Tolkien Fans: Comments and Questions

[StillStunned]

Andy Serkis did an amazing job as Gollum. And whoever they got to do Sauron's Eye was damned convincing too!

 

[SimonDoom]

Can you imagine if they'd actually succeeded in getting Sean Connery for the part? We wouldn't have had Gandalf. We'd have had Sean Connery in a pointy hat.

I'm a big fan of Connery, most of the time (his accents make me cringe). But that would have been an awful casting choice.

 

[onehitwanda]

my personal opinion is that Eowyn was miscast as well.

I really don't understand the hate for Miranda Otto.

 

[SimonDoom]

Agent Smith as Elrond was a very weird choice at the time.

We've had our eye on you for some time, Mr. . . . Baggins. For some time you've been leading two lives.

 

[onehitwanda]

I hate that portrayal of Elrond.

Not as bad as getting Craig Parker to play Haldir. He's an amazing actor, but he's simply not pretty enough to be an Elf.

 

[StillStunned]

Liv Tyler was a weird choice for Glorfindel.

 

[Statius]

I really don't understand the hate for Miranda Otto.

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Well not hate, that's a bit much. It's just an opinion. Think Jackson wanted Ashley Judd originally, but Weinstein got involved and said no. Being an Ashley Judd fan, well

 

[SimonDoom]

I really don't understand the hate for Miranda Otto.

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I didn't know there was hate for her. I liked her in that part.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Eowyn rushes out from the palace, on a balcony in Edoras, looking over the plain, and she sees Aragorn and crew riding toward the city. The flag detaches and blows off into the wind. The expression on her face captures the plight and desperation of Rohan, and then the appearance of hope. And that scene was done with relatively little CGI, because they created buildings on that hill in New Zealand to depict Edoras. I thought the rendering of Edoras was one of the better examples of the movie fulfilling the story's vision of what places should look like.

Plus, Shore's Rohan theme is terrific and it captures everything you want it to in that moment.

 

[onehitwanda]

I didn't know there was hate for her. I liked her in that part.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Eowyn rushes out from the palace, on a balcony in Edoras, looking over the plain, and she sees Aragorn and crew riding toward the city. The flag detaches and blows off into the wind. The expression on her face captures the plight and desperation of Rohan, and then the appearance of hope. And that scene was done with relatively little CGI, because they created buildings on that hill in New Zealand to depict Edoras. I thought the rendering of Edoras was one of the better examples of the movie fulfilling the story's vision of what places should look like.

Plus, Shore's Rohan theme is terrific and it captures everything you want it to in that moment.

You're welcome!

(This scene is one of many that lives rent-free in my head)

 

[MelissaBaby]

Liv Tyler was a weird choice for Glorfindel.

She's a weird choice to get cast in anything.

 

[SimonDoom]

She's a weird choice to get cast in anything.

I have to agree with you about this. She doesn't have the gravitas to be an Elf princess who is thousands of years old. Unlike Cate Blanchett, who is perfect as Galadriel.

 

[crookedletter]

Seconding Liv Tyler and Elijah Wood as not great choices.

Though I don't know if Elijah Wood can actually be blamed for A. Frodo being kind of a tough hang anyway, and B. Peter Jackson loving the slow-motion close-up grimace, which Frodo does a lot of.

 

[onehitwanda]

I've been trying to think of who would have made a better Arwen, to my mind. I keep coming back to someone like Selma Blair.

Edit: Or Winona Ryder.

 

[TheLobster]

She's a weird choice to get cast in anything.

Hey, her navel looked pretty good in Armageddon.

 

[Bamagan]

I've been trying to think of who would have made a better Arwen, to my mind. I keep coming back to someone like Selma Blair.

Edit: Or Winona Ryder.

While I had no problem with Liv Tyler's casting, I would have been interested to see Deborah Duchene in the role.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've been trying to think of who would have made a better Arwen, to my mind. I keep coming back to someone like Selma Blair.

Edit: Or Winona Ryder.

But she can't do a British accent. And she's too contemporary in her style. I think someone like Eva Green would be better.

To play a Tolkien elf, you've got to be able to present yourself as an "old soul."

 

[HordHolm]

I suppose Tilda Swinton's too obvious...

 

[onehitwanda]

Eva Green

... ok, I'm sold.