Elijah Wood and Brendan Fraser ... it's all about the feet

Okay -- Brendan first, then Elijah, okay? Because B comes before E, and F comes before W, maybe. Beside, this was the order I typed it in!

Journey to the Center of the Earth was one of the movies I enjoyed most in the recent ocean of 3D offerings, and a large part of the enjoyment came from the small fact Brendan Fraser plays this sort of role so well, with just enough gravitas to make you believe in the character, yet a flair for comedic timing that's second to none. So I was very sad to find that the second Journey moved (Mysterious Island, loosely based on another Verne idea) will be Brendanless.

Seems Brendan said "no thanks" when the company -- and it's New Line! -- tried to go back on the actor's fee. Promise him a certain figure, then actually pay a lot less. That's not the kind of thing any tradesman (and acting is a trade no less than plumbing ... it's just has a lot more glam and gets a lot more publicity) can go along with, so quite rightly Brendan put his hat back on and hopefully didn't slam the door too hard on his way out. Why would New Line pull this stunt? After the Lord of the Rings trilogy, they must be floating away on cash. (Then again, Peter Jackson had to sue them over non-payment of royalties, so ... go figure.)

In fact, he's signed to do a drama next. It's something called Seconds of Pleasure -- and to this point no one has the slightest idea what it's about, just that it ain't no comedy, and also stars Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth and Ed Harris. Well, with a cast like that you won't go far wrong! So we can only hope it's a role that'll give Brendan the chance to flex his dramatic muscles rather than the ones he acquires (rather temporarily these days) in the gym in order to make the rambunctious big adventure movies.

So what does all this have to do with his feet? Absolutely nothing ... unless maybe the situation got him so uptight (and it'd sure do it to me!) that a nice pedicure sounded like a great way to relax...

It's a cute little story, (running here with more pictures -- but beware: Brendan ain't wearing his glamorous facade. He really is the guy next door in these pictures, so if you don't want your bubble punctured, stay on this page). Let me give you in a thimble. Lady pedicurist does a superlative job on his feet ... quotes her fee as $16. Being from Hollywood, Brendan heard "Sixty," not "Sixteen," and when the pedicurist was far too honest to let him overpay, he said words along the lines of "You need to charge more," and with a smile, paid the sixty bucks.

Cute, cute story, that, to which I have but one addition to make, after looking at the above picture: Brendan, sweetheart, put your glasses on. Squinting to read is bad for your eyes, gives you headaches, and ... God knows, everybody in the world wears glasses!

Except, I suspect Elijah Wood has switched, or is switching, to contact lenses, because you rarely see him in glasses these days, while his eyesight was notorious way back in the Frodo days.

But it really is about the feet -- again! Now, this news is so new, they haven't even updated the cast list for The Hobbit on IMDB. Go there, and you won't see the name of Elijah Wood mentioned, but (and I'm chuckling with glee!) I just saw a piece on mtv.com, and yep, there's a part in The Hobbit for Elijah. Now, he says it's a small part, which is fair enough -- especially since he's long been saying he wouldn't be putting the feet on again. Who would blame him, after seeing the routine he, Sean Astin and the other kids went through every day with those hobbit feet? Eep.

But it turns out that Elijah Wood will be back in the feet for a small part in both parts of The Hobbit, and with any luck at all they'll be able to dragoon David Tennant into the part of Thranduil, which is so close to a done deal, it's actually listed at IMDB. I would dearly love to see David Tennant as Thranduil.

Also watch out for Elijah Wood in Treasure Island, which is shooting in Puerto Rico soon-ish. Mind you, you might not recognize him! A dozen years ago he'd have been playing Jim Hawkins, but this time around (and doesn't this just show you how time flies?) he'll be playing Ben Gunn! Seriously! They're all good parts, but the cogs and gears of time never stop turning, do they?

Let's have some more pictures before I sign out for today. As I always say, it's not as if there's any shortage of them, so why be stingy?

So there you are -- a tale of four feet and five movies (The Hobbit is being done in two parts). And now ... lunch, while I watch some of the Tour Downunder on tv. Ahhh, the bliss of a day off...

Viggo Mortensen -- being Aragorn. Again!

I'm in a Viggo mood today, and there's plenty to be in a mood about! You probably know that The Hobbit is in serious, serious preproduction. I blogged a little about it here, when Dominic Monaghan was talking about the very real possibility that he, Billy and Elijah would be in the movie. (It was Elijah Wood's birthday at the time...)

