“Because, there is good in him. I’ve felt it. He won’t turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him back to the good side. I have to try.”
Israeli make-up artistTal Pelegcomposes impressive miniature dreamscapes on her eyelid with the sole use of liquid eyeliner, eyeshadows and small design accessories, such as glitter.
Something that I noticed really irritates me is the stunning lack of research in the Tolkien fandom regarding The Hobbit trilogy and how they pin the blame for everything on Jackson. But as I discovered over the past three months, there’s a bigger story. The trilogy had one of the most nightmarish productions in recent memory and all of it is Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema’s fault.
The first problem emerged in 2008 when New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. refused to pay the Tolkien Estate the money that they owed them (including for The Lord of the Rings). What followed was two and a half years of everything spiraling out of control, not only sending the film into Development Hell but causing Guillermo del Toro to leave production after having been attached to it. To make matters worse, these legal issues got so bad that it would have taken the production out of New Zealand entirely. Only when Peter Jackson decided to come back to the director’s chair in late 2009 was everything sorted out.
And then the studio only gave Peter Jackson and Weta six months of pre-production and told him to start filming immediately afterwards or else. And before production could even begin, Jackson was hospitalized in January 2011 for a perforated stomach ulcer, which eerily was one of the contributing causes of Tolkien’s death. Luckily, it was caught in time and surgery went smoothly. This, however, forced production and principal photography to be halted for a month.
Filming itself went smoothly for the most part until the decision was made to split it into three movies instead of two. The sound designers, mixers, and editors had to create and edit new sound effects halfway through doing the second film. Then there was the decision to CGI Azog, Bolg, and the orcs in the first and second films, with the decision with Bolg being made so suddenly that whole sequences had to be re-shot, which is why in the trailers Azog is the one chasing the dwarves but in the film it’s Bolg.
Another piece of evidence of the suddeness of switching from two movies to three: the scene where the group tries to bury Smaug in gold in the forges was added only because the filmmakers needed a cliffhanger (they confirmed this when asked) and the actors and some of the crew literally had no idea what they were filming until the finished film.
The romance between Kili and Tauriel was always intended to be in the film from as early as 2010 with her relationship with Legolas being strictly platonic and more like a brother and sister. But when re-shoots were done to turn it into three films, the studio forced them to write Legolas into the love story and turn it into a love triangle. Both Evangeline Lilly and Peter Jackson have admitted they hated the idea of a love triangle and just wanted to tell a simple love story. This is also evidenced in the healing scene in Laketown. In the original script, she healed one of Bard’s daughters (most likely Tilda) but when re-shoots happened it was changed to Kili, which coupled with the aforementioned Bolg switch suddenly explains Kili being hit with an arrow.
When it finally came time to do the third film, the studio practically took the film away from Jackson and forced him to edit it in a way he didn’t approve of and imposed tons of baggage onto film, demanding more emphasis on the love story and possibly more Alfrid scenes.
All of this ended up blowing up in Warner Bros’ faces and while the trilogy did do well, it became a Base Breaker for audiences and critics and the Tolkien Estate has relinquished the film rights to the books until further notice. All the aforementioned meddling was confirmed not just by Peter Jackson but also by Graham McTavish and Evangeline Lilly, with McTavish confirming the theatrical cut for the third film isn’t what was intended and that the extended cuts of all three films are closer to Jackson’s original intention.
Yikes. Now you know all this, I hope you at least are aware of what was going on behind the scenes. Thank you.
Húrin Thalion, the greatest warrior of Men in the First Age, was the eldest son of Galdor and Hareth, older brother of Huor and Lord of Dor-lómin. He wedded Morwen, a daughter of Baragund of the House of Bëor. Together they had three children: Túrin, Lalaith and Nienor. In F.A. 472 Húrin was captured by Morgoth at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and he and his kin were cursed by the Dark Lord. The curse led to some of the greatest successes and tragedies of the First Age, which are told in the tale called Narn i Chîn Húrin.
But suddenly her eyes looked into his, and then
Hurin knew her; for though they were wild now and full of fear, a light still gleamed in
them hard to endure: the elven-light that long ago had earned her her name, Eledhwen,
proudest of mortal women in the days of old.
‘Eledhwen! Eledhwen!’ Hurin cried; and she rose and stumbled forward, and he caught
her in his arms.
‘You come at last,’ she said. ‘I have waited too long.’
‚It was a dark road. I have come as I could,’ he answered.
‚But you are late,’ she said, ‚too late. They are lost.’
‚I know,’ he said. ‚But you are not.’
Almost,’ she said. ‚I am spent utterly. I shall go with the sun. They are lost.’ She clutched
at his cloak. ‚Little time is left,’ she said. ‚If you know, tell me! How did she find him?’
But Hurin did not answer, and he sat beside the stone with Morwen in his arms; and they
did not speak again. The sun went down, and Morwen sighed and clasped his hand and
was still; and Hurin knew that she had died.