"The Hobbit": Video Blog #6 from the Set

Peter Jackson is so good at making me more exited to watch these two films. He shows us something about them, but keeps quiet about even more things.

"The Hobbit" team is still on locations somewhere in New Zealand. I bet the people, who was the part of "The Lord of The Rings", have sentimental flashbacks constantly. Thanks to this video we have more time to discover what kind of people the new actors, who play the dwarves, are. I think they are getting along great.

You can see again how much effort everyone puts in this duology. They are trying to film the most beautiful views of New Zealand, which isn't as easy as it sounds. Many views are filmed especially for 3D from the helicopters, and they will look magnificent on the big screen with Howard Shore's music.

Andy Serkis must have been a huge help for Peter Jackson all this time, because he is a 2nd unit director and always works so hard. But when he called the director 'PJ', I started laughing very hard. What a great friends they have become!

"- How can it be 133 days for three films and 127 days for two films?
- It can be easily explained. We all are 10 years older, so we're going a little slower."

And Ian McKellen told us that we shouldn't be worried about actors, because they have great conditions there (the food looks delicious).

Watch previous video blogs from the set!
More about "The Hobbit" duology!



Click on pictures to enlarge them.

"The Hobbit": Fifth Video Blog from the Set

"The main reason for going on location for the project is to capture the scenic beauty of New Zealand."

Peter Jackson presents another video from the set of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". As he promised in the previous one, he takes us on locations, where they are filming some interesting scenes. You can see the crew traveled a lot (and probably will travel more). I'm again impressed how many people are working on this story - they say there are over a five hundred workers and dozens of trucks were used to take all stuff out of the studio. Looks like everything has been packed (WC cabins; coffee makers; costumes; cameras; actors; fake hair for beards, feet and wigs; giant plants and trees; cows, pigs, ducks etc).

Elijah Wood said such touching words about coming back after 11 years. It must be a great feeling to film there again.

Even Prime Minister of New Zealand came to visit "The Hobbit" team. They say Hobbiton was built for real this time and it will be left untouched for those, who would like to visit this place. I'm first in that row. 

Now this video is my favourite among others, because I'd gave many things to have a chance to work on such a wonderful project and to film on those locations. New Zealand is very picturesque. And I'd like to retire in Hobbiton too, especially if Peter Jackson will settle there. What a neighbour he could be!

Next video from the set will be released early in the next year.

Watch previous videos from the set of upcoming duology "The Hobbit":
1st video,
2nd video,
3rd video,
4th video.

More about "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (2012)! (all pictures, stories, news, set videos, Peter Jackson's statements etc.)



And a few interesting pictures from the set (click on the image to enlarge it):

Peter The Great

Peter The Funny 

Floating dwarves

If some unreleased pictures will leak, guess whose fault it will be...

Andy Serkis is busy gathering flowers

Map of New Zealand magically turns into a map of the Middle-Earth 

Occupying the space of a football field

Sentimental Elijah Wood

Peaceful Hobbiton

Next movie star

Peter and his team are wishing us a "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

"The Hobbit": Fourth Video Blog from the Set

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."

After some weeks of silence, Peter Jackson surprises us with this new video about making films based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. He shows how action scenes are being made and some rare pictures from the set of the great trilogy "Lord of the Rings". An interesting 'behind the scenes' part is about cameras and other technologies they use to create a realistic 3D.

You can see there Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman, actors who play dwarfs and very talented staff, whose names are not very known. It's left a year before we can finally watch "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", but I can surely say it is going to be not less epic than "Lord of the Rings".

Next video will be set on locations, where they are going to film some scenes for a few months.

Watch other videos from the set of upcoming duology "The Hobbit":
First video,
Second video,
Third video.

More about "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (2012)! (all pictures, stories, news, set videos, Peter Jackson's statements etc.)

