Jeffrey Thomas

Jeffrey Thomas

Jeffrey Thomas is a Welsh-born New Zealand actor, best known for his television roles. He rose to prominence in New Zealand in the late 1980s with the lead role of Inspector “Sharky” Finn in the TVNZ police drama series Shark in the Park, and is also well-known for his roles in two long-running New Zealand soap operas, Mercy Peak and Shortland Street, and his distinctive voice can be heard narrating a large number of documentaries.

Internationally, Thomas is best known for his roles of Jason in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and narrator in Costa Botes’s and Peter Jackson’s mockumentary Forgotten Silver.

Thomas is a graduate of Liverpool University and Oxford University in England. Bilingual in English and Welsh, he is also a writer of dramatic material in both languages. He has scripted several episodes of New Zealand television programmes, and also of the Welsh drama series Mwy Na Phapur Newydd. He has also written a play, Playing the Game, which has been performed in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom, a short film (Making Money), and two books, one of them a collection of stories for children.

More recently he is known for his role as Titus Lentulus Batiatus on the Starz series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

Thomas is to reunite with Peter Jackson in the upcoming The Hobbit film production, where he’ll be playing the Dwarf King Thror.

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Jeffrey Thomas is a Welsh-born New Zealand actor, best known for his television roles. He rose to prominence in New Zealand in the late 1980s with the lead role of Inspector “Sharky” Finn in the TVNZ police drama series Shark in the Park, and is also well-known for his roles in two long-running New Zealand soap operas, Mercy Peak and Shortland Street, and his distinctive voice can be heard narrating a large number of documentaries. 

Internationally, Thomas is best known for his roles of Jason in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and narrator in Costa Botes’s and Peter Jackson’s mockumentary Forgotten Silver.

Thomas is a graduate of Liverpool University and Oxford University in England. Bilingual in English and Welsh, he is also a writer of dramatic material in both languages. He has scripted several episodes of New Zealand television programmes, and also of the Welsh drama series Mwy Na Phapur Newydd. He has also written a play, Playing the Game, which has been performed in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom, a short film (Making Money), and two books, one of them a collection of stories for children.

More recently he is known for his role as Titus Lentulus Batiatus on the Starz series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

Thomas is to reunite with Peter Jackson in the upcoming The Hobbit film production, where he’ll be playing the Dwarf King Thror.Jeffrey Thomas is a Welsh-born New Zealand actor, best known for his television roles. He rose to prominence in New Zealand in the late 1980s with the lead role of Inspector “Sharky” Finn in the TVNZ police drama series Shark in the Park, and is also well-known for his roles in two long-running New Zealand soap operas, Mercy Peak and Shortland Street, and his distinctive voice can be heard narrating a large number of documentaries.

Internationally, Thomas is best known for his roles of Jason in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and narrator in Costa Botes’s and Peter Jackson’s mockumentary Forgotten Silver.

Thomas is a graduate of Liverpool University and Oxford University in England. Bilingual in English and Welsh, he is also a writer of dramatic material in both languages. He has scripted several episodes of New Zealand television programmes, and also of the Welsh drama series Mwy Na Phapur Newydd. He has also written a play, Playing the Game, which has been performed in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom, a short film (Making Money), and two books, one of them a collection of stories for children.

More recently he is known for his role as Titus Lentulus Batiatus on the Starz series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

Thomas is to reunite with Peter Jackson in the upcoming The Hobbit film production, where he’ll be playing the Dwarf King Thror.

Thráin II

Thráin II (Third Age 2644 – 2850, aged 206 years) was King of Durin’s folk for 60 years, from Third Age 2790 to 2850, during their exile from Lonely Mountain. He was the son of Thrór and father of Thorin II, Frerin, and Dís. Thorin II would later be known as Thorin Oakenshield.
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Thráin fled with his father and a small group of companions when the dragon Smaug in T.A. 2770 descended on Lonely Mountain and sacked the Dwarven kingdom. King Thrór was devastated by the loss and left his people to journey south. He took a single companion, Nár, but left his son with his Ring of Power, along with the map and key to Lonely Mountain.

Thráin meanwhile took his people west to Dunland where they eked out a meager living. In T.A. 2790 Nár returned to tell Thráin that his father had been captured and butchered by the Orc-chieftain Azog when they had journeyed to the mines of Moria. Even worse, Azog had beheaded Thrór and carved his own name on Thrór’s forehead to show the Dwarves that an Orc now ruled their ancestral home.

Thráin sat for seven days without eating or sleeping, until he stood and said “This cannot be borne!”.

