'Rings' fans will do most anything to catch 'King'

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Shalane Sambor, left, and friend Lelani Hinds are big fans of "The Lord of the Rings." Sambor is dressed as Arwen, while Hinds is dressed as Frodo Baggins. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

How about rise-from-the-dead bad?

Mililani resident Karol Chordas, 23, was in a coma for nearly three months after his motorcycle collided with a truck earlier this summer.

Think that was going to stop him from taking in "Trilogy Tuesday" — the marathon screening of all three Lord of the Rings movies — next week?

"Not a chance," says Chordas, who emerged from the coma on Aug. 16 and has been slowly recovering from the trauma of the accident.

"Return of the King," the final installment of director Peter Jackson's monstrously successful film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, gets its first screening in Hawai'i at the sold-out Trilogy Tuesday event at Consolidated's Ward 18 Theatres.

The rest of the island will get a first chance to catch the film at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, when Consolidated and Signature open their doors for the now-traditional earliest-possible screenings at selected locations.

It's a big night for Rings fans, and Chordas is dead set on being there despite his surgery to repair a shrunken Achilles tendon this week.

"I'm going," he says.

And not just going. Thanks to a couple of Tolkien-loving buddies, Chordas will be going to the screening in style — dark, creepy horseman style.

"He's going to be a Ring Wraith," says friend Mary Campbell. "He's in a wheelchair, so it will look like he's floating. It'll be kind of cool."

Campbell and her fiance, Keaka Hirose, were with Chordas when he and the truck collided. They had no idea whether he'd be ready to attend the screening when tickets became available Oct. 9, but they bought him one anyway.

"They didn't know," Chordas says. "But nothing is going to keep me away."

We ask again, how badly do people want to see this new movie?

How about sell-out-Santa bad?

Marilyn Keller operates a costume rental business. A big-time Rings fan, she swapped a Santa suit with a radio station for a pass to the movie premiere on Wednesday.

As far as her costume business goes, Keller says she anticipates high demand for "Return of the King"-style outfits once the film opens.

And you can bet that many first-night movie-goers — including members of the Tolkien Society, the Society for Creative Anachronism, and the Hawai'i chapter of the Mythopoeic Society — will be decked out in full Hobbit, elf, dwarf, wizard, maybe even orc attire.

To be sure, there is no middle ground when it comes to Middle Earth.

In fact, there's no lower ground, either. It seems everyone we found who loves books or movies or little men with hairy feet was going bananas over the conclusion of the series.

Michelle McGurr says she left work and rushed down to Ward Theatres the moment she heard Trilogy Tuesday tickets were going to be available.

She was so excited to be going, she logged on to the Rings fan site TheOneRing.net and volunteered to lead a line party.

The original plan was to pass the time waiting in line with some Rings-themed board games like Lord of the Rings Monopoly and Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, but things changed when the theater announced a special system for getting seats for the screening. Weather permitting, McGurr still hopes to host a little pre-function at Magic Island before the movies being shown at 2 p.m.

The theatre's new concierge service is arranging a special meal plan so attendees won't have to spend 12 hours eating hot dogs and Raisinettes.

The spread promises to be even better at a premiere party hosted by Tol Andœn‘, the Hawai'i Chapter of the Tolkien Society, Sunday at Yum Yum Tree in Ward Centre.

Shalane Sambor, one of the event organizers, says her attendees — many of whom will be in costume — will be treated to a buffet of sausages, bacon (crispy, of course), mushrooms, potatoes, and other Hobbit fare. She also has a drawing and games planned, with one lucky (?) winner taking home "the one ring."

(Here's hoping Tol Andœn‘'s chosen one isn't forced to dump the thing in the fires of Mount Doom. Or Kilauea, even.)

Still, the big cinematic end-all of the trilogy will be bittersweet for at least one fan.

Mandi Sanderson is going to Trilogy Tuesday with Chordas and the gang (her husband Joel is taking two days leave from the Army — "one to watch the trilogy and one to recover," Sanderson says) and she's bringing the tissues.

"I'm sad that it's coming to a close," she says. "I know when it gets to the end I'm going to be bawling."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 535-2461.