I still don't know how those talks have turned out, but I can tell you this much: now the company is talking to Viggo about coming back to be Aragorn again!! Here's the news: Viggo Mortensen talks the Hobbit. This is so cool, it gives you shivers.



Now, the problem is that Aragorn wasn't in the book of The Hobbit -- any more than Pip, Merry and Frodo were in it. However, if Aragorn was 87 y.o. in Two Towers, then he sure as heck was there, temporally speaking at least, when the story of The Hobbit was actually happening. So was Legloas. And Elrond and Arwen.


So potentially you could have Aragorn and Legolas, and Elrond and Arwen, at least as "guest stars" along the way. You could also have Gimli, but remember that he'd never met Aragorn and Legolas before the Council of Elrond.

James McAvoy is being whispered about as the actor to play the younger Bilbo. (I blogged about this too, right here. With succulent pictures.)

You could even write in a part for Saruman, who was still sane at the time. Send for Christopher Lee ... and if Ian McKellen doesn't play Gandalf, not only will I not blog about it, I won't even go and see it!

Same goes for Orlando Bloom, who looks far more gorgeous now than he did 10 years ago, and if they get anybody else in the cosmos to play Legolas ...!!!



Which leaves Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood kind of "dangling" ... and I just can't figure out how their characters are going to get into the picture.

Anyway, while I'm in a Viggo mood, let's have some pictures...




I'm STILL in a Viggo mood, so I'll be posting again shortly, with more news...

A hobbit one gets into ... hey, that's James McAvoy!

First, an apology to everyone: I haven't posted in a couple of days. The reason is, THE HEAT. You might not be aware of this, but we were at 115F the other day, and it's only 95F overnight! I'm a grease spot, melted into the carpet, and somebody trod on me this morning. So, the reason I haven't posted is ... I reckon I'm lucky to be alive. AND this heatwave is going to continue on for another week --!! I'm starting to wish I were in Wellington --

And speaking of Wellington ... as in New Zealand ... as in Middle Earth ... let's get down to business! The last time I was able to post, I was talking about the new movie of The Hobbit, and then I had to take a rather nasty hiatus. So let me get back to where I was, and start there!

The movie is no only ON, it's been doubled. My info is that they're doing it in two movies. Th director has been set and alas it isn't Peter Jackson. However, it's somebody PJ knows and respects, and PK is going to produce, so ... good enough. The big question uppermost in everybody's mind is ... who's going to play Bilbo Baggins?

I'd have liked to see Iam Holm again. He says he's too old, but he probably isn't. The first time Gandalf meets him again in Fellowship, he (Gandalf) says, "You haven't aged a day," which means that Bilbo wasn't any spring chicken when he and the dwarfs went chasing Smaug. Gandalf reckons he looks the same. Anyway, there's my reasoning, but --

New Line (and they're probably right) seem to think the part ought to be played by a Young and Beautiful actor, probably to put bums on seats at the movie house! The last I looked at this half of the story, everybody was talking about James McAvoy.

You probably know him best from the movie he made half naked with his knees on backwards: Narnia. Yep, he was Tumnus the faun, who was seriously cute. But Tumnus is not the extent of James's potential (with or without his knees on the right way around). For your consideration, I present the photographic evidence:






...and based on that evidence, you'd kinda have to agree with New Line!

Parting shot: the Photoshop Fiends are at it again. The mock-poster I started with, and the Saruman I'm closing with, are not down to me -- I have no idea where they came from, but they're a good chuckle. If anyone knows source and credit, let me know -- I'd love to put them on...

Elijah Wood: Happy birthday, 2009

And today it's Happy Birthday Elijah Wood -- he turns 28! Time flies, doesn't it? The first time I saw Elijah Wood he was about 12, and he was playing Jamie Lee Curtis's son in the Mel Gibson movie, Forever Young.

History happened thereafter with the Lord of the Rings trilogy ... and the question fans are asking right now is, will he, Billy and Dominic be in the upcoming Hobbit movie? And this picture is NOT a costume call for The Hobbit, though one might wish it was:


The real problem with having Elijah, Billy and Dom in the next Tolkein movie would be simply that the three young hobbits didn't take part in the book ... in fact they wouldn't even have been born at the time Bilbo and Gahdalf took off on their previous adventures! ... so if they're going to be in the movie they'll have to be written into it. Or else they'll be under ten pounds of makeup playing dwarf characters. That won't be too good because when there's that much latex and paint on someone, you can't really SEE them! But for the story on this, click here: http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/the-hobbit-the-hobbit-prequel-in-the-pipeline-2009012710073