David Fincher will direct. Christopher Tolkien will do the screenplays. There will be 13 movies in all; One released each year. Casting has yet to be decided, although it is rumored that Christopher Walkien will play Morgoth, Val Kilmer will play Hurin, and William H. Macy will be (ahem) Fingolfin. The recent reports of Madonna playing Luthien are flat out untrue!
First movie:
…Ainulindale (includes content found in Valaquenta)
…Of the Beginning of Days
…Of Aule and Yavanna
…Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
Second movie:
…Of Thingol and Melian
…Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie
…Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
Third movie:
…Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor
…Of the Darkening of Valinor
Fourth movie:
…Of the Flight of the Noldor
…Of the Sindar
Fifth movie:
…Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
…Of Men
Sixth movie:
…Of the Return of the Noldor (14th chapter not really needed)
…Of the Noldor in Beleriand
…Of Maeglin
Seventh movie:
…Of the Coming of Men into the West
…Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
Eighth movie:
…Of Beren and Luthien
Ninth movie:
…Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad (elements from this would be used in the following)
Tenth movie:
…Of Turin Turambar (the beginning of the next would be briefly told at the end of this, and elaborated further in the next)
Eleventh movie:
…Of the Ruin of Doriath
Twelfth movie:
…Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin
Thirteenth movie:
…Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of Wrath
Damn, that would be sweet!
I think Bakshi’s version of LOTR would have been good, had he been able to extend it to three films and finish the animation. What was released is pitiful, IMO. The parts that were complete were well done. No question about it being better than the Rankin/Bass atrocity (how could it be worse?)
Of course, in addition to the artistic considerations (I favor a TV series, myself), there’s also the legal question. Tolkien and his estate were very reluctant to release the movie rights to LotR, and Christopher has made it pretty clear that he has no intention of selling any more of the rights to any of it, for any price. Probably wise of him… While Peter Jackson has proven that it’s possible to make a good movie out of the books, it’s also quite possible (and much more likely, I fear) to make an abyssmal movie from them.
Hey thanks artemis! I just returned from the Halls of Mandos. I’ve been engaged in a heated discussion with Finrod for the last several months about his his atrocious Lembas recipe, but no matter.
It looks like Walkin is all set to play Morgoth, and William H. Macy is definitely going to be playing me. Other new sign-ons are: Ving Rhames as Gothmog, Hugh Grant as Finarfin (don’t laugh!), Russell Crowe as Tuor, and David Duchoveny as Earendil.
Also, Trent Reznor has signed on to do all of the soundtracks!
All 13 films will be filmed at once, in one giant 29 month production shoot.
Just to introduce a note of reality here, The Silmarillion is just about impossible to make into a film (or films) that would be commercially viable. Give up on movies.
The television series idea makes a great deal more sense especially for a cable outfit like the SciFi channel. But I’d compress it down to one season of 22 episodes or less. I’d also jump around a bit with the order of the stories given the slow start. No harm in jumping forward to something big for the pilot and then occasionally jumping back to other stories.
It would be great if it could be made with the cooperation of WETA so that while the budget would be orders of magnitude less the existing props and information could be used.
Casting has yet to be decided, although it is rumored that Christopher Walkien will play Morgoth, Val Kilmer will play Hurin, and William H. Macy will be (ahem) Fingolfin. The recent reports of Madonna playing Luthien are flat out untrue!