Advertisements in Britain for The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas quoted seven phrases taken from reviews on the film fans’ website IMDb.com (the Internet Movie Database).
The praise included “Simply stunning” from a blogger called Theedge-4, and “Please please see this film”, written by Mjavfc1.
Apparently, the quotes were used in newspaper and online adverts.Â
It strikes me as a little odd that Disney’s UK marketing team would go down this route, given that the film got mostly good reviews anyway from ‘established’ critics.
Are they are somehow trying to appeal to a younger viewer who doesn’t read newspapers or magazines and gets their reviews online?
Later in the piece, Disney UK’s executive marketing director explains their aims:Â
Having used many of the criticsâ quotes on all pre-release ads and also for a further two weeks in-season, we felt that it would provide a welcome change for readers if we were to freshen up the campaign and, crucially, demonstrate that the film now has the support of the public and the critics,â he said.
âThe key point to make is that the bloggersâ reviews were always to be used in addition to – and never ‘instead ofâ – those of the film critics.â
Mr Jury added: âThe recognised film critics are, and will continue to be, one of the mainstays of the industry from both a marketing and publicity point of view.â
I’m still not sure this was a great strategy and I think they have confused ‘bloggers‘, as I understand the term, with IMDb users.
But to quote usernames like ‘Mjavfc1’ and ‘Theedge-4’ on a poster for a serious film like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas seems a little bit odd.Â
The Telegraph does also bring up some interesting issues though, as it reports on why this kind of marketing might be damaging to ‘traditional’ film criticism:
…the practice, used in newspaper and online marketing of the picture, has been condemned by professional critics.
Jason Solomons, chairman of the film section of The Critics’ Circle, said: “These online postings are unreliable. We don’t know who the writers are.
Anybody can make up an internet name – it could be the producer himself or one of the actors.
“It’s a very dangerous area because the anonymity gives them complete freedom to express themselves without being accountable for what they have written. It’s actually cowardly and I don’t think it’s helpful to use them.”
I actually have a lot of sympathy with what Jason is saying here, as I generally believe that openness and transparency are very important for online readers and writers. Â
Apart from exceptional circumstances when anonymity needs to be used for the greater good, such as whistle-blowers or those blogging in repressive regimes, saying who you are is important as it encourages a better and more honest debate.Â
Although many critics applauded the film, none of their reviews were quoted in the newspaper advertisement.
I’m guessing that this was because this particular part of the ad campaign was meant to appeal to a more online-savvy audience, whatever the merits of that.
But it goes on:
The situation contrasts with Mama Mia [sic], which was released to critical derision earlier this year but flourished after reviews by the public.
I think ‘reviews by the public’ means good old traditional word of mouth doesn’t it? Or are they talking about those TV spots that include interviews with audience members enthusing about a film outside a cinema?
But now the wheels really start to come off this article:Â
Mr Solomons, who writes for a number of national newspapers and was among those who praised The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, said: “This is a very important film and it’s a shame to see it cheapened in this way, especially when it had decent reviews.”
He said that some of his colleagues believed the use of blogging reviews threatened their future.
“There is a fear that it could spell the end of the critic. I’m hoping that it will highlight the inconsistencies of the internet and reinforce the point of us. People will realise they can’t be guided by ‘Pete63’ because they don’t know who it is.”
Mr Solomons stressed the importance of the relationship between the critic and the public and said: “When a film-goer reads a critic whose views chime with theirs, they know that if the critic likes a film then they go along and enjoy it. That wouldn’t happen with a blogger they don’t know.”
Whilst Jason is expressing a legitimate point of view, the article is framed so that anonymous-bloggers-with whacky-names are positioned against the good old-fashioned print critic.
But you know something is seriously wrong when a national newspaper is using a phrase like ‘blogging reviews’. What exactly are ‘blogging reviews’?
My feeling here is that comments on IMDb message boards are being confused with people who write online in a blog format.
What is a blog format, or indeed a blog? Well, it usually (but not always) means a website, or a section of one, which contains diary style entries, links to other sites and a comments section.
