Billy Connolly: 'The Hobbit' 2 and 3 spoilers

10 Things You'll See In The Hobbit 2 And 3
What to expect when you're on an unexpected journey

9. Billy Connolly Riding A PigYes, you read that right. It appears that Dain Ironfoot, the tougher-than-tungsten lord of the dwarves of the Iron Hills, will rock up to the Battle of the Five Armies astride a combat-hog. “I ride into war on a wild pig!” Billy Connolly told Vulture last year. Richard Taylor seemed to confirm this while speaking to Empire shortly before Christmas, when he said, “It’s been great fun designing a dwarfish army - what they might wear, what they might ride into battle, all that stuff.” The fact he’s sat on the back of a war-ready oinker won’t be the only eye-opening thing about Connelly’s Dain. “They’re broadening me, making me wider,” added the actor. “I have a mohawk and tattoos on my head. Let me say, this guy will terrify the life out of you.” Source (including photo): Empire Online

Ken Stott on Balin ('The Hobbit' interviews)

The Hobbit Interviews: Ken Stott On Balin
'He’s a dwarf who’s seen too much...'
Scottish actor Ken Stott has been known not to be a particularly good fool-sufferer – he once stopped a production of A View From The Bridge to turf a group of noisy schoolkids out of the theatre – and while his dwarf, Balin, probably won't be giving the younglings of the Shire too many lessons in good manners, he will be delivering some of The Hobbit's sager moments. “He has some wisdom,” the one-time Inspector Rebus tells Empire of his character. “I’m not sure how much wisdom a dwarf has, but he has some..."


Tell us about Balin...
For a dwarf he has some wisdom. I’m not sure how much wisdom a dwarf has, but he has some. But dwarves can always make mistakes. Dwarves can get things wrong. And he gets things wrong, too. He’s the force of dignity for the dwarves. He’s worried about the whole adventure. He takes no pleasure in killing. He’s a dwarf who has seen too much of it in the past. So he does not enter the venture wholeheartedly.
Are you a Tolkien man?
I read the Hobbit at the age when you’re supposed to read it. I didn’t read The Lord Of The Rings. My father, who was an English teacher, advised me that once I had read the Hobbit, that would be enough. I could then move on to Dostoyevsky.

On set, it seemed like Peter Jackson was drawing a lot of comedy from the dwarves.
It’s hard to look at these characters and not smile.


Tell us about Peter.
Well, this project was in his mind for goodness knows how long. It has been in jeopardy for so long and we all want it to work. He has made Wellington the spiritual home for the Tolkien books and it’s great to be part of that. I’m sure no doubt it will be as beautiful and as engrossing as The Lord Of The Rings, though possibly with more humour. We’re like The Dirty Dozen. A Dirty Baker's Dozen.

Did you have any preconceptions about your look?
Like all of us, I marvelled at the artistry. But not the wearing it. The best bit of wearing it is taking it off. Because it is ghastly... utterly ghastly.

How was the dwarf training?
We wanted to establish that kind of walk – a centre of gravity. How we walked, the way we held ourselves. Walking with a slight bend in the knee and a shift in the gravity. Unfortunately, what we didn’t take into account was the sheer weight of the costumes. Stumbling and falling around are very common.

But in the end it must be an extraordinary thing to play.
Well, it’s unusual. Death Of A Salesman is a great acting job.

How is your dwarf singing?
Enchanting. We’re bringing out the single...

Do you think small?
Only when we’re with others do we think about it. When we’re with Gandalf, which is either Ian on a box or a scale double who is, you know, up there. Only then do you notice the difference.

Read More Exclusive Hobbit Content Read a new Dwarf interview every day plus exclusive features as we count down to The Hobbit

