The actor and director Andy Serkis led a panel on The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim while fans were able to experience the first 20 minutes of the animated film at the Annecy Animation Festival.
Coming from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation, the director’s film Kenji Kamiyama is based on a short segment from The Lord of the Rings by the author JRR Tolkien and hits theaters in December. The film focuses on Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise), the daughter of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), a notable king of Rohan, as the family attempts to protect their region from the Dunlendings.
“The fans are going to go crazy over this,” Serkis, who is not directly involved in the film but had seen it recently, told the crowd Tuesday as he introduced the footage. “You are the first people to see this and, wow, this is an extraordinary piece of work.”
After the segment was well received by the audience, Serkis channeled Gollum, his character from director Peter Jackson’s live-action The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, joking: “There’s only one word to describe a movie with The Lord of the Rings and the anime at the same time, and that’s beautiful.”.
Serkis then introduced the project panel, which included Kamiyama, the producers Philippa Boyens and Joseph Chouand the Warner executive, Jason DeMarco. Kamiyama, known for directing the anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotusemphasized that he was a devout fan of Jackson’s film series and saw each of the three films on opening night.
During the panel, the team announced that Jackson and her producing partner Fran Walsh They are executive producers of the animated film. Jackson appeared via video at the beginning of the event to present the project.
Kamiyama expressed gratitude for Boyens’ involvement in helping lead the development of the new film’s narrative, given that she co-wrote Jackson’s films. “It was essential that Philippa direct the story,” the director said through an interpreter.
DeMarco spoke about the challenge of combine The Lord of the Rings franchise with the world of anime. “We didn’t want to do an animated version of a Peter Jackson movie,” she said. “We wanted to make a Kenji Kamiyama anime film that lived within that world. And that is a very, very difficult task that requires a delicate balance between two types of cinema that have never collided in this way before.”
Chou noted how daunting the task of creating the film was, mentioning that it went from being imagined at 90 minutes to finishing in two and a half hours. “Not all of them do, at least,” Serkis joked about the franchise’s tendency toward longer films.
Andy Serkis gave new details about The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
Serkis continued to advance his work on the planned live-action film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which will see him star in and direct, with Jackson also executive producing that project.
“We all know that The Lord of the Rings is a hugely popular intellectual property,” Serkis said. “I feel very blessed and lucky to have been a part of this many times and I am happy to be back”.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
