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J.R.R. Tolkien, the British author best known for The Hobbit and his epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, was an astute critic of socialism and utopianism and a passionate defender of liberty, says Jay Richards, co-author of The Hobbit Party, which he calls “a study of the political and economic implications of Tolkien’s thought.” “Certainly anyone that’s seen The Lord of the Rings, for instance, at the movies knows that he was deeply concerned about the dangers and the temptations of absolute power. "The symbol of the one ring, of course. It’s not just a symbol of the sort...

Peter Jackson has said he won't be making anymore movies based on J. R. R. Tolkien's work, because the estate won't let him. SNIP The writer's son Christopher, who was appointed by his father as his literary executor, said that he was disappointed by the way the movies had diluted the artistry of the novels. He told Le Monde in 2012: 'Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of our time. 'The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work and what it has become has overwhelmed me. The commercialisation has...

Perhaps explaining why those Hobbit movies cost so much damn money to make, Entertainment Weekly has revealed that The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies will end with a 45-minute battle scene. Director Peter Jackson spoke with EW about the logistics of creating such an epic climax. “We have dwarves and men and elves and orcs, all with different cultures, with different weapons, and different shields and patterns and tactics,” Jackson explains, before sharing the highly scientific way he maps out his fight scenes:

The soundtrack to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy has been deemed the best of all time, beating John Williams' 1977 Star Wars score into second place.Composer Howard Shore's accompaniment won the Classic FM listeners' accolade for the fifth consecutive year.Hans Zimmer's music to Gladiator, Schindler's List by John Williams and John Barry's soaring Out of Africa score made the top five.

1. Nicolas Cage passed up the role of Aragorn because of “family obligations.” 2. Daniel Day-Lewis also turned down the role multiple times. 3. The same fight choreographer and fencer who worked on Lord of the Rings also worked on The Parent Trap and Star Wars. 4. And he said that Viggo Mortensen was “the best swordsman [he] ever trained.”

So much for that fellowship of the ring. Viggo Mortensen took a shot at Peter Jackson's dependence on visual effects in the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy films, which are widely considered to have launched the actor's career to a higher level. In a frank interview with London's The Telegraph, the 55-year-old star of the upcoming "Two Faces of January" gave a thumbs-down to every J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation his former director has made since the first installment, 2001's "The Fellowship of the Ring."

In a recent interview, Richard Armitage revealed that he was quite emotional about the completion of the trilogy. The 42-year-old actor spoke with BANG Showbiz about finally wrapping the trilogy and how now that the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy was completed, he was very moved. "It will be 15 years of Peter Jackson's work, there'll be six movies to watch, but it could be the final time. There's something moving about that," he said.

The harrowing battle scenes and heartache in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings were inspired by the author’s own First World War nightmare and the death of close friends from Birmingham.

It’s the film project that many of us fear we may never see. Yet surely, with time, all may be possible. In this article, Rud the Spud takes a look at how a trilogy based on Professor Tolkien’s The Silmarillion might be constructed – should such a project ever come to fruition – and discusses whether or not it could possibily live up to the Professor’s massive collection of stories. The Silmarillion Movie Trilogy By Rud the Spud It’s an idea that has been capturing the minds of Ringers since the days of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings...

Peter Jackson has made some remarkable movies. There’s no denying that his sprawling Lord of the Rings trilogy was the very definition of epic—filled with massive battles, touching moments, and beautiful cinematography, not to mention a lovely score.

WH Auden attempted to persuade JRR Tolkien to drop the romance between Aragorn and Arwen from the storyline of The Lord of the Rings, describing it as "unnecessary and perfunctory", an unpublished letter by the author has revealed. The 1955 letter sees Tolkien writing to his publisher about the difficulties of completing The Return of the King, the third and final part of his magnum opus, in which Aragorn and his men face a final battle with Sauron's troops, as the hobbits Frodo and Sam continue on their journey to destroy the One Ring. At the end, Aragorn is crowned...

2014 birthday toast On the 3rd January 1892 JRR Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. To celebrate this event, on this day each year Tolkien fans around the world were invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author 21:00 (9 pm) your local time. The toast is "The Professor". For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies: To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink)....

Joseph Pearce writes ... I'm at EWTN at the moment and had a sneak preview of the forthcoming Hobbit special on which we worked. It's truly superb and you are as wonderful as ever! It's being aired on December 5th. Can't wait to see it! We filmed two specials - one on The Hobbit and one on The Lord of the Rings.  I have not yet heard when the second one will air.  I play Tolkien in both specials and Joseph offers his insightful commentary on the Catholic elements in Tolkien's works.  I'll pass long more info as it's passed...

