But I don't get mainstream with him

No, me neither, until the back alley sex grabs centre stage.

Dom has a hotness, but I don't see the cherub part. In fact, it's a really dirty, nasty, bondage in an alley with a complete stranger sort of a thing.

so.very.broken.now.

No matter what - Sean Astin pulls my heartstrings. Patty Duke - bipolar mom, who's my Dad? - the whole thing. Yeah - he grew up all Hollywood - but that cannot have been an easy childhood.

Elijah Wood's had a remarkably well-managed career so far. Yes, he's been in a few bombs (Flipper? North?), but at least he was able to swim with dolphins in the first, and work with Rob Reiner in the second. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up taking a path similar to Johnny Depp--stick with quirky indies and build up his reputation until he gets past the "pretty boy" phase, and then move into character roles. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the height for leading roles.

Where did I hear that the real-life Rudy was not as nice a man as Sean Astin? In fact, a real nasty article?

I think that was from me--Rudy Ruettinger is from my hometown of Joliet (in fact, the HS we see him in in the film is my brother's alma mater--it was all-boys back in Rudy's day, as opposed to the film's version), and my stepmom has dealt with him at various city functions. She doesn't have the best opinion of the man, to put it mildly.

That's probably where I did hear it, Kathy.

I *adore* The Goonies.

Okay, confession time. In the cave troll scene in FotR? When Sam bashes orcs with the cooking pot and says, "I think I'm gettin' the hang of this." ? I flashed on Mikey from the Goonies. I mean, cave, troll-like John Matuzak, lots of hollering and rushing about, right? Can you blame me?

I mean, cave, troll-like John Matuzak, lots of hollering and rushing about, right?

My Goonies moment in RotK didn't have Sean Astin in it, oddly. I just though the main orc leader (with the mushed up face) on the Pelennor Fields looked just like Matuzak's Sloth.

Billy has a cherubic face, but his hair doesn't support it, and he can act right past it.

And sing. If that's something he can pull out on stage (as opposed to being a more studied, choir-type singer), he should look to Hugh Jackman as an example of how to keep from ever getting type-cast.

With luck, that means there's more to be put in there in the extendo-return. If the extendo edition is really going to be 4:15, I worry -- I can think of a lot of footage, probably more than 45 minutes, that needs to be shoehorned in!

Scenes I want to see included, off the top of my head:

Saruman's death
The Mouth of Sauron
Gandalf vs. the Witchking
The moment where we see Sam decide to take the Ring
Aragorn looks into the Palantir
We see how the Palantir affected Denethor
Merry swearing fealty to Theoden
The Houses of Healing
Eomer finding Theoden and Eowyn on the Pelennor
More time with sick Frodo in the Shire

I only know of a few scenes that will be in the EE. I'm probably most excited about the Mouth of Sauron . And I really hope we get to see that moment from the trailer with Eomer cradling someone's body (Theoden's?) on the battlefield . Gives me shivers.

Crazy, the lot of you. Frodo & Sam walking is the good stuff.

Word!

I love your list, Kate, but I don't think #4 is going to show up, since they decided to go a completely different route for the theatrical release, keeping everything Frodo-centric, as usual. What I'd love to see is Frodo and Sam being shanghaied by Orcs--this could be intercut nicely with the Houses of Healing stuff, since it would fit with the chronology.

Hey, Dom's got his skillz in order. I saw him in "Hostile Waters" (TV movie about the Russian sub what sunk off the East coast in the late 80's), and thought he did a decent job of it. Not a huge role, but substantial enough. And this was pre-LotR.