While we all wait with (relatively) bated breath for the Peter Jackson-Guillermo del Toro two-part film based on The Hobbit, those fiendish fans of Middle-earth have stolen a march on the professionals by producing The Hunt for Gollum.This 40-minute film based on J R R Tolkien's appendices to The Lord of the Rings fills in some of the untold events that befell between the end of The Hobbit (with Mr Bilbo Baggins having unwittingly carried off the One Ring from its then 'owner', Gollum) and the beginning of the saga of the War of the Ring as recounted in The Fellowship of the Ring.
When dramatising the BBC radio version of The Lord of the Rings, I incorporated material from the appendices into the opening episodes (to the horror of some fans I might add!) but it was largely ignored by the screenwriters of the Jackson film trilogy.
Those omissions have now been plugged by an astonishing amateur film created by a talented team of Rings enthusiasts that brilliantly presents Tolkien's 'back-story'. What is amazing beyond belief is that the filmmakers have managed to produce their film for -- read this and weep, Mr J! -- just $500!!
A loving homage to Tolkien, Jackson (and, on its soundtrack, Howard Shore), The Hunt for Gollum - received its premiere - on-line - a few days ago; so, if you haven't yet caught up with this remarkable achievement, take a look at the trailer...
...and then make tracks for the The Hunt for Gollum website where you can watch the entire 40-minute epic. The film, for copyright reasons, can only be viewed on-stream and will never be available to be down or uploaded. So, don't miss it!
Then pop back here to watch the documentary about how the film was made, with (in the tradition of the Rings movies' 'extras') lots of fun behind-the-scenes footage...
And see some of the secrets revealed behind the film's exceptional special effects...
There's just one thing I want to know --- why I wasn't asked to write the 'Making of...' book?!!
13 comments:
"There's just one thing I want to know --- why I wasn't asked to write the 'Making of...' book?!!"
Ha, ha! So true! That is an unforgivable omission!
By the way, did I ever tell you how much I love that book of yours? The "making of..." and the rest of that collection is an invaluable source of inspiration! Thanks a lot for that!
Thank you!! I wanted to write a book that -- if I hadn't been writing it -- I would have wanted to read about the making of TLOTR!
Erm that phrase "an astonishingly amateur film". Is that REALLY what you meant to say (or is the "ly" extraneous to requirements?)
Ooops! Thank you! Corrected!
This film cost 500 dollars, which is 0.0000053 of the budget of Jackson's first LOTR movie.
Imagine the advance you would get for writing the making-of book...
...and imagine the royalty cheques!
Dirdomi: Literary accounting term, from the Italian for "4% of nothing is still nothing".
If anyone has REAL PLAYER (which you can get as freeware from it's own site) you will find it is very easy to actually download the film from the site whilst you watch it. Of course, this is probably illegal so no one should actually do it.
PHIL - Yes, well your definition for 'Dirdomi' was actually the case with the Jackson books, too. I'm still waiting for those royalty cheques... I think they must have gone to my Middle-earth address in error!
BOLL - Shhh!
By way of compensation, would you like to review it for Mallorn?
Why not...
Thanks, Brian. !000 words (or thereabouts) please to mallorn (at) tolkiensociety (dot) org by 21 June, please. And if I haven't asked you before, a Guest Editorial would be nice. Otherwise it'll just be me waffling on about ents.
Henry Gee
If I were you, as soon as you're aware of 'blockbuster' type movies being made, I'd offer my services to write the 'Making of' book.
For $500 it is astonishingly good, even though the actor playing Aragorn isn't a patch on Vigo Mortensen in the yummy Ranger stakes.
[Sam said] "I think one of his spies would - well, seem fairer and feel fouler, if you understand."
"I see," laughed Strider. "I look foul and feel fair. Is that it? All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost..."
I've always thought that the 'look foul' applied to him having a somewhat scruffy and unkempt appearance from all that wandering about in Middle Earth, but that Arwen's Aragorn must be very attractive when not in Ranger mode.
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