But the mistake some journalists make (like Rachel Cooke of the Observer back in 2006) is that they see all ‘bloggers’ as one huge pack of anonymous amateurs writing ill-informed articles.
Whilst there is a lot of bad writing amongst the millions of blogs out there, only a total buffoon would dismiss them as one amorphous group.
After all, there are many great blogs out there publishing a lot of interesting film material on a regular basis.
All of these are bloggers I read on a regular basis. They have different qualities and voices that I want as part of my regular film reading.Â
I judge them on what they write – not the technical mechanism by which their content reaches me.Â
Whilst I agree with Jason’s view that anonymity is (mostly) a bad thing, his view of film criticism (e.g. newspaper critic sees film, which newspaper reader then dutifully goes to see) is a little outdated.Â
Now, a film fan with web access – which is a lot of people – can read all sorts of interesting and well written sites about films. The trick is to sort out the good from the bad.Â
My contention in these – now surely dated – debates about ‘old’ and ‘new’ media is that the cream will rise to the top.
When some newspaper journalists get into these discussions they often seem like a vicar at a rave – disapproving, confused and out of place.
But is this idea of angry bloggers waving their pitchforks at mainstream media either helpful or accurate?
Surely with the sheer range of film writing out on the web, there are bound to be some lesser known bloggers who are better than well paid journalists?
What’s interesting to me is that for all of the money and resources pumped into the film sections of The Guardian and The Telegraph, a blog like GreenCine Daily is more useful than either of those.
Now I should say that I enjoy and regularly read the Guardian and Telegraph film sections – a lot of the articles they comission and publish are well written and as national newpapers they can draw upon a pool of excellent contacts and resources.
So why is a blog like Green Cine Daily superior? Because it links daily to some of the most interesting film content on the web and has a great range which takes in blockbusters like Hancock and releases like Silent Light and Vampyr. (And I’m not just saying this because they occasionally link to my stuff).
So, something does stick in the craw when established newspapers distort and misrepresent film writing on the web as anonymous amatuers who are endangering their profession.
For all the power and heavy lifting of ‘old media’ companies, there still seems to be a reluctance to really link out to the best of the web as they appear to be stuck in a world where they have to be the best at everything.
Blogs on traditional newspapers are often not what I would call proper blogs, but rather sections where they throw out questions or allow comments on pieces commissioned for the print newspaper.
To be fair, things are improving and I salute editors like Alan Rusbridger and Will Lewis for embracing the web but that said surely the credits are beginning to roll on the age where we solely read national newspaper critics?
The traditional skeptical response to this inevitable change is to say: ‘ah yes, that’s all very well but there’s a lot of rubbish on the internet’.
But my usual response to that is why aren’t you ignoring the rubbish and hunting down the good stuff? If you need some examples to get going, check out my list of useful movie websites.
Good writers – I think – will always be read. What hasn’t yet been worked out, due to the technological and social changes engulfing the media, is how that will work out in the long run.
Whilst I have sympathy for journalists and news organisations who’s traditional working methods are threatened, it is vital that they and their owners engage in a positive debate about how to use the web to their advantage rather than complain about what a threat it has been.
But the final irony of the Telegraph article is this bit:
Another reviewer, who did not wish to be named, said he suspected Disney quoted the bloggers because it feared the film would receive a critical mauling.
“I don’t wish to be snobbish about them but you can find bloggers who can rave about anything,” he said.Â
So it seems wrong for bloggers to remain anonymous, but does the same standard apply to journalists issuing snotty comments?
It seems you can find journalists who will remain anonymous and ignorant about anything.
It focuses mainly on W. –Â his upcoming biopic of George W. Bush but branches into other areas.
There are some fairly juicy quotes.
On Bush:
I think that was always the attraction. I always thought of Nixon as like my father. Nixon was like a father to my generation, but it was the behavior of the man that reminded me ofmy father. Bush is my generation. Itâs the behavior of me, the culture of me.
On the budget of W. and the casting of Josh Brolin:
And we were turned down by everybody for money, including your Aunt Gertrude. It was humiliating. I make no bones about it. I think this is a great subject. I donât think I have a bad track record. I needed a star, though, and Josh Brolin was not a star.