Tuesday afternoon on The Laura Ingraham Show, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took a swing at her former running mate, Sen. John McCain, after he likened the tea party movement to hobbits from the Lord of the Rings series. Though host Laura Ingraham referred to McCain’s words as “recent,” they were actually from a House speech in 2011, after that year’s debt ceiling crisis. Republicans who “failed to raise the debt ceiling” could escape all the blame, and “the tea party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor,” the senator mocked. “This is the kind of crack political...

What can literary fiction teach us about recent revelations that the National Security Agency has aggressively been gathering massive amounts of data on American citizens? The novel one usually turns to, of course, is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, with its terrifying vision of the Thought Police. Even President Obama, in response to questions about the NSA, has been forced to deny that the government has engaged in “Big Brother” tactics. Orwell’s book, however, isn’t the most compelling or accurate literary prediction of modern surveillance. That award goes to a less obvious title: J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s most...

The Return of the King Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship But it is not this day An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Man comes crashing down But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth I bid you stand, Men of the West!

The new film “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (opening Dec. 14) has got action and adventure galore, just like “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy that preceded it. But the director and actors who worked on the movie are well aware of the deeper themes that lie at the heart of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), who authored all the original books, published between 1937 and 1955. At a recent press conference about the film in New York City, Richard Armitage, who portrays the Dwarf warrior Thorin Oakenshield, said, “One of the things I find when I look...

The scene below was cut from the theatrical release, but is included in the Extended Edition DVD. This scene shows "The Mouth of Sauron" coming out of the Black Gate to treat with Aragorn and Gandalf. Given the following chant of the musloid political cult, and knowing that Sauron is the allegorical representation of satan, can you guess who "The Mouth of Sauron" is? "There is no god but allah (swine diarrhea be upon him), and mohammed (enthusiastic imbiber of swine diarrhea and fornicator with syphilitic sows) is his prophet." That's right, kids. "The Mouth of Sauron" character in The...

On the 3rd January 1892 JRR Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. To celebrate this event, on this day each year Tolkien fans around the world are invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author. The toast is "The Professor". For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies: To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink.

RIP Bob Anderson, 1922-2012. Who, you say? You may not know him, but I can almost guarantee you've seen his work. The swordfight in "The Princess Bride"? Bob choreographed it. All the swordplay in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy? He supervised and taught all of the cast about it. The epic lightsaber duels in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi"? It was Bob in the Vader suit, not David Prowse. Not to mention his work in "Highlander", "The Three Musketeers", "The Mask of Zorro" & "The Legend of Zorro", "Die Another Day", and even on the...

Every year now for a number of years my wife and I watch the entire six disc extended version of the Lord of the Rings during the gloomy Northwest winter around the Thanksgiving-to New-Years time. It helps us through the winter gloom, but since Obama's election it also helps us maintain hope and courage. I grew up on Tolkien before he was well known, and it probably shaped me in ways I can scarcely appreciate. My wife on the other hand, from the Third World, had no inkling of Tolkien until this movie cycle came out. We are both very...

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy returns to AMC theaters in June To help celebrate the release of The Lord of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray, which hits stores on June 28th, AMC theaters is bringing all three Extended Edition films back to screens for one night only. The three movies will play over the course of three weeks, with The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring screening on June 14th, The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers screening on June 21st, and The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King bringing the...

Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" A Catholic Worldview Wed. April 6 at 10 PM ET, Fri. April 8 at 1 PM ET, Sat. April 9 at 5 AM ET Joseph Pearce uncovers the Catholicism found in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. From Education Resource CenterFinding Frodo’s FaithJOSEPH PEARCEThe Lord of the Rings is every bit as Catholic as its author. It is not only written by a Catholic, it is so Catholic that only a Catholic could have written it. What is the secret of J.R.R. Tolkien's success with The Lord of the Rings? How...

PETER Jackson's troubled Hobbit project has become embroiled in a race row after a would-be extra was told she was too dark to play one of the pint-sized Tolkien creatures, reports said. Briton Naz Humphreys, who has Pakistani heritage, attended a casting session in the New Zealand city of Hamilton last week, queueing for three hours only to be told her skin tone was not suitable, the Waikato Times reported. "It's 2010 and I still can't believe I'm being discriminated against because I have brown skin," Humphreys told the newspaper. "The casting manager basically said they weren't having anybody who...

Many of us Ringers know the comparisons of The Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter are many. Well, Film.com has compiled a few for your reading pleasure. Enjoy! Fantasy stories generally lift from the same mythological source bank. Actually, if you want to get super scholarly and esoteric about it, every story (especially the more sword-and-sorcery themed variety) is the same basic “hero’s journey” archetype detailed by Joseph Campbell. But fantasy stories — King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Willow, Peter Pan, Conan the Barbarian — build their world out of the same objects. You...

