- If you're a Tolkien fan,
I already respect you as a human being.
(hopeful music)
(bright music)
The great thing about Tolkien's work
is that it's so rich and so different that when you're 15,
and you will enjoy all the fun,
like the action, the adventure, the fights,
the battles, the big battles,
the hobbits, all those sections that feels more fun.
And then when you grow up,
you discover all the politics
and the complexity of that world.
I think that is fantastic.
If you can have a book
that you can discover new things every time you read it,
it's terrific, it's fantastic,
it's a sign that you are
in front of a great piece of literature.
- You might at least listen to the proposal I bring.
- Oh, there it is,
the true purpose of your visit, you want something.
- I journeyed here to see my friend, whom I greatly missed.
- Missed?
You missed my wedding, the birth of my children,
two of them.
You cannot barge into my mountain
and demand I welcome you with open arms.
(bright music)
- I remember that I read that a show was going to be made,
and I thought that felt good, that felt right,
because when you look at the monumental work
that Tolkien did in the books,
feels like television will allow it to have enough space
to get into that and have that level of detail
that you can find in the books.
And then I got a call from my agent,
and she told me that Patrick and JD wanted to meet me.
I was very surprised, and I sat down with them.
I was a little curious,
but a little worried that we will get in to see again
what we have seen in the other films.
But I was very gladly surprised
that I think they did something very smart,
which was to portray the Second Age,
which is something that we haven't seen before.
And that was not that much in the books.
We can only read about it
in the appendix of "The Lord of the Rings".
There was a good balance
between something that was already planned by Tolkien,
you have the main events
in the appendix of "The Lord of the Rings".
But it's more like a chronological list of events.
There is not storyline there.
So Patrick and JD were able to come with new storylines,
new characters, putting all those moments together.
So it felt like a very smart move.
You have a plan that feels solid and consistent
with the world that Tolkien designed,
but at the same time you have very new,
fresh elements that will keep the story alive.
(beast roaring)
(man grunting)
(beast growling)
(dramatic music)
(bright music)
My first contact with Tolkien was,
I was very little and I saw the animation film,
the kind of animation that they use, rotoscopy,
that felt so different
from the other animation movies made me think
that that was something unique and special.
Then when I was a teenager,
I read the books and I loved them.
I became a fan,
and then of course I saw the movies
and I really liked the movies,
but then when I got in contact with Patrick and JD,
then I read the books again,
and to me it was great because the same books
that I read when I was 15 had a complete different meaning
to me when I was a lot older.
And that tells you how good are the books,
somehow they are great stories, but at the same time,
they leave enough space for the reader to
interpret the story to give a different meaning
depending on your age.
- It's food.
Did you eat where you're from?
Of course they do, what a silly question.
(gentle music)
(bright music)
- What I like about the universe
that Tolkien described in the books is this idea
of fantasy that somehow reflects your own reality
better than reality itself.
I share that vision of fantasy.
When you read about them,
they are so detailed, they are so rich,
that you have the impression that this really happened.
But at the same time,
these are stories that talk to you about the human soul
in a way that you can see yourself better.
You can learn things about yourself
that you didn't know before.
And that's the kind of use
of fantasy that I love,
that I did in my other films
and that I could find in the books of Tolkien.
What Tolkien did is so unique.
He created a whole new mythology in the 20th century.
There's nothing that can compare to.
He created the foundations of most
of the fantasies that we know already.
You can tell how all these fictions
are coming or are influenced by Tolkien.
Hopefully the show will make the audience to
get excited again about going back to Middle Earth.
Hopefully the show will make more fans,
and I love Tolkien fans.
If you're a Tolkien,
I already respect you as a human being.
And if we get more people excited
about the books and they can go back to the books
or discover them, that will be fantastic.
(hopeful music)