SDCC: The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies Panel Description

Saturday Peter Jackson and some of the cast members of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies were on hand at Hall H to discuss the movie. As is usual for these things, none of it is made available to the public (keep thinking that would change each year) but at least have a description of the thirty minute or so panel. It started with a 360 degree reveal of the scroll panorama (video below) for the film, the teaser trailer and then a Q&A with the cast. Chances are the scroll image and teaser will be released very soon, maybe even this week. Full details here and here, highlights below.

Three Clips from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The marketing campaign for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is officially in full swing as the cast starts making the talk show runs around the world. Already in the states Ian McKellen appeared on The Colbert Report while Evangeline Lilly visited Craig Ferguson. Between those visits, EW and IGN, we now have three clips from the movie. The first two will seem familiar as bits were used in the movie's trailers. The first is a scene between Gandalf and Bilbo, the second between Tauriel and Legolas while the last is truly new as an Orc shrugs off the threats from Legolas and Thranduil.

Evangeline Lilly, Peter Jackson and Others Talk The Desolation of Smaug (Updated)

Not sure why but more than the usual number of sites posted their interviews with mostly Evangeline Lilly but also with few other actors from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Also have a few set reports. Usually this far away from release its one site posting something and the rest then posting about that first post. The timing is weird to me because usually this is the kind of thing you start seeing around two weeks before a movie opens, not two months. It might be worth reading as these questions will eventually be asked hundreds of times by reporters so for now the answers are less sales pitchy, longer and more spontaneous until the repetition results in the short and concise answers normally see.

Evangeline Lilly's interviews are probably the most interesting as she is clearly very enthusiastic about the role of Tauriel and is glad to be able to finally talk about it. I am starting to suspect she is a bit of a closet geek. The One Ring's set visit is also of interest as the writer was an extra on the New Zealand so provides his view of the experience. Worth while as written by a fan living a dream trying to report the experience rather then as a reporter who really isn't a fan and doesn't really care about the subject they cover (like most entertainment reporters). Links below.

Update: Added links to Dark Horizon's interviews with Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman.

Set Visit (The One Ring) - Set extra and fan discussing his experience on the set. Part of 1 of future unknown number.

Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom (io9) - Discuss adding these characters to the story since are not in the book, in Bloom's case returning to the role and more.

Evangeline Lilly (Collider) - Seems Lilly tired of her gorgeous long hair and chopped it. Also talks at length about Tauriel, what the character brings to the story, and how different from other elves.

Evangeline Lilly (Dark Horizons) - Discusses casting, costume, adding a female to movie, elven ears, and filming.

Peter Jackson (HitFix) - The director talks 48FPS, using some of Guillermo del Toro's vision for the film, and more.

Luke Evans (Dark Horizons) - Discusses being cast, scale of the shoot, green screen work and more.

Set Visit (Yahoo) - 10 brief (and mostly meh) factoids from a set visit.

Ian McKellen (Dark Horizons) - He discusses differences in experience of shooting LOTRs vs Hobbit trilogies, green screen and more. A lot of it is a retread of questions he answered for Journey.

Martin Freeman (Dark Horizons) - Bilbo discusses pace differences between the two Hobbit films, demands of filing a trilogy, and not really filming with his Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch who voices Smaug the Dragon.

More The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Banners

To go with yesterday's banners of the Bilbo, the Dwarves and Thranduil, today WB has released two more banners. One is for Gandalf and the other depicts Tauriel and Legolas. The banners were released with today's debut of trailer #2.

