Peter Jackson Explains Why the ‘Hobbit’ Movies Are Such a Huge Mess - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Morthoron · 06-21-2017, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

ELrond was the first role I ever saw Hugo in. Same with most of them actually.

Oh my, so many of the actors were often in great movies (or at least memorable enough that I knew them when they appeared on screen) prior to the LotR trilogy. My personal favorites:

Christopher Lee - Every Hammer horror film ever made, The Three Musketeers, The Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond flick)

Ian Holm - The Madness of King George, Brazil, Time Bandits

Ian McKellen - Richard III (the best Richard III film of all!), Gods and Monsters, Cold Comfort Farm

Hugo Weaving - The Matrix, The Interview

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth, The Talented Mr. Ripley

Sean Bean - Ronin, GoldenEye, Patriot Games

Bernard Hill - Mountains of the Moon, Titanic

Brad Dourif - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dune, Mississippi Burning

John Rhys-Davies - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Viggo Mortensen - GI Jane, Crimson Tide

Elijah Wood - The Good Son (and a couple crappy cable movies like The Faculty and North

Orlando Bloom - Black Hawk Down (although that was the same year as FotR)

Sean Astin - Several silly teen movies like Rudy, The Goonies and Encino Man

Liv Tyler - In several forgettable movies prior to LotR, but well known beauty-wise, particularly from Aerosmith videos

The rest of the cast, I will admit I didn't know previously (mostly Aussie actors, and Brits who did bit parts before the trilogy), but the above list is pretty extensive.

William Cloud Hicklin · 07-02-2017, 02:31 PM

Weaving was also brilliant in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. As a drag queen, no less.

Elijah Wood's best pre-Frodo role was in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm opposite Christina Ricci. (A fine ensemble cast with Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Katie Holmes and Sigourney Weaver.)

Inziladun · 07-02-2017, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Weaving was also brilliant in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. As a drag queen, no less.

Now, if PJ had let him play Elrond and Arwen, that would have been worth the price of admission.

Morsul the Dark · 07-02-2017, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Oh my, so many of the actors were often in great movies (or at least memorable enough that I knew them when they appeared on screen) prior to the LotR trilogy. My personal favorites:

Christopher Lee - Every Hammer horror film ever made, The Three Musketeers, The Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond flick)

Ian Holm - The Madness of King George, Brazil, Time Bandits

Ian McKellen - Richard III (the best Richard III film of all!), Gods and Monsters, Cold Comfort Farm

Hugo Weaving - The Matrix, The Interview

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth, The Talented Mr. Ripley

Sean Bean - Ronin, GoldenEye, Patriot Games

Bernard Hill - Mountains of the Moon, Titanic

Brad Dourif - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dune, Mississippi Burning

John Rhys-Davies - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Viggo Mortensen - GI Jane, Crimson Tide

Elijah Wood - The Good Son (and a couple crappy cable movies like The Faculty and North

Orlando Bloom - Black Hawk Down (although that was the same year as FotR)

Sean Astin - Several silly teen movies like Rudy, The Goonies and Encino Man

Liv Tyler - In several forgettable movies prior to LotR, but well known beauty-wise, particularly from Aerosmith videos

The rest of the cast, I will admit I didn't know previously (mostly Aussie actors, and Brits who did bit parts before the trilogy), but the above list is pretty extensive.

To be fair I was 13 or 14 and not well versed in movies beyond Jim Carrey.

Snowdog · 07-03-2017, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Oh my, so many of the actors were often in great movies (or at least memorable enough that I knew them when they appeared on screen) prior to the LotR trilogy. My personal favorites:

Christopher Lee - Every Hammer horror film ever made, The Three Musketeers, The Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond flick)

Ian Holm - The Madness of King George, Brazil, Time Bandits

Ian McKellen - Richard III (the best Richard III film of all!), Gods and Monsters, Cold Comfort Farm

Hugo Weaving - The Matrix, The Interview

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth, The Talented Mr. Ripley

Sean Bean - Ronin, GoldenEye, Patriot Games

Bernard Hill - Mountains of the Moon, Titanic

Brad Dourif - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dune, Mississippi Burning

John Rhys-Davies - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Viggo Mortensen - GI Jane, Crimson Tide

Elijah Wood - The Good Son (and a couple crappy cable movies like The Faculty and North

Orlando Bloom - Black Hawk Down (although that was the same year as FotR)

Sean Astin - Several silly teen movies like Rudy, The Goonies and Encino Man

Liv Tyler - In several forgettable movies prior to LotR, but well known beauty-wise, particularly from Aerosmith videos

The rest of the cast, I will admit I didn't know previously (mostly Aussie actors, and Brits who did bit parts before the trilogy), but the above list is pretty extensive.

Miranda Otto in Thin Red Line.

Mithalwen · 07-03-2017, 03:26 AM

Miranda Otto was very good in The way we live now -a BBC adaptation of the Anthony Trollope novel.

Hugo Weaving did a few miniseries which were screened here, possibly anglo australian co-productions. Bodyline, Dirtwater dynasty, Bangkok Hilton.

Pervinca Took · 07-03-2017, 09:02 AM

Did he play the lead in 'Bodyline?' I remember that mini-series very clearly.