Interview by Ian Nathan

Source (including photos): Empire Online

Billy Boyd: interview

Billy Boyd talks hobbits ahead of the première of Jackson's latest epic 
 
Billy Boyd: The retired Hobbit is ready to watch Jackson's new film


He’s been kidnapped by orcs, charged Isengard with Treebeard and become servant to Denethor in Minas Tirith.
Now, actor Billy Boyd – who played Pippin in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, has left the mischievous life of Peregrin Took behind and settled back home in the west end of the city.
The RSAMD graduate is eagerly awaiting the release of the series’ prequel, The Hobbit, and will attend the London première on Wednesday December 13. The movie, starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, is the much-anticipated first chapter in Jackson’s second Tolkien trilogy and stars another of Glasgow's actor sons - the Big Yin Billy Connolly, as a dwarf.
Although he and fellow hobbit Merry (Dominic Monaghan), do not appear in the film, Billy is excited to see one of his favourite childhood books brought to life. As a youngster, Billy and his childhood friends spent hours pouring over The Hobbit, and were committed to reading the novel when they weren't playing football together.
“I was always a big fan of The Hobbit, I read it as a boy growing up in Cranhill,” said Billy.
“My friends and I were a big group of boys that liked playing football and didn’t read books that much, but we all read it at the same time – there were about ten of us.”
Although a life-long fan of the novel, Billy confesses that it wasn’t until he secured the part of plucky young hobbit Pippin that he began reading the rest of Tolkien’s canon of epic tales of adventure.
It was the absence of heroic hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the later novels which deterred Billy from reading the books that followed, and Billy shelved Tolkien's chronicles of Middle Earth until his career called for him to pick the stories up once again.
“I didn’t really read the other Lord of the Rings books until I got the part in the films, then I read them all,” said Billy.
“In the beginning I just fell in love with Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit, and when it came to read the other books he wasn’t in it - there was Frodo. I felt that I didn’t want to read it if Bilbo wasn’t in it.”

Martin Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit
The hobbits as a race faced numerous difficulties in Middle Earth – from battling Uruk-hai to convincing Ents to attack, but there were also many challenges involved in playing this courageous clan of pint-sized heroes.
Billy and his fellow actors endured several hours of hair and make-up each day on set in order to accurately depict their characters – from the tip of their pointed ears to the tufts of hair on their hobbit feet. It's a makeover that Martin Freeman and the rest of The Hobbit trilogy cast will be well accustomed to by now, and not one that Billy misses.
“Everyone goes on about John Rees Davies and the orcs and the make-up they had to put on, but they didn’t have to do that every day,” said Billy.
“It takes three hours to become a hobbit. You have a wig, ears, and hobbits don’t have facial hair so you have to shave twice a day.
“You’ve got big hairy feet that take an hour to put on, and you have to stand on a box because you couldn’t have the weight of your feet in them. All this was happening at 4.30am in New Zealand’s South Island, surrounded by snow.”

Billy names the metamorphosis from human to hobbit as the worst part of being from the Shire, but says that the comraderie between his on-set hobbit peers and being part of such a positive film trilogy more than made up for the effort required in transformation.
“The best thing about being a hobbit was that there were four of us,” said Billy.
“You had Vigo who was the ‘man’ and Orlando the elf, John was the dwarf, but there were four hobbits and we did everything together. We came on set and we were like ‘ ‘yeah! Let’s go kill some orcs.’"
The friendship between hobbits worked on and off set, as Billy struck up a firm friendship with fellow actor Dominic Monaghan who plays Merry, and the two are currently working on a comedy film script about two British guys who go on a road trip to America.
Currently turning his attention to being lead singer-songwriter in his Glasgow-based band Beecake, Billy still appreciates the hoards of Lord of the Rings fanatics that honour not only the legacy of Tolkein's books, but the film adaptations that have followed.
“There’s lots of crazy fans, but they’re all a lot of fun. There’s such a positive vibe about Lord of the Rings. People love Tolkien and there’s such a good feeling surrounding the films.
"In Germany, there are weekends that you can go as your chosen character. You go into the country and live as an elf for that weekend.
"It’s amazing to be part of something so positive. I’ve met some of my closest friends through Lord of the Rings."
Back home in Glasgow, Billy is now passing on his love of The Hobbit to six-year-old son Jack, and Bilbo’s magical adventures in Middle Earth have already sparked the little boy’s imagination.
"He loves it," said Billy.
"He's started asking questions about all the characters."
From Gandalf’s trickery of the trolls, Smaug the sly dragon and Bilbo’s escape from the goblins, there are more than enough twists and turns in this epic bedtime story to see Jack gain the same passion for Tolkien as his dad.

Source (including photos): STV

Billy Connolly: Time Out interview

The Big Yin expounds on Chaucer’s fart jokes, speaking Dwarvish and the irreplaceable f-word

By Matthew Love  

Wed Dec 5, 2012

Billy Connolly Photograph: Tony Lyon

Few can match Billy Connolly’s reach and longevity in the entertainment industry. After a short-lived folk music career, the Scot turned his attention to comedy full-time; he’s remained a wildly popular international presence for 40 years, while compiling a massive catalog of stand-up specials that showcase his rowdy storytelling skills. He’s also become a documentary producer and a reliable character performer in films such as Brave and the upcoming The Hobbit. TONY spoke to the NYC resident the day after he received an award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Congratualations on your BAFTA award. What does it mean?
I think I should die now. Or retire. I think these lifetime achievement ones are gentle hints that you should bugger off.

