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Post by Desi Baggins on Sept 30, 2009 7:39:05 GMT -6
I'm not sure I would like Depp as Legolas's father...I have liked most of Depp's movies and he is a good actor, but I just don't think he would be good for that part....
Shia is such a funny actor and he is amazingly quick in the humor department and has been since he was a kid...I have always liked his movies....I am not sure he would make a good Bilbo though...I almost think he is too young looking for it...though I know make-up can do amazing things...
I just wish the real list would come out!!!
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Oct 2, 2009 18:41:26 GMT -6
Vanye: OMG! Stephen Frye was so young in Jeeves and Wooster! I didn't recognize him from the picture at TORN! Hugh Laurie was so young, too, but I did know who he was from House and the unanimated 101 Dalmations. They kind of reminded me of Laurel and Hardy on that show. I've only seen a few episodes. I might have been tired when I watched them because I kept falling asleep. I should rent a few more from Netflix and give Jeeves and Wooster more of a chance. I will watch Stephen Frye more closely when I do! I have been watching Stephen Fry in a more recently produced show - he's looking much older than in his "Wooster & Jeeves" days - he's gone quite portly, I might add! This new show is called Kingdom and Fry plays Peter Kingdom, a lawyer in an English suburb-by-the-sea, and one of a family of lawyers ( I believe his father and brother & sister are all lawyers ) - Peter Kingdom is a benevolent sort of character, one who is actually very concerned with right & wrong and acting responsibly but also with trying to help people out of their problems... Jeeves & Wooster!!! Still one of my favorite shows of all time... Admittedly, the pacing in the show is rather leisurely - even languid, one could say, but just because it's not a laugh-a-minute riot doesn't mean it isn't achingly funny sometimes, especially in the way it pokes gentle fun at traditional British attitudes and mores, and there is not a moment to be taken too seriously in these romps through the half-imaginary world of Upper-Middle Class England ( in the elastic, amorphous time period of post-WWI and pre-WWII )and the lives of these old schoolboys who seem to have nothing to do except spend their allowances and hang out at the "Club", or spend their nights out in nightclubs & spend the week-end at countryside estates, playing tennis & croquet & socializing with the girls - Of course, a major plot device in the series is that old Bertie Wooster ( Hugh Laurie was perfect as the vacuous young bachelor gentleman Bertie ) is constantly getting entangled in marriage proposals ( sometimes foisted upon him by his meddling aunts, anxious to see Bertie properly set up ) after which Jeeves must find a way to save the day... There is also a funny satire on the nationalistic, neo-fascists who had gained a degree of popularity in Britain before the War , in Mr Spode ( who, incidentally, is always "out to get" Bertie, for his own reasons ) In general, the stories also poke fun at over-pomposity and affectedness... Anyway..... Yes, I definitely see Stephen Fry as being absolutely perfectfor playing the role of the kind-hearted Balin....
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Oct 2, 2009 18:51:33 GMT -6
Fredegar: They must have added more to that page since I first posted it! Thanks for clearing up where we heard about Doug Jones as Bilbo. Along with Martin Freeman, they also mention Colin Firth and Shia LeBeouf for the part of Bilbo. I like Shia but I can't picture him as Bilbo. I don't know much about the other two. Speaking of Thranduil, the TORN link states:Funny about Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom! I don't know who Stephen Fry is but the link states "I see an actor born to play a Dwarf." From his picture that is posted, I can see him as Bombur. I think they are talking about the young Aragorn role here:I kind of like how PJ used many little-known actors and actresses for the characters in his LOTR monies. This sounds like it is becoming a movie for many who are already big stars. Yes, after the huge success of the LOTR films, I'm afraid that the "Hobbit" movie may become the new glamour role platform for Hollywood celebrity actors - "everone who is anyone" will want to "get in on the act" - like: "Have you done Tolkien yet?" I'm still hoping that the movie-makers will take a glance at the actor who played Onslow ( Hyacinth Bucket's brother-in-law ) on Keeping Up Appearances, Geoffrey Hughes... He'd make a great dwarf, ( Bombur, most likely ) but I also still think he could fill the roles of all three of the trolls, { Tom, Bert & William } with aplomb...
