Date : 16th June, 2012
The treasure hunt begins this fall with Bilbo Baggins and a group of Dwarves as they hunt for guarded treasure.
Peter Jackson, who helmed the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also directs the two-part film adaptation of “The Hobbit.” The first installment will hit theaters Dec. 14. The director and some of the film’s cast visited Comic-Con on Saturday to a packed crowd at Hall H and spoke to press as well.
Jackson, who said he plans to film a few more scenes of “The Hobbit” next year because the story wasn’t completely told, said the film adaptation uses more source material then just the book. The writers used the appendices to flush out the story even more.
“I want to make a series of movies that run together so if any crazy lunatic wants to watch all in a row there will be a consistency,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to make a purely children’s story followed by ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ So we are providing a balance. A lot of the comedy and charm and the fairly-tale quality of ‘The Hobbit’ comes from the characters. You are dealing with Bilbo Baggins who is a little more reluctant possible to go on adventures as Froddo was. You’re dealing with dwarves who have a personality and sort of a camaraderie all of there own. There’s a lot of humor and a light touch from those characters, but there’s still serious things involved. Hopefully ‘The Hobbit’ films will comfortably straddle both worlds.”
Nearly 10 years after the release of “The Return of the King,” the third and final installment of “The Lord of the Rings,” Jackson said technology allows them to do even more, even borrowing from “Avatar” technology to enhance Gollum (Andy Serkis) to completely filming in 3D at 48 frames per second, about double the industry norm. With performance capture cameras, Serkis said, they are able to get an entire performance in one take instead of the more technologically challenged motion capture.
“Theres no disconnect,” Serkis said. “The delicacies of the moment and the choices you make between the director and the actors therefore is absolutely nailed in one and that makes a significant difference in believability.”
“The brilliance about this is that it doesn’t come out at you, you go into it,” said Ian McKellen, who returns as Gandalf. “You enter the world. You look around the corner. You’re deeper in. Can you find a way out? There are going to be little kids who are going to be so thrilled.”
McKellen said audiences will see a more fun character than the “man on a mission” Gandalf portrayed in the earlier films.
“People shouldn’t expect to see a different sort of Gandalf and that’s from being 60 years younger (in the story) ... when you’re 7,000 years old, 60 years is nothing,” McKellen said.
This weekend was the first visit to Comic-Con for Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo Baggins.
“I was struck by how emotional people were talking about the film and anticipating the film,” said Freeman after greeting fans at the 6,000-plus seat Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center. “With each question came a preamble of what the previous films had meant in people’s lives. All cliches aside, it’s really a good thing to be a part of something that actually touches people. It’s a lovely thing.”