All Shall Love Me and Despair

From this Cinema Confidential interview about Pathfinder - the last question was about The Hobbit:

Q: As an alumnus of “The Lord of the Rings” films, what’s your take on the Peter Jackson situation and the probability that he won’t have any involvement with “The Hobbit”?

KARL: I think it’s always a tragedy when commerce and business get in the way of the art and creativity. I think it would be a real casualty if Peter didn’t have a hand in directing “The Hobbit.” It’ll be interesting to see. I just pray that those two parties can amicably resolve their differences. I know it looks pretty hopeless at the moment but you never know. I’m hoping Pete will be able to return to direct “The Hobbit” because the fans really deserve to have that continuity. “The Lord of the Rings” films generated over 3 billion dollars at the box office and they were just a phenomenal commercial and critical success and it would be a shame if we didn’t have this complete volume of Tolkien work translated to film by a man who has done it so well.

I couldn't agree more!

Karl Urban, Pathfinder Interview

By Troy Rogers

"Do you back your bloodline and relatives, or your adoptive family?" Karl Urban is no stranger to physical characters, havingtaken on roles in The Chronicles of Riddick, The Bourne Supremacy, The Lord of the Rings and DOOM. However, the Kiwi thespian admits to us that his latest film Pathfinder was his most physically demanding role to date. As Pathfinder gears up for an April 27, 2007 release, Karl was more than happy to talk to us about spending time with Viking lore and Indian culture plus the physicality required to play the character Ghost, a man caught between two distinct cultures during the Viking era.

More at the link - no spoilers to speak of. I'm very curious for this one, being interested in Indians. Knowing Russell Means is in it certainly doesn't diminish the attraction, plus the trailer looks good (even though I find Clancy Brown's costume rather OTT)! I doubt we'll get it here, but I hope it will not take too long to be released on DVD in the US... *crosses fingers*

I had forgotten about Comanche Moon - wasn't that done ages ago already?!

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Aug. 15, 2005

Urban to battle in 'Pathfinder'

By Borys Kit
Karl Urban is in negotiations to star in "Pathfinder," a Viking epic being made by Phoenix Pictures and helmer Marcus Nispel. 20th Century Fox is distributing.

"Pathfinder" is a remake of the 1987 Norwegian film by helmer Nils Gaup to which Phoenix acquired the rights to in 2001. While the original followed Norway's warlike clans around the year 1000 A.D., the new version, with a script by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis ("Alexander"), is set in North America around the same time, when Vikings inadvertently discovered the continent 500 years before Columbus.

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