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me no likey. of course, i didn't like the fact that they re-cast Dumbledore in the HP movies...

What would you have recommended, in his stead?

if this is true, bad idea.


Fuck New Line with a wizard's staff.

Life is like a 20 sided die. You never know what it's gonna roll

This'll suck.

Well, I would've utilized the Time Turner Hermione used in HP&TPOA and went back in time and saved the original actor's life. that way he could continue to play the role.

I'm beginning to get the impression that you don't even know the original actor's name...

Awful idea

Yeah, this is a ridiculously bad decision. From the studio's perspective, though, they could put out anything and it will make a lot of money, and this will be the last movie no matter what. So, why not take the quick money and run.

I would be all for a "Meet the Feebles" prequel, though. Or perhaps a "Dead Alive" sequel."

OMG, George Lucas isn't directing Empire Strikes Back?

Thank you.

The problem with this analogy is that Lucas was still involved with episodes V and VI as a writer and executive producer. Including Lucas also means including Industrial Light & Magic is still involved (props to Cotton on the WETA piece; I hadn't thought of that).

Stick with Harry Potter for an analogy, if you can overlook the fact that Chris Columbus produced the third movie and, AFAIK, left the series amicably.

Lucas was also, to everyone's great pain, involved in the prequel trilogy. As this is a prequel as well...

i think the difference is that Jackson is as faithful to the source as you can be... New Line? Faithful to the $.

A main source of annoyance with Lucas in the prequel trilogy was his direction, especially his reliance on effects. He never directed anything in-between episodes IV and I. 22 years out of the director's chair might lead to some rusty chops. If anything, citing Lucas as a fault in the prequel trilogy supports the idea that a director can make-or-break a film.

The other point about Jackson's indispensability is that he was the one who obtained the movie rights to LotR in the first place. A two-movie deal didn't work out with Miramax, and New Line went with the trilogy. The LotR films would not have happened when they did the way they did without him. To drop him severly disconnects the prequel from the rest of the films. Phil's point about faith takes it home.

I didn't really see the movies as particularly faithful to the source at all, actually. They didn't totally change the story or anything, but faithful is far from the word I'd use.

I predict Shmoo will be the only one seeing this in the theatre.

Faithful in matching the book's plot to the letter? No. They added bits and subtracted/moved chunks with the intent to improve it as a film. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I believe they succeeded. Phil's "as you can be" is an important and appropriate qualifier.

Faithful in matching the essence of both setting and overriding themes while still getting most of the little things right? Very much so. One could argue other directors would have done it with the same amount of passion, love, and attention to detail, but Jackson is the one who got it done.

this reminds me that i want to watch the 3 LOTR movies back to back to back. maybe tomorrow will be a good day/night to do it.

are you gonna watch the extended versions? that's probably like 9+ hours.

Closer to 12.

i do indeed have the extended versions! i really want to do this. tomorrow would be the day.

If I made it through a 12 hour horror movie marathon (and some of them were pretty shitty), you can make it through this.