New Hobbit Production Diary Number 2 and Dwarf Pics

Peter Jackson has recently uploaded a brand new production diary from the set of The Hobbit and also released some great new pictures of John Callen as 'Oin' and Peter Hambleton as 'Gloin' and another of Jed Brophy as 'Nori', Adam Brown as 'Ori' and Mark Hadlow as 'Dori'

Distant cousins of Thorin Oakenshield, these two doughty Northern Dwarves join the Company out of a sense of loyalty to their kin, and also because they have a substantial sum of money invested in the venture. Along with Bombur, Gloin is the only other married Dwarf in the Company (there being a shortage of female dwarves in general). His wife is an acclaimed beauty with a particularly fine beard. Gloin is the proud father of a young son, Gimli, who will go on to become part of the famous Fellowship of the Ring.

'Oin' and 'Gloin'

These three brothers, all sons of the same mother, could not be more different from each other. Dori, the oldest, spends much of his time watching out for Ori, the youngest; making sure hes not caught a chill or got himself killed by Wargs or Goblins. Nobody quite knows what Nori gets up to most of the time, except that its guaranteed to be dodgy and quite probably, illegal. Dori, Nori and Ori are intensely loyal to each other and whilst they are perfectly happy fighting amongst themselves, woe-betide anyone who means harm to one of these brothers.

'Nori', 'Ori' and 'Dori'

And lastly, here is the second on set production diary from Peter Jackson and its really interesting to see Andy Serkis in the 2nd unit Director's Chair. Peter, as with all of his 'large scale' films prefers to shoot in blocks and then edits along the way which also gives Weta ample opportunity to start work on the mammoth amount of visual effects shots.

From Priesthood to Hollywood

In early May Ubisoft games announced they were creating their own film studio: Ubisoft Motion Pictures. To be totally correct it won't be a fully fledged movie studio but more of a production company but there will be an awful lot of potential in this new kid on the block.

Ubisoft are responsible for games such as Assasins Creed, Prince of Persia (already a motion picture released by Disney), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and those wonderful but annoying Raving Rabbids. Although the movie version of Prince of Persia was classed as a flop, it did bring in over £350 million for Disney but that wasn't enough profit for them from a £200 million budget, and to date they have no plans for a sequel, which is a shame because I actually really enjoyed the film and thought it was a great Arabian romp in the same vein as the Pirates trilogy. So will Ubisoft release a sequel through another studio? Who knows, but I hope so. There is a lot of life in the characters and a lot more story to tell.

More importantly though is whether Ubisoft will be able to make any successful films based on video games at all. In the last decade there have some reasonable adaptations such as Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, but along the way there have been some stinkers such as Hitman, Tekken and Dead or Alive (DOA), so Ubisoft have their work cut out if they want to be taken seriously.

So what should they attempt first? Well, the most obvious title in my view would be a movie adaptation of one of the stand out PS3 release titles, Assassins Creed.  The series spawned multiple sequels for various consoles and has sold millions worldwide. There was also a mini movie/series that only had an official release in France and Canada. Called Assassins Creed: Lineage the film is a prequel to the second game and can be viewed on YouTube.

The film actually has a very polished and professional look as you will see from the video so if Ubisoft can create this from a very modest budget I look forward to seeing what they can do with a few dollars more !

A Hobbit Round-up

It seems as if there is some new Hobbit news as each day passes so here is a quick round-up in case you didn't already know

 Saoirse Ronan

First...the rumour(s)....Saoirse Ronan (Lovely Bones, Hana) is rumoured to be playing Itaril. I reckon there is some weight to this rumour. Saoirse has already proved to be a fine young actress with a brilliant performance in the Lovely Bones and you could tell from the making of diaries on the LB Blu Ray bonus disc that she has a good relationship with Peter Jackson.

Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies, The Fall has been cast as Thranduil. I love Lee Pace's work. Pushing Daisies was cancelled well before it's time and I don't think I have seen Lee in anything of any worth, since so this is good news.

Lee Pace

Rob Kazinsky was cast as Fili in the Hobbit but has been forced to leave due to health reasons. Rob is best known in the UK for his role as Sean in the soap EastEnders. The role of Fili has now been given to Kiwi actor  Dean O'Gorman.

Dean O'Gorman

Andy Serkis has been named as Second Unit Director alongside his role as Gollum. This is no surprise as Andy has been a long term collaborator with Peter Jackson since The Fellowship of the Ring and he was also Dramatic Director for the Video Game 'Heavenly Sword'. You only have to look at the behind the scenes extras on the LOTR extended edition DVD's and witness the amount of input Andy had for the character of Gollum to see why Peter Jackson has given Andy this role.

Andy Serkis

Peter Jackson has revealed that The Hobbit will be filmed @ 48 frames per second which is double that of normal productions. This basically means a much, much sharper image. Plus the movie is being shot in 3D so it should be one of the best looking movies ever released.

Lastly.....another rumour doing the rounds is that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul) might make a cameo in The Hobbit. There were on the Hobbiton set whilst film filming TinTin (another Peter Jackson project) so I think it's unlikely you will see them on screen but you never know........

Hobbit Video Diary

Peter Jackson has recently posted a video diary from the production of The Hobbit on his facebook page. I have to say this is very exciting indeed because we get to see a real glimpse of whats to come. With some really great HD views of Bag End and Rivendell and a traditional Maori Welcoming ceremony this 10 min vid has it all. I just hope Mr Jackson makes this a regular thing but I suspect most of the good stuff with be kept for the Blu Ray releases !

Click HERE for the direct link to Peter Jackson's facebook page or have a view of the video on youtube below