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Post by Vanye on Oct 3, 2009 22:03:54 GMT -6
If you Google or go to YouTube & type in Stephen Frye you will find some interesting video clips w/he & many others who are now famous but were very young & unknown at the time! Hilarious stuff! Vanye 8^)
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Post by Stormrider on Oct 4, 2009 8:03:15 GMT -6
Ardo: I never thought of Stephen Frye as Balin--he just looked very smiley and round-faced in the TORN link so I thought of Bombur first. But yes, Balin might be a good choice for him especially now that you mention Geoffrey Hughes for the role of Bombur or a Troll!
I watched the first episode of Rumpole of the Bailey and did not like it a bit, I'm afraid. I don't know if it is because it was from 1976 or what, but I found it very difficult to watch. It was slow paced and I did not think Rumpole was very clever or witty in his court cases.
I am going to order more of Jeeves and Wooster and try to give them more of a chance. I think that show would be better for me...but I will have to make sure I am not sleepy. I do like Hugh Lauire.
Vanye: The You Tube video clips "Joys of Swearing" and "How to be Gorgeous" were funny! The mature-looking Frye does look like he could fit well as a dwarf!
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Post by Andorinha on Oct 4, 2009 9:44:21 GMT -6
Stephan Fry "leaving Jeeves" for Balin? Hmm, might work well there, but I'd still be identifying him with Jeeves -- GREAT ROLE as Jeeves, bought all the videos long ago, wearing them out with replays. Fry also did a grandly sensitive Oscar Wilde. Yeah, the more I think about Balin's personality, the more I like Jeeves, er Fry, for that role.
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Oct 5, 2009 3:13:54 GMT -6
I watched the first episode of Rumpole of the Bailey and did not like it a bit, I'm afraid. I don't know if it is because it was from 1976 or what, but I found it very difficult to watch. It was slow paced and I did not think Rumpole was very clever or witty in his court cases. I am going to order more of Jeeves and Wooster and try to give them more of a chance. I think that show would be better for me...but I will have to make sure I am not sleepy. I do like Hugh Lauire. Dear Stormrider: By all means, have a good strong cup of tea, ( if that's what it'll take ) before attempting another viewing of "Jeeves & Wooster" ( or is it "Wooster & Jeeves"? ) - or, if if it would suit you better, a good cocktail or two might put you in the mood... As I recall, one one of the earliest episodes of "Rumpole Of The Bailey" was set back in 1976, but it was produced a little bit later... "Rumpole" is another British show that has a lanquid pace about it, but it is another one that I hold dear to my heart... The character of "Rumpole" is not meant to be another Perry Mason, and Horace Rumpole can be a bit of a bumbler at times - ( there was even an episode where the family of the accused [ a family of small-time crooks ] hires Rumpole because they were sure he would lose the case ) - And there are other cases where, even though Rumpole manages to pull off a miracle upset result in court, it is not really what his client really wanted in the first place... ( and there are cases he loses, too )... The Rumpole character ( played to absolute perfection by the late, great Leo Mc Kern - there was talk of making more new episodes of ROTB, but fortunately I don't think anything has come of that ) - is at the heart of the show ( and his the often "voiced-over" thoughts in his mind ) and the relationship with his wife ( I only just quite recently found out that the term: "She who must be obeyed..." was lifted from H. Rider Haggard - I always assumed that it was Rumpole's own invention - but then, he does sometimes quote from Wordsworth or Shakespeare, & others as well ) There is a host of other characters in the show, ( mostly Rumpole's associates down at the Old Bailey ) Some are obnoxious and supercilious ( like Mr Ballard ) and every trial judge that Rumpole is up against is a pig-headed, obstinate, narrow-minded old fool - but there are other characters, too, and the series has a bit of the "soap-opera" to it as it goes along, following the lives of some of these other characters... The show also gives a good "look behind the scenes" at the British justice system ( although not as dramatic, say, as "The Jury" or "Witness For The Prosecution" ) -- But maybe "Rumpole" just isn't your cup of tea, either, anyway...
