Posted on 11/23/2003 6:17:48 PM PST by The Iguana
Secrets of ‘The King’
Can’t break this hobbit: Will Frodo destroy the ring? Will Aragorn wear the crown? An exclusive first look at director Peter Jackson’s exhilarating ‘Lord of the Rings’ finale, ‘The Return of the King’—and at the battles the cast waged on-screen and off
By Jeff Giles
NEWSWEEK
Dec. 1 issue — Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King” begins with a flashback to what seems like the beginning of time—young Deagol is fishing with his creepy brother Smeagol when suddenly a fish on his line pulls him out of the boat and underwater, where he spots a gold ring half-submerged in the riverbed—so let’s begin with a flashback of our own.
IT’S AUTUMN of 2001, at WETA Workshop, in Wellington, New Zealand. Jackson is about to release “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first installment of his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” and some costumes and props made for the movies are laid out in a massive, high-ceilinged hangar. There’s a miniature of the elven retreat of Rivendell, mossy and genteel. The ominous black tower of Orthanc, about a dozen feet high. There’s the hobbit blade Sting and, right next to it, two versions of the kingly sword known as Anduril, one shattered, one whole. There are racks of armor, both regal and savage. Everything is so meticulous and ambitious that it’s clear the filmmakers are brilliant—or nuts. New Line Studios’ Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne have devoted $300 million, and counting, to the trilogy. And they’ve allowed Jackson—a New Zealander known, if at all, for a handful of tiny zombie films and the brilliant real-life drama “Heavenly Creatures”—to shoot all three movies at once, arguably the biggest gamble in history. Still, there are believers. By the door, somebody has tacked up an advance picture of the ferocious Uruk-hai warrior Lurtz from “Fellowship,” along with comments about it from the Web site aint-it-cool-news. “Since nobody has mentioned it, ‘Lord of the Rings’ will kick ‘Star Wars’ ’ ass,” reads one of the postings. “I’m sorry, but someone had to say it.”
Today, two years later, Jackson is poised to release “The Return of the King,” in which the hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) continues his torturous trek to Mount Doom, in hopes of destroying the evil ring, and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) wages war, in hopes of distracting the enemy from the hobbit’s quest, as well as ascending the throne of Gondor and marrying Arwen (Liv Tyler), the elven princess of his dreams. “The Return of the King” is the third and final chapter in what’s likely to be a nearly $3 billion franchise that should, according to sources familiar with Jackson’s deal, net the director at least $150 million. Judging from a recent NEWSWEEK screening in New Zealand, “The Return of the King” is a sure contender for best picture. More than that, it could be the first franchise ever that didn’t, at the end of the day, let audiences down—either because of laziness, pretension, greed or other phantom menaces. This is an especially poignant possibility at a time when we can all still smell the smoke from the wreckage of “The Matrix.”
New Line will likely position “The Return of the King,” which opens Dec. 17, as a sort of “actors’ movie,” in an effort to make an end run around the Academy’s well-documented antipathy toward fantasy. Whatever works. In truth, “Return of the King” has nothing to apologize for. It’s an epic. It tells a passionate, elemental story. It takes the principal filmmaking currency of our times, special effects, and makes them matter. Is it a fantasy? It’s a lot of people’s fantasy, yes.
The cover looks quite striking.
It's hard for me to keep up with the "The Hobbit Hole" thread - so my apologies if you have discussed this already.
If not, I thought you might find it of interest. And a rare reason to actually purchase a copy of Newsweak.
It didn't help that I had to run out to pick up my car from the shop before finishing my post.
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