The Hunt for Gollum Will Do Wonders For Independent Cinema
Adrian Webster as Aragorn/Strider
Here is an amazing trailer for a new 40 minute film inspired by Lord of the Rings. The Hunt for Gollum is a fan film based upon the appendices of JRR Tolkien’s epic novels – and judging by the production releases so far, it’s going to be awesome. What is particular impressive is that despite the fact that the film has been put together on a minuscule budget of less than £3000 it looks better than half the big budget movies we are forced to endure.
When interviewed by SFX Magazine, Director Chris Bouchard stated he was inspired by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: “Above all I was so inspired by Peter Jackson’s trilogy – and jealous that he got to make it first! I loved the scale, the quality, the epic scope of it all and figured, hey, maybe we can do that too. We don’t have millions of dollars of funding (our budget is less than £3000) but we do have a huge love for the subject, a growing number of talented volunteers behind us and above all the determination to make it happen to a high standard of professionalism.” Read the full interview here.
In Peter Jackson’s trilogy Aragorn/Strider was played brilliantly by Viggo Mortensen, a role actor Adrian Webster has taken on for Bouchard’s film. In an interview with SFX Webster has wet fans appetite with his comments regarding the action sequences. “Fantasy films are certainly unusual for independent cinema; unfortunately with low budgets it’s generally not possible. I’m glad to say that with good locations, costumes and CGI it’s looking great so far. I don’t want to spoil it for the fans but I’m very excited about the incredible action sequence in the movie, when Strider is confronted by a hoard of Orcs. It’s great to do months of training, learning techniques with the sword and running through fight choreography in the studio. You can’t do a LOTR fan film without some bone-crunching Orc action and I’m glad to say we have it!”
Read the full interview by SFX here.
Judging by the trailer and the official website I think this is going to be fantastic. It looks highly professional and spells great things for the future of fan made films, independent cinema, and of course internet based media. I can’t wait to see it.
The Hunt for Gollum is scheduled for online release on May 3rd at www.thehuntforgollum.com.