Originally I went for Christian Bale. We did some rigorous prosthetic tests and spent a lot of doughâthousands and thousands of dollarsâand then Christian said, âI just donât feel like I can do it.â I met Josh and liked him. He was more rural Americana. But man, he was scared shitless.
That wasnât a media strategy. That was an outrageous leak by a company called Participant. One of their assistants was trying to make a few bucks, and he sold it, and then it was everywhere.
There were articles everywhere destroying it, historians trashing what weâd done. We didnât want that. All because of an assistant. Christ.
The cops came to this bar. They arrested Jeffrey because the bartender had a hair up his ass about this uppity black man from the North. And contrary to reports, he was not drunk. I was there. He was arrested because he had words with the cops.
As for Brolin? It was the first night he had had a couple of drinks the whole time we were shooting. He had been sober for five months for the role, so he let loose a little bit and they got him, too.
If I had the guts, I would have done the Sergio Leone three-hour cut for Europe and butchered it for Warner Bros. And I would have taken out the homosexuality, which is what Warners really objected to.
They have told my people that they donât want to work with me again. I should have just said, âOkay, guys, go for it. Just make your cut.â
And it would have been a much shorter, truncated film, and who knows, it might have made more than $32 million. It might have made fifty-two. Eighty-two. Who knows? You donât have any idea how big an issue the homosexuality was. Especially when it comes to a military movie.
And on Pinkville, the planned film about the My Lai massacre that UA got cold feet on last year:
We had our locations, we had our actors, we had everything picked out, and it was a very reasonable plan.
Then Bruce Willis walked, and they were thrilled, because that gave them the final excuse to call it, even though we got Nicholas Cage.
That was three weeks before shooting and right before Christmas. Let me remind you, thatâs 120 Americans and 500 Thais put out of work right before Christmas.
It was a cruel, heartless decision, and it was probably made because [UAâs] Lions for Lambs was perceived as a mess, a failure, and we were linked to these Iraq movies that werenât working.
….And I have UA going on and on about âDo the bad guys have to be Americans?â
Last night [Thurs 18th Sept] at the concert they were filming another movie “Crazy Heart”, starring Jeff Bridges, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall.
Those in attendance were treated to be a part of the film as they filmed concert footage for the film.
The film is about a down-on-his-luck alcoholic country music singer who, through his relationship and experiences with a female reporter, is able to get his life and career back on track.
During the filming at the Toby Keith Concert Colin Farrell and Jeff Bridges got on stage and sang to the audience while scenes were shot. I must say they were not half bad as country singers.
I was allowed to bring in a small digital camera and I took pictures and some small videos of the filming.
I saw the new new Liam Neeson thriller Taken last night – which is actually very entertaining – and on the way out of the cinema I caught a glimpse of the UK poster.
The story is about an ex-CIA agent (Neeson) who goes after his kidnapped daughter in Paris.
It reminded me of something….
An ex-CIA agent who wreaks havoc against shady people in Europe and a poster with a mean and moody character, gun and long dark jacket.
Sound familiar?
To be fair there are some differences between the films, but the poster designs are strikingly similar.
Col Needham, the founder and managing director of IMDb.com, Inc. has announced:
IMDbâs mission has always been to be the worldâs most comprehensive, user-friendly destination for all movie, TV and celebrity-related information, products and services,â
âWeâre excited to offer our users a simple online experience to watch full-length movies and TV episodes for free. Our goal is to show our users every movie and TV show on the Internet for free on IMDb.com.â
Whilst this is obviously a logical move for the site, I imagine rights issues will mean that UK viewers won’t be able to watch a lot of the content available to US users.
Encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom
To promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners
To promote education about film, television and the moving image generally, and their impact on society
To promote access to and appreciation of the widest possible range of British and world cinema
To establish, care for and develop collections reflecting the moving image history and heritage of the United Kingdom.
If you live in the UK or London you may have been to see a film at the NFT or IMAX cinemas which are both run by the BFI.
Their YouTube channel now has a lot of videos from their extensive vault, which (according to them) is the world’s largest and most diverse film and TV archive.
