Lee Pace (Thranduil) and Richard Armitage (Thorin) talked the struggle between their characters with Click.

Pace’s view is a good deal more philosophical, at least when he’s not in character. “I look at the refugee populations in the world right now and it’s shocking and moving to see a story about displaced people and this king who is determined to not just save the people but the culture, the heritage. So the scenes I love most are when the dwarves are sitting around the table in Bilbo’s house singing. That’s what that become about. It’s not just the gold. That’s me as an audience member and a big fan of these movies speaking, not the Elven King. Because he’s not the biggest fan of the dwarves! [laughs]”

Full article here.

Canal+ released a new behind the scenes video featuring clips from all three movies of The Hobbit trilogy. In the 24-minutes long French dubbed video we can see the fight between Thorin and Thranduil, Lee Pace joking while having his make up done, and more.

New York Daily News has a new article about Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel) and Lee.

To find his Elven King Thranduil, Jackson had to trek even further from Middle Earth — all the way to New York.
After seeing Lee Pace’s turn in 2006’s “The Fall,” the director traveled to the other side of the globe to recruit the Juilliard-educated actor.

They didn’t have to pitch Pace very hard to join a cast that included one of his idols, Sir Ian McKellen, who plays the wizard Gandalf.

“Even when I was in high school drama [class], I would see theater books and there would be pictures of him playing Macbeth opposite Judi Dench,” says Pace. “And I remember looking at them going I wonder what they must be like in person.”

To get into the proper regal mood for his character, Pace would stare at the image of artist Damien Hirst’s famed “For the Love of God” diamond skull sculpture on his iPhone.

By the time Pace’s plane landed in New Zealand, he was ready to assume the throne as the father of Legolas (though Pace, 34, is actually two years younger than Bloom) in “The Desolation of Smaug.”

Pace has called the Big Apple home since he migrated from Texas as a teen.

“I remember being like 17 and I had never been in New York before and I was taking a taxi from LaGuardia down to Lincoln Center where Juilliard is, looking out the window and thinking that it looked like Sesame Street,” he says.
And after a spate of work that took him away from the city for more than a year — including filming Marvel Studios’ upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy” — Pace is finally home.

What’s the first thing he did upon returning?

“My laundry.”

Full article here.

The release days is just few days away now! Are you excited? If not yet, you should take a look at this brand new behind the scenes video.

When are you seeing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?

In the new video, Lee Pace shortly introduces his character, Thranduil, talks his relationship with Thorin and how unpredictable The Elven King is.

Thanks to my lovely friends at Richard Armitage Central, I came across a new interview with Lee. He talks working with big names such as Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen, immortality, his childhood dreams and more.

For American actor Lee Pace, playing Thranduil, king of the woodland elves in The Hobbit meant he was playing the father to Orlando Bloom’s Legolas, the elf hero of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

In Middle-earth years, Thranduil is centuries older than his son. In the real world, the 34 year-old Pace is two years younger than Bloom.

“I love Orlando. We had a great time on set,” he says of his film offspring but older colleague. “I learned a lot from him, to be honest – just understanding what the concept is with these creatures.”

Thranduil isn’t much like the other Tolkien elves we’ve met before on screen. He’s not like the serene pointy-earred folk of Rivendell, like Elrond or Galadriel. This Elvenking comes with a crown of ornate twigs matched by a chip on his shoulder.

“There’s a perfection to them, but they live forever, so is that perfection or a curse?” wonders Pace. “He’s thought and killed a lot; he’s taken life a lot and survived a lot of battles and he’s sad, he’s hurt because in a Buddhist way he’s not immune to the suffering, and it changes who he is.

“He’s not a happy elf, not a nice elf.”

He’s also the sworn enemy of dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) whose wee gang he takes captive during the part of the Hobbit story covered by The Desolation of Smaug.

“The first scene that I shot was with Richard – and talk about being thrown right in at the deep end. It’s a pivotal scene for both of the characters and it’s the first scene that I shot, the confrontation between the king of the elves and the king of the dwarfs and they do not see eye-to-eye.

“That’s one of the interesting things about The Hobbit – the conflict between the elves and the dwarfs – and we really worked hard to make that conflict specific.

“When Thorin comes through again and I catch him trying to disturb a sleeping dragon I’m determined to stop him … [Thranduil] doesn’t want to be his friend, he just wants people to kneel in front of him.”

Pace seems to have a thing for immortality. Before donning the ears and blonde wig to play Thranduil, he was best known for the short-lived fantasy-comedy television series Pushing Daisies – in which his character Ned had the ability to revive the dead.

As well, he was “good” vampire Garrett in the final film of the the Twilight Saga.

Jackson cast him in the Hobbit trilogy after seeing him in adventure fantasy film The Fall.

For Pace, the shift to New Zealand to the shoot fulfilled more than one ambition.

“All I ever remember wanting to do, as a kid, was act – nothing else. in fact, about the only thing, other than acting, that I’d like to do is go live in the woods, build a log cabin at the top of a hill and try and hide away from the modern world.”

“So, in many ways, the Hobbit ticked all the boxes: not only is it the ultimate acting challenge but it’s also biggest adventure you could go on while making a film.”

The role offered a mix of mental and physical demands.

