I liked this bit from the PJ interview linked to up above:
But the gruesome sensibility that has been honed since his days as a director of cult horror films such as 1987's aptly titled Bad Taste (about flesh-eating aliens) has changed little. He still retains a mirthful sense of the macabre, such as when the battalion of orcs in The Return of the King use catapults to launch severed heads at attackers. Tolkien wrote it, but Jackson captured the rain of noggins in all its gory glory.
"I remember that day," he says, smiling with satisfaction, "because the mayor (of Wellington) came down to the set. I thought, 'If he is coming, he might as well help out.' So we had the mayor throwing these severed heads at the crowd while we were shooting. He quite enjoyed himself."
I think one of the things that makes LotR so wonderful is that it seems as if Peter Jackson (and those who work with him) understand that movie-making really should be fun and exciting. I imagine that plays a huge part in why the whole cast and crew always seems so enthusiastic and inspired by the whole thing.
I've exchanged words in a box with someone who's married to someone who was almost the Ballista Master
Awww, I'm part of a LotR Kevin Bacon game
Today's geeky work moment:
someone was asking how the stinger got through the armour. Someone else said "well, it was a +blah armour class, but Shelob had a +blah attack (insert # for blah)." To which I added, "And Frodo totally flubbed his roll.
At which point, one of the geeky coworkers said something along the lines of "Oh my G-d, I think you two have just hit geek bottom."
Geek bottom, Plei? I found myself nodding and thinking, "That does make sense, when you think about it. I mean, mithril, tough, but tough enough against a giant spider with all sort of pluses for a sneak attack from the rear?"
I need to play more D&D.
HA!
"DM: It's a special spider. Now roll the save."
Scotch out my nose.
Shit. Just rereading that got spit on my monitor.
It's like all those hours in the game store debating the D&D alignments of comic book superheroes.
I think we came up with Batman as neutral evil.
What, you think he's sane enough to play on the Good side? If they had a category Psychotic Good, I'd go for it.
edit: and to take this back on topic, our showing of RotK was sponsored by the game store Hubby used to manage. God, I miss those whacked-out geeks. I speak their language, and they speak mine. We got a preview of SpiderMan 2, and after it was over someone in the back yelled "Jason, are you happy now?" and Jason, resident Spidey freak and sitting in the very front row of the theatre yelled "Yes! God, yes!" It was like sitting in a very large living room with all my bestest buds.