There is some very interesting footage from a football match in 1901 between Newcastle United and Liverpool:
A short film called ‘Springtime in an English Village’ which offers a snapshot of rural life in wartime:
The Oscar-nominated documentary âNo End in Sight,â which chronicles the early months of the American occupation of Iraq, will be available on YouTube starting Monday and continuing through the presidential election on Nov. 4.
Charles Ferguson, the director of the film, which won the Documentary Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, said in a statement that he had underwritten its screening on YouTube because âI wanted to make the film, and the facts about the occupation of Iraq, accessible to a larger group of people.â
He added, âMy hope is that this will contribute to the process of making better foreign policy decisions moving forward in Iraq and elsewhere.â
This is a very smart move – not only will it boost audiences and awareness for the film but I also think that it could actually help future DVD sales.
Although this might sound strange, think of those who have never heard of it but watch it on YouTube and then reccommend it to a friend, who in turn buys the DVD because they prefer that format.
Whatever happens, the publicity generated by being the first feature to officially (i.e. legally) screen on YouTube will give the film a timely boost ahead of the US presidential election.
It was a discussion of The Dark Knight but also got into other areas such as the new Watchmen trailer, the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films (my favourite anecdote was what Kevin was doing the day in 1989 when Batman came out) and the possible villains in the next Nolan film.
What’s nice is that the conversation is relaxed but intelligent (I liked the use of the term Nolan-verse) and full of passion about the Batman character and films.
One point that stuck out for me was when they mused on the fact that Warner Bros actually greenlit and stumped up the cash for a blockbuster as ambitious and dark as this – so props to the suits at Burbank for allowing Nolan to bring his vision to the screen.
A few years ago a friend of mine showed me the first DVD of An Evening with Kevin Smith and I was surprised how funny and engaging he could be on stage (especially as he plays Silent Bob in his movies). But some of the stories are hilarious.
Back in March I came across a highly impressive montage of the films of Paul Thomas Anderson on YouTube.
The user-name of the video was barringer82 and a couple of days ago whilst listening to the FilmCouch podcast (which you can subscribe to here), I found out more about the creator of this video and other montages of great directors.
By the time I reached my senior year in college, I was the go-to guy when someone needed an editor. It’s weird how, in film school, everybody branches off into their own specialty areas – and it’s usually not by choice. It’s not like it’s always been my dream to be an editor.
After I graduated, I spent a year shooting and cutting my own stuff; doing all the stuff I couldn’t do before because school got in the way.
Once I got a decent demo together, I began looking for a job. Thing is, people don’t put out ads for writer/directors – the best someone in my position can do is finding editing jobs – and there are quite a few (though many of them are for porn sites).
I’ve been getting by as a freelance editor for the past year – doing most of my work for a pop culture website called sly-fi.com.
And how he got in to doing montages:
As I’m thinking of it, I started doing this when I was 12 – I used to cut Queen songs together using audio cassettes. I was always fascinated by the quick little music montages radio stations play to give a sense of their genre. But I guess more than that, it was the Oscar montages.
People complain there are too many of them during any given telecast – I wish the whole ceremony were those. (Anyone who loves them as much as I, I suggest you seek out the 69th Oscar opener).
But the first video I did was a Scorsese tribute. Apart from being one of my favorites, he shoots his movies in a way that is both specific and open to edits – they simply gel together in way no one else’s pictures do. But
I think the real reason I actually sat down and DID IT was because, plainly I had nothing else I could do. Unfortunately, I don’t have actors, money, or locations. I do have editing software and DVDs. Lots of DVDs. So, if I had nothing to shoot, why not cut some of the best existing footage.
YouTube announced last month that they are creating a online resource for filmmakers called The Screening Room.
Check out this promo video:
The idea is that it will be a new platform that will enable independent filmmakers to a wider global audience.
Although the video sharing site already contains a lot of user generated content, this is a new dedicated section that also makes more authored short films to stand out.
Filmmakers can opt for their films to have a ‘Buy Now’ option next to their work for DVD or digital sales and they can then share in the majority of ad revenue generated from views.
