It is close now, so close.

After months of relative silence, finally some movement on the LOTR tip. Regarding the Two Towers extended edition, some possible scenes with Boromir and Faramir leak out (I’d heard these were filmed, but, this report still reads like wishful thinking.) Also, it appears a WETA statue of Gollum will replace the Argonath in the mega-special edition. As for Return of the King, the rough cut of the film is purportedly four hours and twenty minutes long and staying that way. (Again, this seems like wishful thinking, but given how much ground in TTT still needs to be covered, I’d think ROTK would have to clock in at least four.) Morover, new Sam and Frodo toys reveal a sequence I thought for sure they’d cut, and finally one other random (and possibly dubious) source mentioned this exchange at TORN: The Mistress has had a very interesting chat with a source at Miramax, who says that Cold Mountain will be pushed back to 2004. The official reason will be that “the climate is not right” for a movie whose central character is a deserter. Unofficially, Harvey Weinstein has seen a rough cut of Return of the King (he is an Executive Producer) and says that it is “unstoppable” as a Best Picture winner. Unstoppable…I like the sound of that. Update: More TTT-EE and ROTK spoilers from Movie Insider Magazine, including confirmation of Boromir in TTT, talk of a longer Frodo-Sam Osgiliath fight scene and some ruminations on the Grey Havens. Don’t read this if you haven’t read the books. Update 2: TORN.Net kills the 4hr-20min. rumor, but softens the blow by offering up MAJOR spoilers about Saruman, Sauron, and Grima and a pic of Frodo in the lair of…um, you know.