Peter Jackson has posted twice on his Facebook page. After Production Diary #3, he had this to say to those hoping for New Line to put on some sort of presentation about The Hobbit at this year’s Comic-Con:

Good news and bad news today. Bad news is that we won’t be doing any Hobbit presentation at Comic Con in San Diego this year. New Line and Warner Bros were very happy to support a presentation, but I declined, simply because I felt it was too early. There’s so much more of the films still to shoot. I just wanted to get that out there, because I’ve seen various references to the possibility of something Hobbity at Comic Con. Hate to disappoint anyone. But something tells me we will be there in force next year.

At least that gives those of us who might hope to go next year plenty of time to plan!

The new post also says that Peter has begun work on the second twenty-questions answers and hopes to post them soon.

Peter Jackson’s Facebook page now contains the third of the Hobbit Production Diaries, looking good in HD. It’s 13:26 minutes long.

This morning I posted a brief entry on the fact that Peter was now apparently in London. The jokey opening of the diary entry features a transition where he starts in Wellington and ends up on Pinewood Studios, London (where, as he points out, the early James Bond films were shot). This leads into a series of clips with cast and crew members talking about the first three months of shooting.

Day 3 featured Gollum’s Cave, and we get a generous look at the filming of the riddle scene. There are some jokes about an issue I’ve commented on: the difficulty of getting people to be able to recognize the dwarves. Peter says: “Thirteen dwarves is one of the reasons why I dreaded The Hobbit and why I really didn’t think I was going to make it for such a long time. But the irony is that it’s turned out to be one of the joys of the film.”

Indeed, there’s a lot of humor, both in and out of costume, from the actors playing the dwarves. One scene of them standing for a group portrait shows their scale doubles in costume as well. There are glimpses of Day 35, filming in the Trollshaw (being shot by second-unit director Andy Serkis in the big new sound stage at the Stone Street Studios–though I guess it’s not really that new anymore). Apparently the actors are being taught a bit of the dwarvish language, heard only briefly in LOTR.

A real treat comes about 8 minutes in, with Day 38 involving a scene at Rivendell between Elrond and the dwarves. Cate Blanchett shows up at Rivendell, leading me to wonder if that’s where the White Council meeting is going to take place. (I’ve always assumed it took place in Lothlórien, across the river from Dol Guldur.) Possibly it’s a flashback to an earlier meeting, though. Costume designer Ann Maskrey shows off a new Galadriel costume with a spectacularly long train.

At about 8:30 minutes in, we learn that the dwarves will play their instruments and sing, as in the book. Then, on Day 18, John Rhys-Davies shows up to visit the dwarves, including his “father,” Glóin.

The diary entry ends back in London, where shooting is going in what looks like the Rivendell set or some other similar set done in silhouette in green-screen. Then, in the last few seconds we get the confirmation of all the rumors about a certain treacherous White Wizard being played by a certain respected English actor. Well, I’ve pretty much given it away, so–Christopher Lee is back!

In what has become an annual event, TheOneRing.net will be doing a panel at Comic-Con, catching fans up on the latest news and rumors concerning The Hobbit production. They plan to stream the panel live tomorrow, Thursday, July 21, at 10 am Pacific time, or 1 pm on the East Coast. After that: “Then, throughout the rest of the weekend, TORn staffers will be showing up on the stream live with special guests, other panels, interviews and more!”

The link to the live feed is in the story I’ve linked above.

I participated in one of these panels myself back in 2008. (See here for some description and photos, including Richard Taylor and John Howe.) I’ve regretted not being able to go back since that one experience. Maybe next year! The panel and the event as a whole were great fun.

A photo of two more of the dwarves has been released on the Hitlist Movie Blog. This time it’s Dean O’Gorman as Fili and Aidan Turner as Kili. I suspect that the websites posting these exclusive images give us a good preview of the ones that will have special access as the publicity campaign develops.

I assume a lot of you have been examining the production video posted yesterday very, very closely. If you don’t want to take the trouble, newsfrombree has posted an analysis of key shots over on TheOneRing.net. There are quite a few frames to click on and get a much larger view. In addition, RoseCotton has posted a transcript of the whole thing on the Message Boards there. (Don’t forget that you need to be registered and signed in to post comments there.)

Peter Jackson has posted Hobbit production video number 2 on his Facebook page. There’s quite a variety of material, including a glimpse of Gollum’s cave with the actors present. Also Bilbo talking to Elrond at Rivendell. A fair amount of the footage near the beginning shows PJ and Andy Serkis talking about the fact that the latter is a second-unit director on The Hobbit, in addition to once again performing Gollum.

