I'm about to engage in a websearch for a friend, but I thought I'd ask the most clueful people I know. Do any of you have suggestions for good recent books about the cultural impact of LotR. Academic is good, written for an informed popular audience, better. Thanks in advance.

Just got back from the "Conversation with Peter Jackson" event at Lincoln Center. As Jess mentioned, Jackson was sadly not in-house for this conversation as originally planned (the official explanation given was that he was in the middle of cutting the RoTK EE). Instead, he was interviewed live via satellite from New Zealand. Things kicked off with a clip reel from all his films, Bad Taste through RoTK (the LoTR stuff drew the biggest applause, of course). Then Jackson popped up onscreen looking as disheveled and hobbit-like as ever and the moderator had him walk through his beginnings in the film biz. I had heard some of these stories before (Bad Taste took four years to make because he could only shoot the film on weekends), but most were new and Jackson was clearly having a great time reminiscing about the days when he didn't have millions of dollars at his disposal. Because the cost of beaming Jackson in via satellite was probably astronomical (and because he has a tendency to ramble), they couldn't spend as much time talking about his pre-LoTR films as I would've liked. He covered Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles somewhat in depth, but spent less time on Brain Dead and Heavenly Creatures, which are two of my favorites of his. They didn't even get around to discussing Forgotten Silver and The Frighteners.

Next up was the LoTR section, which again was somewhat abbreviated by time. In fact, the moderator only asked one question: "How was Gollum brought to life?" After Jackson's fifteen-minute answer, it was announced that some friends had come to join the event and onto the stage walked Bernard Hill, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin. Naturally the place went crazy and Jackson looked understandably confused, since all he heard on his end were screams. There was a funny moment where the actors all said hi to their director (Elijah: "Glad to see you changed your shirt, Pete"--guess he had worn the shirt he had on throughout production). The moderator pitched another question to Jackson, something along the lines of "Why do you think Tolkien wrote these novels" and he fielded that one with an assist from Sean Astin. For the most part though, the actors stayed quiet except when the satellite feed unexpectedly cut out midway through Jackson's answer. So to kill time (and to make us all happy) they started telling funny behind-the-scenes stories from the shoot, most of which I'm sure they've told elsewhere too (Hill brought up Viggo's rant about action figures, for example).

One very cool piece of new information came at the end of the event when they finally got the feed working again. Since the audience had been so receptive to all these stories about offscreen gags, Elijah asked Pete about putting a gag reel on the RoTK DVD. Jackson smiled and said that, yes, he was definitely planning on putting outtakes from all three films on the DVD. There were two mentioned in particular that might show up (whitefonted for people who don't want the gags spoiled):

1) Sean Astin had a running gag throughout the first film where he'd try to hog more camera-time (Jackson apparently told him before filming started that he wanted Sam to have a reduced presence in FoTR). So he'd elbow his way into scenes saying things like "I've been in too many group shots--it's time for a close-up!" On one of these instances he elbowed aside Ian McKellan and McKellan grabbed him and gave him a big kiss.

2) During pick-up shooting on RoTK, Jackson went back and filmed more stuff for the Aragorn/Elrond encounter where Elrond brings Aragorn his sword. On one take, Aragorn bursts into the tent and sees a hooded figure. The figure stands, throws back his hood and...it's Hugo Weaving wearing his Agent Smith sunglasses. He says to Aragorn in his Smith voice: "You may be disguised as a warrior, but I see your true face...Neo." Meanwhile, Viggo's standing there completely in shock. Jackson was really proud of this gag in particular because, as he said, "It was a brilliant geek moment."

So all in all a fun afternoon, if not as in depth as I was hoping for. Jackson's a great storyteller though; I'd love for him to write an autobiography someday or maybe do one of those "Jackson on Jackson" books.

Fone Bone, just the thought of gag #2 has me shrieking in laughter.

Both gags had me rolling.

But, for geek brilliance, I'd have to give up for #2 also.

Bwahahahaha.

Fone Bone, just the thought of gag #2 has me shrieking in laughter.

Me too.

Hill brought up Viggo's rant about action figures, for example

I don't think I've heard this before. What was the rant?

I watched the Critics' Choice Awards on E! last night (which could have been a week old for all I know) and it was just adorable to see PJ (via satellite) win all these awards and give his acceptance speeches in a striped polo looking all crazy and disshelved. Billy Boyd was there in person to accept the Best Ensemble award and if I thought Billy was a hottie at all I would have squeed mightily because he was wearing a very sexy tux. But - not thinking Billy is a hottie - I just thought "huh. cool tux."

I started re-reading Fellowship this weekend by accident (I was looking something up, couldn't stop, went back to the beginning and started all over) and am surprised at how much I now envision the actors faces as I am reading.

I am soo glad there are still RotK EE DVDs to look forward to - gag reel!! Yay.

Hill brought up Viggo's rant about action figures, for example

I don't think I've heard this before. What was the rant?

Me either.

ETA: I almost forgot! Nilly! I am looking so forward to reading your thoughts on RotK. Wheeee- Nilly review!!

We got The Peoples of Middle-Earth (book number...11?...in Christopher's History of Middle-Earth series) for Christmas. Of note, Tolkein had started on a sequel. He wrote about 10 pages, which are included in this book.

It's quite dark. I can see why he stopped (other than maybe not having another 50 years to spend on a book). As he said, "As I suspected, there is nothing worth writing about in the world of Men."

If you read this book, have the Prozac ready.

A&E is premiering a new LotR special tonight - 9 pm Central.

A behind-the-scenes look at the sets, special effects, and people who made "The Lord of the Rings" the most popular movie trilogy of all time. Includes a trip to a pub with the Hobbit boys and interviews with director Peter Jackson and actors Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellan, Miranda Otto, and Orlando Bloom. TV G

It says it's a premiere. I can't remember if it really is, I've seen so many of these it is hard to tell them apart.

"The Lord of the Rings" the most popular movie trilogy of all time.

Has it really outstripped the original Star Wars trilogy in terms of the total number of people who've paid to see it, and not just in post-inflation dollars?

Has it really outstripped the original Star Wars trilogy in terms of the total number of people who've paid to see it, and not just in post-inflation dollars?

Hard to imagine it has. I am sure this blurb (off the A&E web site) was written by a 21-yr-old intern who didn't quite think about it in those terms.

According to boxofficemojo the whole franchise has taken in 2.5 billion though:

ROTK has raked in $710.4 million worldwide in just its first 22 days of release, 30% ahead of TTT at the same point. Add in FOTR's and TTT's grosses, and the LOTR trilogy has grossed over $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office. ROTK is well on its way to surpassing TTT and FOTR.