Peter Jackson has posted his first video blog of 2012 from the set of The Hobbit films! Take a sneak peak at some more behind-the-scenes goings on at the set (minus the bits Jackson still won’t show us) and see lots of interviews with cast and crew. You’ll also see Andy Serkis at work as second unit director. Some highlights: “We don’t have the umbrellas in the movie, just in case you were wondering,” Dean O’Gorman, who plays Fili while standing next to Aiden Turner’s Kili, holding umbrellas. Also, watching Richard Armitage’s Thorin and his horse giving us a hair flip. Oh, and one other funny bit just after that I won’t ruin for you.

(via /Film)

Earlier this week we brought you an interview with Justice League: Doom voice actor Phil Morris. I have to say, he was a great interview (definitely in my top 10) but casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano is always one of my favorite people to speak with. Her credits include the animated series Smurfs, Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Avatar: the Last Airbender and good lord, so many other things we watch and love. Hear what she has to say about her latest release, Justice League: Doom, as well as what it’s like to work with voice actors, and what we can expect down the road from Warner Home Video. 

I think I saw these girls standing outside the Music Hall of Williamsburg, waiting to see the Jolly Frogs for a super secret set. Never heard of them? Not surprised, they’re so underground they’re underwater. (File under: Web Series That Might Have to Happen.) (via Erin Knits, Nerds, Exists)

Okay, that title is pure Hunger Games fanaticism, but seriously, when one of the major themes of The Hunger Games is the shallowness and self-pandering nature of pomp and circumstance, it doesn’t get more surreal than to see Jennifer Lawrence announcing the Oscar nominations like she was picking random tribute children on Reaping Day. Above, you can see the video, below, a list of the nominees, to remind you of all the movies you intended to see this year and didn’t.

Today marks the first day of the new year, according to the Chinese calendar, and, since it’s 2012, January 23rd also kicks off another Year of the Dragon. And there’s at least one dragon that we can thing of off the top of our heads, whose going to have a very interesting year indeed, and that’s Smaug, The Hobbit‘s self-styled King under the Mountain himself.

Where movies like How to Train Your Dragon, Eragon, and even as far back as Dragonheart have enjoyed playing dragons as no more good or evil than your average person or wild animal, Peter Jackson and Co. are going back to dragon roots, so to speak, to craft a true monster. (Okay yes, there was Reign of Fire, but one movie that can only be enjoyed via Rifftrax can hardly be considered part of a trend.) And they started with Benedict Cumberbatch.

A lot of people still find what Lord of the Rings/Planet of the Apes actor Andy Serkis does completely ridiculous. It’s part of the reason there’s so much fuss over the studio campaigning to get him an Oscar nomination. Well now the folks at FunnyOrDie have created a little video poking fun at the whole thing. Directors Michael Bay and Jon Favreau plus actor Ray Liotta star in the spoof, discussing the work of “motion capture experts,” Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel.

(via FunnyOrDie.com)

Well, here we go, everyone. We can now say that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens later this year, and that makes all the new developments even more exciting because they are no longer a year away. And this morning brought us one new development: a tight, intense shot of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the Sting. More information after the jump.

Andy Serkis is certainly a professional at what he does. The English actor now has motion capture roles under his belt for of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, The Adventures of Tintin,  King Kong and Rise of Planet of the Apes but the he may not be doing himself any favors for future job opportunities with comments he’s been making about the industry and who deserves to be recognized for what at the Oscars. 

Those who saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes know that the new take on the film series left the door wide open for sequels. And I’ll bet the $453 million worldwide gross didn’t hurt either. The film’s motion capture star, Andy Serkis, has just been officially confirmed for the sequel, and it seems the studio is readying a big Oscar push for the actor as well. 

Andy Serkis has had quite the prolific career as a motion-capture actor. Perhaps most famous for playing Gollum in Lord of the Rings (as well as the upcoming The Hobbit(es)), he’s also taken turns as Kong in King Kong, and, most recently, the ape Ceasar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Now, Serkis is speaking out about the lack of respect his profession is paid in the awards circuit, saying that actors who perform under motion-capture are just as deserving of Academy Awards as their live-action counterparts.