The Hobbit Production Video #11

Peter Jackson has posted his next production diary from the set of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. To start Jackson reveals that he will not be doing anything for San Diego Comic-Con, something he traditionally does try to participate in to promote his movies. From there its welcome to the world of green screen with quick cuts of scenes being filmed, sets and the like being rebuilt with most of it coming from storage when the the films wrapped the first time. The Hobbit actors begin their training for new fight scenes including The Battle of Five Armies (but no scenes) as that will be the finale of trilogy. He also shows an interesting example of a pick-up where a riverside scene was filmed for real the first time and later "picked-up" on a lot set that re-creates that river side rock structures. There is also a look at "new" cast members Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), and Luke Evans (Bard)
Video #1 | Video #2 | Video #3 | Video #4 | Video #5
Video #6 | Video #7 | Video #8 | Video #9 | Video #10

Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly Wrapped on The Hobbit

Joining Sir Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom has said goodbye to Legolas for the last time as he has completed his work on The Hobbit, as has Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel). Peter Jackson marked the occasion with a note and video (below). In the video Bloom "sings" his part in the 2007 viral video "They are Taking The Hobbits To Isengard". Both videos are below. Jackson also added a note.

A day after saying goodbye to Gandalf and Tauriel, it was time to farewell Legolas. What a great day it was, with Orlando battling a serious Orc for all 12 hours of shooting - part of the Battle of the 5 Armies for the third Hobbit movie. When we finally got the day done, we said goodbye to Orlando, had a couple of beers ... and couldn't resist doing this!

New Empire Cover Features The Hobbit Elves

Here is the cover for the August 2013 issue of Empire Magazine features the three main elves of The Hobbit trilogy, Orlando Bloom (Legolas), gorgeous Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel) and Lee Lace (Thranduil). No details yet from the issue but that will change soon.

Elf Actors Reacting To Fans Reacting To New Trailer

Peter Jackson posted an amusing video that shows The Hobbit Elves of Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Lee Pace (Thranduil) as they watch the video posted by Kellie and Alex (or Kili and Fili on The One Ring forums) reacting to the new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer. Now below in order are 1) Peter Jackson's Happy Elves video 2) the original video from the sisters and 3) the new teaser trailer.

Hit play on all three real quick one after the other. The idea is so can see the actors reacting to the girls as they react to the trailer, hopefully all on one screen if screen resolution is big enough. The result is both endearing and amusing. Update: So now have "Kili and Fili"'s response to the actors' response...well you get idea. You can find that here.

Next Wave of Lego The Hobbit Sets Reveal Movie Spoiler

A new Lego poster has revealed the next Lego sets that will be released for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  Most of the sets do not seem to reveal any particular story point that isn't already known to anyone that has read the novel.  One of them however seems to indicate a major revision to the original story.

Spoiler Warning

SDCC 2012: The Hobbit Panel with Movie Footage

Saturday was a big day for the San Diego Comic-Con as lots of movie panels were held including the panel for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey where 12 and half minutes of The Hobbit footage were shown. The footage has not been posted online but Peter Jackson indicated that at least some of it would be used in an upcoming production video. The info below is culled from Heat Vision, Collider and The One Ring.

Footage Description
- Shot of the Shire as voice over of Gandalf saying "Far to the east lies..."
- Gandalf, Bilbo and dwarves at Bag End discussing goal of recovering their treasure from the dragon Smaug with Thorin saying "Rumors have begun to spread,” he says, “The dragon Smaug has not been seen in many years… Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected … perhaps it is time to take back Erebor!"
- Discussion of a plan with need of a burglar to steal a map from Smaug that will help with taking Erebor. Something Bilbo agrees with not realizing that is his purpose in the adventure.

The Hobbit Production Video #7

After a three month drought, Peter Jackson has posted to Facebook a new production video. This video is a tour of the Stone Street Studio in Maramar, New Zealand. It is a tour of departments and crew that supports the filming of The Hobbit. Various actors and crewman showed off the many departments including stunts, hair & makeup, costumes, various stages, art department, and the list keeps going. It was a great snippet of behind the scenes footage that just some of the filming without the usual sales pitches that 99.9% of behind the scenes stuff inflict on us. These diaries just let the work speak for themselves. Something other film productions (and DVD/Blu-ray extra creators) could learn from. Pictures have been posted here.
Video #1 | Video #2 | Video #3 | Video #4 | Video #5 | Video #6

Orlando Bloom and a New Legolas Costume?

While promoting his next film, The Three Musketeers, Orlando Bloom briefly commented on his role in The Hobbit films. The actor will be reprising the role of Legolas but it seems he will not have quite the same look as he does in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The character wasn't part of the original story so no telling how much screen time Bloom will have in the film.