You play a dwarf in the new Peter Jackson movie, The Hobbit. Did you approach this differently than you would playing a man?
Well, you have to speak Dwarvish. So you can’t help but approach it differently.

So you’ve picked up a new language?
No, I’ve already forgotten my line. Well, I had about four lines, but they’re all along the lines of “Come on, lads, let’s show them what for!” I have the best line in the movie, but I’m not allowed to tell you. James Nesbitt [the Irish actor who plays fellow dwarf Bofur] was seething with envy.

Your energy during your stand-up sets doesn’t seem to have diminished with age. How do you explain that?
I haven’t a clue. I’ve gone on sick and come off well. I’ve gone on sick and remained sick after the show was over. I had a virus in Australia and I couldn’t cancel—it was the Sydney Opera House—and I had to stop and go for a pee. I told them, “I have this virus and it makes me pee a lot. Oh ho, pee time.” I went offstage and peed in a bucket—so we miked the bucket.

Paradoxically, you address crowds in an intimate way. How do you envision them?
I try very hard to unite them all as one big animal, as though I’m speaking to them in a bar. I’ve never had difficulty communicating with strangers. In fact, I rather like them—some of them turn out to be the most interesting of people. If you stick to cigar smokers, fly fishers and banjo players, you can’t go wrong—a bit dodgy on the banjo player front, but most of them are nice.

How do American audiences compare with others around the world?
I find them rather nice and badly spoken of by people who know nothing about them. I think Americans generally are. Look at what you’ve given the world, for crissakes: rock & roll and Hank Williams, jazz and Chuck Berry. Holy fuck, you can retire on that!

When you perform here, do you find people listen differently?
No, but I thought they would have trouble with my accent. If I use obscure language, they’ll have a problem with it. I’ll be raging and I’ll say, “A sleekit old bastard”—sleekit means, eh, untrustworthy—and then I’ll explain it to them. Skunner is another one: a repulsive person who makes you physically ill, like someone who chews with their mouth open. There’s a lot of lovely ones.

The best Americans have to offer these days is douche bag.
But you know, I love douche bag. [Laughs] The one I love also is doofus. I think it’s a beautiful word with a friendly ring to it. A doofus to me is an overweight, clueless guy, but likable.

This reminds me of your list of childish things you say men never get over: knickers, bums, farts and so on. Why do you think that’s so?
In Britain, we’ve taken great joy and pride in vulgarity since the days of Milton and Chaucer talking of farting and belching. There’s a thing that really irritates me when some pretentious prick posing as a comedian says, “Fart jokes,” then looks down his nose as if they were easy to do and then goes on to tell you about Kierkegaard. Go fuck yourself.

Ten years ago, you prided yourself on your computer illiteracy. How has that changed in the intervening decade?
Not at all. I Amazoned two things today and it was the first time I’ve ever bought something—if indeed I have. Maybe if they had invented brand-new words to go along with [computer technology], but a lot of the words they use have old meanings and they don’t relate to the new meanings.

Well, what’s nice about English is that you can simply turn a noun into a verb, like you did with Amazon.
Yes. [Pause] I hadn’t even realized I’d done that! [Laughs]

You’ve had a long relationship with the word fuck—
Oh, yes!

As it becomes more mainstream over time, do you feel protective or are you proud of it?
Where I was born, it was part of the mainstream. Scottish author James Kelman has lots of swearing in all of his books, and when he was interviewed in one of those British Sunday supplements he said, “If you can give me the English equivalent of fuckin’ beautiful, I’ll write it down.” I was watching Barcelona play football last night and they did some things that were fuckin’ beautiful, you know? There’s no equivalent.

I often think of what Tommy Tiernan said: “The English language is a brick wall between me and the audience, and fuck is my chisel.”
That’s nice. A little pretentious, but nice. He’s Irish, you know; they try so hard.

But it is lovely.
It’s fuckin’ beautiful.

Source (including photo): Time Out


Quartet
Reel Life with Jane interview: Dustin Hoffman and Billy Connolly talk Fear, Improvisation and Making Quartet
Read it here

Billy Boyd narrates Hobbit stage production

Billy Boyd to narrate the story of the first-ever Hobbit stage production on BBC Radio 4 this Saturday

This Saturday (August 4) at 10.30am, Billy Boyd will narrate the story behind the first ever stage production of of J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit on BBC Radio 4.

The very first stage production, written by Humphrey Carpenter with music composed by Paul Drayton, was performed at New College School in Oxford in 1967.

