We’re now less than eleven months away from Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original novel, followed by The Hobbit: There And Back Again next December.

We’ve seen and heard some fantastic things from the new film already, most recently including Evangeline Lilly updating us on her character, Tauriel, created especially for the film. She spoke to Yahoo Movies about her preparations for the role, with thanks to ComicBookMovie for the heads up, and in the same report, Yahoo have put out a great new picture of Martin Freeman as Bilbo, almost lost amongst the dwarves.

“The Hobbit follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum.

Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.”

We recently saw a much darker image of Freeman this month with his faithful sword, Sting, and this new image looks similar to the first images we saw from the film, still in The Shire. Alongside Freeman, we can look forward to seeing many new and familiar faces, including Andy Serkis, Stephen Fry, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, and Christopher Lee.

The Hobbit will be released in 3D with An Unexpected Journey kicking things off on 14^th December this year, followed by There and Back Again on 13^th December next year. Until then, here’s the new image, which you can click to enlarge. And in case you missed it at the end of last year, you can watch the wonderful first trailer right here, as well as everything else The Hobbit-related here. If you’d like to read more about Lilly’s preparations for the role, click through over here. Enjoy.

*Advanced Plot Spoiler Warning: As you can probably guess from the title, things are going to get a little spoiler-y in a few lines, so if you’re wanting to fly fairly blind with The Hobbit, then look away now!*

We first got word way back in June last year that Evangeline Lilly had been cast in Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth in The Hobbit. When the announcement came, Jackson told us that Lilly would be playing a character created especially for the film, which is expected to develop the novel in its adaptation, spanning over two parts:

“Evangeline Lilly will be playing a new character—the Woodland Elf, Tauriel. Her name means ‘daughter of Mirkwood’ and, beyond that, we must leave you guessing! (No, there is no romantic connection to Legolas.)”

Whilst doing an interview with EW for the release of Real Steel on DVD/Blu-Ray this week in the States (we’ll be getting it on 20th February here), Lilly spoke more about her character, revealing some really interesting details:

“EW: Speaking of small and little, I’d be remiss not to bring up The Hobbit. You’re playing a new character named Tauriel, who’s a Mirkwood elf, and that would lead me to believe that she is a warrior of some kind. Did you have to learn archery and swordplay?

Lilly: Yes, she is a warrior. She’s actually the head of the Elven guard. She’s the big shot in the army. So she knows how to wield any weapon, but the primary weapons that she uses are a bow and arrow and two daggers. And she’s lethal and deadly. You definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley next to Tauriel.

EW: So then Tauriel must be involved with the dwarves being captured…

Lilly: I think basically what you’re asking is if she’s in the film very much. She’s not in the first film very much. She comes into the first film near the end, and has a very small part to play. Her role in the second film is much more involved. Although, I have to say, when I first read the scripts and took the job, she had a lot less going on in the second film. I think the role is becoming a bit more demanding than I had expected it to be. There’s a lot more for me to do now, which is a lot of fun, but it’s a little more pressure.”

Definitely interesting, especially the fact that she’ll be really involved in the second film in particular. Best known for her work on TV’s Lost, Real Steel last year, and that little-known Oscar winner, The Hurt Locker, Lilly is a fantastic actress, and I’m really looking forward to seeing her in this role, not least because it’s been entirely created for the film.

Time for a bit of 100% good old-fashioned guess-work: It’s looking as though she’ll be playing the female lead in the second film, which makes me wonder if her role will also be a romantic interest. Jackson clearly stated that she’s not a romantic connection to Legolas, but I’d quietly place a small wager (which I would adamantly deny if proven wrong when the films are released) on her being involved somehow with Luke Evans’ character, Bard the Grim, also known as Bard the Bowman.

His character is being likened to that of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, and when the announcement of his involvement came (at the same time as Lilly’s), it was said that he’d be playing a larger role in the second film. So, I could be adding two and two to make five, but it sounds as though there could be a similar relationship to Aragon and Arwen in Tauriel and Bard. Either way, we’ll have to wait until at least December this year, if not December next year with the second part, to find out if I’m right.

Along with Lilly and Evans, the fantastic cast includes both new and familiar faces in the forms of Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Stephen Fry, Hugo Weaving, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, and Christopher Lee.

The first part, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be with us on 14th December this year, followed by the second, The Hobbit: There And Back Again, on 13th December next year. If you’ve missed any of our coverage of the films so far, you can catch up on it all right here. I’d particularly recommend the rather brilliant first trailer that Jackson treated us to for Christmas last month.