To submit you just send and an email with information about your film to [email protected] (although you have to make sure that you own all the digital rights to the work you are submitting).
Each week, four new films will be selected by an editorial panel and then uploaded and highlighted in the Screening Room section.
“Hopefully as they see thousands of people watching their films, it’s going to be a very eye-opening experience,” said Sara Pollack, YouTube’s film and animation manager.
Among the first eight titles to be showcased are “Love and War,” a stop-motion puppet movie by a Swedish director; the Oscar-nominated short “I Met The Walrus,” about an interview with John Lennon; and “Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?” by performance artist Miranda July.
YouTube said people whose clips regularly attract a million viewers can make several thousand dollars a month. The bigger prize can be exposure.
When YouTube featured the nine-minute short “Spider” by Nash Edgerton in February, it became the fifth-best selling short on iTunes, Pollack said.
The creators of the full-length feature “Four Eyed Monsters,” Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, got their break when more than a million YouTube views helped land them a TV and DVD distribution deal, she said.
“They ended up doing really, really well, ironically by putting their film online for free,” Pollack said.
Although, directors can already upload to sites like MySpace and YouTube, this new section appears to be more filmmaker friendly and makes it easier for quality shorts to get exposure outside the usual avenue of festivals and late night TV slots.
Some of the most recent examples to be showcased are:
Love and War: A stop-motion ‘animated opera’ by Swedish director Frederick Emilson
I Met The Walrus: The Oscar-nominated short about an interview with John Lennon
During the making of Stanley Kubrick‘s Dr. Strangelove (1964) Peter Sellers did a series of phone interviews to promote the movie and demonstrated his amazing ability to mimic British accents:
If you are wondering why he is doing this in make up and costume, back in the 60s actors would give generic answers to pre-scripted questions.
They were actually talking to someone on the set and the media outlet would then edit these into the final interviews.
The moment that stands out for me is around 5.03 when he says ‘what if they’ve got the wrong guy?’
That is one of the key subjects of the recent documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, which explores how US troops interrogated and tortured an innocent Afghan taxi driver to death.
A Stanley Kubrick season starts this month on UK TV channel More4, with a series of his films screening between the 15th and 25th of July.
Channel 4 Creative Services have created this excellent TV spot to promote the season, which is a one shot recreation of The Shining set, shot from Kubrick’s point of view:
The season kicks off with a documentary called Citizen Kubrick, which screens on Saturday 15th at 10pm.
It is presented by Jon Ronson, who was invited to the director’s estate in 2001 to explore the many boxes the Kubrick had collected during his life at Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire.
The season continues over the next two weeks with the following films:
Day of the Fight (1951): An early documentary short about a day in the life of a middleweight Irish boxer named Walter Cartier and his fight with black middleweight Bobby James. (Saturday 15th July, 11.05pm)
Paths of Glory (1957): One of Kubrick’s early classics – a searing anti-war film about innocent French soldiers sentenced to death after taking the blame for the mistakes of their superiors. Kirk Douglas gives an excellent central performance as Colonel Dax, an officer trying to prevent the soldiers’ execution. Watch out too for a cameo near the end from the actress who whould become his wife Christiane Kubrick, then credited as ‘Christiane Harlan’. (Screens 17 July, 11:55am).
Flying Padre(1951): Another documentary short about two days in the life of a priest in New Mexico called Father Fred Stadtmuller whose spreads the word of God with the aid of a mono-plane. (Screens on Friday 18th July, 12.55pm in the afternoon)
Lolita (1962): Kubrick moved to England in the early 1960s to film this adaptation of Vladimir Nabakov’s novel and stayed here for the rest of his life. James Mason stars as Humbert Humbert, a middle aged professor obsessed with a precocious young girl. Although aspects of the novel had to be toned down for censorship reasons, it is still a work of considerable interest. (Screens Friday 18th July at 9pm).
