They’ve been huge supporters of this film from the beginning; they’ve stayed in the background a little, but I’m proud to reveal that they’ve been with us all along and are actually our executive producers.
Lord Of The Rings,” said Boyens, who co-wrote the original Lord Of The Rings
trilogy and subsequent
The Hobbit trilogy with Jackson and Walsh.“They’ve been huge supporters of this film from the very beginning; they’ve stayed in the background a little, but I’m proud to reveal that they’ve been with us all along and are in fact our executive producers.“They wanted to stay in the background because Peter in particular wanted to give Kenji the space to find his own way into the film,” added Boyens, who produces The War Of The Rohirrim with Joseph Chou.Warner Bros/New Line screened 20 minutes of the film to the Annecy audience. Andy Serkis who played Gollum for Jackson’s
Rings-
trilogy hosted a panel with Boyens and Kamiyama. Chou, DeMarco, and executive producer Jason DeMarco were also present. We wanted to make an animated Kenji Kamiyama feature film that lived within that world. It’s a challenging task that requires a delicate balance between two filmmaking styles that have never collided before. Tolkein’s The Lord Of The Rings is a great adaptation of Tolkein . It is set 183 years prior to the events of the first film trilogy, and tells the story of Hera, the daughter of the hot-tempered king of Rohan, as she and her father defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings.
“Most of my job has been to sit at the centre of these very particular worlds – the world of creating anime, and the world of creating Lord Of The Rings and bringing it to the screen,” said DeMarco. “And making sure that New Line and Warner Bros understood what it takes to make an anime theatrical film – what that means production-wise, time-wise, technique-wise.”
The War Of The Rohirrim
will be released on December 13 in the US.Serkis movesMeanwhile, Serkis will direct and reprise his role as Gollum in Warner and New Line’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum
, in pre-production ahead of a 2026 release.The actor/filmmaker is also in production on his animated adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm
, which he discussed on the panel.“In the same way as you talk about the wreckage of war in
The War Of The Rohirrim
, the wreckage of truth is what appealed to me about Animal Farm,” said Serkis, adding it was one of the first adult-oriented books he read along with
The Lord Of The Rings. Serkis said that the wreckage of truth in Animal Farm
, was what appealed to him. He added that it was one of the first adult-oriented books he read along with The Lord Of The Rings. It’s a very modern story. It’s modernised. “We were shocked to see innocence destroyed by following a wrong ideology. We were torn between two ideologies, one for the good of all and the other for our own benefit. And falling. And finally working out that you made the wrong decision.”Although Jackson was not present in Annecy, he opened the session with a short video presenting The War Of The Rohirrim, including a skit with the video ‘interrupted’ by Gollum. Serkis also performed his Gollum voice to the delight of the packed Annecy crowd, describing the combination of anime and Lord Of The Rings
as “precious”.
Annecy continues until Saturday, June 15.Sony TV’s Wayne Garvie challenges European producers to better exploit European stories