For a little over half a year, we’ve been treated to some brilliant things from Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth in bringing Tolkien’s The Hobbit to life, all of which you can catch up on right here. Just before Christmas, we were given an excellent new look at the film when the first trailer hit the web, and it was pretty brilliant. Fans of the original The Lord of the Rings will not be disappointed.

We’ve now got a great new image from the film to share with you, courtesy of Hero Complex via Collider, and it shows Martin Freeman as the young Bilbo Baggins looking pretty rough around the edges and somewhat world-weary, with one hand clasped around his sword, Sting.

As you’re no doubt already aware, The Hobbit will be released in two parts and in 3D, first with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and then The Hobbit: There And Back Again. The cast that Jackson has lined up is rather fantastic too, with many familiar faces as well as plenty of new ones joining the cast. Alongside Freeman, we can look forward to seeing Andy Serkis, Stephen Fry, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, and Christopher Lee.

“The Hobbit follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum.

Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.”

(*Potential plot spoiler coming up; this is your warning!*) It’s been a long time since I read The Hobbit, so alas I can’t quite place the new image in the plot of the film myself. Freeman looks rather cobwebby though, so with a bit of help from Wikipedia…

“Great Spiders:

The Hobbit describes a colony of sapient and over-sized spiders in the northern parts of Mirkwood at the end of the Third Age. The Elves of Thranduil’s realm tried unsuccessfully to exterminate them. During the events of the book, Thorin’s company was captured by spiders and enmeshed in webs; however, Bilbo Baggins managed to free them with the aid of his sword Sting and his magic ring.”

That sounds about right to me. Essentially, expect this scene to be pretty awesome. (Small aside: I really like Richard Armitage for the role of Thorin. I think he’s going to be great in it.)

An Unexpected Journey will be with us in just under a year on 14th December, followed a year later by There And Back Again on 13th December, 2013. Without further ado, here’s the great new image of Freeman as Bilbo. As usual, click to enlarge and take in all the tiny details.

The Wachowski brothers and Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel, Cloud Atlas, is set to be one of the most intriguing films to look forward to next year. With a notoriously labyrinthine plot, the possibility of adapting it for the big screen sounds as though it is a mammoth task not to be taken lightly.

We got our first look at the film when some photos surfaced from the set back in September, followed by the image of the directors and the novelist on the set just before Christmas, having wrapped production. We’ve now got a new image – the first official look at a character – to share with you, along with some terrific concept art for the film, courtesy of HanCinema via Collider.

The official synopsis for the film is yet to be released, so we don’t know how much, if at all, it will differ from the book, but the original novel’s synopsis looks a little like this, courtesy of Amazon:

“A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.”

The adaptation has a tremendous cast, including Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon, James D’Arcy, and Doona Bae, the last of whom we get to see in this new image. The cast have been announced as interestingly taking on multiple roles through the course of the film, which is certainly something that has peaked our interest.

Tykwer and the Wachowski brothers worked together to co-write the screenplay adaptation of Mitchell’s novel, and with production now wrapped, things are looking good to meet the expected release towards the end of next year. No word yet on a specific release date, but if all goes well in post-production, we should have seen it on the big screen here by this time next year. I can’t wait. That should give me just enough time to read the original novel. Without further ado, here are the great new images. As usual, with the concept art, click to enlarge. That the synopsis makes mention of a traveller in 1850 and the second of the concept images is titled ‘Seoul, 2144′ should give you an idea of the scope we can look forward to with this next year.

George Miller’s 2006 film, Happy Feet, was a fun, original and wonderfully off-the-wall animation with a very powerful message alongside its infectious mixture of rhythm and wit. With DreamWorks producing a fantastic sequel in the form of Kung Fu Panda 2 earlier this year, hopes were high that Warner Bros. would deliver something different and exciting to contend with Fox in Happy Feet Two.

Following on from the first film, we are already acquainted with Mumble (Elijah Wood), Gloria (Pink) and their new and very cute bundle of fun, Erik (Ava Acres) and it appears Mumble’s lack of singing ability has been transferred into Erik’s lack of dancing talent. However when Erik’s true gift is unveiled it is as surprising as it is delightful and a great little moment within the film – dads, you may need some tissues at hand. Although returning as both Ramon and Lovelace, Robin Williams feels oddly lacking from this sequel, feeling more scripted than we’re used to and taking a backseat to the vast amount of other characters taking up screen time.

