{"id":2648,"date":"2022-09-02T09:35:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T09:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/how-miss-arab-usa-2022-marwa-lahlou-overcame-obstacles-to-help-herself-and-those-in-need\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T09:35:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T09:35:11","slug":"how-miss-arab-usa-2022-marwa-lahlou-overcame-obstacles-to-help-herself-and-those-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=2648","title":{"rendered":"How Miss Arab USA 2022 Marwa Lahlou overcame obstacles to help herself and those in need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Inside \u2018The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power\u2019 \u2014 the most expensive show ever made<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\nDUBAI: There has never been a television series more ambitious than \u201cThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.\u201d The first season, which premiered on Amazon Prime on Sept. 2, cost a staggering $465 million to make \u2014 roughly 10 times the price of the first season of \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d 11 years ago \u2014 with a planned $1 billion for the intended five-season series on a whole. If any franchise can justify that kind of investment, though, it\u2019s the world of Middle Earth.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIt just goes to show how universal J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s stories still are,\u201d Markella Kavenagh, the series\u2019 21-year-old star (born the same year as Peter Jackson\u2019s first \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 film was released), who plays the halfling Nori Brandyfoot, tells Arab News. \u201cThese stories highlight the importance of community, finding strength in vulnerability. Across generations, people see themselves in these stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Official Trailer | Prime Video\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x8UAUAuKNcU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nIn the world of high fantasy, no story has ever come close to the global impact of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s \u201cThe Lord of the Rings.\u201d (We\u2019re classifying \u201cHarry Potter\u201d as low fantasy.) While wizards, dwarves and elves existed in tales long before the English author began crafting his own Elvish language and expanding it out into a sprawling story back in 1914, it was the publication of his masterful trilogy in 1954 that cemented them in the cultural imagination and changed the genre forever \u2014 an influence that grew even greater after its adaptation into three Academy Award-winning films in the early 2000s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d as it turns out, was actually the very end of the immense tale that Tolkien crafted, pieces of which have been published since his death in 1973. The true scope of his classic story of good versus evil spans thousands of years of invented mythology, and no attempt had been made to dramatize the tales of the time in which the \u2018rings of power\u2019 were crafted, the dark lord Sauron rose, and humans and elves united to defeat him \u2014 at least until Amazon turned to writers and superfans John D. Payne and Patrick McKay to do what many thought was impossible.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\">\n<figcaption>\nMegan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow and Markella Kavenagh as Elanor \u2018Nori\u2019 Brandyfoot in\u00a0\u2018Rings of Power.\u2019 (Supplied)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\n\u201cIn crafting this world, Tolkien always felt like he was discovering something that already existed. For us, it was more about parsing the clues he left behind, like dinosaur bones in the soil. It was a joyful process of collaboration with Professor Tolkien,\u201d says Payne.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nPayne and McKay worked closely with the Tolkien estate and a number of Tolkien experts to put together all the pieces so that their narrative was true to what the author had intended, and to figure out what had to be changed in order to ensure the multi-generational story made sense as a TV show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe biggest liberty that we took is compressing the timeline. If you tell Tolkien\u2019s story documentary style, then human characters would be dying off every few episodes. With the estate\u2019s blessing, we had to change that for the sake of a serialized story,\u201d says Payne.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\">\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/3915446\/jd_payne_j.a._bayona_patrick_mckay.jpg\" width=\"1200\"\/><figcaption>\nWriters and showrunners JD Payne, J.A. Bayona and Patrick McKay on the set of\u00a0\u2018Rings of Power.\u2019 (Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\nIt wasn\u2019t just a matter of mapping out Tolkien\u2019s lore, but mining that material for stories and characters that could, as McKay puts it, \u201cmotor a 50-hour mega-epic,\u201d and find actors that could do this world the same justice as the film trilogy\u2019s celebrated cast once did.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe have 22 series regulars in the show. For each of them, we knew we had to find a unicorn. One, they had to be a fantastic performer and a master of their craft, and two they had to have \u2018Middle Earth\u2019 in them. We saw hundreds of tapes, winnowed that down to a couple, then finally, the ones who came to the fore had something really special in them,\u201d says Payne.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"751\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/3915446\/ismael_cruz_cordova_arondir.jpg\" width=\"1200\"\/><figcaption>\nIsmael Cruz Co\u0301rdova as Arondir in\u00a0\u2018Rings of Power.\u2019 (Supplied)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\nFor the performers themselves, that process put them on a particularly long and arduous journey to the project. Ismael Cruz-C\u00f3rdova, who plays Arondir, became the first person of color to play an elf in the franchise after a seven-month battle, guided by the singular belief that he could do justice to the role better than anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nCruz-C\u00f3rdova first auditioned in New York, then twice more in Los Angeles. Weeks later, he got the news he\u2019d been dreading.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI was filming in South Africa in the desert when I got my first rejection. I was ferocious about it. I said, \u2018No, I\u2019m going to keep fighting for this thing.\u2019 Somehow, my agents were able to (get) me back in the process. I made a tape in my tent in the desert, traveled to the next town to find Wi-Fi, sent it off, and got another response saying no,\u201d says Cruz-C\u00f3rdova.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI told my agents I was going to show up at the creators\u2019 house and convince them, and they told me, \u2018We\u2019d like for you not to go to jail,\u2019\u201d he continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nCruz- C\u00f3rdova gave up his fight briefly, before he received an unexpected invitation to New Zealand, where the series was filmed. There, he was given a screen test with five others, pretending that his life didn\u2019t depend on this moment, and finally secured the role.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cBy the end, I was so tired. And I\u2019ve been tired ever since,\u201d Cruz- C\u00f3rdova jokes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nWith a cast made up of relative unknowns, Payne and McKay left themselves room to play in their five-season plan for each character, allowing the actors themselves to help define who these people would become as the story went on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nMegan Richards, who plays Poppy Proudfellow \u2014 another halfling and best friend of Kavenagh\u2019s character, was one actor whose real-life skills became a part of the show\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe knew Megan was an incredibly talented actress, but we learned on set that she\u2019s an amazing singer. We thought, \u2018How do we take advantage of that?\u2019 So now Poppy sings,\u201d says McKay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of those great moments in the show that we never would have been able to envision until we actually started developing it with an artist that you\u2019re handing the role to. That ultimately became true for every character across the board,\u201d adds Payne.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"833\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/3915446\/morfydd_clark_galadriel_lloyd_owen_elendil.jpg\" width=\"1200\"\/><figcaption>\nMorfydd Clark as Galadriel and Lloyd Owen as Elendil in\u00a0\u2018Rings of Power.\u2019 (Supplied)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\nEach performer had a different process in figuring out their character. \u201cI really found Poppy through her movements,\u201d says Richards. \u201cOur movement director gave me the direction to walk like a five-year-old child. That was the basis for all her movement, and then I was able to build in personality traits and personal things from there, just by figuring out how she walked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nUltimately, although many outsiders may focus on the gargantuan budget for \u201cThe Rings of Power,\u201d for those making it, it was a true labor of love, and one the team is excited to see the world respond to.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2155061\/lifestyle\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside \u2018The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power\u2019 \u2014 the most expensive show ever&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - 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