Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture
I've read Lord of the Rings when I was younger and it quickly became one of my favorite books. When I heard a series of movies were coming out with a bunch of 'unknown' crew members, I was both excited and worried. After watching Fellowship of the Ring, I realized they had something good going on. I loved it! I obsessed over The Two Towers before it came out. Rotten tomatoes gave it a 98% rating and I was worried it might have been just a hot pick for critics. I watched it in the theaters...I think 6 or 7 times... That is a lot of times to see it! The following pictures are of autographs that I got from actors and WETA members that I've met in person.
To start things off, this is an exclusive keychain from San Diego comic-con 2004 during the ROTK: EE announcement panel. It's a great memento for a totally awesome experience. They showed a few minutes of extended footage for the upcoming dvd and it shivers down my spine.
Here is an overview of my extended edition autograph collection. It might be hard to see who signed them, so I provided close-ups below!.
The autographs on here are Sala Baker (Sauron and other characters), Sean Astin (Sam), and Billy Boyd (Pippin).
Sala Baker played Sauron and a few other characters, mainly orcs and stuff. I met him at Comic-con 2004 and saw him wandering around Comic-con 2005 also.
Sean Astin signed in the gold pen. He was promoting his book, 'There and Back Again' and happened to be in Seattle. He gave a very entertaining talk and he was an extremely down to earth guy. The autograph in black is Billy Boyd's. He was at Comic-con 2004 with David Wenham promoting ROTK: EE. I had to literally fight through a crazy mob to get tickets, which I happened to get two. I had David sign my Two Towers dvd since he wasn't in FOTR (duh). Check out Sean Astin autograph page.
My Two Towers dvd with David Wenham and Alan Lee's autograph.
How rare is it to meet an artist like Alan Lee? Very rare! He was promoting some books and decided to pay Seattle and UW a visit. He gave a nice presentation in a church of his art and proceeded to sign some books and even my dvd. His art is wonderful, definitely worth checking out if you're interested. His art was the main inspiration for the LOTR films. Definitely check out the Alan Lee autograph page for more pictures and information.
It looks funny because its slanted upwards, but that is David Wenham's autograph when he signed along side of Billy Boyd at Comic-con 2004. For those of you who don't know, he is Faramir and also Dilios from 300.
It became more difficult to find LOTR members to sign by the time the ROTK: EE came out. But at Comic-con 2005 two of the biggest special effects guys from WETA made an appearance: Richard Taylor and Ben Wootten. If you watched any of the special features on any of the LOTR: EE dvds, you'll know who Richard Tayor is. He's the head guy at WETA who acts and speaks like a little excited kid, who happens to have a very childish autograph. Very nice!
Ben Wootten is another one of the big WETA guys who worked on these films as well as other WETA films. Very nice to meet him. I believed he also worked on Chronicles of Narnia.
Close-up of Richard Taylor's very unique and awesome autograph. Visit the WETA page for more pictures!
This is probably one of my most special autographs. Like many of the other LOTR members, Andy Serkis, known as Gollum, also wrote a book. He actually went to UW to present it as well as sign. It was the coolest thing ever. I went with a few friends and he even reenacted a scene from the movies in the classic Gollum voice. Straight up, right into the mic, no special effects. It was flawless. The next day he flew to Pasadena, where my brother was at the time, and he met him there at a bookstore. Please visit the Andy Serkis page for more pictures and information.
