The latest issue of** Empire** - out this Thursday, June 27 - has three elves on the front cover, and inside there's plenty of information on second movie in the Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. But if you're looking for more from the first out of the gate, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, feast your eyes on the following quotes discussing that movie's planned extended edition, straight from the magazine.
"You are going to get some serious Dwarvish disrespect of the elves at Rivendell," says Jackson, echoing what he previously said to us during our Unexpected Journey video interviews (see below).
"You are going to get more of Hobbiton," says producer / co-writer Philippa Boyens. "We always wanted to wend our way through Hobbiton, but in the end Bilbo has to run out of the door."
"You are going to get more Goblin Town, and the Great Goblin singing his song," adds Fran Walsh, Jackson's other half and fellow screenwriter. "It is a great song, but it was just another delay in terms of moving the story along."
"A number one hit from the Goblin King," laughs Jackson. "Barry Humphries is going to rise up the charts."
"We are putting things in the extended cut that are going to play straight into the second film," explains Jackson, "like this character Girion, who is defending [the city of] Dale using black arrows against Smaug. And the black arrows play a part in an ongoing story, for they are the one thing that can pierce the dragon's hide."
"There are also issues with [king of the elves] Thranduil (Lee Pace)," Jackson adds. "We get some of the reason why he and the dwarves had a falling out - to do with these white gems..."
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is out on December 13. The extended edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be out about a month before The Desolation Of Smaug's release. The new issue of Empire, meanwhile, is out on Thursday, June 27.