Product Description

An illustrated behind-the-scenes guide to the film version of "The Lord of the Rings", featuring colour photos of the cast, locations, sets, monsters and costumes, and an overview of the making of the film trilogy since the mid-1990s. Designed as a celebration of the films, it includes double-page photo spreads showing exclusive photographs in detail. Written by the writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley, a foremost expert on "The Lord of the Rings" (he adapted the novel for the award-winning BBC radio dramatization in 1980), the book includes a brief history of the "Lord of the Rings" phenomenon prior to the movies and looks ahead to the second and third parts of the trilogy due for release on film in 2002/2003.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #371324 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 120 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's one of the most anticipated movies ever, and now you can see for yourself how the magic of Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece was created on screen in The Lord of the Rings: Official Movie Guide. Brian Sibley's straightforward approach takes the reader from the initial conception of the film, as it was developed and passed around studios (it initially started life as a two-hour condensed version of the three novels), to the months of complicated special effects works necessary to do justice to Tolkien's extraordinary imagination. There are interviews with the key cast and production members and all the proceedings are liberally decorated with full colour photographs from the film itself. Sibley manages to perfectly document the painstaking attention to detail by the filmmakers, much of which will be missed by many movie-goers, but he also captures a sense of camaraderie from all involved in their efforts to make the best movie possible. If it's facts and background trivia you're after then this is the best place to be and is the perfect starting point to those new to Tolkien or eager to find out more about how epic films are put together. Dedicated fans who have been following the filmmaking process via the internet won't find anything here they didn't already know, but this is still a very good companion. --Jonathan Weir

From the Publisher
The Lord of the Rings has sold over 100 million copies adn has been translated into over 40 languages .It is being filmed as a 300 million dollar movie trilogy. The book of the 20th century will be the film of the 21st.

About the Author
Brian Sibley is a writer and broadcaster whose achievements include the creation of the highly successful BBC radio dramatization of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Customer Reviews

a definite must to tolkien fans
This book is an excellent guide to fans and would-be fans of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It gives the reader an insiders tour and behind the scenes details in making of this epic masterpiece. The journey from the book to movie is an incredilbe one.
Peter Jackson is a real Tolkien Fan. He gave his best effort to make the dream of fellow Tolkien fans come true, seeing their beloved books transformed into an epic film. In reading this book, you could see how perfectly the actors where cast in their respective characters. It also featured the views of the actors regarding the characters that they played and of the movie itself. You would come to appreciate the tremendous efforts made by the production staff in making middle earth come alive before our very eyes. The pictures of sets, casts, and locations, are fantastic. It's a definite must for all Tolkien Fans' collection.

Wow! what a great book...
Amazing photos! a real feast to look at... and some great infomation too. If this book is anything to go by the film should be fantastic. From what I can see Peter Jackson has caught the essence of what Tolkein was all about... buy it now.

Colourful, but not really in-depth
This book is a nice teaser for the upcoming blockbuster "Fellowship of the ring", but to call it a movie guide... that I find somewhat too much to say.
Sure, there a are some great photographs and interesting looks behind the scenes, but the stories about the people behind the movie remain rather superficial. For example, only the main characters are quoted, but their date of birth, for example, isn't even included. And of the hundreds of people behind the scenes, only four or five are really brought into the spotlight.
I suspect that there will be a much more comprehensive movie guide when all three films of the trilogy have been released, say in the spring of 2004.