Jade Bahr

I'm not fully convinced by this casting -neither him nor her- BUT I'm really curious what Emerald Fennell vision of this story will look like. I hope she has the guts to get really dark.

Slightly excited for this @Lilja K Coincidence?

The fact that muddy Halbrand and clean Annatar are so different not only in behaving but looks.... ... is kinda genius. It's like the more clean he's from the outside the more rotten he's from the inside.

Did he explain why?

It's quite the opposite for me. As a kid I loved all 3 movies (watched all of them in cinema etc) but now re watching those dead ass boring bad CGI filled extended cuts I wondered what the hell I liked about it as a kid 😄 Tried to read the books back then and failed. At least now thanks to TRoP I know why everyone is terrified of this eye.

Yeah he really is the standout 💯 I also remember watching the LotR movies as a kid and how I was scared of pretty much everything (the Orks, Saruman, Gollum, the Nazguls) but Sauron LOL I mean it's very easy to claim someone is evil again and again with no further details nor personality nor own identity or motives. That makes movie Sauron so boring imo. He's boring because he's hardly an entity. He's more a concept, and at the end everything about him rests on what the characters tell us about him: that he's extra evil, very cruel, a tyrant, obsessed by the One Ring, yada yada. But since he's no more than this giant eye on a tower, he never becomes tangible. We believe he's evil because that's what everybody says and also because of what his unpaid employees do, but he never gets to do anything himself, so we don't really see it. In TRoP, however, he may not be literally on fire, but his evilness and his cunningness are palpable in season 2. I mean, the way he treats Celebrimbor?! If that's not sheer cruelty I don't know what it is, and it will get even worse in the episodes to come. Sauron doesn't take no for an answer. He tortures Celebrimbor, not physically but psychologically to bend him to his will. Since day 1, he lies constantly to Celebrimbor, flatters him, tells him what he wants to hear, gaslights him, isolates him from his people, nearly drives him to madness and only at the end, threatens to destroy his city if he doesn't do what he wants... And as for the scary side of Sauron: Charlie proves to be an excellent actor when he manages to express his moments of contained rage through his micro expressions. For example, every time Celebrimbor resists him, his face changes enough for the audience to see he would tear the poor mans eyes out if he could, but it doesn't last long, blink and you miss it! Same in the last episose 6, when King Durin refused to deliver more mithril to him; it was so obvious he wanted to kill the old man on the spot, but he's patient, he'll let the Balrog do it for him. Because yes, he's vicious and likes to keep his hands clean, so he tells animals do the job for him when he can! But it's there, and we already got to see a glimpse of the sheer fury that can possess him when he loses control: in Numenor, when he beat the shit out of the men who had mocked him, and on the raft when Galadriel rejected him. That was probably just a forestate of what we can expect from the next seasons. I love that TRoP made Sauron tangible. I can see the threat he is now. I understand why everyone during the LoTR is terrified at the idea that he may come back.

I think a character can not only develop further but also backwards and so can good and/or evil. I think with Galadriel rejecting him despite their "cosmic connection" the evil in him kinda shifted got more comprehensive. He's a really really well written interesting and multi-layered character imo. Maybe not what Tolkien had in mind but I like it.

I would LOVE that but pls don't recast Charlie Vickers 😋 Also I'm not sure how much material there is about Saurons "origin story". Tolkien fans are already whining TRoP is too less Tolkien lol

I mean... yeah kinda but I think TRoP Halbrand is a bit more complex than simply evil. Annatar for example is remarkably uncompromising and emotionless compared to Halbrand. Halbrand wasn't just hot he was likeable while Annatar is terrifying. He's nothing but lying and gaslighting while Halbrand carried at least some sort of truth somewhere in heart and soul (I mean he fought side by side with Galadriel for the same cause and both felt some sort of connection to the other one) even though he hid his true self and his motives were... a bit questionable.

Well if you cast 2 insanely hot people isn't that the natural outcome? ☺️

😅💯

I'm really shocked that apparently people still watching those Transformers movies. I mean I have to admit back then I kinda liked the first movie but I already couldn't tell a thing about part 2 😆 But happy for Jenna she and her career is thriving

Yeah give the irish sugar all the sugar he deserves

If you want to give it a shot simply for Joshs outstanding performance ☺️ @Lilja K

Good lord this cast is gettin hotter better by any minute @Lilja K

Can't decide who's hotter

People really seem to excited about this possible Austin/Tom Holland project. Saw tons of happy reactions at different social media spots. It's not even that I didn't like Tom Holland (The Impossible, How I live now, The Lost City of Z, The Devil All The Time, Cherry & The Crowded Room are all proofs of his talent) but him and Austin being brothers is somehow a stretch for me when it comes to the optics 😄

Paul Thomas Anderson's ‘The Battle of Baktan Cross' Wraps Production I’m being told that Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Battle of Baktan Cross,” which is rumored to have a budget anywhere between $140M-$175M, wrapped its production in El Paso, TX earlier this month. We still don’t have official plot details for the film. It’s all being kept hush-hush, although many signs have been pointing towards this potentially being a modern-day adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland.” ‘Baktan Cross,’ which started shooting in January, and is being distributed by Warner Bros, has an ensemble cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Alana Haim. The score is also being composed by Anderson regular Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead). The film, set for release on August 8, 2025, is said to be Anderson’s “most mainstream” film to date, with action movie elements, and “the biggest stunts of Anderson’s career.” It’s all being shot on glorious 35mm VistaVision. Michael Bauman is being credited as the DP on the project.

@Lilja K @Cult Icon New images from the series The Count of Monte Cristo with Sam Claflin https://www.ciakmagazine.it/festival/festa-del-cinema-di-roma-2024/il-conte-di-montecristo-le-prime-immagini-della-serie-con-sam-claflin-in-anteprima-a-roma-2024/

People finally beginning to appreciate Leos honesty when it comes to his love life? Not saying she's right here or maybe should mind her own business but yeah decided for yourself

I can't