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Kubrick’s adaptation of Arthur C Clarke‘s short story The Sentinel reimagined science fiction on film and inspired a generation of writers and directors. The story charts how a mysterious alien intelligence influences mankind from it’s earliest origins to a futuristic space mission involving two astronauts and an advanced computer named HAL 9000. The visual effects (overseen by Kubrick and engineered by Douglas Trumbull) are still dazzling and the use of classical music (especially Richard Strauss’sAlso sprach Zarathustra) is now inextricably linked with the film and it’s imagery. (Screens Saturday 19th July, 1.30pm)
Killer’s Kiss(1955): Kubrick’s second film is a short (only 67 mins), low budget film noir about a has-been boxer (Jamie Smith) who falls for a woman with a violent boyfriend. (Screens Monday 21st July, 11.30pm)
The Killing (1956): Notable for being Kubrick’s first feature with a professional cast and crew, this is a tautly plotted heist drama adapted from Lionel White‘s novel Clean Break by Kubrick and co-screenwriter Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden (who would return in a key supporting role in Dr Strangelove) takes the lead. (Screens Wednesday 23rd July, 12.05am).
The Shining (1980): A remarkable and enduring adaptation Stephen King‘s novel about the winter caretaker (Jack Nicholson) of a remote hotel who slowly goes insane, endangering his wife (Shelley Duvall) and young son (Danny Lloyd). Although King was upset with Kubrick’s take on the material, there is much here to feast on, especially the meticulous production design, inventive sound editing and innovative visuals. It was the first time Kubrick used the Steadicam, which was invented by Garrett Brown – the cinematographer who achieved many of the remarkable tracking shots in the film. (Screens Friday 25th July, 9pm).
It is a great chance to catch up on the work of one of the most important directors in the history of cinema.
A new interview series hosted by Elvis Mitchell is about to start airing on TCM in the US.
It is called Under the Influence and features Mitchell speaking to various luminaries from the film world about how classic film has influenced their lives.
This is another viral video of games designer Matt Harding – who travelled the world and shot footage of himself and others dancing in various places across the globe.
This is the third video of his to become a huge viral hit and already has 529,142 views on YouTube.
It also stars Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Stana Katic, Dan Lauria, Jaime King, Paz Vega and Louis Lombardi.
Miller says of the movie:
Much has been the fuss in the comicsâ blogosphere about my SPIRIT movieâmuch justified, much hoped for, and much to my delight, that there has been a fuss at all.
Some comics readers are terrified that THE SPIRIT will be a retread of my SIN CITY. Others quarrel over the change of the SPIRITâS traditional blue hat, mask, and jacket, to black.
These are understandable concerns for any lover of Will Eisnerâs masterpiece. I take this opportunity to address these concerns. With glee, I take this opportunity.
THE SPIRIT is, with every effort I give it, not a rusty, dusty old monument to the work of my beloved Mentor, so much as it is an extension of what I know to have been Eisnerâs central intent: to create something new, witty, and exploratory. Thatâs what he did. Thatâs what Iâm doing.
It only resembles SIN CITY in that I am its director, and, well, yes, I have my ways and my proclivities. Luckily, I was able to discern three important proclivities I share with the Master. We both love good stories. We both love New York City. And we both love beautiful women.
He also addresses the blue suit issue:
Now, about that blue suit. Comic books have long traditions based on the limitations of pre-digital printing.
Among these are traditions from the old newsprint-run-through-letterpress approach (yes, comics have beenâand still do–follow tradition that dates all the way back to Gutenberg!).
Bad printing on pulp paper is why it was necessary for every superhero to have his emblem printed on his chest, and that everything thatâs black be printed in blue.
Hence Supermanâs preposterous blue hair. And the Spiritâs blue hat, mask, and suit. In testsâand we did severalâthe blue made the Spirit look like an unfortunate guest at a Halloween party.
Going to black brings back his essential mystery, his Zorro-like sexiness. It also makes that red tie of his look very, very cool.
So I made the call, with all respect to Eisnerâs creation, and most importantly, to what I perceived as his underlying intention. It was an easy call for me to make. The Spirit dresses in black, and looks much the better for it.
As I said, my desire was never to slavishly follow the rules of â40s printing into campy oblivion, but to reintroduce Eisnerâs creation, via modern technology, to our brave new world.
