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| That guy? Really?!?!?! |
When I was a very young man, Hollywood had been threatening to make Lord of the Rings into a movie for about as long as I could remember. By that point we had three cartoons: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (which did not cover the whole story) and The Return of the King. I'd long given up hope that they would ever make the movie, much less make it a good movie.
Then came the day that I learned what the world now knows as history. I was working at the library in those days as a page. It would take me years to graduate to the circulation desk, but I worked the stacks, and on Friday nights I would work my final hour in periodicals. Josh, a friend of mine, worked behind the desk on some Friday nights.
That fateful day he greeted me as I walked up the three steps and into the periodicals department. "Did you hear the news?"
I had not.
"They're finally making Lord of the Rings into a movie!"
I highly doubt it.
"And you'll never guess who's directing!"
Okay, I'll bite. Who?
"Peter Jackson!"
Peter Jackson?!?!?!?!?!?! The Dead Alive guy? Meet the Feebles? Bad Taste? That guy?!?!?!?!?!
"Yep."
Josh knew my love of Lord of the Rings, and he knew my love of Peter Jackson. It had to be a trap. Why would Hollywood let a guy primarily known for weird and gory horror movies direct Lord of the Rings?
"I read about it in Fangoria."
I didn't believe him. I had to see the issue of Fangoria myself before I could believe it. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that a horror director would helm Lord of the Rings. Think about the Barrow-Wights! And Frodo's fight with the King of the Nazgul! Gollum would be in the best of hands. And the Dead Marshes! And the Dead Men of Dunharrow!
I was sold on Peter Jackson doing it in that moment. It would take years before I'd get to see that first movie, and I was not disappointed. I have a problem here or there with the films, but nothing that irritates me to the point of no return. Plus, watchful viewers will catch references to the Silmarillion, and that's pretty cool.
And now what was once an unthinkable film is being adapted as a show. I'm not certain how I feel about that. Do we really need a new Lord of the Rings show? Maybe. I doubt it, but maybe. I guess I'll hold off on judgment until it's released. But what I'd really like is a history of Middle Earth type of show that builds up to the trilogy. That would be pretty nice.
It would be sweet to see Morgoth in action.
We never got the Barrow-Wights, dammit. Way to go, Peter Jackson . . .
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