Filled with righteous anger, Thráin gathered together a massive army of Dwarves to wage the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. The army included the exiles of Lonely Mountain, Thráin’s kin from the Iron Hills under his uncle Grór, and even some Dwarves not of Durin’s folk (probably the four Dwarf clans from the Orocarni in the east). One by one they assaulted the Orc-holds of the Misty Mountains, destroying their great warrens in Mount Gundabad and eventually facing Azog himself in Dimrill Dale (Azanulbizar in Khuzdul) before the East-gate of Moria.

In T.A. 2799 Thráin and his army fought the bloody Battle of Azanulbizar. While the Orcs were vanquished and Azog slain, the Dwarves took heavy losses, including Thráin’s son Frerin, his cousin Náin, and Fundin father of Dwarven hero Balin.

King Thráin II wanted to enter Moria and reclaim it, but the Dwarves not of Durin’s folk refused, saying that the city was not their Fathers’ House; they had honoured Thrór’s memory by fighting, and this was enough. Dáin Ironfoot had peered within the East-gate and also warned Thráin that Durin’s Bane still dwelt within Khazad-dûm.

After the war, Thráin and Thorin led the exiles of Lonely Mountain west to live in the Northern Blue Mountains. Over the next forty years Thráin grew increasingly consumed with the lost riches of Lonely Mountain. This may have been partly because of the Ring of Thrór.

In T.A. 2841 he left the Blue Mountains with a small group that included Balin and Dwalin. Travelling east, the group was constantly harassed by wolves, Orcs, and other fell creatures. In T.A. 2845, while camped in the Gladden Fields, Thráin disappeared and would never be seen again by his kin. The King of Durin’s folk had been captured by Sauron’s agents and taken to the fortress of Dol Guldur in southern Mirkwood. There Sauron tortured Thráin, took back the last of the Seven Dwarf-rings, and left him in the dungeon to die.

In T.A. 2850, while on a reconnaissance mission to Dol Guldur, Gandalf came upon Thráin, who was so diminished that he could not even remember his own name. Thráin gave Gandalf his last two possessions, the key and map to Lonely Mountain, and shortly thereafter died. Gandalf left him without knowing who he was.

Much later Gandalf met Thorin Oakenshield near Bree and realized that the Dwarf he had found in Dol Guldur was Thráin, the vanished King of Durin’s folk. Gandalf and Thorin discussed reclaiming Lonely Mountain, and Gandalf gave much assistance to Thorin and Company, including the map and key to Lonely Mountain, along with a suggestion that they include a burglar in their quest.

Gandalf mentioned to the Fellowship, as they were debating about going into Moria, that he had been in the mines before looking for Thráin.

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Thrór

King Thrór

Thrór (Third Age 2542 – 2790, lived 248 years) was King of Durin’s folk for 201 years, from 2589 to 2790. He was the eldest son of Dáin I and brother of Grór and Frór.
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After a great Cold-drake killed both his father and brother Frór, with his younger brother Grór he led his people away from the Grey Mountains. Thrór led some of the Dwarves back to Lonely Mountain, where he became King under the Mountain, a title held earlier by his ancestor, Thorin I. Grór continued west with the a great following of Durin’s folk to the Iron Hills, where he founded his own realm.

At Erebor, Thrór and his people re-established the Kingdom under the Mountain and were very prosperous. Gaining the friendship of the Northmen who lived along the river Celduin. These people later founded the town of Dale and had much trade of goods, beautiful trinkets, and weapons with the Dwarves. The Dwarves of Erebor also had much traffic of ores with their kinsman in the Iron Hills. And the region had peace and prosperity for many years.

In 2770 though their prosperity ended. The Dragon Smaug heard of the wealth of Thrór and his people. And he came south from the Ered Mithrin and sacked the Lonely Mountain, killing many Dwarves. But from the destruction many escaped last of them being Thrór and his son Thráin from the hidden Side Door. So with a small company of kin and faithful followers they made the great wandering south, until they reached the hills of Dunland.

On a Midyear’s Day, Thrór created his map of the Desolation. With runes he wrote information about entering Erebor from a secret way. He used Moon-letters for this.

In Dunland, his people tried to make a living, but twenty years after the Sack of Erebor despondent and homeless, Thrór left his people and went north with a single companion, Nár, but not before giving his son Thráin II his Ring of Power, along with the map and key to the Lonely Mountain. Thrór wished to see the fabled city of his ancestors, Khazad-dûm.

Eventally they made it over the Redhorn Pass down into Azanulbizar the Dimrill Dale. And when Thrór came to the East-gate of Moria he found it open. Nár begged him to beware, but he took no heed of him, and walked through the gates as the heir who had returned. But he did not come back.

Nár stayed nearby for many days in hiding until he saw Thrór’s body flung down the steps; his head was severed and lay face downward on the ground. As he knelt there, Nar saw branded across his forehead in Dwarvish runes the name AZOG.

The Orc then threw a small purse of silver coins at him, calling him a beggar. Nár fled weeping as he went down the Silverlode, while Orcs emerged and began hacking Thrór’s body into pieces and throwing them to the crows.

