New Year, New Developments for The Hobbit Quest

It has been a while since I sat down with myself to share a few thoughts with anyone who wants to read it. Full steam ahead for the production, with a very exiting cast probably learning how to walk like Dwarves and drink like Hobbits as I type.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/12/21/41388-the-sun-reports-dwarf-training-to-begin-in-january/

Location, location, location is taking up most of the rest of the our attention, but at the end of the day I believe that whatever and wherever things are being constructed, they will be beautiful and completed as finely as possible. I expect nothing less from PJ, Weta and whatever ancillary's they have engaged for the project. Considering this I would rather let them do their magic and not know, only to the point that really I need to be there, weaving the magic with them and in that sense know!

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/12/12/41314-is-it-secret-is-it-safe-2/

On that point, I received some contact from a number of supportive and interested parties in recent times, one in particular (let me know if you want me to name you!) who has been particularly great to hear from and very proactive in developing the cause of the Quest while I have been messing around with stupid things like Visa's, props to you my friend. This has turned up a potentially very useful email address and so a new avenue of exploration to be embarked upon. This works nicely alongside my new Macbook Pro, which hopefully will allow me to create my first video within a 6 week timeframe. An amalgamation of these things has led to my current positive and excited bubble of potential within.

Although my enjoyment is probably already evident from the above linking, I'd also like to take a second to give a massive shout out to ToRN and all parties and Ringers involved in creating the go to site for Tolkien/PJ fans. There's a lot of sites and organizations out there that give us the info we need and desire, but I think it is difficult to argue that there is a better place to get the most accurate and most up to date info. Retweeting isn't discovering and hence I don't do it, but for anyone out there who hasn't been here, go:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/

McCoy as Radagast...something ain't adding up...

So today is quite an interesting day for Hobbit movie news. There's been a lot of interviews recently from a lot of people directly involved, either right in the thick of it or on the periphery. Just to mention a few:
Peter Jackson
Billy Boyd
Dominic Monaghan

Now, not all of these interviews are directly related to the Hobbit, however everyone who has been speaking have been people in a position of trust to Peter Jackson. And what these interviews have been doing is keeping us busy! With all the furor surrounding the financial catastrophe that is MGM Studios and the attempted buy outs, we've had a lot to occupy us these last few months. However the trail has gone somewhat cold in the last couple of weeks and all we're getting are recycled bits of info we've already had in some form or another. And PJ's assurances of 'certainty soon'. And the impending deadline of Sept. which we are all waiting for.

And now we've have a couple of PJ's confidants giving us interesting bits of almost Hobbit news. They were sating my appetite for a while. But you know, having a deadline of Sept. certainly doesn't mean that nothing is in progress now. The amount of administration involved in the liquidation/sale of a company that size would mean constant decisions and resolutions on various aspects of the business, and Sept. is just the date by which all of it must be completed.  

And then we get Sylvestor McCoy's interview about being cast in the Hobbit. If the film hasn't been green lit, as we are led to believe, and everything is currently on hold, then they wouldn't be "in negotiations" with any actors. How can you negotiate a pay check when you don't know if you have any money? So that leaves two possibilities: McCoy isn't telling the truth or PJ and associates aren't telling the truth. Now neither of these possibilities fill me with any sort of happiness, none of us like being lied to and especially by one as estimable as PJ. But the more I think about it the more it makes sense.

PJ and 'the studio' have to be tyrants when it comes to confidentiality, understandably so. If there were genuine spoilers, pics, videos, of sets or scenes or characters, available on the net I know I couldn't resist looking. However I also know that if I am watching the movie as an audience member I would rather see the movie without knowing those things. (Obviously the ideal is to be there and in on the confidentiality!!!) So really, they have to protect us from ourselves!

All of this waiting, listening for a resolution, would be a nice way to cover up some major current developments like going to casting sessions all around the world. And you would expect to hear leaks of that from Casting Agents, Actors, more so than just McCoy. But PJ is in a pretty unusual circumstance having produced a very similar film with very similar requirements, privacy being of the utmost importance, and so he has a network of people around the world that he knows he can trust.  

But then maybe McCoy is the one not being 100% truthful. Maybe he WAS in negotiations or maybe some contact has been made, or maybe he's just stirring the pot of controversy. Either way, it will be interesting (and personally quite devastating considering my Quest) if we find out that shooting starts late 2010 or early 2011 as originally expected and that these latest "developments" were a beautifully choreographed piece of inventive misdirection. And at this point I'd also like to say that I think PJ will direct, I think he's probably already agreed to that, but he's aware how important that bit of info will be to all the fans out there and so is waiting for the most opportune time to reveal it. We can only hope anyway. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Consolidating all angles...

