Secrets From The Set Of Lord Of The Rings

By Sarah Smith 1 year ago

Tolkien illustrators were heavily consulted in the creation of the movies

Source: screenrant.com

It's rare that a movie has such a wealth of history to draw from before it's even begun shooting. As he was planning his vision for Middle Earth, Peter Jackson began looking at the 40+ years of pre-existing artwork surrounding this magical place. “Out of all the artwork, the work of Alan Lee and John Howe impressed us the most. I thought it would be wonderful if we actually had these involved as conceptual artists.” Despite Lee in particular being an incredibly private person, Jackson flew them both out to NZ to support set development.

Who knew cricket was so savage? 

Source: The Gamer 

There are some pretty epic battle scenes in LOTR, and creating sufficient, authentic noise for such an occasion is no mean feat. To create the sound of an angry orc-hoard, psyching themselves up at the the Battle of Helm's Deep, Peter Jackson mic-ed up a pretty dull cricket match between England and New Zealand (the duller, the more alcohol gets consumed and the more like Orcs the supporters become, we assume...) He then conducted the crowd in a series of grunts, snarls, cheers, and roars stomping and jumping around as he did so.

Big feet, big problems 

Source: Pinterest

Who loves a well made, cushioned, well ventilated walking shoe? Probably Elijah Wood after he finished shooting. Imagine how stinky and sore your feet would be having been clasped in latex all day? LOTR also joined the Guinness World Record books with these feet, with over 1800 being used throughout the films. Each pair took 1 1/2 hours to put on each morning, often having to be re-glued during filming. They also, pretty much, had to be ripped off at the end of the day too. All that glue comes at a price. 

Imagine being allergic to your own face

Source: LOTR Wiki - Fandom 

Feet is one thing, but having constant allergic reactions to your face prosthetics is another level. When invited to be apart of 

The Hobbit,
John Rhy-Davies (who played Gimli) told 
Empire: 
"I've already been asked and to be honest with you, I wouldn't [return to Middle Earth]. I have already completely ruled it out. There's a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. Really I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment anymore."

We almost had Jake Gyllenhaal as Frodo (well, not really) 

Source: Koimoi

A fine, and indisputably successful, actor, Jake Gyllenhaal had a pretty dire experience when it came to auditioning for young Master Baggins. The Spiderman actor told Jimmy Fallon’s 

The Tonight Show
that Peter Jackson actually called him the "worst actor that I have ever seen." The main reason for this was that Jake's agents had forgotten to mention the character needed a British accent... awkward. 

Back to weird sounds... 

Source: Twitter 

Who else still shudders at the thought of that lake monster by the gates of Moria? Known as The Watcher in the Water, not only did it have to look utterly terrifying, but as with orcs, the sounds were also incredibly important. It might be a surprise, then, to find out that awful roar is mostly made up of walrus sounds. Yup, those chubby, long toothed mammals gave voice to the tentacled beasty (which also killed Óin, brother of Gloin FYI - the dwarf with the ear trumpet. Who could you, Watcher?!) 

Quite the casting call

Source: The Digital Fix

Jake may have sucked on the day, but there were a load of other quality actors interested in this epic trilogy. If Russell Crowe hadn't been busy with

Gladiator, 
Aragorn would have been quite different (we have to say we prefer Viggo's quiet, smouldering power though...). The same goes for Gandalf: Sean Connery was inline but famously couldn't get his head around the script. Not everyone is aa bigger-a Tolkien nerd as Christopher Lee (he read the trilogy annually.) Tbf, having to block out a whole year for shooting would have been tricky for a lot of folks too.

Calendar clashes almost cost us Sir Ian McKellen

Source: thethings.com

Sean might not have understood the script, but Ian was very keen on the role. Unfortunately, he was still killing

X-men
when
The
 
Lord of the Rings 
was due to start. Thank goodness he ran into New Line’s Bob Shaye in a restaurant, who was able to fix the clash and ensure the legend could work on both. 

This Bean don't fly

Source: Whatculture.com

The stunning scenery of LOTR is completly unforgettable. The gorgeous New Zealand mountain ranges where many of the scenes were set are pretty hard to access without the use of wings. Unfortunately for Sean Bean, his horrendous fear of flying (exacerbated by Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan asking a pilot to "shake up" one of their early flights together) resulted in him refusing point blank to join the rest of the cast in the air. He instead opted to hike, in full costume and make up, to all following shots and then hike all the way back. Respect. 

We will not let the White City Fall (cos it's well expensive) 

Source: Reddit

Despite building two other of Tolkien's cities for the shooting of LOTR, Minas Tirith holds the record for being the largest set built in the Southern Hemisphere. All 3 sets are still standing and open for viewing. (In other news, apparently Isengard was made predominantly of Styrofoam and kept blowing away!) 

Chipping a tooth isn't going to stop Aragorn 

Source: Reddit

Let's face it, Aragorn is a bit of a hard core dude. In one of Viggo's coolest moves, his character runs, full speed, off a ruin at the battle of Amon Hen and into a murderous group of uruk-hai. While the extras themselves may have been harmless, that didn't stop Viggo breaking his front tooth in half. He casually took himself to the dentist on his lunch break and was back in front of the camera that afternoon.

Bilbo forever 

Source: hindustantimes.com

Also unlike Jake, Ian Holm (who plays Bilbo Baggins), absolutely smashed his audition. It can't have hurt that he is British and therefore the whole accent thing, wasn't a thing. However, did you know that Peter Jackson had wanted him involved in the project form the get-go following listening to Ian perform the same role in the BBC's radio version of LoTR in the 80s? Sometimes painfully accurate, the whole recording is 13 hours long, in 26 episodes, and even includes parts cut form the books but still present in Tolkien's notes. Hardcore. 

