'Time Machine' and 'Lord of the Rings'
Staff Reporter

Dateline: 4/1/01 (no April fools B.S. These reports are true. They just happen to fall on April 1)

At the press junket for A Knight's Tale, Mark Addy shared his knowledge of Dreamworks' remake of The Time Machine starring Guy Pearce. He says the plot follows the 1960 filmed version faithfully, but the big difference will be in the modern technology employed in the presentation.

"The original was 1960 so [the remake] sticks very closely to the novel but you've got the advantage of the kind of stuff they can do with special effects nowadays," Addy said. "They're going to make that time travel stuff just unbelievable and also the designs for the Eloi and the Morlocks. In the original they're a little ropey, but the stuff they can do now with prosthetics and make-up as well."

Unfortunately, Addy himself does not get involved with the main action of the film.

"I'm Philby, the friend of Guy Pearce's character," Addy lamented. "I stay at home. I don't get to do any of the fun stuff. I'm just there at the beginning and the end, so all my stuff's turn of the last century New York, stiff clothes and talking proper."

At the premiere for Blow, Sean Astin walked down the white carpet talking about his work in the upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy. With regards to the digital shrinking technology the filmmakers will employ to make the actors look like Hobbits, Astin began his explanation with humor.

"I think I was digitally shrunk back there. I don't know if I've quite recovered from it. There are all kinds of amazing cinematomfoolery going on down in New Zealand. You want a yes or no answer to the question? Yes. What I've seen is amazing and they've got a lot more work to do before the films are finished."

Astin said Hobbits are supposed to be three feet, six inches tall, but since a movie screen makes that quite subjective, it remains for viewers to determine how the effect works. Regarding the literary adaptation itself, Astin was cagey, but said, "Any time you adapt a movie from a novel, there's going to be adjustments."