I’ve been spending some time while recuperating from a really nasty bout with the flu watching through the bonus materials on the Two Towers Extended DVD. It’s always fascinating to watch the creative process, and even more so when it’s such a monumentally huge production.
One thing that’s not included in the bonus materials is the story of the business angle of how the trilogy got made. There’s some reference to a switch of movie companies, but not much else (unless I missed that part). You have to wonder about the pitch meetings for the trilogy:
“So we’re going to make the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. At once. In New Zealand.”
“Huh?”
“It’ll be insanely expensive. We’ll have 20,000 orcs and stuff.”
“Ok?”
“Nobody’s ever been able to pull it off before.”
“Hah?”
“Tolkien fans are a completely rabid bunch of freaks, and they’re going to scrutinize everything we do and second-guess us at every turn. We’ll use mostly unknown actors. And Gollum, one of the central characters, will have to be completely digital. Nobody’s ever done that successfully before. Oh, and did we mention that the way Lord of the Rings is written makes it incredibly difficult to translate to a movie?”
“Glurg.”
“So how about signing up for it? We’ll need gobs and gobs of money and the whole thing could blow up in our faces.”
“Let me get my check book.”
Posted Tuesday, 09 December, 2003 by Nic Lindh
All Nic wants for WWDC is sync that actually works
Another book roundup, including some stellar athletes and soldiers, what might be the most jaded, soul-weary protagonist ever, and some grimdark fantasy.
The Internet is getting creepy, and Nic is breaking out his tinfoil hat after newspaper paywalls push him over the edge.
Nic is tired of tech sites obsessing over Apple’s financials and business strategy. So very tired.
Nic reads a book about the processed food industry and is incensed.
Computers are complicated. This brings out the irrational in people.
Nic proposes the loan word Rechthaberei be incorporated into American English.
The Core Dump is back! Books were read during the hiatus. Includes The Coldest Winter, Oh, Myyy!, Tough Sh*t, The Revolution Was Televised, The Rook, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Gun Machine, Fortress Frontier, Standing in Another Man’s Grave, and The Memory of Light.
This site will return in February.
From a true patriot to a world-weary detective, a dead god, and a civilization about to sublime from the galaxy, this book roundup spans the gamut. Includes Where Men Win Glory, Wild, Inside the Box, The Black Box, Three Parts Dead, Red Country, and The Hydrogen Sonata.