First the hobbits, then Narnia and Tintin, now Toad, Badger, Rat and Mole are to be brought to life by Weta Workshop of ‘Wellywood’ in a big-screen adaptation of The Wind in the Willows.
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame is the next film in the line of best loved classic fiction being created for the big screen. Willows was first published in 1908. Others include Tintin and Lord of the Rings.
Filming will begin in New Zealand at the end of this year.
The Wind in the Willows is another prospective blockbuster for the Weta Workshop team which now holds a raft of major awards . It centers on the story of four furry friends – Toad, Badger, Rat and Mole, and their adventurous journey towards learning the true value of friendship. In the script, written by...
A classic tune is back in the charts after a boost from film-maker Taika Waititi’s latest film and his own video remake of the eighties hit. Patea Māori Club’s original version of Poi E -- which blitzed the New Zealand charts for 22 weeks in 1984 -- has been revived in Waititi’s 2010 coming-of-age film Boy. The director Waititi has since released a video mashup of new and original material for the popular song.
The result is a loving tongue-in-cheek clip of Poi E that splices shots from the original Patea Māori Club video with scenes from Boy, and the now-older band. The video was put together in just one day.
“It’s hard to do something with limited material but I think it captures the soul of the film and it’s pretty fun to watch. It’s great...
Weta Legs are a unique, low profile, professional grade reverse leg stilt for creature and costume performances in movies, television, theatre, circus, street performances and other creative performances. Something previously reserved for commercial film and television projects, they are the first of their kind available commercially to the public.
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The World in our Own Back Yard (Video) Written and directed by Aya Tanimure from the USA.......
Written and directed by Aya Tanimure from the USA. Sweet As was a finalist in the Your Big Break competition a global search for the next great filmmaker. Their task was to capture the spirit of New Zealand in a 3 minute short film. Judged by Peter Jackson and produced by multi Academy Award winner Barrie Osborne.
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Director of ‘Eagle vs Shark’ and ‘Boy’ answers some questions posed to him by Damian Christie and Dominic Corry.
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Taika Waititi Interview – Eagle Vs Shark Director Taika Waititi is interviewed at the 2007 International Film......
Taika Waititi, director of Flight of the Conchords episodes and Eagle vs Shark among many others shares the stage with “Boy” star James Rolleston at the Sundance 2010 Film Festival. Eagle vs Shark’s genesis was also at Sundance several years ago.
Here is the trailer for “Boy”....
‘Lord of the Rings’ director Peter Jackson talks about his film adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel ‘The Lovely Bones.’.
Another great Post from: KiwiblokePeter Jackson Talks Lovely Bones (Video)
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Another great Post from: KiwiblokeLovely Bones Trailer (Video)
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Rhys does an impersonation of Michael Winslow doing a Jetpack.
Another great Post from: KiwiblokeRhys Darby – Jetpack (Video)
Rhys Darby – Jetpack (Video)
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Guillermo de Toro talks about working in Wellington on the Hobbit project.
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Wellywood, Hollywood As God Intended -- deToro (Video)
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Kiwibloke looks for rogues in Rivendale
Whilst Kiwiland is inhabited by both hobbits and Dark Lords, according to Forbes Traveller, New Zealand is an ultra safe destination for travelling humans:
Kiwis are much more into harming themselves (via rugby or bungee jumping) than assaulting others. As a result, New Zealand boasts among the lowest violent crime rates in the Western world. The islands are too far south to attract tropical cyclones, too far north for Antarctic blizzards. The last fatal earthquake was 1968.
Also included in the list was Singapore, the Swiss, Bhutan and our friends the Irish.
The French are touring New Zealand at the moment and are suffering at the hands of the All Blacks however.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Forbes Names New Zealand Ultra Safe Travel...
Originally uploaded on flickr by vikiking
We get an update from Richard on which of the 50 million projects they are working on at Weta and Shane Rangi, kiwi (and Maori) stuntman extraordinaire talks about his work.
Shane (Ngati Porou) was in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (as the “Witch-king of Angmar” “Easterling NCO” and Harad mûmakil ‘driver’). In 2005 he played General Otmin, general of the White Witch’s army in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2008, he played the Werewolf and Asterius, in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Shane also was a stunt man in the three LOTR films, King Kong and X Men 3.