Some of the choristers in that first production are now eminent in the musical world: choral conductor Simon Halsey, Opera North’s Martin Pickard and artist’s agent Stephen Lumsden. Composer Howard Goodall watched his older brother Ashley perform. They talk about their memories and of Tolkien’s presence in the audience on the last night.

Thanks to Ringer Andrew for the heads-up.

Update: Ringer HuanCry adds that Radio 4 is also broadcasting a documentary Tolkien in Love the day before.

Source: The One Ring

As this was broadcast yesterday, here's the link to listen again - BBC Radio 4

"The Hobbit" trailer

Here’s a a trailer for The Hobbit, the long-awaited movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic book which is being shot as a prequel to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

As previously reported, the film version is to be released in two parts, subtitled An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again, with the first hitting the big screen later this year.

The films are set sixty years before The Lord of the Rings and, as if you don’t already know, follows the journey of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman)who finds himself caught up in an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

The movies are being filmed in 3D at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand and also star Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey; Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; and Andy Serkis as Gollum.

The ensemble cast also includes (in alphabetical order) Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.

The Hobbit is a New Line Cinema and MGM production

Source: SeenIt 

Sir Peter Jackson releases video of Hobbit studio (includes Billy Connolly)

Sir Peter Jackson has released the latest in a series of Hobbit behind the scenes video blogs.

In this, the seventh video of its kind, Sir Peter kicks off a tour around the Stone Street Studio based in Miramar.

"It used to be a paint factory, we got hold of it just before Lord of the Rings," Sir Peter explains.

He then hands the tour over and the cameras are taken swiftly through the production office where actor Billy Connolly, who portrays Dain, is hanging out.

From there the blog follows the trail of some urgent script revisions that need to go out, which are hand-delivered in this case to the trailer of James Nesbitt aka Bofur.

"I've decorated my trailer with things that remind me of home," says Nesbitt, pointing to flags and pictures of the Irish seaside adorning the campervan.

The video then takes a tour with Luke Evans, or Bard.

Evans takes a walk through the trailers the actors have been living in for the last seven-and-a-half years, knocking on doors to get the other actors to come out in various stages of costume.

It then follows actor Peter Hambleton to the prosthetics lab, where he is radically transformed into the epically bearded Gloin.

After that the cameras go for a stroll through the assistant-director's Portacom and the stunts department where an all-out brawl ensues, then it's off to the Hair and Make Up Department and the Costume Department.

Sir Peter pops back up again to show stages A and B, as well as the studio's biggest soundstage, K.

"K being named after King Kong," said Jackson.

The K studio has recently housed monumental set-pieces including Milk Wood Forest.

Fans also get a peek at F and G stages, which were built specifically for The Hobbit, and are housing some fiery scenes at the time of the blog shooting.

Following that, the video heads to the art department, most of which is fuzzed out for secrecy, but the team show off some of the intricate models put together for Sir Peter.

There are also some shots of the onset action, a look at the tremendous green screen, and a peek in the weapons shed.

The video then heads over to Sir Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop were the team are insanely busy making all the props needed for the film, including prosthetics for a team of "scale doubles", a set of dwarves who double for the lead actors.

The video then wraps with tiny Bilbo double Kiran Shah, revealing the surprising "behind the scenes team" filming the blog.

Sir Peter says the team will put out another blog shortly after shooting has wrapped in a few weeks time.

Source (with video): TVNZ

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Hugo Weaving, James Nesbitt, Aidan Turner, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Billy Connolly, Evangeline Lilly, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom

[Note : I can’t view the video here in the UK, but hopefully you’ll be able to see it!]

Billy Connolly to play a dwarf in The Hobbit

Filming on the two Hobbit films may be well underway, but Peter Jackson is still adding actors to the cast. Legendary Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, who’s also had roles in such films as Mrs Brown, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, The Last Samurai and Gabriel And Me, has been cast as Dain Ironfoot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

In the book, Ironfoot – a dwarf – is the cousin of Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) who is involved in the Battle of the Five Armies, which means Connolly’s likely only to appear in the second film, The Hobbit: There And Back Again. However, Peter Jackson is well known for expanding roles, adding extra bits and bobs or rearranging the sequence of events, so who knows? 

Source: SFX

New FRIGHT NIGHT poster, featuring David Tennant

The Daily Blam was one of many sites that featured this fan-made poster as an "official" release by Dreamworks last week. It was made by the artist known as Seduff, and probably copied directly from the artist's blog.

