Complete film version of LOTR - a stage production

Here's an idea for a "complete" filmed version of LOTRs.

Present it as a filmed stage play similar to "The Mahabharata" produced by
Peter Brooks in the 1990s.

It would require excellent directors, lighting directors and exceptional
stage actors like Sir Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, etc..
(Yes, and of course PJ would not fit the bill - it requires a masterful
director of greater subtlety and delicate skill.)

There is no way getting around the problem of the size of the hobbits and
the dwarfs - unless one resorts to using midgets or child actors- which is
simply not feasible. So I'd ignore the problem entirely. Its also no point
resorting to dumb tricks like having the actors kneeling...

And as for the CGI it should be a matter of "hint not shown" scenes for the
special effects , i.e. - definately no ridiculous cardboard cutouts
masquarding as dragons or Balrogs or Lion-king type costumes, etc...

For example, the Ent scenes could be filmed in darkness with green tinted
light and the rustle of tree leaves "acting" for the Ents. As for the
Balrog - a bright fiery light shown off stage would be an adequate
substitute. But it requires an exceptionally skilled lighting, sounds, and
props director for that sort of work. It is of course better not to show if
one cannot produce an adequate replication. For my part I did not really
like the close up shots of the Ents and Treebeard in the PJ movies - they
looked too fake.

Um, the only people I can think of who would be crazy and bold and strong
enough to do it - would be the Royal Shakespearean Society or the
International Center of Theatre Research. Led by Peter Brooks it did a huge
9 hour play on the Indian epic, The Mahabharata (1985). It had no CGI, it
was a filmed stage theatre production, but it was impressive and Tolkien's
work would lend itself very well to such a medium.

Nonetheless, hopefully due to the massive success of the movie trilogy,
someone will be prepared to finance such an effort. It could only be done in
a filmed mini-series epic. And imho I think it would be commercially viable.

crimson_castle RemoveThis @hotmail.com


--
**********************************************
Where now the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk,
and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring,
and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest
and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the
mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West
behind the hills into shadow. (LOTR:TOLKIEN)