If you’re like me, the prospect of waiting 3 more years to see another Tolkien film is just too much to bear. Sorry, Guillermo, I need my Lord of the Rings fix much sooner than that.
That’s where The Hunt for Gollum, a new fan film from writer-director Chris Bouchard, comes in. The film is an unofficial, not for profit, labor of love by a bunch of Tolkien enthusiasts (read: nerds) and it looks beautiful. I mean, the Robot Jox fan film I made back in high school looked like a fan film — i.e., crap. Judging by the trailer, The Hunt for Gollum could play nicely right next to the LOTR trilogy that cost NewLine close to $200 million to make.
Made on a shoe string budget, much of the impressive production design, makeup, and CGI was done by volunteers. As with all fan films, the team participated purely for the love of the material, which is based on Tolkien’s appendices.
From the film’s website:
The script is adapted from elements of the appendices of The Lord of the Rings.The story follows the Heir of Isildur; the “greatest huntsman and traveller in Middle Earth” as he sets out to find the creature Gollum. The creature must be found to discover the truth about the Ring, and to protect the future Ringbearer.
Bouchard is no stranger to high profile fan films, having composed the original score for the 2005 internet phenom Star Wars: Revelations (he composes the music on Gollum as well). The film will run 30 minutes and will be released for free on the internet sometime in 2009. Maybe it will put the heat on Guillermo Del Toro and Peter Jackson to get The Hobbit out a wee bit sooner…?
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I can’t believe how good this looks (although it could all just be crane shots and the lead character looking pensive) but STILL! For volunteers to be this dedicated to pull this off is amazing!
By: narfangirl18 on December 17, 2008
at 6:54 pm
Yeah, it does look awful pretty with all that slow motion. Maybe the next trailer will feature some dialogue, though!
By: Nar Williams on December 21, 2008
at 3:03 pm