Although several official images have been released, none of them include David Tennant's character, Peter Vincent, which Dreamworks seem keen to keep under wraps.

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In other unsubstantiated news, The Sun is keen to perpetuate the rumour that David Tennant is still set to star in The Hobbit

Billy Boyd’s Lord of the Rings prequel hopes dashed

Scottish actor Billy Boyd admits his dreams of playing a small role in Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit are doubtful despite news that Elijah Wood would feature in the opening sequence of the first movie.

The 42-year-old, who is currently in LA working on three forthcoming films, insists that he will still visit the cast and crew on the set of the new film and have his hobbit feet at the ready just in case.

“I have been talking to Dom and Elijah and we are all going to go back this year. We will all go together, like a reunion trip. We want to go and see the sets,” he told the Daily Record.

“And while we’re there, there must be something for us. They must need a hobbit in the background somewhere. I can even put my big feet on myself!

“I wouldn’t think anything will come of that but I am definitely going to go down there”

Since his career-boosting role as Pippin, Boyd has since starred in films such as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and The Flying Scotsman, splitting his time between Scotland and LA.

However, it is the friendships bonded on the set of Lord of the Rings with co-star Dominic Monaghan, which has been at the forefront behind his latest challenge as they work on a script for a film they will both feature in.

“We were with the writers yesterday and are getting close to a script we all like. I think once we get to that point it will all go fast.

“We are seriously moving ahead with the film, it is becoming real rather than something in our heads. There are really good people involved.

“It is surreal comedy stuff. We are trying to get something different and really like the way its going.”

Source: STV

David Tennant helps to launch Red Nose Day 2011

David Tennant will once again be contributing to this year's Comic Relief campaign
Source

David Tennant appears in a video for an ap for iPhone which raises money for Comic Relief.
In the press the Daily Mail mentions David Tennant as one of the celebrities involved with Comic Relief this year which launched yesterday.
The Mirror printed yesterday that David Tennant would be hosting part of Red Nose Day on Friday 18th March although a hosting slot hasn't been confirmed.
Meanwhile the Daily Star wrote that David Tennant visited Sierra Leone for Comic Relief. However David has said that it was Uganda.
And today David Walliams said that he hopes David Tennant and Catherine Tate will join in tribute Take That act.
More details of this, and further news about David Tennant and Red Nose Day this year is posted in the Comic Relief section of DavidTennantOnTwitter.com.

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Rumours:

According to David Tennant News, a New York Times overview for "Love On The Murder Mile" lists David Tennant and Billie Piper in the cast

According to Patti Tib, David Tennant is listed as starring in "The Hobbit"
IMDB still shows him as only 'rumoured'

David Tennant: Shakespeare and Tolkien

David Tennant and Catherine Tate confirmed on 'BBC Breakfast' on 8th January that they will be starring as Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndhams Theatre from 16th May to 3rd September 2011.

Tickets are available direct from the box office or via the theatre's Delfont Mackintosh website and phone line 0844 482 5120, as well as the usual ticket outlets.

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David Tennant is once again rumoured to be involved in The Hobbit. This time, a fansite 'reports' on Twitter that he has joined the cast in the role of King Thranduil, King of the Sindarin Elves. IMDB still shows his casting as 'rumoured' and there has been no official confirmation.

James McAvoy to star in the Hobbit?

I rarely post on Thursdays, but I just have to post this. Awards Daily pointed to this piece of news from ONTD!:

Scottish actor James McAvoy has been tipped to take the lead role in the new movie version of Lord Of The Rings prequel The Hobbit.

J.R.R. Tolkien's novel is set to be turned into a major blockbuster under the direction of Guillermo del Toro and filming is due to begin in New Zealand later this year.

Sir Ian McKellen will reprise his role as Gandalf and McAvoy is rumoured to be the favourite to take the lead role of hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

The character was played by Ian Holm in the previous films of the fantasy franchise, but he is due to be replaced by a high profile star for the new movie.

A source tells British newspaper the Daily Express, "A number of names have been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black, but James (McAvoy) is the one the film's bosses really want. They're expected to have talks soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future."

And director del Toro adds, "I can tell you it's down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice, completely magically we all have the same name."

Quite a few McAvoy fans have thrown his name around for the role of Bilbo long before del Toro was even hired. I can't tell if this will help or hurt his career - could people only see him as a faun from the Narnia universe and not as a hobbit in Middle Earth? Will he only be remembered as Bilbo regardless of what he does after? Or will it just make him even more famous and respected like most of his recent films have done?

Source: Awards Daily, ONTD!
Photo from New Chatter