handle large amounts of data and you can play scenes out in their entirety,” Serkis offered. “That was one of the joys of going back to Gollum after all these years. It’s 60 years before Lord of the Rings , and he’s been living with himself in that craven, lustful, paranoid state for 540 years, so this is obviously a linchpin scene dramatically, with Gollum losing the ring.”

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Luke Evens aka Bard Bowman Talks to Empire

Luke Evans who is cast as the archer in the Hobbit talked to Empire about his role and what he is doing to prepare.  Evens also has a role in the Three Musketeers.  Empire online Reports:

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The Hobbit director Peter Jackson Drops in at Comic-Con

Entertainment Week reports : “Six thousand people packed into Comic-Con’s Hall H broke out in a simultaneous nerdgasm as Peter Jackson made a surprise appearance alongside Steven Spielberg at this morning’s panel for Dec. 23′s The Adventures of Tintin.

Spielberg, making his own first-ever appearance at Comic-Con, was greeted with a raucous standing ovation as the panel began. He introduced what was supposed to be a clip of an animation test of the CGI dog in Tintin and was instead a clip of Jackson, wearing a sailor’s cap and holding a bottle of booze, purportedly doing his own screen test for the role of Captain Haddock. Then Jackson himself took the stage. ‘Working with Steven has been amazing,’ Jackson said. ‘I think he shows real promise. If he decides to stick with filmmaking, I think he could really go places.’”

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Hobbit - All 13 dwarves revealed...seven dwarves overshadowed

Onering.net reports all 13 dwarves revealed:

Click to enlarge

 Left to Right -

Jed Brophy as Nori, Dean O' Gorman as Fili, Mark Hadlow as Dori, James Nesbitt as Bofur,  Peter Hambleton as Gloin, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield (center), Ken Stott as Balin, John Callen as Oin, Stephen Hunter  as Bombur, Willian Kircher as Bifur, Adam Brown as Ori and Aiden Turner as Kili .

In other news seven dwarves feel overshadowed...

Hobbit Production Video diary online #3

Video Diary number three from the Hobbit Production diary is available from the Official Hobbit Blog with the following caption:

This just in from Peter Jackson, with the following note:

“Good news and bad news today. Bad news is that we won’t be doing any Hobbit presentation at Comic Con in San Diego this year. New Line and Warner Bros were very happy to support a presentation, but I declined, simply because I felt it was too early. There’s so much more of the films still to shoot. I just wanted to get that out there, because I’ve seen various references to the possibility of something Hobbity at Comic Con. Hate to disappoint anyone. But something tells me we will be there in force next year.

Now for the good news… We’ve just finished a new video blog, covering a little more of the first block of shooting. So please enjoy this—at least you don’t have to travel to San Deigo to see it! “

New Dwarves - Bombur, Bofur and Bifer

The Sun reports:

The pint-sized characters Bombur, Bofur and Bifur have been revealed by director Peter Jackson five months before the first film is released. They embark on an adventure with hobbit Bilbo Baggins to reclaim treasure from Smaug the dragon.

The dwarves, played by Stephen Hunter, James Nesbitt and William Kircher respectively, have major roles in the fantasy story.

New dwarves Balin and Dwalin

Time posts pics of new hobbit dwarves:

(L-R) Ken Stott as Balin and Graham McTavish as Dwalin

Peter Jackson's upcoming film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, has been hotly anticipated by everyone from Tolkien obsessives to film buffs. The crew behind the movie, including Jackson himself, has kept fans salivating by documenting the movie's production through blog posts and videos. But TIME is the first to bring you this image of two characters from the film, dwarves named Balin and Dwalin. Below, find Warner Bros.' description of the two, and then click on for more images of The Hobbit's beloved dwarves.

"Dwarf Lords in their own right, Balin and Dwalin are close relatives of Thorin. Beyond this, these brothers are two of his most loyal and trusted friends. An old warrior, Balin has lived through hard times and fought many battles, yet he harbors doubts about the wisdom of the Quest to retake the Lonely Mountain. Dwalin has no such forebodings – his belief in Thorin’s leadership is unshakeable. A powerful and bruising fighter, with a natural tendency to distrust anyone who is not a Dwarf, particularly anyone who might be an Elf, Dwalin is not someone to cross lightly."

Hobbit Production diary online

Stuff NZ reports:

Sir Peter Jackson has provided another insight into the filming of The Hobbit, with a second production video diary posting on his Facebook page. 

The video diary was uploaded to Jackson's Facebook page this morning and has already been widely viewed, with some people saying it gave them the "chills", and many stating that the posting made them even more excited for the films' release. The 10-minute video follows Jackson and his team on their mission to find suitable filming locations - and it's much more complicated than one would think. 

A team of 17 travel the South Island in five helicopters in the search for ideal landscapes.

They had already identified areas in the Mackenzie Country and Mt Cook and decided that they would also film in Dunedin for the first time. They were also looking to find a suitable location south of Queenstown.The locations had to be appropriate for filming - but they also had to have enough space for two rugby fields of equipment. 

"It's weird on locations because you're standing in the middle of a mountain or valley or some beautiful place and you're having to try to figure out where are you going to put the crew tents, where are people going to get changed and where are the portaloos going to go - because all of that stuff has to be where you're not going to want to point the camera," Jackson says. 