It’s been ten years since Legolas has been onscreen. You’ve aged ten years, but you’re supposed to be playing Legolas younger. How’s that gonna work?
Bloom: Dude, magic. Good genes. I don’t know what to tell you, a bit of makeup. It’s crazy, the wig fits. It still fits. It’s the same wig, and it still fits. And the costume, it fit. The same costume fit. I’m not actually wearing—well I’m not gonna talk about it, I can’t tell you anything else.

You’re filming with the Red Epic’s on The Hobbit, which is 3D, and you filmed 3D on Three Musketeers. What’s your experience been like filming in 3D?
Bloom: [Musketeers] was shot in 3D as is [The Hobbit], as you said with the RED Epic’s. Those are small cameras, those RED Epic’s. I mean they’re doing steadicam, they’re doing over-the-shoulder, they’re doing everything with those cameras, and it’s 3D which is to me pretty phenomenal. My experience of it is that it’s the same, I mean it seems to be becoming the norm which is crazy in many regards, but I guess as time goes on things move on forward. The cameras are probably getting lighter and smaller, as they are with the RED Epic’s. But they’re doing remarkable things on The Hobbit with these cameras that I couldn’t have imagined, and [Musketeers] was shot with James Cameron’s cameras, the ARRI Alexa. There was a little bit more setup time and stuff I would say, but not massively so. The shoots are still the same sort of length and as an actor your experience is not any different, you’re still relating to other actors in the same way. I think as an audience member you get quality when it’s shot in 3D.

Orlando Bloom Officially Joins The Hobbit

Sir Peter Jackson has updated his Facebook profile with news that Orlando Bloom has joined the cast of The Hobbit to reprise the role of Legolas. His return to the role has been rumored for a while now.

Ten years ago, Orlando Bloom created an iconic character with his portrayal of Legolas. I’m excited to announce today that we’ll be revisiting Middle Earth with him once more. I’m thrilled to be working with Orlando again. Funny thing is, I look older—and he doesn’t! I guess that’s why he makes such a wonderful elf.

The extent of the is unknown as the character does not appear in The Hobbit novel but Bilbo and the Dwarves do travel do briefly stay in Rivendell. It is also possible that he may be part of the Battle of Five Armies or really any elves aspect when the story likely gets into more details on the history of Middle-Earth beyond what is in The Hobbit novel.

Orlando Bloom Briefly Talks The Hobbit

In an interview by Collider with Orlando Bloom, the actor briefly discusses his returning to the role of Legolas for The Hobbit.

Are you going to appear in The Hobbit?
BLOOM: Yeah, it’s looking like that. I’m really excited about going to see Pete [Jackson] again. It’s still a little up in the air, but the idea of working with Pete is fantastic. I can’t actually really talk too much about it, at this point. I just was given the script to piece through, so it’s quite exciting.

The whole script?
BLOOM: Yeah!

Will you have to do anything to physically prepare for that role again?
BLOOM: Are you telling me that I’ve put on weight, in the last 10 years? I just have to grow my hair really long and blonde again.

Isn’t he a younger version?
BLOOM: Yeah.

Orlando Bloom Near Deal for The Hobbit

Deadline is reporting that Orlando Bloom is on the verge of signing to The Hobbit films to reprise the role of Legolas Greenleaf from The Lord of The Ring Trilogy. Cate Blanchett was announced yesterday as returning. So far Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) have not yet been signed on the reprise their roles. Considering the characters play a central part in the movies, safe to say the money and making sure they get a piece of the profits is playing a huge role on the negotiations. As for how Legolas can be in the film considering he isn't in the book, The One Ring has a theory.

...the character of Legolas was very much alive during the timeframe of The Hobbit. In fact, he was probably several thousand years old at the time of The Lord of the Rings! Since Legolas is the son of Thranduil (The Elvenking), a major player in ‘The Hobbit,’... Not only would he appear in Mirkwood with the other wood-elves, he could very well lead the wood-elf contingent into the Battle of Five Armies!