Peter Jackson has announced that Lee Pace, AKA Garrett from Breaking Dawn, will play the role of Elven King Thranduil in his new movie "The Hobbit"
Peter Jackson revealed the news on his facebook page, noting that Pace was his "first choice" for the role:
"I'm also pleased to announce that Lee Pace will be playing the Elven King Thranduil. Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters, and Lee has always been our first choice for Thranduil. He's going to be great. We loved his performance in a movie called "The Fall" a few years ago, and have been hoping to work with him since. When we were first discussing who would be right for Thranduil, Lee came into mind almost immediately."
Shooting of the anticipated two part prequel to The Lord of the Rings is already underway in New Zealand and stars an all star cast including Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, James Nesbitt, Graham McTavish and Ian Holm.
The Hobbit: Part 1 is due to be released in December next year
Rob: I didn't have time to visit, even though I love Paris, it's my favorite city. I'd like to enjoy it but I'm stuck in my hotel room all the time. You don't always have time to go out whne you're working.
Laurent:What do you feel when you see scenes from the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William? Do you feel eomtional? Are you smiling? Is it important for you?
Rob: I mean, yeah. I didn't realise that I would feel that emotional, especially when they left the chapel as an oridnary but loving couple, it was touching. I didn't think I would be interested at all, and then I saw how many people were fascniated about this Cinderella story. They're just two normal people but intriguing at the same time. It's funny to see what people are imagining when they look at them. We like to watch famous people, trying to decipher if they're dumb or not *laughs* But it's different when it comes to the Royal family, we feel like they're untouchable.
Laurent: RP stay with us, we're going to watch the first scenes from Water For Elephants, your last movie, where you play along side Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Walt. Commentary by Pascal Deschamps.
The Water for Elephants Promo Video:
In Paris, like London or Berlin, it's not much to say that Robert Pattinson attracts crowds. It's the Twilight effect, it is not an hairspray brand but a series of vampires movies, from which he was the big discovery. A helping hand from destiny, maybe, which also could have been a liability. Before making him the hero of his movie, the director hesitated a lot.
Francis Lawrence: Honestly, I didn't know what Robert was capable of. The Twilight movies are so stylised, you can't even recognize him with the contacts and the makeup and the hair. But when I met him, I thought he was fitting for the character.
** ...Some scenes, Reese and Christoph are talking. (I can translate that if anyone's interested) **
End of Promo Video
Laurent: Did you need to do something new, to leave the world of vampires? Did you need to prove yourself that you could do something diferent?
Rob: I don't think so, I don't think I needed any proving. It was a nice change. The only thing that worried me was to see if people were going to accept me as this character or not.
Laurent: Did the director, Francis Lawrence, manage to transport you into this 1930's universe, this particuliar universe which is dark but bright at the same time?
Rob: Him and the production made enormous efforts to make everyone believe we were on a real circus, with material from the 30s. When we were on the set, it was amazing, everything was so authentic. It was so different from this set for example, where when you leave, everything changes, but on this movie...
Laurent: You were deep into this world?
Rob: Yes, completely. It was so easy to believe that we were there, in the 1930s.
Laurent: One word about Twilight. You filmed the last movie. Do you think it's going to be difficult to turn the page, to do something different or are you scared from this rupture?
Rob: Not really. I've done so many of the Twilight movies in such a short time, it feels like it went by really fast. Next month I think I can past for a 17 years old anymore. My wrinkles are showing.
Laurent: Do you sometimes feel imprisoned from reaching your goals and dreams by being thrust into this world...how do you cope?
Rob:Sometimes but I mean it's really... you always find places. Last year, it's true that I let myself be concerned about things but I mean.. I just deal. Your life changes and you gotta adapt to what life gives you.
Laurent: You have time to live, time to fall in love. There are millions of young women watching us tonight. Do you have time to fall in love too?
Rob: *laughs* Yes, there's plenty...there's always time for that, right?
Rob: I think so, yeah.
Laurent: We'll see you soon in Bel Ami, Maupassant's novel. Another exciting movie?
Rob: Yes, it was one of my favorite books when I was young. People are asking me, "how did you make it in English?". It's kind of weird to hear the questions people ask me in France about it. But I really wanted to make this movie.
Laurent: Thank you for being here tonight. Good luck for the future and for this movie which comes out this Wednesday in our theaters. Thanks again.
Jamie Campbell Bower had a blast playing Caius, an ancient vampire aristocrat, in the final two "Twilight" movies, but the gig involved some serious heavy lifting in one respect.
"I have this big, flaming torch in the last movie," Campbell Bower tells Zap2it, "and it was one of those things you look at on the first day and you think, 'Yeah, I am going to be so badass with this!' -- and by the end of filming, it was, 'God, I HATE this thing, I never want to see it ever again!'
"That torch was just so heavy it was ridiculous, and I had been holding Excalibur for the past six months of 'Camelot,' so my arm was getting bigger, but that big bronze torch must have weighed, I don't know, 400 pounds or something. I was glad to be rid of it.
"I'll let the fans have that one, because they love that kind of stuff."