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Post by Stormrider on Oct 5, 2009 6:03:39 GMT -6
Ardo said:Well, that sounds more interesting--wish I knew which episodes these were! Maybe a spot of tea or wine might make the experience better for me. Andorinha said:Ok ANOTHER plug for Jeeves and Wooster. I will try them out again (with the tea or wine). lol!
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Post by Vanye on Oct 5, 2009 20:52:31 GMT -6
I love Rumpole of the Bailey & Leo Mc Kern was wonderful in the role he could bumble but he often outfoxed the opposition too! On You Tube there are some clips w/Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Dawn French, Rowan Atkinson & i believe John Cleese doing short sketch comedy bits that are hilarious! Have any of you seen The Vicar of Dibly w/Dawn French in the title role, it is another BBC series. Vanye 8^)
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Post by Andorinha on Oct 6, 2009 4:14:31 GMT -6
Rowan Atkinson (Black Adder) as the incomparably unique "Mr Bean" (fallen from Heaven, or just ejected from a passing UFO?) is hilarious. Dawn French and Saunders series as well as Vicar of Dilby, then Absolutely Fabulous, The Good Neighbors, Monty Python, The Goodies (madcap zany again), Rumpole, Lovejoy, Jeremy Bret as Sherlock, and all those Joan Hickson "Miss Marples." Sigh, the good olde days of English-borrowed TV...
Rumpole, being hired as a "patsie" by a client who wanted to be found guilty, but is finally proven by Rumpole to be so inept at painting that he could not really be a decent art forger... Have about 20 mismatched Rumpole episodes on fading video tapes, wonder if Leo is still around? Leo, gotta be dead by now, might have done a comical Bombur?
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Post by Stormrider on Oct 6, 2009 5:57:09 GMT -6
Ardo stated above:so I guess he is gone.
Of course, I've seen Monty Python and love those guys and Desi is a big fan of Faulty Towers (I think that was the name of the show). Benny Hill (who really liked those skits with the ladies) was also a show my husband liked--I have to admit he cracked me up too.
Mr. Bean is funny too. I have only seen a little bit of him and have been meaning to see some more of his stuff. Maybe he would be a good Troll!
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Oct 7, 2009 4:02:44 GMT -6
It's "Fawlty Towers", but of course the "Fawlty" ( "Basil Fawlty" & his wife, Sybil, were the proprieters of the "Fawlty Towers Hotel" ) bit was a double-meaning pun on "faulty" - there were only twelve episodes ( made back in the Seventies ), each of them very fast-paced, with wildly wicked humor of the side-splitting variety in them -
John Cleese ( Basil Fawlty ) was still tall, slim and gangly back in those days - as he's aged he seems to have shrunk down a bit and filled out a bit as well - perhaps there could be a spot for him in a "Hobbit" movie ( but only if he would be interested )...
I only saw a bit of "Benny Hill" some years back, and I didn't really care for that so much ( unusual for me - I almost always gaga over any British TV Show ) I guess the humor was just a bit too broad, too slapstick, too silly for me -- ( not that there's anything wrong with that! )
Both Hugh Laurie & Steven Fry also appeared in some of Rowan Atkinson's dark-humored "Black Adder" series - All of the episodes are pretty funny - one of them I enjoyed most was one that skewered the British social and literary scene in the 18th Century ( Samuel Johnson's Dictionary manuscript gets burnt by accident & the Rowan Atkinson character attempts to burn the midnight oil in an effort to reproduce it on the spot ) - ( Hugh Laurie played the foppish aristocrat in that one ) -- "The Great War" episodes were also caustic, acidly funny in their send-up ( or send-down? ) of the supreme inanity of that stupid awful war and its myopic mismanagement...
