New Silmarillion fan movie announced.

[leo.civil.uefs]

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013...over-gondolin/

did enyone see this?

[manekemaan]

cool, just watched the other 2 lotr movies they made. good stuf.

[Jmonstra]

Looks great! I'm a little iffy on the makeup though; looks stiff like a Halloween mask.

[Duke of Metz]

Didn't know there were fan made movies... How would one find the 2 previous ones they made?

[Veteraan]

Didn't know there were fan made movies... How would one find the 2 previous ones they made?

That's very easy. In the first line of the article Leo linked to, the titles of the movies are mentioned.

On the heels of Tolkien fan-films Born of Hope and The Hunt for Gollum

Just google those titles and you find them straight away. But since I already did that:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Hermod]

Didn't know there were fan made movies... How would one find the 2 previous ones they made?

Pretty sure the Hunt for Gollum one is on Youtube. I know I have seen it and I think that was where.

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

I don't know how they'll do it. Born of Hope's biggest failing was that it was essentially a fanfilm of Jackson's movies.

[Lortano]

Yes, but it was a fanfilm of the GOOD Jackson films! And it was pretty damn good for a fan made film, but the Silmarillion? I don't think even Jackson would tackle that, if he had the rights to. If LotR was unfilmable, than the Silmarillion is ultra unfilmable, because changing one little thing could bring the whole thing crashing down into a confusing mess.

[athanaric]

There should be a Silmarillion HBO series.

[Mr. ZAP]

No.

I think there just shouldn't be a Silmarillion adaptation at all.

For a long time I wanted one. It's both my favorite work of Tolkien's, and my favorite book in general (in fact, the avatar I sport here and at most other places is a fan depiction of the Silmarils I found ages ago), and for good reason. It's not like The Hobbit, which is a fun but rather uncomplicated children's adventure tale. Nor is it like The Lord of the Rings, which is a great epic, filled with amazing deeds and larger than life figures, rather more like Gilgamesh or The Iliad in tone. No, The Silmarillion is the closest thing I have found to a fully realized history, a fully realized world, and mythology, in any fictional work (excepting maybe the Bible, but that had many authors over many generations; Tolkien's world is his alone), which the other books are only really footnotes in. This historical style makes it plodding for many (and I'll readily admit it isn't an easy read) but as a history geek I took to it like a duck to water.

Originally I even wanted to try and be the one to write an adaptation, and (somehow, though I doubted it would ever happen) get the approval of Christopher himself, as validation. It was a dream of mine. To have this work that I love so much be realized in a medium I love, and better still, to maybe have it be done with my help. But as I delved further into it and put more time into it I ended up realizing all of the difficulties that by themselves would be difficult for any writer, but together seemed inescapable. It made me think that it simply wasn't suited for film (or television, as the case may be).

People talk about the depth of LotR, and the world-building, and justifiably so, but it's nothing at all compared to The Silmarillion. Think of the scale. LotR takes place in roughly eighteen years (with most of it taking place in about six months). The Silm goes over a literally undefined but very vast amount of time, with "the meat" of the story, shall we say (the First Age) still taking place over 500+ years, with a completely unknown interval prior to that (several ages are said to pass) and then another several thousand years immediately after it (the Akallabêth and what follows). In this period entire races are born; at the beginning the entire world is born! There is no real viewpoint character. People are being born and dying throughout, over many generations. Really, the only character who is somewhat constant is Morgoth himself, the villain. And because of the way it was devised (and revised, and compiled and edited) there are numerous inconsistencies throughout. And there is very little in the way of dialogue for vast stretches of time (both in terms of chronology and page count), with the vast majority of text being descriptive, which leads to a rather difficult problem in itself just for a writer trying to adapt it for film (or television, or especially theatre).

I knew about all of these going into my project, but only when trying to actually accomplish it did I fully understand the problems. And in the end, for my sanity, and to keep from neglecting other things, I stopped. Maybe I could have tried a different approach. Or maybe someone else could do it. I doubt it, though. While I know there are certainly better writers out there than myself, trying to adapt the thing is like trying to adapt history itself, or maybe like trying to adapt the Bible. Either way I doubt the viability or the desirability of such a project.

For my part, and I suppose this is the crux of the matter now, I eventually decided that not everything needs to be adapted. Sometimes a work is just fine the way it is, without the bells and whistles of a camera and sound, without actors portraying characters that are already known very well. I love The Silmarillion, and I don't need a nice movie or a miniseries to enhance that love. I don't think I could love it more if I tried, anyway.

[Mr.Jox]

I'm just wish them very good specialists in movie making if they are going ahead.

[Lortano]

Clearly no one read the article, it just concerns Tuor and his journey to Gondolin and it's fall. In that case it seems alright.

[Ngugi]

Don't think the fall will be part of it, the description a bit ambigious and do not tell us it will be included, but only Tuors journey to the city; "Storm Over Gondolin captures the journeys of the Man and prophesied hero Tuor and his shipwrecked Elf guide Voronwë."
Which is logical and smart, without a big budget there's no way to do the battle and fall justice, it would just be embarresing.

[❋ Flavius Belisarius ❋]

The Silmarillon is my favorite book, the best book I've ever read
There are so many things I think that its best adaptation would be in the form of series.

[NejkoPejko]

I hate being a buzzkill, but that movie was announced half a year ago and it was canceled. http://middleearthnews.com/2013/12/0...olkien-estate/

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

I hate being a buzzkill, but that movie was announced half a year ago and it was canceled. http://middleearthnews.com/2013/12/0...olkien-estate/

Well, they certainly bit off more than they could chew.

[Dutch-Balrog]

Yay... Oke i do care a little. Damn..

[LuckyPistol]

I'm sure its been mentioned before, but a series based off Turin and Glaurung's story would be doable. Especially with the Game of Thrones craze going on, if you know what specific part I'm talking about

[Greymane]

I'm sure its been mentioned before, but a series based off Turin and Glaurung's story would be doable. Especially with the Game of Thrones craze going on, if you know what specific part I'm talking about

Yikes!
You sick, sick fellow!

[Mr. ZAP]

Fair enough. A Children of Húrin film, by itself, would probably be doable as a film (or maybe a duology... don't think three films would be necessary). The characters are fleshed out enough and the action is contained enough, and there's quite a bit that could be used.

I doubt it would feasible financially, though... not enough of an audience for the budget needed.