So with the return to Vancouver and the realisation that the borrowed laptop that I'm using is not capable of supporting any editing software of any kind (no disrespect towards the laptops owner, she is a wonderful and excellent human being who came through for me like a shining beacon of strength in a time of need), the video project is on hold until such time as we enter the investment stage.

This is not necessarily a bad thing as I have discovered that it has made me focus on more practical concerns such as actually getting myself on a plane to New Zealand. So in a fortunate way, my trip home has been very productive. One of my very best friends also has the New Zealand bug and so plans have been put in motion, visas are being researched, savings plans are being enacted. Hmmm, interesting how I talk about investment and savings in almost the same breath...better crunch some numbers there.

But the important thing is that I'm geographically in the right place at the right time. I just wish I had some indication of when the right time was. MGM...Spyglass...could we maybe do a deal here? Mr. Jackson...could you maybe give in and agree to direct? But not too quickly cause I can't get to New Zealand for a good few months yet!

ADD. Just in case they are any voracious spellers out there, I am Irish and so do spell quite a few words differently. Hope no one is overly offended by the colloquialisms!

Past posts

So the more outlets the better right? That's the rule of the internet I hear. I'm pretty new to this whole thing, self-promoting, online marketing and the like, so I'm learning as I go. But I started this Quest about a month ago originally and so I want to bring this site up to date. So here are some posts I made a little while back and are slightly out of date.


AND SO IT BEGINS...
 
So this is the first blog I've written. I was hoping to do this last week when I first started this Quest last week, however work and Cirque du Soleil got in the way. I've just been speaking to some friends back on the other side of the world and developed what I think is going to be a very fun project for my first few videos which I hope to complete in the next few weeks. So stay tuned to see how it works out!

I'm going to upload an introductory video tomorrow, just saying hi and introducing myself and my Quest to youtube so I'll post a link on here too. I've been incredibly excited by this since I began last week and ideas have been flying around in my brain. I've also joined The Shadow and Flame and theonering.net and Weta of course so you can check me out on there too if you like. So tomorrow is the day that the fun stuff begins, right now I'm going to go and watch Inception and hopefully soak up some creative juices! It sounds great, hope it lives up to the hype!

And so it begins...

This is the beginning. One of the beginnings. It started with J.R.R. Tolkien. I was 11, he was god. I read the Lord Of The Rings 4 times that year and it changed my life forever. I developed ideas, I considered life and death for the first time, and mostly I dreamed. Of the world, of the characters, of the experiences, of the beauty and the pain. I was probably 15 when I found out that a movie was being made, by then it had already been filmed and The Fellowship was in post. Excitement does not begin to describe it.

One of the few things I can't live with is regret. After The Fellowship was released the greatest feeling I had inside me was regret. I wasn't old enough, I didn't have the ability or the experience to be there, to be a part of the world of Middle Earth while it existed among us. I saw and understood that this wasn't a Hollywood trilogy, it was made by fans, for fans and the love that was put into it reflected the way I felt about this material.

There is only one person in your life who can effect the changes that you want to make and that person is you. I decided that it was time to make my life what I wanted it to be. I loved Film and Television, I have always been fascinated by the creation and establishment of reality in your head which is not reality at all. How something on the screen can live in your consciousness and imagination and essentially exist forever, the newest form of immortality. I wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to understand it and I wanted to create it.

Coming from a little island in Ireland, the film industry wasn't exactly booming there at the time. So I made the move. Without a degree, or the money to get one, I knew I was a few steps behind. However, I have a can do attitude and passion and my willingness to work VERY hard gained me back at least one of those steps. I picked up my life and moved to Vancouver. I met some people and they gave me a chance. I did very well and got a leg up and managed to get work with CTV, for 6 months through the Winter Olympics. And then with an award winning production company based in Vancouver. But I'm running out of time.

I'm creating this page, and my blog, and will be posting videos, to share my love of Tolkien's work with (some of) the world. I'll be doing some fun Hobbit based things along the way and continuosly learning as I go. Hopefully someone out there will enjoy and understand why I have to do this - don't dream big, live big.

This is my quest. The Quest for The Hobbit.