Martin Freeman is set to star as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's two-movie adaptation of The Hobbit... Thorin Oakenshield...Richard ArmitageFili...Aidan TurnerKili...Rob Kazinskyetc...

"Like the name of Bilbo Baggins' sword, threats being made by acting unions regarding production of The Hobbit are really starting to sting. So much so that Peter Jackson, the executive producer behind the Lord of the Rings prequel, is now suggesting that shooting could very well move to Eastern Europe—or even shut down—if things don't get resolved with the various acting unions in New Zealand that are encouraging its members not to work on a film that employs nonunion actors."

On September 22, 1290 Bilbo Baggins was born. The year given for his birth, of course, is in Shire Reckoning: The Shire being that happy part of Middle-Earth inhabited by those sensible and unpretentious folk called “Hobbits.”To that salt-of-the-earth Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, there comes one day an amazing summons. The call to participate in an adventure. And thereby hangs a tale and indeed a trilogy.In the course of his adventure, Bilbo will come into possession of the “One Ring” of power. On September 22, 1401, his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo will bequeath the ring to his nephew Frodo, who will bear...

In the midst of piles of Lord of the Rings merchandise on every shelf, Tolkien’s wisdom is applied to just about everything — Tolkien and industrialization, Tolkien and communism, Tolkien and religion, etc. What’s surprising, especially in today’s hypersensitive post-Gloria Steinem world, is the dearth of commentary on Tolkien and women.

100,000 characters. Nine companions. Three masterworks. One Man to do it all. Following his recent sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Canadian actor Charles Ross returns with his show One Man Lord Of The Rings for a full UK tour (plus a show in Dublin) in September.

Magpie writes: Doug Adams is letting us peek inside his upcoming book on the LOTR film music. Check out musicoflotr.com.

Even among fantasy devotees who recognize Tolkien as the father of the modern genre, few realize that Tolkien insisted that The Lord of the Rings is "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work." This probably comes as a surprise to most Catholics as well.   Readers of The Lord of the Rings are unlikely to find a "Catholic Middle-earth" by looking for overt references to the Christian gospel or hidden Catholic symbolism -- Tolkien rejected this type of analysis -- however they will find it by looking at Tolkien's motivations as a writer.     Hobbies of an Oxford Don...

One of Abbey Road Studios’ most famous clients hopes that the facility, which has reportedly been put up for sale, can be saved. Paul McCartney, speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight television show on Tuesday, said there have been efforts to save Abbey Road by “a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time,” although he did not name those people or include himself among them. “I have so many memories there with the Beatles,” he added. “It still is a great studio. So it would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to...

LORD of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been knighted for services to film. Sir Peter was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit after the New Zealand government announced in its New Year Honors today. Since starting out in film with cult classics the likes of Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, Jackson's popular work has included the Lord of The Rings trilogy, a King Kong remake and most recently, a film adaptation of the best-selling Alice Sebold novel The Lovely Bones.

...In a host of end-of-year honors, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart were both feted with knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II...

LORD of the Rings author JRR Tolkien trained as a spy in the years leading up to World War II, it has emerged. The Oxford University professor - who also wrote The Hobbit - was one of 50 intellectuals chosen by the British Government singled out to crack Nazi codes as it appeared increasingly likely Germany was preparing to declare war. Tolkien was reknown as one of his generation's most respected linguists, and according to The Sun, was believed to have passed the training course “with flying colours”. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Hollywood studio behind a film based on "The Hobbit" and trustees for author J.R.R. Tolkien's estate said on Tuesday they had settled a lawsuit that clears the way for what is expected to be a blockbuster movie based on the book. "The Hobbit" is a 1937 book by Tolkien about a diminutive character named Bilbo Baggins who goes on a treasure-seeking adventure, and it sets the stage for Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, with its epic tale of magic and warfare.

New Zealand film-maker Peter Jackson may have more in common with JRR Tolkien's heirs than he thought - they are also complaining about big studio accounting methods. Tolkien's family and a British charity they head, the Tolkien Trust, are seeking more than $US220 million ($276.94 million) in compensation for the Lord of the Rings trilogy Jackson made in New Zealand. The Tolkien heirs sold movie rights to the LOTR books 40 years ago for 7.5 per cent of future receipts, but say that three films and $US6 billion ($7.55 billion) later, they have not seen a cent of the proceeds....

From a "shining city on a hill" to false "hope". How did it come to this? And who will be our horse and rider in 2012?

August 3rd, 2008 by Calisuri | Source: The Hunt for Gollum | Discuss If you haven’t heard of it yet, you will want to check out the non-profit collaborative short film being produced by writer/director Chris Bouchard - The Hunt for Gollum. Like the name suggests, this short film is a prequel to The Lord Of The Rings, set in Middle Earth and depicts events leading up to the Fellowship of the Ring. The story follows the Heir of Isildur as he sets out to find the creature Gollum. Mr. Bouchard has just released the second trailer for the film...

