TheOneRing.net calls our attention to an article by Jonathan Dean, “The battle for Middle Earth [sic],” posted on The Independent online. It’s a very strange article, in that it contains no news whatsoever, and reads like the kinds of pro-and-con pieces that were being published and posted just after Guillermo Del Toro was confirmed to direct The Hobbit and its sequel.

Dean seems to be distinctly more a fan of GDT’s films than of Peter’s trilogy, and he drags out and dusts off some old quotations to suggest that it’s just as well that a new director has taken over. The subtext seems to be worries about whether Peter will allow Guillermo the necessary artistic freedom for him to create something as good as Pan’s Labyrinth or The Devil’s Backbone. (I just watched the latter for the first time recently, by the way, and highly recommend it.) On the whole, the article is fairly accurate in its facts, though it places Peter’s lawsuit against New Line Cinema as post-September, 2006. It was actually filed in early 2005.

To me the interesting thing about this essay is not the actual content but the fact that its author or The Independent thinks that people are interested in the issue of why Peter elected not to direct The Hobbit and brought in GDT instead. It’s a slow news period for the project, and the whole question of the choice of GDT has long since been thrashed out all over the internet. The author makes it seem relevant by ending with references to some of the other big franchise films that are due to be released, all of them much sooner than The Hobbit. More evidence that the Frodo franchise is still news, I guess.

As if to confirm that, TheOneRing.net also links to the Washington Post’s online review of the 12-inch Gandalf doll–excuse me, collectible figure–from Sideshow. Its author, Joseph Szadkowski, says that his examination is “tongue in cheek,” but he’s clearly quite taken with this figure and its elaborate set of costumes and props. The text reads like something Sideshow itself would put out as publicity, and Szadkowski ends up exhorting his readers to buy it. More evidence as to how far infotainment has gone toward essentially being promotion for the franchises it covers.

I must say, the photo of the Gandalf figure confronting Sideshow’s Indiana Jones figure has the latter looking a little nervous. As well he might.

Today I was delighted to receive a new book in the mail: Studying the event film: The Lord of the Rings, co-edited by Harriet Margolis, Sean Cubitt, Barry King, and Thierry Jutel. It is published by Manchester University Press, copyright 2008. more »

A few hours ago Variety posted a brief story about casting progress on the Tintin films being co-produced by Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have been signed as the Thompson Twins.

The fact that casting is again going on suggests that the project is back on track and moving toward production. As I reported back on October 14, the departure of DreamWorks from Paramount would delay the film. Thomas Sangster, who had been announced to play Tintin, had to bow out as a result of that delay. Given that problem, it seems unlikely that further casting would go on before the planners were sure that the project would go ahead fairly soon. At this point, apart from the two actors just named, Andy Serkis is the only announced cast member still on board; he’ll be playing Captain Haddock. Last I heard, Spielberg is to direct the first Tintin film, with Peter doing the second, and a third, as yet unannounced, director tackling the third.

Off topic again, but I’ve mentioned here that the Royal Shakespeare Company’s King Lear, with Ian McKellen in the title role, was announced to be on PBS in the United States. At the time no date had been given. Now McKellen.com has revealed that the showing will be on March 29. For those who missed the theatrical tour and can’t play the Region 2 DVD, here’s your chance finally to see a magnificent performance. Mark your calendars!