Mithalwen · 07-03-2017, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Did he play the lead in 'Bodyline?' I remember that mini-series very clearly.

Yes he was Douglas Jardine and made a good job of humanising an unsympathetic character. I developed a huge schoolgirl crush on him which has endured rather. Priscilla is probably my favourite though!

William Cloud Hicklin · 07-03-2017, 09:05 AM

Ian Holm: Alien. And Chariots of Fire, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. And King Lear for which he received a BAFTA. And many, many more: I believe his knighthood came before LotR was made; certainly he had been in a huge number of prominent films going back to the early 70s. He also, significantly, played Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation.

Holm, Lee, McKellen and Blanchett were the four "big names" in the cast (and all of them had, or since have, been knighted* for their acting careers.)

--------------
*In Cate's case, by France. Oz doesn't do knighthoods any more.

Mithalwen · 07-03-2017, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

.

Holm, Lee, McKellen and Blanchett were the four "big names" in the cast (and all of them had, or since have, been knighted* for their acting careers.)

--------------
*In Cate's case, by France. Oz doesn't do knighthoods any more.

I doubt she would have accepted a damehood anyway as she is a republican. However she has received the highest homegrown honour having been named Companion of the Order of Australian honour (still on the Queen's birthday list though!).

Zigûr · 07-04-2017, 01:04 AM

As an Australian I was familiar with David Wenham prior to his appearance as Faramir because he was the first love interest in a soapy TV show called SeaChange.

I think the only cast members I was already aware of were Bean, Lee, Weaving and Rhys-Davies, but I was only twelve when "Fellowship" was released. I'm very glad I'd already read the books a year earlier.

Faramir Jones · 08-02-2017, 05:30 AM

I think we're in danger of going off topic, in terms of (enjoyably) discussing the previous careers of the actors in the Jackson films...

The Sixth Wizard, I found what you said here interesting:

Remember that some people actually thought the Gollum scene in AUJ was the lowlight of the film. They said it was too boring and out-of-character for Gollum. Of course, most people thought it was the only redeeming feature of the film. I personally think the scene translated the less menacing Gollum of The Hobbit very well given his character in the LOTR films.

The problem I had with the portrayal of that scene was, like with everything that happened inside the Misty Mountains, that it was far too bright, making things not scary enough. This was made worse by this brightness making me think that Bilbo could see the Ring fall from Gollum; so he knew it was the latter's property all along...

07-02-2017, 02:31 PM	#2
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	Weaving was also brilliant in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. As a drag queen, no less. Elijah Wood's best pre-Frodo role was in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm opposite Christina Ricci. (A fine ensemble cast with Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Katie Holmes and Sigourney Weaver.) __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

07-03-2017, 03:26 AM	#6
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	Miranda Otto was very good in The way we live now -a BBC adaptation of the Anthony Trollope novel. Hugo Weaving did a few miniseries which were screened here, possibly anglo australian co-productions. Bodyline, Dirtwater dynasty, Bangkok Hilton. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace

07-03-2017, 09:02 AM	#7
Pervinca Took Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Treetops, C/O Great Smials Posts: 5,035	Did he play the lead in 'Bodyline?' I remember that mini-series very clearly. __________________ "Sit by the firelight's glow; tell us an old tale we know. Tell of adventures strange and rare; never to change, ever to share! Stories we tell will cast their spell, now and for always."

07-03-2017, 09:05 AM	#9
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	Ian Holm: Alien. And Chariots of Fire, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. And King Lear for which he received a BAFTA. And many, many more: I believe his knighthood came before LotR was made; certainly he had been in a huge number of prominent films going back to the early 70s. He also, significantly, played Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation. Holm, Lee, McKellen and Blanchett were the four "big names" in the cast (and all of them had, or since have, been knighted* for their acting careers.) -------------- In Cate's case, by France. Oz doesn't do knighthoods any more. __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.*

07-04-2017, 01:04 AM	#11
Zigûr Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 785	As an Australian I was familiar with David Wenham prior to his appearance as Faramir because he was the first love interest in a soapy TV show called SeaChange. I think the only cast members I was already aware of were Bean, Lee, Weaving and Rhys-Davies, but I was only twelve when "Fellowship" was released. I'm very glad I'd already read the books a year earlier. __________________ "Since the evening of that day we have journeyed from the shadow of Tol Brandir." "On foot?" cried Éomer.

08-02-2017, 05:30 AM	#12
Faramir Jones Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Lonely Isle Posts: 706	In danger of going off topic and Gollum I think we're in danger of going off topic, in terms of (enjoyably) discussing the previous careers of the actors in the Jackson films... The Sixth Wizard, I found what you said here interesting: Remember that some people actually thought the Gollum scene in AUJ was the lowlight of the film. They said it was too boring and out-of-character for Gollum. Of course, most people thought it was the only redeeming feature of the film. I personally think the scene translated the less menacing Gollum of The Hobbit very well given his character in the LOTR films. The problem I had with the portrayal of that scene was, like with everything that happened inside the Misty Mountains, that it was far too bright, making things not scary enough. This was made worse by this brightness making me think that Bilbo could see the Ring fall from Gollum; so he knew it was the latter's property all along...