New addition Hank Azaria is once again on incredible form as The Mighty Sven, the ‘fake’ penguin who little Erik aspires to after watching him fly. Another accent perfected, Azaria brings a lot of light-hearted comedy to the sequel, but isn’t particularly key to the main story, serving much more of a moral purpose. Definitely involved in the main events are Seymour (Common) and his rapping son, Atticus (Benjamin Flores Jr.), who remain upbeat throughout and save the middle third from being entirely bereft of penguin humour, Atticus being a great deal of fun to watch as the self-assured, freestyling, fluffy ball of attitude.

Courtesy of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon – one of Hollywood’s less likely double acts – Will and Bill the Krill completely steal the show. Although they don’t have a great deal to do with the film’s main narrative, Pitt is in his absolute element as the delusional Will, a Krill going through an identity crisis, with Damon’s play-it-safe Bill his trusty and loyal companion. The duo take part in some of the film’s best set pieces, with the 3D at its most effective (and it is extremely impressive throughout) and sheer craziness at its peak. Whether watching the Krill being chased through the entire food chain, skua attacks or dance sequences, it’s impossible not to smile and be completely lost amongst the jellyfish and beautiful Northern Lights when the film is at its most comfortable and best.

Unlike the previous film, the environmental connotations are spread throughout rather than in one big helping, with the penguins taking matters into their own flippers much more this time around. This has resulted in a film that is far darker in tone, its final third doused in negativity and not quite knowing what to do with itself. Handy, then, that Pink is involved this time and appears to have been utilised for her singing talents far more than her acting, leaving Brittany Murphy desperately missed and Gloria sidelined. Although morally fitting, her full-length song in this middle third slows the pace even further and is at times slightly uncomfortable.

The songs themselves are not utilised as well as the first film where we followed each penguin trying to find their own ‘Heartsong’, but there are some great little surprises and the sheer power and sense of triumph and togetherness ‘Under Pressure’ brings towards the film’s close is as spine tingling as it is impressive. Ultimately a film about coming together, this is reflected in how Miller has tried to give everyone an equal say, leading to too much ‘alien’ interaction. Where the initial sighting of a human in Happy Feet was actually quite shocking, here they end up feeling gimmicky and borderline annoying, eradicating any initial sense of fascination and mystery.

When it’s good, Happy Feet Two is pure, delirious entertainment, but away from the near-perfect set pieces, the film seems confused as to quite which storyline to focus on. Whilst the animation is once again impossible to fault, and although it is just as wonderfully bonkers as the first, it just doesn’t feel as fresh. The original is ultimately so much cooler.

***~~ (3/5)

Earlier in the week, you’ll have seen interviews with both Robin Williams and Elijah Wood on their new movie. Happy Feet Two. With Elijah, we couldn’t help but talk about The Hobbit and if you missed it, you can catch up here and with Robin here. Likewise, in this interview with Director,George Miller, we couldn’t help but ask him about returning to Fury Road in the new Mad Max movie that will see Tom Hardy taking on the lead role.

Happy Feet Two is released in the UK this Friday, 2nd December and you can see our review here.

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HeyUGuys – Coming from Mad Max and Mad Max 2 which were very cynical and very dark movies about the future to Happy Feet 2 which is very optimistic, do you think you are more optimistic with age?

George – Probably, even though I’m now making another Mad Max film after all these years. People ask why did I get into these [Happy Feet] movies and I say two reasons: kids and technology. Once I had kids I only got to see kids movies and you do a lot of reading books to them and then I’m lucky enough to be in the era when this technology started. With the first Babe film we had a script written for ten years before, waiting for the ability to make real pigs talk and CG came along and I always loved animation, one of my top movies in Pinocchio and I always said that Chuck Jones and Buster Keaton taught me how to make Mad Max because they were pure filmmakers and they understood the pure syntax of filmmaking. So, it seemed natural to get into these stories.

Was it easy to find another story for the second Happy Feet film?

In this case it was easy because the films take a long time and in the last year of Happy Feet 1 the characters were so much in my head, they were like imaginary friends and I had the story for the sequel while I was finishing the first one. I had the story but I decided to do two other films in the meantime. One was Justice League which was closing to finishing but due to some complicated rebate system which was just starting in Australia it fell down. And then I was to do the next Mad Max movie, Fury Road, which I’ve tried to do twice and we had unprecedented rain in the centre of Australia and what was the red, flat plain is now a flower garden and the great salt lakes in the centre which you could drive through for miles is full of pelicans and fish so that film was pushed back. So then came Happy Feet [2] but we hope to shoot [Fury Road] in Namibia next year.

Will Fury Road be closer to Mad Max 2 than Mad Max 3?

