Jackson Takes On Middle Earth
© Elizabeth Burton
Casting is currently underway worldwide for the ambitious three-movie project, with filming of the first part of the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring," slated to begin in August. New Line Cinema, producers of the film series, hope to have it ready for release on Christmas Day 2000.
This isn't the first time Tolkien's classic has been transferred to film, of course. In 1978, Ralph Bakshi created a version of the first two books, "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers," that combined animation and live action and left fans panting for more. The final book, "The Return of the King," was, alas, given into the hands of Arthur Rankin Jr., who dumbed it down into a Saturday morning kiddiefest with green elves and silly Hobbits.
Director Jackson's version is all live action, and advance information is that he won't be using famous faces that might detract from the power of the story. So, Harrison Ford won't be playing Strider and Michelle Pfeiffer will have to look for other work than the role of Galadriel. Casting calls have gone out in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States, and the word is that the portfolios are arriving on the casting directors' desks by the carload.
It remains to be seen whether Jackson will prove to be the man for the job. His past credits tend more toward the bizarre with films such as "Dead Alive" (aka "Brain Dead") and "The Frighteners." And, considering the low tolerance level Tolkien admirers have for people messing with their favorite author, he won't have too much room to play with the material if he wants to direct the next "Titanic."
Joining him on the scripting team are Philippa Boyens and Stephen Sinclair. This is Boyens's first major film project, which makes one hope she has at least read the books. Sinclair worked on both "Dead Alive" and Jackson's "The Feebles." Professor Tolkien, of course, is also given writing credit for the project. It remains to be seen whether he'll be contacting us via seance to ask to have his name removed from the credits.
The three installments will be filmed back-to-back in New Zealand, according to information released by New Line last August. Weta Digital, Jackson's own company, will handle the FX The studio has committed $130 million to the project and owns all the merchandising rights. However, Toy Vault, a new company based in Kentucky and California, and Tolkien Enterprises have beaten them to the punch, releasing action figures of Ugluk, Gandalf, Frodo and the Balrog late last year. They plan to issue a total of 20 figures in all. So far, there've been no rumors that New Line plans to stop them.
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