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https://nerdist.com/article/lord-of-the-rings-tv-series-cast/
Whenever we get new word about Amazon’s forthcoming Lord of the Rings-inspired television series, I always feel like Bilbo Baggins. I picture him sprinting with abandon from the sanctuary of his shire out into the perilous but exciting unknown of Middle-earth, screaming to his neighbors, “I’m going on an adventure!” For, what is a trip into the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien (or the varied artists committing to bring said vision to life onscreen) if not an adventure in its own right?
And I do indeed feel that rousing sense of adventure today as I hear about the series’ latest casting announcements. Amazon has enlisted a great big batch of actors to star in the series, which will serve as a prequel of sorts to what we’ve seen thus far in terms of screen adaptation by whim of the dutiful Peter Jackson.
If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground, you know that Robert Aramayo (young Ned Stark on Game of Thrones), Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark on Game of Thrones), and Morfydd Clark (whom you can see presently on Netflix’s Dracula and HBO’s His Dark Materials) will be headlining the cast. No word yet on who Mawle will be playing, but Aramayo has been saddled to a character called (Aramayo’s character has been called “Beldor,” while Morfydd Clark has been said to be playing a young Galadriel, portrayed in Jackson’s films by the great Cate Blanchett.
Joining the project anew are the following names: Owain Arthur (of the hospital drama Casualty), Nazanin Boniadi (who has starred in TV shows like Scandal and Homeland and films like Bombshell), Tom Budge (most recently of the thriller Secret Bridesmaids’ Business), Ismael Cruz Córdova (Hector on Ray Donovan and Qin on The Mandalorian), Ema Horvath (most recently of The Mortuary Collection), Markella Kavenagh (most recently of True History of the Kelly Gang), Dylan Smith (the up-coming New York Film Fest favorite First Cow), Daniel Weyman (most recently Gentleman Jack), and newcomers Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, and Charlie Vickers. At present, who exactly the rest of these actors will be playing is still a great mystery.
In fact, that mystery bleeds into the very premise of the show. All we really know is that it’ll take place before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring, but that leaves a lot of room for possibility… and speculation! (One popular theory held that the series might follow the rise and fall of Númenor, though it’s been suggested as well that the story would take place closer to the events of Fellowship.)
Speaking on the search for talent, series producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said, “After undertaking an extensive global search, we are delighted finally to reveal the first group of brilliant performers who will take part in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series. These exceptionally talented women and men are more than just our actors: they are the newest members of an ever-expanding creative family that is now working tirelessly to bring Middle-earth to life anew for fans and audiences worldwide.”
Keep your giant, flaming eye out for more Lord of the Rings news!
Featured Image: New Line Cinema
The post Amazon’s LORD OF THE RINGS Series Casts 15 Actors! appeared first on Nerdist.
This season, you may be tempted to shield your strands from the cold with hats and beanies, but Teyana Taylor just reminded us that it’s way better to show them off.
The “Gonna Love Me” singer doesn’t let the fact that we’re in the dead of winter stop her from having fun with her hair. And if you’re stuck in a hair rut, her latest hairdo may inspire you to try something new.
The 29-year-old started the new year off rocking a blond bob, and now she’s donning beautiful bohemian twist, proving that winter hair doesn’t have to be boring.
View this post on Instagram Bad lil ting this moaninnnnn in my @prettylittlething 
A post shared by Jimmy Neutch- Shumpert (@teyanataylor) on Jan 14, 2020 at 7:45am PST
Photo: Instagram/@teyanataylorSo forget confining your curls to caps this winter. Take a cue from Taylor and try this dope ‘do.
The post Teyana Taylor Is Giving Us Winter Hair Envy appeared first on Essence.
BGN was fortunate enough to visit Pixar Studios in Emeryville, California, where we got an inside look at the upcoming animated film, Onward.
It is Pixar’s first magic-centered film, and they are beyond proud of it. During our time with Pixar talent, we got to chat with a few of the people responsible for the film, including director Dan Scanlon, producer Kori Rae, head of story Kelsey Mann, and story lead Madeline Sharafian. They gave us a glimpse behind the curtain of what it takes to make an animated film — from script to storyboard.