It’s not a reinvention, but it’s going back into the world and this is many years later now. It’s not following any chronology at all. I love that world because it reduces human behaviour to a very elemental state. In that very spare landscape, a little bit like Happy Feet, you’ve got Antarctica and that has the same sort of quality. We’ve got Tom Hardy played Mad Max, who is a wonderful actor and Charlize Theron. I never wanted to make another film, but the story got me. And I kept pushing it away and the story just kept on playing in my head. It probably means I’m crazy.

Will Mel Gibson be returning for a cameo?

No, no. We’ve talked about the film and even doing it in 2001 and then it’s not like The Unforgiven, you know – about an older man going back to past.

So, when will shooting start on that?

Middle of next year. We’ve already got all our vehicles built and being shipped out to Namibia.

Do you think Happy Feet will become a franchise?

Honestly it depends entirely on if there’s another story. It was interesting that at the end of the first film I had the story for the sequel and then I got more into the world. Happy Feet 1 happens over the lifetime from birth to young adulthood of Mumble so we needed to get an epic scale by seeing the Penguin world from a microscopic vantage, from the very large creatures like Elephant Seals all the way down…

When casting the Krill did you find the most famous actors with children?

Not exactly! You came from wanting friends, actors who knew each other because they play friends who have known each other their whole lives and I knew Brad [Pitt] somewhat and I talked to him, but you’re right I know Matt [Damon] said ‘I didn’t even read the screenplay, my kids just said Do the film!’ But you know Babe started with my daughter, reading stories… and the first movies you go to are the kids movies when you have kids.

Did you ever think of becoming a doctor?

I did, I have a twin brother who is a doctor and I went to medical school and practised in hospitals for about four years and then when I started making films there was no opportunity to be a filmmaker but we started making, in the Seventies, little short films and I got very curious about the process and then somewhere in the mid-Seventies I was working as a doctor on the weekends and making short films during the week. We won a couple of awards and I said ‘Let’s make a feature’ so I learned how to write and Mad Max was the first film I made. And I then I always tended to go back, I was registered as a doctor and in Australia when you’re doing stunts on set you need to have a registered doctor on hand…

You mentioned you were interested in technology, would you be interested in doing a movie with motion capture performances?

Well, Happy Feet is partly done with motion capture. When Mumble was danced by Savion Glover, who is the greatest living tap-dancer and one of the big triggers on Happy Feet 1 was not only seeing documentaries about the lives of penguins which was very striking to me – the way they survive by community and that they were very anthropomorphic – and Andrew Lesnie who shot the first Babe movie and the first Lord of the Rings showed me the first motion capture for Gollum and I thought – Ah! we can make the penguins dance! So, that was a very big moment for Happy Feet 1. But though you have the motion capture you don’t have the facial capture right so all the faces are animated and the Krill, because they have five legs, and the seals are all animated. But the dancing bipedal characters are all motion capture.

When you were writing the second film was there anything you wrote that wasn’t possible at the time, but in the three years since was made possible?

Yes, I never thought we could get the crystals of ice, but it’s all ones and zeroes, and the cameras are real world cameras, though I like the virtual cameras and you can go up high, I like the camera low, and shooting on the Z-Axis and go in out out of the screen, which is great for 3D. Things like the transparency of the Krill and the bioluminescence we didn’t think we could do. So, a lot of it pushed the boundaries as we were going along.

Happy Feet Two is also a musical, how do find getting the rights to the songs ?

Getting the rights is difficult depending on who you are working with, the more people there are the harder it is…

There were quite a few Queen songs…

Yeah, the good thing about the Queen songs is that they are very operatic and they have a great structure, particularly Under Pressure, and I didn’t have that song initially but when we were recording the voices Hank Azaria asked me if I’d heard it and it was as i they’d written it for us. The hardest thing we had was when we tried to get a Phil Spector song just as he was charged with murder, so it was a little difficult to get access to him… I love the Puccini aria, I love its volcanic aspect and how emotions are expressed. Then we needed a song in the middle when the mother who couldn’t be with her son has to be soothed and Pink wrote that song.

Last week I got to sit down with Elijah Wood to chat about his new movie, Happy Feet Two. It so happened that the first question asked at the round table lead nicely into The Hobbit so this interview starts with a lot of Hobbit information on filming and what we can expect but mainly what Elijah felt when he returned to the set. He was such a nice bloke and I could have spoken with him for hours. I wanted to get more information from him about his memories from Back to the Future Part II but that will have to wait for another day!

Elijah plays Mumbles in Happy Feet Two which hits UK cinemas this Friday, 2nd December. If you missed the interview with Robin Williams, you can catch up here. Tomorrow we’ll have an interview with Director George Miller so keep your eyes peeled for that.

