I think, back in the day, the ultimate trifecta was considered ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and maybe ‘Star Trek.’
And when your phone rings, pick it up. Open yourself up to the possibility a phone call offers. Discover this remarkable device called the telephone. It will give you a serious competitive advantage.
That is definitely something that I feel more comfortable with now. When I did ‘Lord of the Rings,’ it was something I wasn’t quite prepared for, I didn’t know how to deal with that sort of attention, and I kind of shied away from that, but I’m better at dealing with that now – a lot better.
I have a great deal of sympathy for reluctant readers because I was one. I would do anything to avoid reading. In my case, it wasn’t until I was 13 and discovered the ‘Lord of the Rings’ that I learned to love reading.
One of the neatest things I saw with the team at Ohio State – and we preach about it all the time as coaches – is that the team genuinely played for the happiness, success and rings on the finger for the guy next to them.
I think Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens have very carefully plotted ‘The Hobbit’ out so that it does feel like the starting point for ‘The Lord of the Rings.’
I’d like to be Gandalf for a day – he’s so wise, he’s so powerful, and he’s so caring. I love Gandalf. When they remake ‘Lord of The Rings,’ maybe I’ll play it.
As a dramatist, you have 200 choices at every fork in the road. But the audience will reject it if you make the wrong choice, if they feel you are trying to shape the character in a way that suits you. It rings false immediately. People can sense when you’re being cynical or schematic.
If outsider perspectives made ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Dark Knight’ into fantastic franchises, imagine what would happen if you brought in the perspectives of women and people of color.