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Oct 7, 2009 4:56:02 GMT -6
Rowan Atkinson (Black Adder) as the incomparably unique "Mr Bean" (fallen from Heaven, or just ejected from a passing UFO?) is hilarious. Dawn French and Saunders series as well as Vicar of Dilby, then Absolutely Fabulous, The Good Neighbors, Monty Python, The Goodies (madcap zany again), Rumpole, Lovejoy, Jeremy Bret as Sherlock, and all those Joan Hickson "Miss Marples." Sigh, the good olde days of English-borrowed TV... Rumpole, being hired as a "patsie" by a client who wanted to be found guilty, but is finally proven by Rumpole to be so inept at painting that he could not really be a decent art forger... Have about 20 mismatched Rumpole episodes on fading video tapes, wonder if Leo is still around? Leo, gotta be dead by now, might have done a comical Bombur? We have been blessed in the Bay Area here ( for many years running now ) with the airing of a ton of British TV programming on the local airways - KQED and KTEH ( both PBS, non-commercial stations ) being the main purveyors - although KTEH has evolved into becoming the major purveyor, more so than its counterpart ( up until just recently, these two stations were independent of each other, but they have since merged ) Of course, much of this British programming has come through via the PBS "Masterpiece Theatre" & "Masterpiece Mystery!" programs, although in other instances there have been programs that were BBC ( or other British TV agency ) produced that were imported over here... { I have to confess, I have been a rapacious Anglophile almost my entire life ( I think it all sort of got started when I first read "The Hobbit", actually ) & I may have possibly watched more British shows than American, at last count... ) We have found many of these same programs still available at our local libraries ( on VHS or DVD ) -- P.S. -- Joan Hickson was Miss Marple, just as Jeremy Brett was Sherlock Holmes -- No slight to Geraldine Mc Kewen as an actress, but she just didn't "fit" the role of Miss Marple properly... I have seen a more recent adaption of Sherlock Holmes ( with a story not taken from one of the original stories, but sort of jazzed-up and improvised from them ) where the actor who was playing Holmes did cut a plausible figure as a rather young-looking Holmes... Oh, but one more thing ( and please, please forgive me for being so pedantic ) I know the "Rumpole" episode of which you speak - What actually happened was that the suspected "forger" did want to be found guilty of forgery - He was driven by an intense feeling of jealousy & envy towards his former "rival" in the Art world, ( and the "forger" actually went through a lot of trouble to "set it up", to "frame" himself to be suspect of having forged this particular painting ) but the way it was shown that he could not have painted the painting in question was not so much by proving that the "forger" was such a lousy painter, but by producing the model who had posed for the picture ( when she was young and beautiful, many years before ) who pronounced unequivocally that she herself hadposed for that painting ( for the other artist, the one the "forger" was so jealous of ) ... Sorry, I guess it's all rather a fine point, or a moot one, anyway... The accused "forger" did hire Rumpole as a "patsy", anyway, hoping to be found guilty, just as you said...
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Post by Ardo Whortleberry on Oct 7, 2009 5:31:13 GMT -6
I'm not so sure about Rowan Atkinson being a troll - the trolls in "The Hobbit" are sort of dunderheads - and the character Atkinson is best at ( especially in his Blackadder role ) being more of the cunning, self-serving, devious, callous sort --
Perhaps Mr Atkinson as the Master of Lake-Town? ~~~
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Post by Stormrider on Oct 7, 2009 6:31:46 GMT -6
I have not seen the Blackadder so I am not familiar with his cunning and devious role plaing ability! Well...he looks rather odd to me, so Troll is what I thought of first. I am sure he could switch gears and make a very believable Troll. But Master of Laketown is another good suggestion.
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