The Hobbit SPOILER-FREE discussion

btw, the tuning joke he uses is usually used for lutes.

azriel wrote:sounds like Hobbit names.

I left out racket, rebec, dulcian, cornetto, serpent, viol...

Well you learn something new every day. (And in my case get pissed and forget it almost immediatly) Thanks Halfy- always good to hear a new instrument- what sort of ensemble was it you played in? Was it all medieval instruments and what did music did you play?

I started playing medieval/renaissance music in high school and continued through grad school. Even played with the Peabody Conservatory ensemble for several years, playing recorder and Krumhorn.

Early music either grabs you passionately or it doesn't affect you at all. Since I'm always interested in the beginnings and basis of things (very smeagol-like) I was fascinated especially by medieval music, as were many composers of the early 20th century. In fact some music of the two periods are indistinguishable.

Now that the premiere has come and you can find lots of spoilers and reviews online it's time to bump this thread again.

yupp, good idea

what does bump the thread mean?

Put a post in it so it shows up again on the main board.

huh? still dont understand.

Its a way of bumping the thread back to the top if you like.
By posting in it when people log on it shows up as a new post- thus drawing attention to a thread that might otherwise be forgotten.

its way past my bedtime, maybe thats why I have no idea what your talkin about.

Think of a thread as a cosy hobbit hole Mrs Figg. When no one posts the lights are out, and on a dark night you might walk right past it.
'Bumping' a thread means going into the dark hobbit hole, setting a roaring fire in the grate, putting on the lights and toasting some crumpets expecting visitors at the bell.

Did that help or was that just a buckied ramble? I cant tell.

Huzzah! NOW I understand.

And the moral here is- I need to drink more.

Ah... what have we here..... nice safe place to hide.

Working hard on avoiding news now, even have to dodge the trailers on the telly.....

Hmmm, Big pink fluffy head phones........ Summer shades on in winter .......... playlist of songs from my youfff....

Might survive now.

At least there's only nine days left!

Not sure how soon I'll get to see it though.

Am having huge amounts of geeky fun in class jumping up and down about hobbit related things nd watching confusion bloom on so many faces. And also spotting those who know exactly what I'm on about!

me too someone mentiones Hobbit and I am all like "WHERE IS MY FELLOW NERDS!!??"

Bumping this thread for Orwell.

Uh ... how about that most recent trailer?

T-16.00 hrs and counting.....

Pft, you guys need to come over to the fun side. Who doesn't want spoilers?

Not sure where else to put this, doesn't deserve it's own thread. I like this largely for Sean Connery's quote: "I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don't understand it."

‘The Hobbit’ star Ian McKellen’s wizard problems
By Meriah Doty | Movie Talk – Fri, Dec 14, 2012 6:57 PM EST

Two-time Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Sir Ian McKellen is unmistakable as the whimsical-yet-wise wizard Gandalf the Grey, now in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." Known among the residents of Hobbiton as that wizard who sets off cool fireworks, Gandalf also lights a fire under Bilbo Baggins' backside, getting him to go on an action-packed adventure with him and 13 rowdy dwarves.

So, discovering that McKellen wasn't the actor who was first approached to take on the role when director Peter Jackson was casting 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" may be a tough pill for fans to swallow. It was famous James Bond actor Sean Connery who was first approached. Connery reportedly declined the role of Gandalf over script concerns -- eventually missing out on what is rumored to have been an extremely lucrative movie deal. (Connery instead chose "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," which lost millions at the box office.) Connery has never officially confirmed that he turned down the role of Gandalf, but he has said this: "I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don't understand it. Ian McKellen, I believe, is marvelous in it."

But it's 90-year-old Christopher Lee who can actually claim first dibs on the wizard role. Lee, who plays Saruman in both the "Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies, was promised the part of Gandalf by J.R.R. Tolkien himself. That was back in the sixties and, unfortunately for Lee, a film project never got off the ground until decades after Tolkein died. Still, Lee remains the only person in Peter Jackson's Tolkien films to have met the famed author and makes a point of reading the books once a year.

McKellen's wizard issues don't end there. He had reservations about reprising his "Lord of the Rings" role for "The Hobbit" trilogy. It was mainly due to the realities of his age, now 73, and knowing the amount of energy it would take to participate in another grueling round of Jackson films -- in which the director is known for his infatuation with capturing reels upon reels of extra footage. Not to mention the fact that he has to ride a horse. But McKellen has said he ultimately didn't want what happened to Dumbledore from the "Harry Potter" series to happen to him. (Richard Harris played Dumbledore in the first two Potter films. The role was taken over by Michael Gambon after Harris died.) "I'd invested too much in the role for someone else to come along and take it over," McKellen said.

Speaking of Dumbledore, McKellen was offered the role after Harris died but declined for two reasons: He thought it inappropriate to take over Harris' role because he had once called McKellen a "dreadful actor," and he felt his own Gandalf character was too similar. To add to McKellan's wizard woes, Gambon has said he gets mistaken for Gandalf a lot. And when it happens, he has joked, he signs the name "Ian McKellan" as his autograph.

Already setting box office records at the outset of the opening weekend of "The Hobbit," something tells us McKellen isn't sweating his wobbly wizard past.

I'm glad Connery never got the role- he doesnt really act* in that he is pretty much Sean Conery in every role- even a beard couldnt have hid that, it never does.

*there is the odd exception to this-see The Hill- and Outland (ok he is a bit Connery in that last one but its really good).

'the director is known for his infatuation with capturing reels upon reels of extra footage'

Every time I hear something like this about Jackson I substiute- 'doesnt know what he wants and hopes he can patch something together in editing if he just shoots enough different versions of every line to choose from'- youve got to admit it does explain why his films lack a proper thought out purpose start to finish. Rather he seems to change ideas continuously as he goes and the result reflects this.

I don't think it's just him: Ian Holme taught Ian McKellen the technique of providing a different interpretation for each take. It's fairly standard and I wouldn't fault a director for taking this approach. No, PJ's fault is where he does have a good idea what he wants and takes things into extended deviations.

I dunno Halfy- when you watch in the TT extras him 'directing' Viggo in the Golden Hall- I think its the 'war is upon you' line- Pj just gets him to do it over and over- there is no direction being given, he doesnt ask Viggo for anything, just shoots him sayng it and worries about picking one later in the editing squite.
For me these films smack of made in the editing room- one of the reasons it was possible to reedit his LotR's- its just taking the piece apart again and rearranging them.
Its not that easy to do with most films, believe me, Ive tried, and the difference is most films the director has a pretty clear idea of what he wants before he starts shooting.

I suspect Ian Holm gave that tip to Mckellan as a surval tip to working with PJ.