The Anderson Cooper interview has finally made it to youtube.

Thanks for that, great interview! Love Anderson Cooper.

Russell wrote:

Interview unknown (except obviously being with ET), but the caption was the question just asked: "Why will people want to go see The Hobbit?"      Yes, Martin......

It's from this interview.  And he is correct, at least where I'm concerned.   

In case you always wanted to have Hobbit feet …


(made by Goldfischzahn, Germany)

Last edited by SusiGo (January 7, 2013 7:31 am)

So, I'm putting this here, although suppose could start a new thread... just thought to keep all the Hobbit stuff together....
Still absolutely such a fan of the beautiful 'Misty Mountain' theme, and look what I stumbled across earlier....  this student got his friends together to play it on strings.  So.  Dang.  Pretty....  Thought some of you might appreciate the beautiful rendition of it as well.

SusiGo wrote:

Carol the Dabbler wrote:

Good point, Susi, since his Smaug is a motion-capture character, so all we'll see of Cumberbatch is his facial expressions and movements. But does anyone know how the Necromancer was done? Is he a live-action character or another motion-cap?

I only read that he is voiced by Benedict so maybe we won't see the character but only hear his voice.

Yeah I don't think there's any Mo Cap with Smaug. There was for necromancer as they needed to use Ben to actually represent the Necromancer himself thus the Mo Cap. Smaug though my understanding is all CG. Plus Mo Cap really I don't think would work (I could be wrong) because the structure of the dragons face isn't anything like a human's (vs Gollum where Andy Serkis did it. Gollum as a humanoid character). Dragonkin is going to have to be CGI but I just love the fact that we will hear Ben and Martin talking to each other in different characters. I can't wait for that!

Myraya wrote:

Not sure if this belongs here but what do you thinkt about The Hobbit not winning a singel Oscar? I mean, I know, it's just the Oscars and I don't really care about them actually but still... I watched the production blog and after seeng the work on the hair of all of these dwarfs I think they at least deserved an oscar in that category. And I personally think that Moartin Freeman would have deserved a nominatioan as best actor in a leading role as well, but who knows how the jury makes it's decisions anyway...

I greatly appreciate the work that has been done with the Hobbit - I think it was for me one of the greatest cinema experience this year. I only partially agree with you here, though; yes, i think the team deserved an oscar for make-up and production design, too. Special effects was also good, but those from Life of Pi were a lot more stunning.

I'm a big fan of Mr Freeman and I especially loved his performance as Bilbo the Hobbit, taking the primary elements of Bilbo and making his own interpretation - you could feel how much heart and effort he put in there.

To get nominated and win an oscar is more about being able to portray a complex character admirably and some other critical stuff, and Bilbo wasn't that complex of a character. Those actors nominated did a fantastic job with their role, and Daniel-Day Lewis deserved that Oscar.

But hey, I'm already very happy to know that the Hobbit got three nominations for the Oscars. I think it's important to point out - to remind people that being nominated (let alone three times) is already a HUGE accomplishment and demonstrates the fact that people recognize the film's potential.

Oh yeah, and one final thing: maybe they didn't win an Oscar, but they've won the trophy of my own heart. That's how great I think the film was, and no one's going to change my opinion on that.

Jayhan wrote:

Myraya wrote:

Not sure if this belongs here but what do you thinkt about The Hobbit not winning a singel Oscar? I mean, I know, it's just the Oscars and I don't really care about them actually but still... I watched the production blog and after seeng the work on the hair of all of these dwarfs I think they at least deserved an oscar in that category. And I personally think that Moartin Freeman would have deserved a nominatioan as best actor in a leading role as well, but who knows how the jury makes it's decisions anyway...

I greatly appreciate the work that has been done with the Hobbit - I think it was for me one of the greatest cinema experience this year. I only partially agree with you here, though; yes, i think the team deserved an oscar for make-up and production design, too. Special effects was also good, but those from Life of Pi were a lot more stunning.

I'm a big fan of Mr Freeman and I especially loved his performance as Bilbo the Hobbit, taking the primary elements of Bilbo and making his own interpretation - you could feel how much heart and effort he put in there.

To get nominated and win an oscar is more about being able to portray a complex character admirably and some other critical stuff, and Bilbo wasn't that complex of a character. Those actors nominated did a fantastic job with their role, and Daniel-Day Lewis deserved that Oscar.

But hey, I'm already very happy to know that the Hobbit got three nominations for the Oscars. I think it's important to point out - to remind people that being nominated (let alone three times) is already a HUGE accomplishment and demonstrates the fact that people recognize the film's potential.

Oh yeah, and one final thing: maybe they didn't win an Oscar, but they've won the trophy of my own heart. That's how great I think the film was, and no one's going to change my opinion on that.

I think also (in terms of the acting) the Academy views this whole thing as one film. They will render their judgments after There and Back Again. Based on what happens in The Hobbit from here on forward, I think Freeman has a shot at an Oscar Nomination (not spoiling it for anyone who has not read the book)

I think the reason Martin did not get a nomination is that Bilbo does not have the personality to show full range of acting ability. Don't get me wrong I loved the original story and the film but the character is not tremendously complex.

Michele wrote:

I LOVED THE HOBBIT!!! I am already a huge Tolkien fan and loved the Lord of the Rings movies so it was exciting to see Martin in a setting that I already loved.
All the complaints I've seen or heard about The Hobbit seem pretty stupid to me.
'Ian Holms should have been at the start, not that other guy' ... uh he was. This was from a clearly uneducated friend.
'The eagles belong in LOTR not The Hobbit' uh have you read the book??
'They just keep getting in trouble' no seriously have you read the book?? There is a chapter called 'Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire' for a reason!
'It doesn't have as much action as LOTR' how can you compare 1 film to a trilogy?? If you really need to then compare An Unexpected Journey to Fellowship. This has more action than Fellowship.
'How can they split 1 book into 3 movies? Money grubbing!' Possibly true but I trust Peter Jackson's interpretation. He's adding more from the appendices from LOTR to the story so we understand the story and connection better.

Basically I was mentally desk flipping at each of the comments I've heard.

I think the fact it's compared to the complete LOTR trilogy (and thus not as good because it's not complete) that prevented it from getting any Oscars. Martin definately deserves to be nominated!

YEAH, gimme a high five! *raises hand*

This Hobbit trilogy... You know, I WELCOME that idea; it's like reliving my childhood all over again, waiting and getting excited for the next epic movie of an epic saga, knowing that it's going to be good because there are a lot of amazing people working on the film.

I have a feeling that these raving, upset people are oblivious to the fact that while the film is based on the book the Hobbit, Peter Jackson actually added more elements from other books, such as the Silmarillion. If some of you read the Hobbit book (I've only read up to the point where the first film ends, so no spoilers!), then you'll see that the movie succeeded better in establishing a bridge between these different stories than the book did (so far, at least); did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien tried to rewrite the Hobbit after having published all LotR books? He wanted to make a more apparent connection with LotR, so he tried rewriting the Hobbit. But less than halfway there, he realized that too much needed to be changed, an incredible effort that demanded just too much of his time. Peter Jackson did what Tolkien originally set out to do, and I think he did a fantastic job with that.

This new movie trilogy is one way of telling Bilbo's story, but also giving an interesting background to the LotR saga and exploring some elements of it. Plus, from what I've heard, the last film will focus more on the transition from the Hobbit storyline to the Lord of the Rings saga. I'm really curious and excited to see how it'll turn out.

I have complete faith in Peter Jackson. He's a fantastic director in my books. ;D