Warner Bros.' return to Middle-earth is moving along quickly. Peter Jackson, who is producing the new The Lord of the Rings films, says cameras are just about done rolling on The Hunt for Gollum, while the follow-up, The Shadow of the Past, is still on the writing desk.
Jackson shared the update during a fan session at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, where Fotogramas was in the room. "We have The Shadow of the Past, which is in the scriptwriting stage. The Hunt for Gollum is almost finished filming. I think there are about two weeks of shooting left," he told the crowd (translated from Spanish).
Serkis Takes The Director's Chair
The first of the two new films puts a familiar face behind the camera. Andy Serkis, the actor who brought Gollum to life in Jackson's original trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is directing The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and playing the character once again. The screenplay is by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou, and Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens are producing, keeping the creative team behind the original trilogy closely involved.
Production got underway in Wellington, New Zealand, in July. If Jackson's estimate holds, the shoot will have run for around four months by the time it wraps, leaving a long stretch of post-production ahead before the movie reaches theaters.
Who Is In The Cast
The lineup blends returning legends with some big new names:
- Andy Serkis as Gollum
- Ian McKellen as Gandalf
- Elijah Wood as Frodo
- Lee Pace as Thranduil
- Jamie Dornan as Strider
- Kate Winslet as Marigol
- Leo Woodall as Halvard
- Anya Taylor-Joy as an elf
Seeing McKellen and Wood back in these roles will be a treat for anyone who grew up with the original films, and Dornan has the tough job of following Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in his ranger days. Warner Bros. has the movie set for December 17th, 2027, keeping up the December tradition that Jackson's trilogies made famous.
The Shadow Of The Past Is Still Being Written
The second film in Warner Bros.' new Middle-earth slate is further off. The Shadow of the Past will dig into parts of The Fellowship of the Ring that were cut from Jackson's 2001 adaptation, including Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-downs, two pieces of the book that fans have wanted to see on screen for decades.
Stephen Colbert, whose love of Tolkien is well known, is writing the script with Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee. Jackson's comments confirm it is still in the scripting phase, and no production start or release date has been announced yet.
Jackson's Next Directing Job Is Tintin 2
As for Jackson himself, he is staying in the producer's seat on the Middle-earth side. His next turn behind the camera is the long-promised sequel to The Adventures of Tintin. "We've also already written the script for Tintin 2, the second Tintin film. That will be the next film I make," he said (translated).
Steven Spielberg directed the first Tintin in 2011 with Jackson producing, and the two always planned for Jackson to handle the sequel. Serkis played Captain Haddock in that movie, which gives him a possible link to Jackson's next project too.
A Lifetime Achievement Moment
Jackson was at Sitges to pick up the festival's Honorary Grand Prize, 34 years after he screened Braindead there. He was refreshingly honest with fans about the grind of filmmaking, revealing that the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies each needed 288 days of shooting and that writing and editing are the parts of the process he actually enjoys. Even then, he admitted there is "always a moment you're absolutely convinced you've made the worst film in history" (translated). He also pointed to Thunderbirds and King Kong as the movies that first made him want to become a filmmaker.
Would you rather see The Hunt for Gollum stick close to the original trilogy's tone, or take Middle-earth in a bold new direction under Andy Serkis?
Sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.