The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
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November 16 : 2009

L.A. Times interviews Ian McKellen

On November 14 the LA Times posted an interview with Ian McKellen. It’s mostly to promote the AMC mini-series The Prisoner, but there are some passing remarks on playing Gandalf. That’s in LOTR; no mention of The Hobbit. There’s also news that there will be a brief revival of the Waiting for Godot stage production in which Ian co-starred early this year with Patrick Stewart. It’s a fantastic evening of theatre, and I recommend it highly.

I also realize now why Ian isn’t posting as often as he used to on his website. He’s on Facebook (a page also run by his webmaster, Keith Stern), adding material quite frequently. Check it out here and sign up as a fan if you’re so inclined.

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    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

    US flagbuy at best price

    Canadian flagbuy at best price

    UK flagbuy at best price

    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”