LOTR Films: Will the scenery steal the show?
© Michael Martinez
Back in February I wondered Which Parts of Middle-earth Will We Not See?. It only makes sense (sort of) to wonder which parts we will see. And how much will we see of the most spectacular parts?
I recently bought the collector's edition for Star Wars: Episode I, the Phantom Menace and the video opens with a rapid-fire survey of many of the chief technical people who worked on the film. One of the guys in charge of the CGI animation said his favorite shot is a helicopter view of Theed, the royal city on Naboo where Queen Amidala pursues courses of action which don't lead to war. The tech guy says he must have watched that shot 25 times, and there were still things he was missing in it.
If Peter Jackson wants people to feel like they are watching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, he's going to have to do much the same thing. Even after more than 200 readings, I occasionally still find passages which didn't seem important enough before for me to notice them. They are paying an incredible amount of attention to detail. You ain't seen nothing in the pictures and spy reports that have slipped out onto the Internet. And the trailer? Sheesh! It's stark and empty.
Stop and consider what Jackson has to live up to: the expectations of tens of millions of knowledgeable readers. So what if no two of us describe Tolkien's world alike? We all see something when we read the story, and we're going to be looking for our favorite glimmers. I'm hoping to see the sunset through the waterfall of Henneth Annun, the panorama of visions presented to Frodo as he sits on Amon Hen and events throughout the world unfold before him; the battlements of Barad-dur crumbling in a massive quake accompanied by thunder and lightning; the two circles of trees on Cerin Amroth, with the golden Elanor and white Niphredil planted about their roots; the ancient artwork of the Dwarves of Moria; the rows of noble statues in Denethor's hall in Minas Tirith.
Will all these things be in the movie? I have no idea. Some things are almost certain to be included in the movies, but some things will have to be excluded. Nonetheless, I expect scenes to be filled with enchantment and wonder at nearly every turn. The effects won't all be CGI. Some of them will be as simple as the placement of plants and props. Some of them will undoubtedly be old-fashioned models and blue-screen effects.
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