You can find the podcast here.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Weta...
The new movie District 9 from Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp looks to be the real sleeper hit of 2009. If you are into socialogical science fiction, this is it.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
District 9 - An Allegory for What? (Video)
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Growing up, the scariest alien of them all on our television was the Daleks from Doctor Who. Daleks are organisms from the planet Skaro, integrated within a tank-like mechanical casing. The resulting creatures are a powerful race bent on universal conquest and domination, utterly without pity, compassion or remorse. Their ruthless conquest was the constant battle of the Doctor and his various companions.
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme follows the adventures of a mysterious traveller known as “the Doctor” who travels through time in a TARDIS, a 1950s style blue Police Phone Box.
Uploaded on Flickr by aussiegall
The series is the longest-running science fiction television...
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While the rest of use are worrying about the economy and whether we have jobs, there is one person who is having one hell of a year and has so much work he does not know what to do. And that is Mr Peter Jackson of Manuka St, Miramar Wellington.
While tackling two Tintin Films and two Hobbit films and over $500M in movie making purchase orders, Mr Jackson talked to USA Today.
On the subject of novel adaptation:
In the case of The Lovely Bones, I felt that it was subject matter not often dealt with in film, and with a tone that is also rare. Losing loved ones is something we all have to deal with, and when that story is partly told from the loved one’s point of view, it becomes quite interesting — especially with Susie’s sense of humor. Add to...
As we have previously talked about, Weta Workshop has a new childrens TV series called Wot Wots. You can now see a full episode right here.
The new TV series is about two young aliens who land their spaceship in a zoo and spend their days exploring their new environment, wondering what they will grow up to be..
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Whats With The Wot Wots? (Video)
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Issac Westenra, younger brother of Kiwi singing superstar Hayley Westenra has picked up the People’s Choice Award for most views in the 2009 Cadbury Creme Egg Gooeys Film Festival.
The stop motion picture depicts the romantic relationship between two Creme Eggs (Eggward and Megg) and the resulting complicated birth of their offspring. The short film was made over a period of six weeks. All sets/props were also made by Issac including over 2000 photos for the 4min 3sec carmel cinema.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Gooey Romance Epic Wins People Choice Award (Video)
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According to Empire Magazine, the second Hobbit Movie will now not be a 60 filler between The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Rings but:
“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,” says Del Toro.
“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,” adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.”
Unfortunately that is only a teaser, for the full story you need to buy the 20th Birthday Edition of the Empire Magazine, which Steven Spielberg will be guest editing.
Also in this edition is more Peter Jackson goodness. They also cover the The Adventures of...
Paul Henry speaks to a man in Tokoroa who has sparked quite a bit of internet interest with his footage of a UFO.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
UFO Sighting in New Zealand Town (Video)
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Chris Pine who plays Captain Kirk in a new more edgy Star Trek talks at the Auckland Premiere of the movie. Kiwi rd of the Rings star Karl Urban stars as Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy also makes an appearance.
Karl has been in Shortland Street, appeared in Lord of the Rings and Xena Warrior Princess, a track that many Kiwi stars took to stardom (Zoe Bell, Lucy Lawless etc).
According to IMDB:
For filming the “Lord of the Rings” movies, he [Urban] realized that Eomer was a consummate horseman and he was nowhere near that level, so he invested a lot of time learning--six to eight weeks, five days a week, two hours a day. He wanted to learn to neck rein, a method of steering a horse using one hand while leaving the other hand free to wield a sword.
STAR TREK is a...
Courtesy Kiwibloke
“Lord of the Rings” fans are flocking to New Zealand, where the trilogy was filmed to see first hand where the successful film trilogy was made according to CNN.
Lord of the Rings Tours & Experiences by Southern Lakes Sightseeing have specialized Lord of the Rings tours. They include experienced storytellers that can accurately point out the scenery and more importantly the relevant sections of the movies. They also include props used in the film. This particular tour was endorsed by Ian Brodie, the LOTR guidebook author.
If you prefer to see the sites by air, Glenorchy Air offers both ground and air tours to the various location sites here in the South Island of New Zealand. These include the locations used to represent Lothlorien, Amon Hen, Nen...