We found they [MySpace] were like 3 days away from being bought by Viacom, so we said ‘what does it cost for you to lock yourself in a room with us for the weekend?’.
They said ‘an extra $50 million’ and …we came out with a company.
Facebook came in an did a brilliant job – went past us all.
Nearly 6,000 fans asked almost 4,000 questions before the chat began and during the session they came in at nearly a question per second.
In the end Peter (in New Zealand) and Guillermo (in London) sifted through all the questions and answered about 60 of the most popular ones.
Here are some selected highlights:
WHICH OF THE ACTORS FROM LOTR WILL BE BACK TO REPRISE THEIR ROLES IN THE HOBBIT AND ITS COMPANION FILM?
Guillermo del Toro: Obviously, at this stage, the second film is still being figured out- so the actors that have been approached may or not have appeared in the HOBBIT as a literary work but still may appear in the second film as it âblendsâ into the Trilogy and expands.
Therefore what can be said is: Unequivocally, every single actor that originated a role in the Trilogy will be asked to participate and reprise it. If Health, availability or willigness become obstacles â and only in that case recasting would be considered.
Peter Jackson: Like Guillermo says, apart from extreme circumstances, we would never recast a character who appeared in the LOTR trilogy. You can read The Hobbit and pretty much see which characters play a part. The unknown facter is Film Two, which we are still developing. If we wished to write one of the LOTR characters into the narrative of Film Two, we would only do that with that actors blessing, and willingess to take part. Otherwise we’d take the writing in another direction.
WHEN DEL TORO HAS ACKNOWLEDGED HIS DISDAIN FOR HOBBITS AND “SWORD AND SANDALS” FANTASY, HOW CAN HE DO JUSTICE TO THE MOVIE? WHY CAN’T PETER DIRECT IT HIMSELF AFTER THE LOVELY BONES?
Guillermo del Toro: Okay- If by âSword and Sandalâ you mean âSword and Sorceryâ I stand by the general lines of my statement in 2006.
When that statement was made- at different times during PANS LABYRINTHâs promotion, many a time I made the distinctive call to say that althought I had not read Tolkien outside THE HOBBIT I had been fascinated by the Trilogy films. A statement that I already had the chance to make in 2005 when PJ, Fran and I met about HALO.
So, no, generally I am NOT a âSword and Sorceryâ guy or a âFantasyâ guy- By the same token, I’m not a sci-fi guy but I would make a film based on Ellison in a second- or on Sturgeon or Bradbury or Matheson.
I’m not into Barbarians with swords but i would kill to tackle Fafhrd and Grey Mouse… and so on and so forth… I’m a believer but not a Dogmatic.
Allow me to put a final, finer point to our discussion. The aesthetics of HELLBOY II are completely Pop and color-saturated, much more comic book / modern than I would ever use in THE HOBBIT but- I spend two years creating a world of Fairies, Elves, Trolls, etc
Two Years. A career / creative decision that precedes any inkling of THE HOBBIT. I wrote the script years before I met with PJ or Fran. In other words I dedicated the last 6 years of my career (between PL and HBII) to create Fantastical world inhabited by Fairies, Fauns, Ogres, Trolls, Elves, etc
In that respect- I guess I am a Fantasy guy when the particular world appeals to me. Back in the Jurassic Period (1992 / 1993) when CRONOS won the Criticâs Week at Cannes I was referred to as an âart house guyâ- I followed that with a giant cockroach movie that proved successful enough to spawn two sequels and allow me to co-finance THE DEVILS BACKBONE which send me back to being an âart house guyâ.
Then I did BLADE II and people thought of me as an âAction guyâ- PJ went through a similar mercurial career with HEAVENLY CREATURES, BAD TASTE, DEAD ALIVE, etc I squirm away from a tag and I hope I can avoid being just a âFantasy guyâ after PL, HBII and HâŠ
I do the tales I love (regardless of what shelf Barnes & Noble classifies the book under) and I love the HOBBIT.
I love it enough to give it half a decade of my life and move half a world away to do it.
Peter Jackson: Having directed the LOTR Trilogy, I really felt that I put my heart and soul into dramatising this world and story, only a few years ago. The idea of going back in and essentially competing against my own movies, seemed to be an unsatsifying way to spend the next 5 years.
