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Old 02-19-2008, 06:51 AM   #60
zxcvbn
Wight
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: In front of my PC
Posts: 164
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davem View Post
That's interesting - I've got a tape of a South Bank Show (UK arts programme) where Jackson stated that they'd avoided getting involved with the Estate as they (ie the film makers) didn't want the movies seen as 'officially authorised' versions, because this was just to be their own take on the story.
davem, I couldn't reply for a few days because my computer was down, but now here is the link to the actual interview.
http://list.pvv.org/pipermail/hexago...er/001863.html
Quote:
We are dealing with the "estate", rather than
Christopher personally. They have made their
position very clear: While they are in no way
opposed to a film(s) being made, they do not
want to be involved.

The reason is basically simple: if they had any
involvement, then the films would become
"official" - in other words, they would be seen
as being endorsed by the estate. This is a
situation that the estate does not want, as
they consider themselves to be protectors of
Tolkien's written word, not film makers. I
don't think the estate will be reading scripts
or commenting on the movies. We keep them
informed on progress, which they appreciate,
but they want their involvement to be very arms
length.
This interview dates back to 1998, before the films proved to be such a success and when all parties involved were a lot more humble. So I'm inclined to think PJ was telling the truth. What year is that South Bank show tape from?

Quote:
Originally Posted by davem View Post
So, I've now seen both versions, so I'm not sure what the actual truth is.
Maybe both? The two don't exactly contradict each other.

Quote:
Originally Posted by davem View Post
I can see that the Estate would maybe not want to get involved if their participation was to be trumpeted by New Line as official endorsement, but as I stated CT offered a great deal of help with the radio series, & also gave permission for the producers of the Musical to use Tolkien's linguistic writings. Of course, in neither case did the Estate officially recognise, or endorse, the productions. However, things can be done 'behind the scenes'. 'Approval of scripts' is a delicate matter - would they have allowed CT a veto over anything he found unnacceptable, or was it a case of them showing him the scripts & simply saying 'This is what we're going to do, let us know if you like it'? Did the movie makers offer such a veto - if not, I can see that they'd decline to participate. All I can say, without knowing more about exactly what kind of approach they made, is that in two adaptations (one of which is very much in a visual form) they offered some degree of assistance, & in the other they had no participation. They seem to have a good relationship with both the producers of the radio & stage versions & a pretty poor one with the makers of the films...
Well, I believe the Tolkien Estate had the rights to the stage and radio versions. On the other hand they didn't have the film rights. A few years ago while googling
I came upon an web page on Simon Tolkien(Christopher's disinherited son) where he said that the reason Christopher felt that the Estate should have no involvement in the films is because they didn't own the rights and had no creative control(JRRT chose cash over kudos). Simon countered by saying that the films were going to be made anyway, better to have the Estate involved so thay maybe they can 'steer' them in the right direction. That, among other things, led to the rift between father and son.
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