This years 48 hours of Film-making is back on in New Zealand. The challenge is for independent teams (not Peter Jackson or the Weta guys) to create a short form video over one weekend.
The filmmakers do not know what genre they will required to create until the start of the competition. All creativity including the writing, story boarding, shooting and post production must occur within the 48 hours beginning Friday 8th May 2009. Each team competes within 7 city groups, Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin as well as another group for Out of Towners.
A few days later the short films will be shown to the audience in heats to play off for a chance to be in the City finals where they will be judged by a team of professional film makers. The competiton includes...
[Full Screen]
Richard Taylor, founder of Weta Workshop talks about the Dr Who work they have been working on with the BBC.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor Talks Dr Who (Video)
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The world’s largest piano was unveiled last week in a farmers barn outside of Timaru by the world’s youngest piano maker.
Adrian Mann, definitely the world’s youngest piano maker and possibly New Zealand’s youngest inventor has completed the world’s largest and longest piano. He started the piano at 16 years old, 4 years later he has completed the 5.7 metre-long piano.
With no plans available for such a project, Mr Mann found himself having to design many of the piano’s components. He hand-made four sets of the 700mm long piano keys before he was satisfied.
When traditional piano-building materials weren’t available, he improvised. The spruce used for soundboards wasn’t available so Mr Mann cross-cut Canadian Douglas Fir bought from a...
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Richard Taylor the the Weta Workshop team were honored this week at World Class New Zealand Awards.
Taylor co-founded special effects company Weta Workshop in 1994, along with Tania Rodger and film director Peter Jackson. Taylor has won five Oscars during a career for films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong and Heavenly Creatures.
The awards were presented on Wednesday night at a gala dinner in Auckland:
For the last 15 years Weta Workshop - a special effects facility of which Taylor co-founded and is the creative director - has created models, makeup and monsters for movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong.
“He’s internationally recognised, he’s won five Oscars, so he’s hugely famous. He’s...
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Early last month we covered a story about District 9, a sci-fi movie produced by Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films and directed by South African Neil Blomcamp.
It seems that Sony has been previewing the movie for the industry.
Firstshowing has an update on District 9 which is due out later this year:
The footage started out like any typical documentary on third world conditions and rufegees, with locals talking about how they don’t like them. Above the city a giant alien space ship sits dormant, which is what they originally arrived on. But what are their intentions? Well, in one scene where we finally see the aliens as the MNU police attempt to tell them they must leave their shanty home, they find some sort of odd device. It’s not a...
Taika Waititi is interviewed at the 2007 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where he presented his first feature film, ‘Eagle vs Shark’ - an offbeat romantic comedy featuring two socially inept misfits. The movie stars Jemaine Clement of the hit HBO comedy “Flight of the Conchords”.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Taika Waititi Interview - Eagle Vs Shark Director
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Speculation has risen online that there is a planned third movie in the Hobbit series adding to the two movies already in the works from Peter Jackson. As we had reported earlier, Jackson and Del Toro are well under way with a remake of the original Hobbit book and another creation that spans between “The Hobbit” and “Fellowship of the Rings”.
According the TheOneRing, another third movie is in the works based on previously unreleased material from the Tolkien Estate:
Our insider also mentioned some legal wrangling with the Tolkien Estate to acquire additional rights to materials not currently under license which would provide the bulk of the plot for the third movie.
If speculation is correct, this trilogy will rival in size...
Magnus and Daniel interview Martin Baynton about Weta’s and Pukeko Pictures’ brand new children’s TV series The WotWots. It turns out to be one of our best interviews yet - pre-school television is truly the mother of all creativity! Ironically.
Another great Post from: Kiwibloke
Weta Cast - EpisodeVII - The Wotty Cast
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Award Winning Director Guillermo del Toro and Kiwi Director Peter Jackson are being roundly praised as they embark on a remarkable story telling adventure with not only the The Hobbit, the fourth in the series of Lord of the Rings series, but a production which will deal with the 59-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
According to David Bentley:
Spider-Man director Raimi told Empire magazine: “I thought that The Hobbit was just a fantastic icon of fantasy literature. I love that book and I’m a giant fan of the Lord of the Rings movies.
The Hobbit itself follows the quest of hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win his share of the treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug....