REEL NEWS
The Return of the King Returns, while Narnia Grows
Extended ROTK gets 50 more minutes;
Narnia director hard at work;
atheistic trilogy under way. Plus:
Revenge of the Sith could be PG-13;
Mel Gibson's sitcoms; Passion plays in
Israel.
by Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 10/04/2004
 1 of 2
The last confrontation with Saruman. The Houses of Healing. The Mouth of Sauron. These are three of the things that fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings were disappointed to find missing in the film version of The Return of the King. That didn't stop Peter Jackson's finale from winning eleven Oscars—including Best Picture — and the movie was praised by many as the best of the trilogy.
Now "the best" (I place that in quotes because I prefer The Fellowship of the Ring) is about to get even better. This week, the official Web site for the film trilogy announced the specifics for the long-awaited
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King—Extended Edition DVDs, releasing on December 14, just in time for Christmas.
According to the
Yahoo! News story, viewers will be treated to "50 additional minutes of new footage, a new musical score and a cameo appearance of Jackson being felled by an errant arrow." Moreover, we'll see the two wizards, Gandalf and Saruman, exchange their last words. We'll find out why Faramir and Eowyn are smiling so happily at each other at the King's coronation. And we'll understand better why Aragorn has tears in his eyes before that final charge at the gates of Mordor.
In total, the new version will fill 250 minutes of couch time, and that's not counting any of the behind-the-scenes extras or the bonus disc of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings symphony (included only in the Gift Set). I was fortunate enough to attend a performance of the symphony in Seattle's Benaroya concert hall; it was a wonderful opportunity to concentrate on Shore's elaborate achievement, which works surprisingly well on its own. Thus, this bonus disc may be well worth the extra cost.
Narnia Coming to Life
Meanwhile, in the land of Narnia, director Andrew Adamson is
hard at work bringing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to life (NarniaWeb). Apparently the demands of the film have forced him to withdraw as the director of Shrek 3 (Adamson directed the first two Shreks.) He's consulting Peter Jackson, who is now working on a new version of King Kong, for advice. "I've talked to Peter many times. He's got his hands full as well at the moment. I think we probably have completely different processes. I don't really want to be shooting for 3½ years."
The same site also reported revelations from some of the Narnia crew, including Weta Workshop's Richard Taylor, regarding ways in which
the film's story will differ somewhat from the novel.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is due around Christmas 2005.
Atheistic Fantasy Trilogy?
Meanwhile, director Chris Weitz (About a Boy) is hard at work developing yet another fantasy trilogy—
the adaptation of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials, a series of novels in which the heroes end up joining fallen angels in a war to overthrow God. Pullman,
who has called C. S. Lewis's Narnia books "racist and sexist," has not made any attempt to conceal his contempt for Christianity. And when the interviewer asks Weitz how the films will handle such volatile elements in the book, the director admits that the anti-church sentiments will be altered to some extent.
Browse More Movies
CT Movies Home Page | Now Showing | New on Video | All Reviews
Coming Soon | Discussion Guides | Interviews | Commentary
News & Misc. | Special Sections | About Us
Your Feedback | About Us | CT Mag Home Page
| |
|