Video Blog #4

Andy Serkis in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

After watching "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" I became sure that my favorite character in the movie, who made me smile and almost cry, is again made by computer. But not wholly. A very talented actor, who had played such unrealistic characters before, showed us again that it's possible to create on the screen an ape with real feelings and very smart eyes. Andy Serkis again was wearing this strange costume with many sensors and was learning how to act like an animal. His previous experience from the filming "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy, where he portrayed Gollum, really helped him this time. Now he's working with Peter Jackson on the two upcoming "Hobbit" movies, playing Gollum again.

More about "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".
More about "Hobbit".

I've found two videos - the first one with scenes from the set and some comments from Andy and another one with an interview, where he talks about how he was creating Caesar's personality.

Video #1



Video #2

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (2011) - Los Angeles Premiere

The LA premiere of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" took place at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on July 28, 2011. Actors James Franco, Andy Serkis, Tom Felton, Freida Pinto and John Lithgow along with Tom Rothman, who is Chief Executive Officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment, came to present their last movie. Tom Felton's friend from "Harry Potter" series, actor Rupert Grint also arrived to the premiere to show his support and was wearing a t-shirt with "I ♥ Tom Felton" on it.

More about "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (2011)! (synopsis, trailers etc.)

James Franco

Tom Felton

Rupert Grint

Tom Felton and Rupert Grint   

Andy Serkis and his family

Tom Rothman and Andy Serkis

Freida Pinto and John Lithgow 

Tom Felton, Freida Pinto and James Franco 

Pictures - Zimbio

"The Hobbit": Third Video Blog from the Set

Peter Jackson returns with a new video from the set of "The Hobbit". He continues speaking with Andy Serkis, whom we can see playing his Gollum. The decorations are really great, especially the Gollum's cave, where thay're shooting scenes with Martin Freeman (young Bilbo). It turns out, Ian McKellen is the only one from the cast, who can name all dwarves. We can see all of them wearing different beards and dressed in different costumes - creators are doing all possible to make every one unique. There are lots of comments from actors, who actually play these dwarves. And John Rhys-Davies (Gimli in "The Lord of the Rings") visited the set and talked to dwarves.

More about "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (pictures, videos, Peter Jackson's statements and other news)

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (2011) - Trailers

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. (Official movie site) Special effects are going to be impressive, because the creators have used a technology, developed for "Avatar". The main parts are played by James Franco, Freida Pinto, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Tom Felton and Andy Serkis (as an ape Caesar). This adventure is directed by Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist") and written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver.

"Восстание планеты обезьян" это уже 8я часть истории, которая началась еще в 1968 году с выходом фильма "Планета обезьян" режиссера Франклина Дж. Шаффнера. Теперь действие разворачивается в Сан-Франциско, в наше время, когда группа ученых проводит генетические эксперименты над обезьянами. Их опыты заканчиваются тем, что у приматов значительно возрастает IQ, но они превращаются в невероятно агрессивных животных, начинающих воевать за превосходство над людьми. Спецэффекты для этого фильма создавались с помощью технологий, некогда придуманных для "Аватара", так что они разочаровать не должны. Главные роли сыграли Джеймс Франко, Фрида Пинто, Брайан Кокс, Джон Литгоу, Том Фелтон и Энди Серкис (он появится на экране в образе обезьяны по имени Цезарь). Это приключение срежиссировано Рупертом Уайаттом ("Побег из тюрьмы"), а сценарий написали Рик Джаффа и Аманда Сильвер.

Release dates - August 4, 2011 (Russia), August 5, 2011 (USA), August 12, 2011(UK)

Trailer #1 



Trailer #2

"The Hobbit": Second Video Blog from the Set

We've got one more video from the set of the upcoming  movie, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". Peter Jackson and his wonderful team finished the first blog shooting and everybody, of course, except the director, is having a break, because Peter is concerned about discovering proper places for epic battles shooting. Actors tell what they are going to do and how they will enjoy this pause. Also we can see in this video Peter and Andy Serkis talking about upcoming second block of hard work. Personally, I was glad to see sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf the Grey.

More about "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"! (news, pictures, Peter Jackson's statements)