Caps courtesy of Screencapped.net.

Once again, thanks to Screencapped.net, LPO has Blu-ray captures of Lee Pace — this time, from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. If you recall (for those who have seen it), Lee appeared as the Elvenking Thranduil for a very brief amount of time within the first ten minutes of the movie. We got to see his costume – complete with a crown of berries – as well as him riding an elk. There are only a few caps from his cameo, but they are gorgeous. Hope you enjoy.

In less-than-exciting news, the third installment of The Hobbit – entitled There and Back Again – has been pushed back from its July 2014 release date. Keeping in line with the other five Tolkien adaptations, the film will now hits theaters in December 2014. Deadline reports:

Warner Bros has pushed the release date for The Hobbit: There And Back Again to December 17, 2014 from its original date of July 18, 2014. This is the final film in Peter Jackson’s trilogy adaptation of the JRR Tolkien novel. Hobbit 3 now avoids going up against X-Men: Days Of Future Past and so far is solo in the December 17th spot.

My deepest apologies for the delay on this update: I was out of town when the interview was first released, and then I completely forgot about it. Anyway, there is a new-ish article from Theater Mania in which Lee Pace talks Golden Age – including approaching opera and his character’s sexuality – and the three big movies he was in that were all released within a month. As some of his fans know, Lee is a very big fan of Daniel Day-Lewis, and he talks a bit about him as an actor. Check out an excerpt below before heading to the source for more.

Where would you put your knowledge of opera on a 1-10 scale before you started Golden Age?
Well, I went to Juilliard, so you can’t help but get a little dose of opera when you go to that school. I’d seen a couple of things at the Met. And I had heard Bellini’s Norma. So it’s hard to say — but I guess 2, maybe 3.

Did that lack of expertise make this job harder for you?
I had a good month ahead of rehearsals to just listen to music and work on the research about Bellini. There’s so much fascinating research about this man, and I love doing research. My favorite thing about being an actor is to learn new things. But it wasn’t just about listening to the rest of Bellini’s stuff ; it was also listening to Donizetti’s stuff, Rossini’s stuff, Wagner’s stuff just to kind of get a real sense of what it was that Bellini was trying to do artistically, what musical information he had, and what influence he had on others.

Was exploring the music the most interesting part of the process for you?
One of the most fascinating things about the play to me was Terrence’s point of view on what it takes to make not just art, but to make an event out of an evening of opera. And that’s what Bellini does– the opera is not just the music, it is an event. It is all of the people in the boxes waiting to see the show and it’s the stars who step up on the stage and perform this incredible athletic feat of singing these notes. And it’s about arranging that kind of night and figuring out a way to make that night emotionally poignant and meaningful.

FOR MORE, GO HERE.

Earlier this evening, December 6th, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey held its first stateside premiere — in New York. At the Ziegfeld Theatre, numerous cast and crew from the impressively-sized ensemble showed up, including Lee Pace (who must have taken a night off from his off-Broadway play, Golden Age). Others in attendance included Elijah Wood (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Liv Tyler (Arwen), Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield), Aidan Turner (Kili), Archie Panjabi, Terry O’Quinn, Patrick Stewart, and director Peter Jackson.

Apparently, Lee Pace is, in fact, in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — but not for long. Despite the original two movies being elongated into a trilogy – with the presumption that Thranduil’s first appearance would be delayed until the second installment of the franchise – a tweeter who attended the New Zealand premiere informed fans and moviegoers alike that Lee would be (briefly) seen as the Elvenking in An Unexpected Journey. Here’s an excerpt from a ComicBook.com article, detailing what to expect (or not):

4. Don’t Expect A Lot Of Thranduil – According to a tweet from a blogger who attended the premiere, Thranduil was only on screen for about three seconds. The good news is that those three seconds were apparently pretty epic, as the blogger also described him as “perfection.”

In an interview with The Dominion Post, Oscar-winning makeup and hair designer Peter King talked about The Hobbit transformations. The article goes in-depth on the physical changes the actors faced in order to achieve their Middle-earth characters, including what it was like to adjust to shooting on HD 3-D at 48 frames per second. He even talks about Lee Pace after mentioning Cate Blanchett, complimenting him on his amiable personality and strong elven aesthetic.

To achieve the elves’ flawless skin, [Peter] King applied the foundation with makeup brushes. Making up [Cate] Blanchett is easy, he says, because she has very good skin. “She doesn’t have pores, which is very handy. Beautiful velvet skin makes life a lot easier.”

Blanchett, he says, is also the most fantastic person to work with.

“For her high profile and everything else she does, she is one of the most down-to-earth actors I have met. She is divine,” he says. “And Lee Pace, who plays Thranduil the Elven king. He’s a male version of Cate Blanchett: beautiful, enthusiastic and fantastic. He gets what everyone is trying to do. He’s an elf with attitude. He has this fantastic icy stare but, as soon as the cameras stop, he’s such a nice guy. It’s the elves you see in the end; they are perfect beings.”

Back in December 2011, a teaser trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was released. Finally, just short of three months until the movie is due to hit cinemas, a theatrical trailer has made its debut. It’s a little longer than the teaser, showing what to expect in merely the first half of the movie trilogy. The film looks to be epic in scope yet retains the lightness of Tolkien’s novel, The Hobbit. I personally cannot wait to see it!

Unfortunately, it looks like Lee Pace isn’t going to make it into An Unexpected Journey. Originally, the movies were to be split just after Mirkwood, which would have introduced Thranduil, but I don’t think that’s the case still. I’ll therefore be making less updates about this film franchise (like new posters and whatnot); however, bigger news – such as trailers – will still be posted to keep fans up-to-date.

Thanks to TheOneRing.net, we have our very first look at Lee Pace – in costume – as Thranduil from The Hobbit trilogy. An image can be seen above, showing off a distinctive crown of twigs and leaves for the Elvenking and confirming that Lee’s trademark eyebrows are remaining as prominent as ever. An additional picture can be seen here. What do you think of Peter Jackson’s take on Thranduil?

Rumors on The Hobbit splitting into three movies – instead of the announced two – can now be put to rest. Peter Jackson confirmed on his official Facebook that the action-adventure film will become even more epic by expanding into a trilogy. Check out his blog post on the matter:

It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie – and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.’

We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.

So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of The Hobbit films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.

It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, “a tale that grew in the telling.”

Cheers,

Peter J

It looks like the demand to see him was finally heard, because the eighth Hobbit production video does feature Lee Pace! There’s a brief segment where Lee talks about getting in character as Thranduil, which includes some great action shots of him preparing for the role. (It takes a lot of practice just to move like an elf.) The rest of the video is great, too, giving viewers more insight on the various sets. Lots of cast and crew are featured, saying their goodbyes, as the production videos featuring principle photography comes to a close. I’ll be adding this one to the video archive later today (as well as caps, hopefully), but enjoy this in the meantime.