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HeyUGuys: Should you be in New Zealand at the moment?

Elijah Wood: I’ve just gotten back and I’m all finished. I was there for about a month throughout October.

How was it to be back?

Amazing, a mix of emotions I think. It was slightly surreal and felt oddly normal. I played the character for so long and I was in the costume, in Bag-end and a lot of the same crew were there from Rings so it was as if no time had past and suddenly we were doing another scene. It was great, felt like a family reunion, like stepping back in time.

When you wrapped on The Lord of the Rings, did you ever think you’d be going back?

At that time, if you;d have asked me if there would be a Hobbit film, I would have said no. Peter (Jackson) was pretty adamant about not doing it. There was always talk that someone else would do it but since Frodo isn’t in The Hobbit, i never thought I would play Frodo again.

If you were filming for a month, is it quite a big part?

It’s a flash-forward and there’s actually not a lot. It’s relatively small but it’s a nice piece and works really beautifully with what they’re doing. It’s going to be really cool I think.

What’s changed since you left?

Well, there are thirteen dwarves! Imagine that, thirteen principal actors, it’s insane – all with prosthetics and it’s incredible. In some ways, the scale feels larger surprisingly even though technically the scale of Lord of the Ring is more massive in terms of the storytelling. There’s more technology, it’s being shot in 3D, more people on the set and it feels as though the ‘machine’ is bigger. But, at the heart of it all, there is that same New Zealand ingenuity, that same vibe on set, Peter’s super relaxed, it’s still really fun – it’s great. It’s a mixture of old family and new family.

Was it strange for you going back to what was your set and now you’re a guest on it?

It was funny but it was cool. I was just excited to meet everybody, to meet Martin Freeman who’s playing Bilbo. And then also to catch up with McKellen and Andy Serkis who’s also directing second unit. It was fun to meet everybody and for me, what was fun was getting the chance to meet everybody and ask them a million questions asking them “how it’s been”, “how was the rehearsal period” and knowing what their experience must be like, it was fun for me to get a sense of what their perspective was on it.

Bringing it back to Happy Feet, what do you think are the main messages from the movie?

I think there are some beautiful themes. The movie ends on this note of everyone has to work together in communities across communities to solve a massive problem. And the idea that Eric, like Mumble in the first one is also searching for identity and looking for something that defines him. I love the idea of a kid believing in something that’s impossible, believing that he can fly. And that tough decision that a parent has to deal with where they dont want to crush their child’s dreams but they still want them to believe that things are possible. And the notion that it’s our differences that make us unique.

Eric has a rather embarrassing moment in the movie – have you had any embarrassing moments that you want to share?

I, like Eric in the movie, have weed on myself actually! Twice in my life. I was five years old at a family gathering at a holiday party and I was too embarrassed to ask to use the loo so I peed myself! And then again in first grade, I was again afraid to ask and by the time I did ask, I stood up and peed in class! And was wearing overalls!

Robin (Williams) mentioned in his interview the image of the polar bear clinging to the small bit of ice, are you pessimistic about the future?

I think that people are inherently good and will want to change the future for the better. In terms of the environment, I’m not a scientist so my knowledge is limited. I think the planet is going to change and we’re going to have to adapt. I feel that there is an awareness now that is at its peak. People are more aware of what part they have to play in it than ever before and that’s great. Everything else is out of our control.

But you’ve been to the future in Back to the Future 2 playing Wild Gunman so you can tell us what happens?…..

I have, that’s true! And weren’t they playing Jaws 32?!

Jaws 19!

Jaws 19, man, that was fun!

Do you have a favourite film from when you were younger?

As a film, I love Avalon. That’s one of my favourites. And I think Barry Levinson is an amazing filmmaker and it’s one of my favourite movies of his. It’s a beautiful movie.

Do you remember filming it?

Yeah, I do. I have vivid memories. In fact, to take it back to Happy Feet, I met Robin Williams on the set of Avalon. I was eight years old and Robin had worked with Barry on Good Morning Vietnam and he came to visit the set in Baltimore and it was really dark outside and I couldn’t see. There was this man standing there and he introduced himself to me and said ‘Hi, I’m Robin and this is my daughter Zelda’ and he had baby Zelda in his arms. Insane! And I was shaking his hand and in mid-shake I realised who he was and I said ‘Robin….. WILLIAMS! and he said ‘Ahh, light goes on!’ and it freaks me out. He was one of the first celebrities that I met. I reminded him of it the other day!