“The scenes in Elvish were incredibly difficult because we had to learn a completely new language – I’d hate to see the out-takes from those scenes,” he laughs.

“Also, the fighting was a huge challenge because you’re on set with 200 stunt guys swinging these huge pieces of metal around and trying not to hurt anyone, or get hurt yourself. It was pretty intense, at times. The fighting was one of my favourite things that I did in the movie, yeah, because he’s tough. He’s like a game-changer when he enters battle.”

Pace says his year-and-a-half stay in New Zealand has also rekindled his love of the great outdoors, with most of his time off spent tramping or skiing.

“You know, I had a sense that going down to New Zealand to do the Hobbit would be one of those life-changing experiences and that’s exactly what it’s turned out to be,” he adds, seriously. “Getting to work alongside all these incredible actors like Ian McKellen, James Nesbitt and Billy Connolly, who I adore, was an eye-opener.

“It made me appreciate how much I still have to learn as an actor. But I was there, like a sponge, soaking it all up.”

Full article here.

I hope you all enjoyed The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug worldwide redcarpet premiere yesterday. If you didn’t get to see it yet, you can watch the recorded version bellow.

Many fans have been wondering why Lee Pace wasn’t seen in Los Angeles yesterday. The answer is simple – he is filming Halt & Catch Fire in Atlanta. I (unfortunately) had no information regarding his appearance, but hoped he could make it and be there with the rest of the cast and crew. Anyway, we should be happy he’s busy working on another project!

Here’s a photo he took with a fan in Atlanta on December 1, 2013.

Thanks to Jennifer for sharing it.

Just like we could watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey redcarpet premeire live from New Zealand last year, we’ll be able to live stream the second from Los Angeles in less than a week. Warner Bros. will live stream the Monday, December 2 at 6:30pm PT/9:30pm ET world premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The guests confirmed so far are Richard Armitage (Thorin), Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug), Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman), Stephen Fry (Master of Laketown) and Peter Jackson.
If you have any questions for the cast members, you can tweet using the hashtag #HobbitPremiere or comment here. Some of them will be answered live on the red carpet.

Thanks to Moustache Luke we now have a brand new photoshoot image of Lee Pace. The black and white shot was originally published in the December issue of MaxMovie Magazine.

Gallery Link:
Photoshoots > MaxMovie Magazine Photoshoot

Issue 87 of SciFiNow is now out with four exclusive covers for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. You can choose between Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian McKellen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). Each one has been given a treatment unique to the world their character inhabits, from the creepy Mirkwood of Bilbo to the luxurious gold of Legolas.

Lee Pace fans will most be interested in two articles – The Hobbit and Guardians of the Galaxy. Cats and Books has a nice summary of what we can read inside the magazine.

The Hobbit spread includes interviews with Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Lee Pace (Thranduil), Richard Armitage (Thorin), Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman). Armitage says Thorin gives Thranduil a piece of his mind: “When the dragon came and they needed help, the elves didn’t intervene — for very good reason actually, but at the time it felt like a huge betrayal, and that’s a burning anger in him. He gets to stand in front of Thranduil and tell him what he thinks of him.” As we know, Thranduil counters by locking the dwarves up in his prison. Pace explained Thranduil’s motivation for standing in their way: “These 13 dwarves come through my woods; I’m not going to let them go wake up a dragon. It’s like, ‘No, kids, we’re going to keep you here!’ You don’t wake up a dragon unless you know how to kill it, and they don’t.” He has a point. So he’s locking them up for their own good, the impetuous dwarves!

Bloom says the Mirkwood elves aren’t as cuddly as the ones who live in Elrond’s Rivendell: “Legolas was always different from the Rivendell elves, so Legolas comes in and he’s a bit more… I don’t know, he’s got a bit more of an edge. and I think Thranduil has an edge. They’re not messing around.” If you’ve seen the clip from MTV’s European Music Awards you know Bloom isn’t kidding (if you haven’t seen the clip go to this post from TheOneRing.net).

The magazine also has an article on Guardians of the Galaxy. Photos are ones we’ve seen before, so nothing new there. Michael Rooker (Yondu) and Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser) are interviewed. After playing the cool and regal Elvenking Thranduil in The Hobbit, Pace was in for something entirely different when he stepped onto the set of Guardians. In the interview he said: “‘Very un-elfy, right guys?’ He’s a real psychopathic beast. I’m having the best time playing it.” – and – “I kept looking over at [director] James Gunn when we were shooting. ‘Too much? Should I pull it back?’ He’s like ‘No, more, go for it!’” Subtlety is not Gunn’s strong point.

Guardians will apparently also be colorful, literally. Both Yondu and Ronan are blue in the film. Rooker apparently liked it, because he said: “The blue is simple, it’s beautiful. The colours that we use in Guardians are just exquisite. When everything is put together — when you have wardrobe on and the lighting’s going — man oh man it’s beautiful, it’s going to look fabulous.” That sounds almost poetic, and then you realize he’s talking about the skin color of some badass aliens.

Full article here.

You can grab your copy of the magazine here.

Update on December 1, 2013:
Thanks to my friend Marieke I now added SciFiNow magazine scans to our gallery.

Gallery Link:
Magazine Scans > SciFiNow Issue 87 (2013) – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Magazine Scans > SciFiNow Issue 87 (2013) – Guardians of the Galaxy