Dan Scanlon (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar) 
Kori Rae (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar) 
Kelsey Mann (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar) 
Madeline Sharafian (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Disney and Pixar’s Onward introduces us to two elf brothers who embark on an epic quest to discover if there is still magic left in the world. The film is filled with elves, sprites, satyrs, cyclops, centaurs, gnomes, and trolls, among other creatures from mythology, folklore, fables, and fantasy fiction. “It’s a modern suburban fantasy film — a new genre for Pixar,” said producer Kori Rae. “The story is inspired by my own relationship with my brother and our connection with our dad who passed away when I was about a year old,” says director Scanlon. “He’s always been a mystery to us. A family member sent us a tape recording of him saying just two words: ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’ Two words. But to my brother and me — it was magic.”
“That was the jumping-off point,” continues Scanlon. “We’ve all lost someone, and if we could spend one more day with them — what an exciting opportunity that would be. We knew that if we wanted to tell that story that we’d have to set the movie in a world where you could have that incredible opportunity.”
Cue the talented team responsible for storyboarding and pitching to Scanlon, trying to capture his vision. The hard part was coming up with a story that is compelling and good. It was amazing to see just how much goes into bringing a Pixar film to the big screen.
Mann’s job, in a nutshell, is to assist the storyboard artists. He and the team assist the director, writer, and producer in telling a compelling and moving story through visuals. They basically draw the movie from start to end. Sharafian does all the same stuff as a normal storyboard artist, all the drawings and everything, but also helps Mann if he gets too busy. She checks the artist’s work and helps edit, and she was also part of the script-writing process for this film.
Mann was on the team from day one, which is a little different. Scanlon and Mann both worked on Monsters University, which was also directed Scanlon. Rae was the producer on both films as well. After Monsters University, Scanlon had the opportunity to do his own film that was an original. They spend so much time on these films to not just make them good, but great. On day one, it was Scanlon coming up with the type of movie he wanted to make.
An Onward story review, as seen on December 14, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar) 
Onward story team members work in the “fishbowl,” a common work space for everyone to be together while working, as seen on November 8, 2016 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Two locations that helped the team organize their thoughts and direction were the “Fishbowl” and the “Story Room.” The Fishbowl is full of artists drawing scenes and characters from Onward. The Story Room is where the script was developed.
It’s no easy feat getting through those first drafts of script. The words go through multiple people before landing on the final pages. Scanlon and Jason Headley, another writer on the film, would make a pass through the storyboards.
“If we felt really good about the cards and the sequence, they [Scanlon and Headley] would go off and write it,” says Mann. “They would go back and forth until they were happy with it.”
From their hands, the pages would go to a small group who read it, marked it up, and gave their own thoughts. There would be criticism like, “Oh, I’m not sure about this,” or “I think we should cut this line.” They would go page by page with this process. Sometimes Scanlon agreed and sometimes he didn’t.
“Sometimes we would not do exactly what the idea was, but we do something that would still address it in a different way,” says Mann.
At some point, Sharafian and her team would be given the script and sometimes people would read it at their desk or go anywhere on the gorgeous campus and try to get into the scene, try to read it and try to absorb it and think about it visually.
“We’re transferring it from the written word to a visual medium,” says Sharafian.
The talent is astounding. Quick sketches, thoughts on story, write-ups for character development: it’s all part of the magic of making an animation film. Sometimes, Scanlon acts out what he wants to see on the screen, making the artist’s job much easier. Sharafian explains that there are so many things going through your head as you are off drawing. “You’re boarding and you’re thinking about cinematography, writing, acting, character, staging, editing, humor, composition, and above all, deadline,” she says.
Making an animated film looks like fun but is very hard sometimes. One of the upsides is collaboration. Looking at the collaboration in the room, you see Scanlon with the writers and PAs.
“We don’t have a set. We just have our offices,” says Mann. “So it’s hard to feel like you’re actually making a movie sometimes if you’re off in your office. So, it was fun to walk in here because then you can just feel like, ‘Oh my God, we’re doing something together.’”
When you put all the pieces of the pie together, Onward ended up with 97,759 storyboards, which is a lot of drawing. After they’ve done all the drawings for their section, it’s time to pitch.
“You get the entire story team in the Fishbowl. We try and get edit in there, art in there. Anyone who is seen as going to be directly impacted. Dan and Kori are there, too,” says Sharafian. The scene they shared that embodies this process is titled, “Trust Bridge.” Sharafian pulled up the art, and we got to see a board-by-board reenactment of the scene. She did all the different voices as well.
All I can say is kudos to those pursuing this career. It takes so much and such a long time to get these films off the ground. We are all thoroughly impressed.