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Following on from the astounding success of 2006’s Happy Feet, the upcoming sequel, Happy Feet 2, is set to make a big impact (I could’ve said ‘splash’, but chose not to) when it comes out in a few weeks, and this fantastic new trailer, courtesy of Yahoo Movies, gives us a lot to look forward to in it.

Not only did the first film do really well at the box office, taking more than $300m. from a $100m. budget, it also took the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, so in some respects, Happy Feet 2 has a lot to live up to.

Cast in a different light though, sequels are typically expected not to live up to their originals, so hopefully Happy Feet 2 will buck the trend and be a pleasant surprise!

Co-director from the first film, George Miller, is back in the director’s chair this time around but is their all by himself, and it looks like he’s done a great job from what we’ve seen so far – all of which you can catch up on here.

The sequel will see the return of many of the great actors and actresses who lent their voices to the first film, including Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, and Hugo Weaving, along with some terrific additions that see the likes of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon joining the cast in the forms of Will and Bill the Krill, Sofía Vergara as Carmen, Anthony LaPaglia as Boss Skua, and Hank Azaria as The Mighty Sven.

Sadly, the late Brittany Murphy died from pneumonia before being able to reprise her role from the first film as Gloria, Mumble’s love interest, and so Alicia Moore (a.k.a. Pink/P!nk) will be lending her voice as Gloria for the second film.

Happy Feet 2 is coming out in the States this weekend (and so will be up against Twilight! Which must be a bit daunting, even if the target demographics are different), and this is the final American trailer we’ll be getting. Since we here in the UK have to wait until the 2nd December to see it, there’s a chance we’ll have more Happy Feet 2 goodness to bring you between now and then.

The film is one of the eighteen animated features that have been submitted as potential Oscar candidates for the 2012 Academy Awards next February, and we’ll know in just over two months’ time whether it’s made the final nominees list as its predecessor did a few years back. Without further ado though, here’s the brilliant new trailer to feast your eyes on. As you can imagine, it’s super green band, so if you’re at work, feel free to inject a little bit of a song and dance into the airwaves with the weekend being so close. Enjoy.

We got the third video diary for Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth back in July, and now he’s given us the fourth instalment through his Facebook page, because he’s pretty awesome like that.

In case you’ve missed them, you can catch up on all the earlier video diaries from The Hobbit and everything else surrounding the project right here.

This latest production video predominantly looks at the 3D filming aspect of the project, and it’s really interesting, with Jackson and the filming crew giving us a very insightful view of how they’re making this film.

According to the video, they’ve got 48 Red Epic cameras, each with its own individual name, which is pretty ridiculously awesome. Each of those cameras has a price tag of no less than $10,000, so if they were all retail price (naturally, they’re not going to be), that’s half a million dollars just on those cameras right there! And they visually show us how much their cameras just utterly out-do our 1080 TV screens and monitors, just to make us feel good about ourselves.

Ain’t It Cool News have also been visiting the set of the film, and have got some great photos of Bilbo and Jackson in Bag End, and if you want to read their report of the set visit, then you can go ahead and click over here.

As I’m sure you’re already aware, the two-parter has a pretty fantastic cast, including Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Stephen Fry, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, and Christopher Lee.

At the end of the video, Jackson tells us that they’re about to move on to shooting on location, and that the next video he brings us will be from wherever they’re shooting in a few months’ time – so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for that, because it will undoubtedly be filled with amazing landscapes.

The Hobbit will be coming to us in two parts. The first, An Unexpected Journey, will be hitting cinemas at the end of next year on 14th December; and the second, There And Back Again, will be back a year later on 13th December, 2013. As you can imagine, it’s going to be awesome. Without further ado, here’s the brilliant new production video diary, followed by a few photos from the set, which you can click to enlarge. And if you want to see the video in glorious HD, then you can head over to Jackson’s Facebook page here.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/11/04/must-watch-elijah-wood-martin-freeman-fighting-dwarves-and-3d-in-the-hobbit-production-video-diary-%e2%80%93-part-4/feed/ 0 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/10/11/the-avengers-teaser-trailer-for-the-trailer/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/10/11/the-avengers-teaser-trailer-for-the-trailer/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:30:20 +0000 David Sztypuljak http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=110810

Here we go again people, it’s the trailer for the trailer for new Marvel, movie, The Avengers. Entertainment Tonight have released the early footage for the trailer that we’re expecting to hit some time this afternoon. We’ll obviously get it placed on the site as soon as we can for your viewing pleasure.