The occasion for the video was the end of shooting on the first “block” of principal photography. As everyone knows, the filming was suspended for the summer (New Zealand’s winter months). Liz Tan, first assistant director on the second unit, announces that everyone is due back to resume shooting on Monday, September 5–which I don’t think we knew that precisely before. That all takes up the first roughly two and a half minutes.

The video then shifts into brief statements by cast and crew members about what they intend to do with their breaks. The answers range from golfing to performing in plays. Then back to Peter, talking about he’s going to be working, not going on vacation. At about 4:30 in, you can catch a glimpse of actual footage in an editing suite on an editing table. Some of the work involves design: “So in some respects, I’m back into pre-production again, but also, I’m in post-production because I’m editing.”

The second half is mainly footage of the “South Island Recce” that we heard about back when it started in June. (“Recce,” pronounced reckee,” is short for “reconnaissance,” and its used both in the military and in filmmaking, the latter referring to location scouting.) There’s some spectacular scenery involved, and some humor from Peter. Some of the locations are places that the group have seen before and which they’re returning to; presumably those are close to being picked for the film. Not only do they have to find locations that fit the film’s action, but there has to be room for the catering, make-up, and many other facilities that need to be set up adjacent to the place where the actual shooting will take place.

Some specific information about locations is given. The mountainous area around Mount Cook will be used, as well as some landscapes near Dunedin on the east coast of the South Island. One key goal of the scouting is to find a forest suitable for Mirkwood. We see Peter and the others photographing rivers, looking for the perfect place for thirteen barrels containing dwarves to float by. “There’s plenty of New Zealand that we haven’t seen yet,” as Peter says. The country may seem small, but most of it was not used for LOTR.

The video was shot in HD and looks great, with excerpts from the LOTR music used for the soundtrack. Highly entertaining and informative. It lasts about 10 1/2 minutes.

Empire has posted a brief preview of its upcoming Hobbit cover story. A slightly younger Gandalf graces the cover. The brief article includes an eyewitness description of the set and a quotation from Peter:

Personally invited onto the set barely a month into production, Empire delightedly watched a film — two films — already in full swing. Thirteen cantankerous dwarves, one barely tolerant wizard, and a befuddled hobbit are seen arriving at the gates of Rivendell and sneered at by local elves. Jackson assures us he is once again reaching for the mighty spectacle of Lord Of The Rings, but also bringing a certain ‘Hobbity-ness’ all its own. “The tone is actually the part of it I’m enjoying the most,” he laughs.

The story will be in the August issue, due out June 30

The LA Times has published a story on Guillermo del Toro, mostly linked to the fact that he’s premiering the horror film he produced, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.

In the course of the story, the author drops this remark: “Creative differences with Tolkien guru Peter Jackson led to his departure from” The Hobbit. He doesn’t quote GdT or anyone else on this, so the author may simply be assuming it.

[Thanks to David Platt for this link!]

EW.com has posted a photo of Martin Freeman, looking perfect as Bilbo Baggins, standing in Bag End reading a very long document. Bit of a mystery, since there’s no such thing in the book. Behind him, seen out of focus and through a round doorway, some of the dwarves are visible, sitting around a table. They look suitably large in relation to the hobbit hole’s scale. Also a picture of Gandalf looking pensive and one of PJ onset with Freeman as Bilbo.

The photos are from a story to appear in the issue of Entertainment Weekly on sale June 24, which includes an interview with Peter Jackson! No indication as to whether or when this will go on the website.

I’m off to Italy today for the “Il Cinema Ritrovato” film festival in Bologna and won’t be back until July 3. I’ll try to keep up with news, but there will be 7 1/2 days of screenings to deal with, so I won’t be online much. Maybe I’ll be lucky and my subscription copy will arrive today, before I depart. If so, I’ll report on that before going out the door!

Peter Jackson has just posted again on his Facebook page. He recalls the history-making 20-questions session that he and Harry Knowles ran on Ain’t It Cool News way back in August of 1998. Peter answered questions about his plans for The Lord of the Rings. (See The Frodo Franchise, p. 151.)

Now he wants to do the same thing for The Hobbit, but this time the venue will be Facebook. Peter invites questions from fans:

So let’s get into it … if there’s anything you’d like to know about the movies we’re making, please send me questions (on this page) and we’ll start answering 20 of them. Who knows – if we have fun, why stop at 20?

Let’s get it underway. Over to you …