However, I love Tolkien and care deeply about the movies we made. I couldn’t bear the idea of somebody else making them without our involvement. Being a writer and producer is the perfect way for me to work here.
Guillermo has the ultimate responsibility of directing, and for him it’s easier to make these movies feel different, simply because he’s not me, and he therefore has an original vision, with new ideas to offer.
Believe me, I thought long and hard about this, and what we’re doing here will result in better movies, I promise you. And that’s all that counts!
WILL WE NOTICE A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN VISUAL STYLE FROM LOTR TO THE HOBBIT DUE TO GUILLERMO’S UNIQUE ASTHETIC?
Guillermo del Toro: The basic designs, the preestablished designs will be only âupdatedâ insofar as the epoch difference.
Half a century more or less which in Middle Earth terms is not that much but- think about how much our world has changed from â say 2001 to nowâŠ
The new settings and designs should blend in enough not to feel like a completely different world but yes, the movies are bound to have some distinctive stylistic imprint.
WILL GOLLUM PLAY A ROLE IN THE NEW FILM?
Guillermo del Toro: Yes! As all of you know, Gollum has a rather fascinating arch to go through and his alliance to Shelob or his period of imprisonment in Thranduil’s, etc but it is early still- so early in fact that to reveal more would tie our hands and be counterproductive.
PETER, COULD CLARIFY WHAT YOUR ROLE WILL BE IN THE PRODUCTION OF THESE FILMS: WHAT EXACTLY DOES AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER DO?
Peter Jackson: Truth is “Executive Producers” do a range of things on movies from a lot to virtually nothing! I see myself being one of a production team.
My interest is helping Guillermo make the very best films he can. I love writing and I’m looking forward to that. Guillermo will be writing, along with Fran, Philippa and myself.
As a director, I could never direct something I didn’t have a hand in writing, and we’re not expecting Guillermo to do that either.
If the director is part of the writing, it means he was there when the discussions took place, story decisions were made … he knows why things are the way they are, and what they need to achieve.
Everything is in a script for a reason, and only by being part of a writing team (or writing it yourself), do you really understand the intention of every beat.
I see my role as being part of that writing team, which will create the blueprint, and then helping Guillermo construct the movie.
I want Guillermo to make his movies, and I want to make sure we end up with a 5 movie series that’s as good as it can possibly be.
WILL YOU BE USING THE SAME PRODUCTION TEAM (AS THE LOTR TRILOGY)?
Guillermo del Toro: Many of them will be back. I will supplement the FX departments, the design departments (with very interesting names), but the crew will utilize as many of the original elements as possible.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT GUILLERMO THAT MADE YOU FEEL HE WAS THE RIGHT GUY TO CONTINUE ON THE SAGA OF MIDDLE-EARTH? ARE THE TWO OF YOU ON THE SAME PAGE FOR THE VISION, DIRECTION, AND STYLE THAT THESE MOVIES WILL HAVE? IF THE TWO OF YOU DISAGREE ON A POINT, WHO WINS OUT?
Peter Jackson: I’ll talk more about this in a later question, but watching his films, he has respect for fantasy. He understands it, he’s not frightened by it.
Guillermo also understands character, and how the power of any movie is almost always linked to how closely we empathize with characters within the story.
His work shows great care and love for the main characters he creates. He also has supreme confidence with design, and visual effects.
So many film makers are scared of visual effects – which is no crime, but tough if you’re doing one of these movies!
If we disagree, the director has to win, because you should never force a director to shoot something they don’t believe in.
But we’re both reasonably practical and ego-free, and I believe that if we disagree, we both have the ability to express our differing theorys – state our case, like lawyers – and between us, work out what’s best for the movie.
WHEN DO YOU EXPECT FILMING TO BEGIN?
Peter Jackson: At this point in time the plan is to write for the rest of this year and start early conceptual designs.
2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back.
Post production follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released Dec 2011, and F2 release Dec 2012.
That is the schedule in about as much detail as we have ourselves at the moment.