The Avengers will see many of you favourite Marvel characters all come together to create a rather epic movie. The cast we think will appear includes Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Jenny Agutter, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany and Robert Downey Jr. We’ve already had quite a few images ad some other footage from the movie, all if which you can see here. Keep your eyes peeled for more and keep your eyes peeled for the full trailer when it hits later this afternoon.

If cute penguins are your bag then you’ll be in furry bird heaven with the latest Happy Feet film and there’s a new trailer out to further entice and tease.

It’s solid family friendly fare from the looks of it and where else, other than in the world of CG anthropomorphic animation, could you find a cast which includes Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Pink and Elijah Wood?

Yahoo had this new trailer and this handy synopsis which proved of great interest to me, and may well do to you.

Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son, Erik, is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven — a penguin who can fly! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father’s “guts and grit” as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures — from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals — to put things right.

Last night, the internet movie community went nuts for the brand new cover and subsequent images that Entertainment Weekly put out. Fortunately, someone (not sure of the original course but thanks to CinemaBlend for the full collection) decided to scan them all so that we can also share them all with you!

These new images appear inside the October issue of EW and give us some head-shot images of Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson, who play The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow respectively.

We also get to see some set images which I’ve also placed below.

We got the first UK trailer for Oranges and Sunshine, director Jim Loach’s feature debut, back in February ahead of its April release here, and it was incredibly touching.

The film’s release in the US is not until next month, and so we now have a new US trailer to enjoy, courtesy of Thompson on Hollywood, before it comes out in time for the awards season next year.

“Synopsis: Oranges and Sunshine tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals of recent times: the deportation of thousands of children from the United Kingdom to Australia.

Almost single-handedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and drew worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead, and been sent to children’s homes on the other side of the world. Many were subjected to appalling abuse. They were promised oranges and sunshine: they got hard labour and life in institutions.”

The film is based on a true story, with Rona Munro adapting Humphreys’ memoir, Empty Cradle, for director Jim Loach, son of renowned Irish director Ken Loach. His father’s talent has been very well recognised, winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2006 for his film, The Wind that Shakes the Barley. It looks like it’s now his son’s turn to impress, with Oranges and Sunshine being very well received already. It’s been produced by Camilla Bray, Iain Canning, and Emile Sherman, the last two of which are Oscar winner for their producing roles on The King’s Speech. That was a film that did incredibly well in America, winning four Academy Awards earlier this year, so here’s to hoping some of that success will rub off on Oranges and Sunshine.

Emily Watson (Angela’s Ashes) leads in what looks like a brilliant performance from her, with Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings) and David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings) supporting. I personally think our own UK trailer is slightly better than this new US version, but it is nonetheless a brilliant trailer that gives us a great feel for the film. I really regret missing this when it came out back in April, but thankfully it has already been released here on DVD, so if you missed it too, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get hold of if you like what you see.

We’ve been posting news and updates for the best part of a year on Cloud Atlas, the seemingly epic collaboration between Matrix-mongers The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run and Perfume), the latest of which confirmed that Hugh Grant was joining the cast, which I don’t think many saw coming.

Well, multiple plot strands or no, it’s all underway as these on-set snaps testify, showing Hugo Weaving and Halle Berry on the streets of Glasgow. Coming Soon, who have passed on the snaps from Just Jared, quote the novel synopsis as follows:-

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Marvel have released this new promotional trailer for the Blu-ray of Captain America: The First Avenger. Not only is the video a brilliant watch on it’s own showing so much of the amazing extras that we’re going to get on the Blu-ray, it also shows a few snippets that we’ve not seen before from The Avengers.

The cast that we get to see in The Avengers includes Thor (Chris Hemsworth​), Iron Man​ (Robert Downey Jr​.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson​), The Hulk​ (Mark Ruffalo​) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner​) Evans in his new 21st Century outfit.

Thanks to ComingSoon for the heads up who have also screen shot these images of the Avengers. Click them to enlarge.

We recently reported on the intriguing movement of the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, with the Wachowskis and Tom Twker running two separate shoots alongside one another, and now there appears to be confirmation of another addition to the cast.

The excellent Jim Sturgess Online pointed us to an interview the actor gave to USA Today to promote his latest film, One Day in which he stars with Anne Hathaway, and in conversation about his musical projects the rumours of Sturgess’s role in the film appears to be confirmed,

While he’s still waiting for a Broadway producer to call, Sturgess dabbles in music on his own. He sang three songs on the soundtrack for his movie Heartless, and he continually writes tunes with his girlfriend, La Roux keyboardist Mickey O’Brien. Together they have a musical collaboration called Tragic Toys.