Sir Ian McKellen returns to the big screen in The Hobbit film By Nick Squires in Sydney Last updated: 1:28 PM BST 25/05/2008 Sir Ian McKellen will reprise the role of Gandalf the wizard for two films to be made based on Tolkien's classic book The Hobbit, it has been confirmed. The two movies - The Hobbit and a sequel which has yet to be named - will be filmed in New Zealand and released in 2011 and 2012. Andy Serkis, the actor who played Gollum with the help of digital wizardry, will also return for the Hobbit film, but...

Ian McKellen will again take up the robes of Gandalf the Wizard in the cinematic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic "The Hobbit" a British film magazine reported Wednesday. But McKellen's publicist warned that final arrangements were yet to be made. "Of course he wants to do it, but nothing's been agreed or signed," Clair Dobbs said.

LOS ANGELES - The estate of "Lord of the Rings" creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books, claiming the company hasn't paid it a penny from the estimated $6 billion the films have grossed worldwide. The suit, filed Monday, claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts to Tolkien's estate and other plaintiffs, who contend they only received an upfront payment of $62,500 for the three movies before production began. The writer's estate, a British charity dubbed The Tolkien Trust, and original "Lord of the Rings" publisher...

I watched the movie versions of Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" over the last three days and tried to sort out the symbolism in Christian terms. Here's what I came up with, would love the insights of any regarding. Hobbits: Your home and hearth Christians. Humble and happy, not seeking power and acclaim to the same extent as others, perhaps, and content with small things. Elves: Angels. They are superhuman in their understanding and abilities and they can choose to leave middle earth unlike the other races. Orcs: Demons. They are a race of elves abused, corrupted and changed by...

War On Terror: A sketchy diagram of al-Qaida's defenses left behind by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may prove to be the key to victory in Iraq. Sometimes in the fog of war, the fog lifts.It may not rank in the annals of warfare with the breaking of the Imperial Japanese Code, which led to our naval victory at Midway in World War II, or the cracking of the Nazi Ultra Codes, which Dwight Eisenhower said was decisive in the Allied victory. But a map left behind in a safe house by the deceased leader of al-Qaida in Iraq may have helped...

AUKLAND, NZ, August 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - British Actor Ian McKellen who has used the mega-stardom he achieved playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films to promote homosexuality, has admitted to ripping out pages of hotel bibles that refer to homosexuality. In an August 10 interview on New Zealand's TV1 Close Up program McKellen was confronted by the interviewer questioning the truth of the rumour "He's the one, that when he stays in hotels rips the part of the bible out that criticizes homosexuality." "Yes it is true," responded McKellen in even tones.  "Its Leviticus 18:22 that...

Asked to design a fitting repository for a client’s valuable collection of J.R.R. Tolkien manuscripts and artifacts, architect Peter Archer went to the source—the fantasy novels that describe the abodes of the diminutive Hobbits.“I came back my client and said, ‘I’m not going to make this look like Hollywood,’” Archer recalled, choosing to focus instead on a finely-crafted structure embodying a sense of history and tradition.The site was critical too—and Archer found the perfect one a short walk away from his client’s main house, where an 18th-century dry-laid wall ran through the property. “I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful...

A Review of New Edition of "The Children of Húrin" ATLANTA, Georgia, APRIL 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- With the release of a new edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Children of Húrin," fans of this deeply Catholic author may be surprised by its biblical tone, says a Tolkien expert. Jef Murray, artist-in-residence at the St. Austin Review, speaking with ZENIT, said, "'The Children of Húrin' has a more biblical tone than 'The Lord of the Rings.' It is a story of human fallibility and sin and may be prophetic for our times." Painstakingly reconstructed by Christopher Tolkien from his father's manuscripts, the...

 WELLINGTON, New Zealand, July 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Profits from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy are being used to fund destructive human embryonic research at the University of California, reported the Mainichi Daily News. Filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, who brought the J.R.R. Tolkien epic to the screen, together donated US $310,000 last Saturday to fund research using the stem cells of human embryos. “Stem cell therapy has the potential to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses which up until now have been labelled ‘incurable,’” the pair said in a statement released by the University of...

How could the American Film Institute have missed The Return of the King when picking its list of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time? And not a single movie about Jesus? What's up with THAT? Last week, the American Film Institute posted its list of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time. It's a good list, especially with It's a Wonderful Life and To Kill a Mockingbird occupying the top two spots. Rocky, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Breaking Away are all in the top 10. Very nice. But like all such lists, it's certainly open...