Good point.

I greatly prefer the term nude to naked. Naked sounds like something under a rock.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

What's wrong with being naked? : )

I think it's somewhere in the LOTR's where Gandalf states something to the effect that "imagine what Smaug would have done if he had combined forces with Sauron during the War of the Ring and how things would have been a heck of alot different if Sauron had him in tow." Think how different the Battle if Pelennor would have been if Smaug descended upon the Riders of Rohan right before their moment of triumph? Smaug's demise was essential. But who knows if that was Tolkien's design all along. He could have just added that statement while he was writing the LOTR's in order to give more importance to the events that transpired in the Hobbit.

Yes, Your Mom (sorry, can't do, "naked.") D'oh! I did, anyway... Serkis was a masterful choice and I believe flexibility in movie-making is essential, especially for the creation of Smaug, who is clearly the high-point of the Hobbit. In that regard, I feel Tolkien's choice to kill him was a mistake. His power and intelligence undergoing a, "seeing of the light," and changing for the good could have made a much more compelling story line, especially if he converted into an ally in the final battle, and then was killed. Hmmm? I always prefer redemption to death, but then again, we wouldn't have the pleasure of imagining Smaug's dramatic and violent demise amidst a burning Lake Town...

Smaug must not have any connection to a well known actor's voice. A perfect example is Andy Serkis. How amazing was he as Gollum and how many peoply knew of him before the trilogy?

Jeremy Irons is a good actor and has a great voice.
I fear his well known other voice part - in THE LION KING - would preclude him from the role.
The same with others like James Earl Jones and Robin WIlliams who do lots of voice work.

Although I have to say that your idea Aule of a newcomer that we cannot put a face to the voice would also be a fantastic idea...in fact I may retract my former statement, although I still love Jeremy Irons, having an unknown voice to voice smaug might actually be the best way to go

When I hear Smaug while reading the book, one voice is always running through my head, and that is Jeremy Irons. He would be an amazing voice for such a powerful dragon.

Good description Aule. I'd like to hear a new voice, too.

yea good point
how about an unknown then
and rather than being handsome, maybe 'awesome' in the original meaning, and terrible
and really proud of it
something along those lines
dragons are funny things though
morgoth cant have created them from scratch, as he couldnt create anything from scratch
and they can be kinda beautiful
and the're not maiar...

Smaug must be handsome, like any self-respecting dragon. He's a perfect representation of ego-centered meglomania... like all wealthy, powerful and "entitled" creatures feel. Y'know, like republicans! In any case, he'll be red if they follow JRR's illustations, and his voice should br deep, gravelly and rich with emotion and weariness, since he's been at his task for so long... how's about an unknown's voice? I'd love a great newcomer's voice, simply because I don't want to see the familiar actor's face in my mind while I watch Smaug converse with Bilbo.

I loved the Nick Cave idea... personally would have love Richard Burton (death is so annoying) How does Rob Bryden grab you? (at least he's Welsh... that counts for something...... we have dragons)

yea those things were possibly still the best cg ive ever seen
i think smaugs head could be a puppet, to make it seem more real (i generally dislike cg creatures, they always look really fake to me) and his body could be cg. and when he attacks laketown we will only see his body, and because it bight and sh*ts totally hit the fan and all kinda crazy stuff is happening we wont even see much of him, so the fact that cg always seems to look fake close up and with prolonged shots wont matter (except the previously mentioned creatures for some reason, i wonder why)

Well they did a fantastic job with the "Hounds of Isengard". And the "Fell Beasts" look great, even though they were CGI.

I think the animatronics worked well with Treebeard (one of my favorite characters) because JRRT intended him to move and walk stifly, well, like you'd imagine a tree walking.
Wiith Smaug, though, as a lizard, he'd have to move more smoothly, like a snake. I'm guessing it would be easier to create that kind of motion with CGI.

Ah, so you meant the scenes where they just had some people carrying a few branches with leaves passing by? Well that was not the optimum solution indeed. But nowadays they can make better, and at least in Smaug's dormitory, the background is static anyways, maybe they're going to make it a miniature, I think that would be the best solution for the Lonely Mountain's inside. In Laketown it will of course be more difficult but there Smaug is not interacting so much that animatronics would make sense, and for the flying Smaug they'll have to use CGI anyways.