Sturgess says he and O’Brien have similar taste in music and are always borrowing from each other’s collections — she’s recently turned him on to Hungarian gypsy music — and hope to record their songs sooner than later.

We’ve suddenly realized we’ve got all these songs sitting around, and it’d be great to do something with them at some point, definitely,” says Sturgess, who next ventures to Berlin to film the Wachowski brothers’ new movie Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry.

JSO found the news first and tweeted that his casting was indeed confirmed, a tweet which was then retweeted by Mickey O’Brien herself, so it all seems set for Sturgess to continue the rapid upward turn in his career trajectory. Sturgess joins an impressive cast with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry joined by Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon and Ben Whishaw in the epic, centuries-spanning story which proved a considerable success for Mitchell. More news on which role(s) Sturgess is playing shortly.

Cloud Atlas, the often-deemed unfilmable novel by David Mitchell that spans several times and places from 19^th Century Australia to post-apocalyptic Hawaii, will be filmed by two separate crews running parallel to each other, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The historic sci-fi epic, starring Halle Berry, Tom Hanks and Ben Whishaw to name a few, was penned by Wachowski siblings Andy and Lana and will be directed by Tom Tykwer. In an interesting attempt to make this difficult text come to life Tykwer is expected to use the same actors for multiple characters and use two entirely separate film crews to shoot scenes in both Berlin and Babelsberg, Germany.

The sheer span and complexity of the novel makes for an eye-watering prospect. It will mix 19^th century period with futuristic sci-fi, interlocking six lives across a vast narrative. Producer Stefan Ardnt has confidence in the Wachowski script, however, saying they have “found a way to tell these stories in an amazing, linear and very cinematic way”. Let’s hope so, because Cloud Atlas could be very exciting indeed.

Story by Richard Parkin

Warner Bros. have released this second poster for their new movie, Happy Feet Two and unfortunately it’s more turkey than it is penguin! I guess it is a kids movie! If you missed the trailer for the film, you can catch it here.

Directed by George Miller, Happy Feet Two stars Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Alecia Moore, Elizabeth Daily, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Sofia Vergara, Hugo Weaving, Hank Azaria, Richard Carter and Magda Szubanski.

Synopsis: Mumble the penguin has a problem: his son Erik, who is reluctant to dance, encounters The Mighty Sven, a penguin who can fly! Things get worse for Mumble when the world is shaken by powerful forces, causing him to brings together the penguin nations and their allies to set things right.

Happy Feet Two is scheduled for release in the UK 3rd December and unlike it’s predecessor, will be in 3D.

Today, the 29th July finally sees the release of a movie I’ve been waiting for ages! I’ve had such good and high hopes for Captain America: The First Avenger and Ben’s review seems to back up my hopes!

Our friends from Upbeat got to speak with Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper & Joe Johnston at the US junket last week for their new movie and have kindly given us the footage to debut on HeyUGuys. During the interview we get to see what they thought of the movie, how they’d felt if they weren’t in it and what we can expect from it.

Captain America: The First Avenger is directed by Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke and Stanley Tucci.

Synopsis: Marvel Studios brings their prodigious patriot to the big screen with this action-filled outing surrounding Steve Rogers, a once meek U.S. soldier turned hero thanks to an experimental super serum, giving him the strength and agility far beyond a normal human being. This production will be followed up two months later with The Avengers, teaming the character with other Marvel screen heroes from their catalogue.

If you missed the clip I put up earlier, you can catch it here which introduces all the character for the next movie, The Avengers. If you’re looking forward to Cap Am, then you’ll definitely want to catch this! After you’ve watched it, pack up what you’re doing and get down the cinema to see Captain America!

This clip leaked a few weeks ago but now Paramount have official released the final scene of Captain America: The First Avenger to coincide with today’s release of the movie in the UK. In the scene, we get to see Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tell Captain America (Chris Evans) that he’s been asleep for 70 years. Following that we get to see snippets of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) all inthe same room at the same time to form The Avengers! It’s all very exciting! We also get to see Evans in his new 21st Century uniform which has been talking about online a lot, especially after seeing these new concept images.

Captain America: The First Avenger which hits UK cinemas today, 29th July. It is directed by Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke and Stanley Tucci.

Synopsis: Marvel Studios brings their prodigious patriot to the big screen with this action-filled outing surrounding Steve Rogers, a once meek U.S. soldier turned hero thanks to an experimental super serum, giving him the strength and agility far beyond a normal human being. This production will be followed up two months later with The Avengers, teaming the character with other Marvel screen heroes from their catalogue.

If you missed our review of Captain America: The First Avenger, you can read it here and see all our coverage here.

Source: Yahoo