Fans Will Appear In The Hobbit!
Guillermo del Toro had a Q&A session with MTV and revealed some rather good news for Hobbit fans.
“Who do I have to kill or sleep with to get a role as an extra?” user Mike Moore asked.
“Oh my god, well that’s a good question only in that it’s asked often,” del Toro said, chuckling. “[But] I believe as the film comes to happen, in either of the two films, [fans] have a good chance of being there.”
“Sleep with a lot of people if you can! That’s a very good piece of advice. But don’t bribe anyone. It will be wasted money,” del Toro said, laughing. “We will set some rules and some contests and some fans will definitely get the chance of being extras. Go and apply for those roles!”
Contests will be the better option for Hobbit fans as there is more chance of Gimli getting a back, crack and sac wax than a Hobbit fan sleeping with anyone.
Fans Will Have A Good Chance to Be In The Hobbit!?
Peter Jackson included the names of the members of the official Lord of the Rings fan club in the credits for the DVD releases of the LOTR trilogy. Guillermo del Toro might actually top him, promising that fans will actually have “a good chance” to appear on screen in The Hobbit and/or the announced sequel.
“In either of the two films, [fans] have a good chance of being there,” del Toro told MTV, later adding: “We will set some rules and some contests and some fans will definitely get the chance of being extras.”
But I’m sure that only a few extra roles will be made available to contest winners. And while the production might require a few thousand faces for a huge crowd shot, I’m sure computer generated people would be used in such an instance. But wouldn’t it be cool if Guillermo invited a couple thousand fans to be extras on the movie? But how many fans would fly to New Zealand on their own dime to be in the film?
Brad, Angelina Relocate to Riviera
The Brangelina brood has hit France, scouting locations for its next big project: Baby-delivering.
Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and all four kids are holed up in Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's Villa Maryland in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera.
The family arrived early Monday night via private jet at Nice airport with two nannies and three security guards says an onlooker.
As News first reported last month, Angelina is due this summer and plans on having her baby in France.
"It's a breathtaking villa with views out over the Mediterranean [Sea] and they have roughly 12 staff on hand at all times to get them anything they need," says a source.
"They've stayed there before and love the house, it's very private and no one can see in.
The insider says that Jolie, who has two films opening at next month's Cannes film fest, will kick back while Pitt goes house-hunting.
"They love France and will now be here until after the babies are born and Angie is looking at Marseille hospitals as a potential place to give birth."
They also stayed at Paul Allen's villa for a week during Angelina's pregnancy with Shiloh in the early summer of 2006.
Jolie met Allen, who helped bankroll DreamWorks, when she was filming Shark Tale in 2004.
McKellen Confirms Hobbit Habit
Sir Ian McKellen is going there and back again.
The acclaimed British thespian, who, as the wizard Gandalf the Grey, helped shepherd Frodo Baggins through a perilous journey in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has announced he will reprise his Academy Award-nominated role for the hugely anticipated Hobbit prequels.
"Yes, it's true," McKellen told Britain's Empire movie magazine. "It's not a part that you turn down. I love playing Gandalf."
The twin films will be based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, which of course he published before his epic Lord of the Rings cycle.
This time around, however, the 68-year-old McKellen will team up with Jackson's bespectacled stand-in, Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth), who announced last week that he was moving to New Zealand for four years to take the reins on the project.
Jackson and longtime partner Fran Walsh, who already have their hands full adapting the beloved Tintin to the big screen, among other films in the pipeline, will serve as executive producers on the Hobbit flicks and collaborate with del Toro to ensure proper continuity with their Oscar-winning LOTR.
The first Hobbit movie will follow the story of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins (played in the LOTR films by Sir Ian Holm), as he journeys with a group of dwarves to a dragon's lair to recover stolen treasure. The second will mine material from Tolkien's appendices about the 60 years between The Hobbit and the start of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
McKellen added that he was excited to be working with the Mexican-born helmer, who's beginning to work on the scripts.
"I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part, and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role," Sir Ian said. "As to how it's going to work over two films and what's going to happen onscreen, well, Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yetI can tell you it's going to be amazing though."
Talking to the fansite TheOneRing.net, del Toro confirmed McKellen's casting as well as that of Andy Serkis, who's once again aboard to play Gollum. Serkis, in fact, has added The Hobbit to his list of upcoming films on his official Website, just after Jackson's Tintin.
Filming on the Hobbit movies is set to get under way in 2009, with the films unspooling in 2010 and 2011.