We are looking forward to this film. Onward releases in theaters on March 6, 2020.
The post ‘Onward’ Storytelling: Pixar’s First Magic-Centered Film appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
It’s been a long #FightForWynonna to get here, Earpers, but it’s finally happening. Production has started on season four of SyFy’s supernatural western, Wynonna Earp, and we could not be happier about it.
And we’re back!! #EarpNow pic.twitter.com/MOGFoABX6f
— Wynonna Earp (@WynonnaEarp) January 13, 2020
After a huge cliffhanger in the fall of 2018 that saw Peacemaker gone, the Earp sisters separated with Waverly possibly in the Garden of Eden, and Doc (who is still a freaking vampire?!) tagging along with her, we were all very eager to see where it went … but last year things went wrong. The money to make season four, which had been ordered by SyFy (along with a season five!) from IDW Entertainment wasn’t there and the future of the show was thrown into jeopardy.
Are you ready, Earpers? 🤠 #EarpNow @emtothea pic.twitter.com/3XD5Y9gVVq
— Wynonna Earp (@WynonnaEarp) January 13, 2020
But the devoted fans of the show wouldn’t take that. They ovaried up, petitioned, tweeted and even got billboards in Times Square to rally around their show. It worked, and all that love is finally paying off as the cast and crew have assembled in Calgary to shoot the new season. The season will include, among other things, star Melanie Scrofano’s directorial debut. It’s all got us excited and a little bit misty-eyed.
Who’s ready for season 4?! #EarpNow pic.twitter.com/jRhDqwZGGf
— Wynonna Earp (@WynonnaEarp) January 13, 2020
So what’s in store for the town of Purgatory and the Earps in the new season? Well, episode one is titled “On The Road Again” and we know that the cast we know and love are all back, along with Nicole’s red hair and some new cast members, including Supernatural’s Ty Olson!
Here we go. Let’s get them back. #WynonnaEarp #EarpNow #Episode401 pic.twitter.com/NYb3qylcQu
— Emily Andras (@emtothea) January 14, 2020
IS 99.9% OF THE FANDOM DEAD? #WynonnaEarp #EarpNow pic.twitter.com/VQuoDLxLvl
— DOCSTACHE (@HollidaysStache) January 14, 2020
Hi #Earpers, my name is Andrew Phung and I can’t wait to meet you in season 4 of #WynonnaEarp! Real talk, I can hardly hide my excitement about joining this show, this family, and this fight. #EarpNow pic.twitter.com/fsntaQi9Pc
— Andrew Phung (@andrewphung) January 14, 2020
Hi Twitter, I’m currently filming in Calgary and I’M SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE that I’ll be joining the cast of @WynonnaEarp, as new chick, “Rachel” this upcoming season!!! 😱 EXCITEMENTTT!!! #CrazyTimes #EarpNow #WynonnaEarp
— martina ortiz-luis (@itzmartinaol) January 14, 2020
Super excited to start filming this week on the set of #WynonnaEarp! #EarpNow”
— Ty Olsson (@TyOlsson) January 13, 2020
We are so excited to see this show getting the band back together, and we’ll keep you updated with every Earpin’ thing we hear. The new season should start to air sometime in the summer, but until then all three excellent seasons are on Netflix right now.
(Image: Syfy)
Here are a few other things we saw this January day.
- Uncut Gems is heading to Netflix outside the US in a few weeks, and in the US pretty soon too. (via Comicbook.com)
- This conversation with The Magicians’ producers will get you excited for season five’s debut tomorrow. (via EW)
- Is Cats just Midsomar with more fur? (via Decider)
- Once you see it:
Pete Buttigieg looks like a young version of the Smoking Man from The X-Files pic.twitter.com/Gy5Sr9hs3g
— Justin T. (@condiricenbeans) January 13, 2020
- GOOD!
The WNBA will pay players a full salary while on maternity leave (they currently get 50%). New moms will also get nursing areas and child care stipends.
The changes are part of a landmark deal that ups average salaries to 6-figures ($130K) for the 1st time. pic.twitter.com/5B7mxiz5nH
— AJ+ (@ajplus) January 14, 2020
- The Paley fest line up keeps getting better and now it includes THe Mandalorian and Picard. (via THR)
- BABY YODA IS COMING TO BUILD-A-BEAR!!! (via Business Insider)
How about you, Mary Suevians? If you saw something, say something!
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