"The last thing you want to find out in six months time is you're standing on this beautiful mountain and saying 'Wow this is exactly the shot I want to do' and you've got 20 portaloos in front of the camera." The video also features footage of Jackson talking to actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Serkis is directing part of The Hobbit films and chats with Jackson about the pressure they are under. 

"I always tell people I get exhausted at the end of the first couple of days and just stay exhausted until it finishes," Jackson tells Serkis. "I think it's a much better way to divide it into three blocks and have some time to look at what you've done... it's a much smarter way to shoot these big films." 

There were 254 days of shooting planned and the crew has already finished filming the first block. Filming of the second block would start on September 5.

Many of the staff are taking off overseas and indulging in their favourite hobbies during the break. Sir Ian McKellen who plays Gandalf was heading to London to perform in a stage production, others were travelling to Bali, Las Vegas and Paris for a holiday, one was planning a marathon, another was looking forward to sleeping in and one staff member said he planed to make a psychedelic sludge-rock album. 

But for Jackson, the work continues. "It almost feels like you're going on vacation," he says. "But you're not."

The Hobbit Dwarves - First look at Dori, Nori, Ori

The Daily Mail reports: 

It is enough to make any JRR Tolkien fan go giddy with delight.

The latest teaser picture for the forthcoming adaptation of the Hobbit has been released, showing a trio of hardy warrior dwarves. The exciting image shows the brothers Dori, Nori and Ori, and was posted on the movie's official Facebook page.

Little surprise: The newly image of Hobbit dwarves Nori, Ori and Dori had the internet buzzing today.  The description of the picture said: 'These three brothers, all sons of the same mother, could not be more different from each other.  'Dori, the oldest, spends much of his time watching out for Ori, the youngest; making sure he’s not caught a chill or got himself killed by Wargs or Goblins.  'Nobody quite knows what Nori gets up to most of the time, except that it’s guaranteed to be dodgy and quite probably, illegal. 

'Dori, Nori and Ori are intensely loyal to each other – and whilst they are perfectly happy fighting amongst themselves,'  New Zealand natives Jed Brophy and Mark Hadlow play Nori and Dori, while Adam Brown, who is best known for appearing in kids show Chucklevision plays Ori.  Facebook fans were delighted with the new image, with comments including 'awesome,' 'perfection,' and 'I can''t wait.'  The revelation follows the release of the first stills of The Office star Martin Freeman as the story's hero Bilbo Baggins.

First look: Here we see Martin Freeman take on the role of Bilbo Baggins.  The drip-drop release of pictures is ramping up the anticipation ahead of the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at the end of this year.  The film follows home-loving hobbit Bilbo, who is guided by the wizard Gandalf and a company of 13 dwarves on a dangerous adventure that sees him become an unlikely hero.  English acting legend Sir Ian McKellen is reprising the iconic role of Gandalf, and has been seen in his full wizard regalia and flowing grey beard.

Like the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit is filmed in New Zealand under the expert eye of director Peter Jackson.  The title role of the J.R.R. Tolkien tale is played by Martin Freeman, who has previously starred in Hot Fuzz, Love Actually and the original British version of The Office.

Smokin': Sir Ian McKellan looks the part as Gandalf the Grey in the upcoming Hobbit movie

The unlikely hero is visited by Gandalf the Grey who tricks him into hosting a party for Thorin and his band of 12 dwarves, who sing of reclaiming Lonely Mountain and their treasure from the dragon, Smaug.  Bilbo is persuaded to join them on their quest as the expedition's burglar when Gandalf unveils a map showing a secret door into the mountain.  Many characters will return from Lord of the Rings including Gollum, Frodo, Elrond, Galadriel, and Legolas.

Jackson said: 'In the space of ten years, that look he [McKellen] created - the beard, the wig, the voice, the costume - has become iconic, ''So what's weird for me on The Hobbit is that I'll be sitting on the set talking to Ian and - if I look away at the crew and look back - I don't see Ian McKellen, I see Gandalf beside me.'

Watched the movie and want to see  Bilbo Baggins' home plan?  Find it here

Hobbit hole: Director Peter Jackson walks through Bilbo Baggins' home, Bag End, on the New Zealand set.  Tolkien's first foray into Middle Earth has been split into two films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, and the cast and crew endured a mammoth 254 day shoot to recreate the thousand-plus pages.

Jackson said: 'You just get in that state of tiredness and stay there, but that's OK. The movie keeps you going.  'We're working with much of the same crew as Lord of the Rings and obviously some of the actors like Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, and Andy Serkis are back so it's like a reunion.  'Plus we've got all the new boys.'Along with Freeman, new stars include Barry Humphries, a.k.a. Dame Edna as the Goblin King, and Evangeline Lilly as beautiful elf Tauriel.

Marathon shoot: Jackson and his cast and crew will spend 254 days filming the two Hobbit films back-to-back Down UnderLilly's ex-boyfriend Dominic Monaghan appeared in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as hobbit Merry Brandbuck.  Other photos taken on set show the newly-slimmed down Jackson posing in Bilbo's home, Bag End. Jackson said: 'We did keep the original Bag End, but in the intervening ten years we've turned it into a guest house so people can actually live and sleep in Bag End.'  'It's up on a farm that we've got so it wasn't really possible to drag it back in the studio.' Jackson revealed that Martin Freeman has slipped easily into the Hobbit feet of his predecessor,  Ian Holm.  He said: 'He fits the ears, and he's got some very nice feet. I think he's got the biggest Hobbit feet we've got so far.'