Welcome to Wellywood.

Estimates for the crowd that turned out for the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are ranging between 100,000 and 125,000. Which, for Wellington, a city of 250,000, is one helluva big parade. By far the most jubilant, and therefore, the most fun coverage of the event can be found in the The New Zealand Herald with its multi-story package and string of links to photos running alongside snippets from the speeches, Andy Serkis launching into his schizo schtick, Sean Astin going all Samwise Gamgee, Peter Jackson emphasizing the essential, collaborative role his wife, Fran Walsh, has played throughout, and the paper itself noting that "the shy and retiring director proved he would be up to the task should the Academy Awards give him an even bigger audience in late February."

Spoiler Alerts: Movie City News has been collecting "anonymous" reviews from the privileged who've caught press screenings of the final edition of the trilogy. Ostensibly, reviews aren't to appear until December 8, but these are hardly a surprise: Now there are no fewer than four (1, 2, 3, 4) at Ain't It Cool News, plus "The Filmiliar Cineaste," another at TheOneRing.net, and a monster thread at Tolkien Online, currently weighing in at 42 pages and counting.

Peter Jackson is also profiled by David Smith in this week's Observer, which leads us to our short shorts:

In the Guardian:

On the cover of the Friday Review is Don DeLillo's New Yorker piece, "That Day in Rome." I won't spoil the ending, but he's trying to place an actress. Wonderful stuff.

Chris Payne on the surprisingly large and lavish international film and television school in Havana.

Geoffrey Macnab on microcinema in and around London.

Skye Sherwin visits the set of A Way of Life, "a British teen movie exploring youth subcultures and childhood friendship. But the subject matter is chiefly race hate, with teenage pregnancy, abuse and the failings of social services in the mix. 'A heartwarming British comedy,' someone jokes, grimly." But director Amma Asante seems to know what she's about.

Angelique Chrisafis: "Ireland's arts-friendly reputation comes under the spotlight this week when the economic pressures of the ailing celtic tiger may force the government to destroy its most dynamic creative industry: film."

Aida Edemarian meets Samuel L Jackson.

"Is the British sensibility, I wonder, more suited to the production of film noir?" asks David Mamet.

In the newsweeklies:

For Newsweek, Sean Smith gets Diane Keaton to talk about going full-frontal in Something's Gotta Give.

For Time Asia, Ilya Garger profiles Satoshi Kon, whose "growing virtuosity inevitably raises his second least favorite question: Can he become the next Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away was a global hit last year and which picked up an Oscar for Best Animated Film?"

In the New York Times:

Alex Abramovich on Tony Kushner: HBO, "which is also producing an adaptation of Mr. Kushner's play Homebody/Kabul, is betting heavily that the playwright - who is a socialist, gay and so very Jewish (according to his friend Maurice Sendak) that 'it hurts your eyes' - is ready for prime time."

DVDs are slipping into CD box sets; not news, but a few nice little reviews.

A Haunted Mansion tie-in: Anita Gates on the "illustrious line of movie homes and hostels that come equipped with scary creatures or phenomena (or at least seem to)."

Sarah Lyall on the "old-fashioned, courtly charisma" of Omar Sharif.

TV: Felicia R Lee on the number of women and their influence in the industry; Alessandra Stanley on The Reagans: "[R]easonably accurate, at times engrossing, at other times silly and sometimes even dull"; as Al Sharpton prepares to host Saturday Night Live, Emily Nussbaum gathers advice from politicians who've taken the plunge.

AO Scott: It's "a big year for the 19th century" at the movies.

Mim Udovitch chats with Terry Zwigoff about Bad Santa.

Vicki Goldberg on Wim Wenders's exhibition at the James Cohan Gallery.

In the Independent:

Neil LaBute lists and annotates his "ten best black comedies."

Alex Cox has some advice for the aspiring screenwriter: Ignore most advice.

Sheila Johnston meets Michael Caine as he works on his latest role, a former French collaborator.

And finally, for Transitions Online, Gulnara Abikeyeva interviews Tajik directors Mairam Yusupova and Bakhtiyar Khudoinazarov and assesses the situation in Tajikistan:

Every director of documentary or feature films creates this thin ephemeral substance called "nation." Every film, like a piece in a mosaic, contributes to forming one complete view of a country and its people. Very few films were shot in Tajikistan during the 1990s, but every one of them has its special place.

Posted by dwhudson at December 1, 2003 7:02 AM