When Nár told Thráin what had happened, he declared war on the Orcs and called all the Seven Houses together for vengeance. Nine years later at the Battle of Azanulbizar, the climax of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs the death of Thrór was avenged, and Thráin took Azog’s severed head, shoved the purse of coins into his mouth and then set it on a stake.

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From the Weta Newsletter: Some snippets

Production has commenced in Wellington, New Zealand, on “The Hobbit,” filmmaker Peter Jackson’s two film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s widely read masterpiece.

 

Screen plays: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson

 

Producers: Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, alongside Carolynne Cunningham.

 

Executive producers: Ken Kamins and Zane Weiner, with Philippa Boyens as co-producer.

 

Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie

 

Production Designer: Dan Hennah

 

Conceptual Designers: Alan Lee and John Howe

 

Composer: Howard Shore

 

Make-up and hair designer: Peter King

 

Costumes: Ann Maskrey and Richard Taylor

 

Taylor is also overseeing the design and production of weaponry, armour and prosthetics which are once again being made by the award winning Weta Workshop.

 

Visual effects supervisor: Joe Letteri

 

The Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also from the production team of Jackson and Walsh, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box office. In 2003, “The Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the 11 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

 

“The Hobbit” films are co-produced by New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television licensing being handled by MGM. The two films are planned for release in late 2012 and 2013, respectively.

 

As mentioned before on this blog, the films will be shot consecutively in digital 3D using the latest camera and stereo technology. Filming will take place at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand.

 

Weta has further announced that there is now an official blog on the movies being made which can be found here. And here is the Official facebook fan page.

 

And last but not least, a few additions to the cast: Jeffrey Thomas and Mike Mizrahi join the cast as Dwarf Kings Thror and Thrain, respectively. Further casting announcements are expected.

Action!!

Photo: Weta/Peter Jackson

And we finally have FILMING! (Yay! Applause! Cheers!)

The news is that The Hobbit has finally begun principal photography. The Hobbit which is reportedly taking 680 million dollars to make and which has had a long journey just to reach a beginning is finally underway.

A day all Elves, Dwarves, Men and the free peoples of Middle-earth have been eagerly waiting for!

E Online reports:

The Hobbit is happening!

When it was announced last month that cameras would begin rolling on the highly anticipated two-part Lord of the Rings prequel on March 21, naturally, there was a lot of “We’ll believe it, when we see it” talk. After all, this is a production that has seen more than its share of setbacks thanks to such things as set fires, threats of union strikes and perforated ulcers.

But, sure enough, principal photography did indeed start today at the Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand, with director Peter Jackson himself taking a moment to post pics to his Facebook page from the film’s set.

The first flick is due to hit theaters in late 2012. Assuming, of course, everything goes smoothly from here on out.

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Photo: Weta/Peter Jackson

BBC News reports:

Filming on the two Hobbit movies has begun following months of delays caused by funding problems, a row over actors’ wages and surgery for its director.

Filming is taking place at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand.

Production on the films, starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, is expected to take up to two years. The first is due out in late 2012.

At a press conference last month, the film’s star, Freeman, joked about the trials it has faced.

“There are some bits of bad luck associated with it,” he said.

“We’re all very optimistic about it. We’re ready to go – just as soon as 2015 comes around.”

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Geoff Boucher writes on HeroComplex:

After much struggle and strife, Peter Jackson is back in the place he belongs — Middle-earth.

The Oscar-winning director and his crew have just begun principle photography on the “The Hobbit,” the two-film, $500-million fantasy adventure that appeared in serious jeopardy over the last year in the face of a studio fiscal crises, the defection of Guillermo del Toro, an especially nasty union dispute and Jackson’s own stressful (and stress-induced?) hospital stay.

With all of that, the first day of shooting at Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand, must have felt like a finish line for the 49-year-old Jackson,who looks fairly serene in photos posted on his new Facebook page. The Wall Street Journal quoted a chipper-sounding spokeswoman who says “the mood is really great” on the set and you can bet the good cheer will spread throughout Hollywood – “The Hobbit” promises a companion epic to Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which merely pulled in $2.9 billion in worldwide box office and that was before the 3-D craze and its pricier tickets. The first of the two new films (which are indeed being shot in digital 3-D) is due in theaters in late 2012, the second arrives the following year unless Orcs or MGM get in the way.

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Some videos:

A sneak peek:

The security around the sets is pretty tight (after all, the films are “believed to be the most expensive movies currently being shot anywhere in the world”). Yet fans all over the world must surely be breathing a collective sigh of relief as news of the commencement of shooting was received.

The pictures in this blog entry have been taken from Peter Jackson’s facebook page.

A big thank you and congratulations to all those who are participating in the creation of these movies!

Watch this space for more info! 😀

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