Intense make up drama

Source: Reddit 

Greg Lane was a busy stuntman throughout LOTR. He was Christopher Lee's stunt double in his fight with Gandalf, the murdered Isildur floating down the river, shot in the back... but his big moment came in 

The Two Towers 
during the battle of Helm's Deep. To get ready for his role as "berserker orc" (the suicidal one brandishing the detonation spark for Saruman's bomb) he was in the makeup chair and wardrobe department for 16 hours; for a shot lasting under 10 seconds. Once he was ready however (at 2am), he found the torch was too heavy to lift, let alone run with, and it would burn is fellow actors as he passed. Nightmare. 

Accidental method acting 

Source: Twitter 

As if serious dental damage wasn't enough, Viggo also took method acting to a whole new level in the early scenes of

The Two Towers.
Whilst tracking a pack of Uruk-hai who have kidnapped two of their hobbit friends, Aragorn, believing them to be dead, kicks a singed helmet in anger and falls to his knees. The disappear was acted, the pain-filled cry was not. Viggo waked the helmet with such force, he broke is toe. 

Pony-ing around 

Source: LOTR wiki

Who doesn't love Bill the pony? To be honest, watching Sam say bye to him at the gates of Moria was almost as heartbreaking as what happens to Gandalf a few scenes later. Well, almost. Anyway, Bill was usually portrayed by an actual pony, but when the terrain was too difficult, he was replaced by two guys in a pony suit. They weren't particularly good at sticking together however, so Bill often ended up looking rather stretched.

It's not only dwarf women who have beards... 

Source: YouTube

Finding enough horse-riding extras to fill out the ranks of the Eorlingas was no easy task.  As a result, many were actually women, sporting beards. In the extended edition of 

The Two Towers, 
Viggo Mortensen commented: “There are some very good women riders in New Zealand, and it’d be silly not to take advantage of them. I mean, some of the women rode as well or better than the men, but it could be confusing at times.” Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry, when on to add: “Viggo [became] quite fond of a Rohan man who turned out to be a woman. I always knew Viggo had good taste.”

Aragorn #1 was fired after 2 days 

Source: Reddit

An Irish actor, Stuart Townsend, was originally cast as the iconic Ranger and future King. Pretty pronto though, Peter Jackson realised he was too young (Aragorn is 87 at the time the Fellowship sets off - looking goooood...) Production wasn't interrupted too badly though, as our fav, Viggo Mortensen was ushered in almost immediately.

Rib-cracking fun 

Source: Brego.net

If you thought that Viggo had it rough, Orlando Bloom could definitely give him a run for his money. On the DVD extras, Dominic Monaghan said: “In all seriousness, everyone got hurt in this movie. Everyone was scarred. Everyone went through a little bit of physical kind of pain. [Orlando] fell off his horse and the scale double of Gimli fell on top of Orlando and broke his rib.” Ouch. 

The Fellowship lives forever 

Source: Tatoodoo 

In order to properly pay tribute to their time together, each of the members of the Fellowship of the Ring got the Tengwar (written Elvish) character for 9 tattooed somewhere about themselves. You can see Viggo's high above his Russian mobster tats in 

Easter Promises.
John Rhys-Davies who plays Gimli however, didn't go in for the needle option, instead sending his stunt double in his place (well, he's done everything else painful.) Director Peter Jackson also joined the camaraderie, getting the Elvish figure for 10 tattooed on his shoulder. 

Elf ear prosthetics, unlike elves, don't live forever 

Source: Pinterest 

Actors can get pretty precious about their props (Helena Bonham Carter for instance, still uses Bellatrix's wand to frighten her son's friends.) Whilst Cate Blanchett had her elf ear prosthetics cast in bronze to be displayed on her mantel, Liv Tyler accidentally left hers on her car dashboard, where they promptly melted in the LA sun. 

Duck, cut, cut 

Source: Quotev

Given that most of the trilogy was shot outdoors, often up mountains, it's amazing more scenes weren't disrupted by weather. However, the Fellowship had an easier time rowing their Lorien boats at the close of

The Fellowship
 than they should have. “We had all kinds of action planned with boats flipping over … and Legolas’ boat afloat as it bucks and tosses, while the Elf—standing with a foot on each of the gunwales—would be firing arrows at the attackers,” Peter Jackson reflected. Flooding put a stop to all that excitement however, and the Fellowship arrived, unassaulted. 

The most beautiful elf in the room (in the whole wide room)

Source: Eonline

Did anyone else spot half of 

The Fight of the Concords 
in 
The Return of the King
? Nope? Don't feel bad, he's not an easy spot! While Jemaine Clement went on to fill his IMDb page pretty conclusively, Bret McKenzie gets to speak directly to Arwen as Figwit the elf as she abandons her final pilgrimage to the undying lands. It's clear who wins. 

Yet more injuries 

Source: Filming Locations 

Samwise also had to receive medial attention when Sean Austin cut his foot on a large shard of glass when chasing Frodo into the water at the close of 

The Fellowship of the Ring. 
The DVD features, again, hold the answers: “I’m running at a dead sprint and I get in, and as my right foot lands about two feet in the water, just this huge, sharp pain,” Sean recalled. “I grabbed on to the boat and I just looked down and just... It hurt so bad.” “His foot had virtually been completely impaled on this shard of glass,” Peter Jackson added. “We were a good hour, hour and a half’s drive out of town. We called for a chopper. We needed to get him to a hospital very quickly. There was a lot of bleeding.” No wonder he couldn't swim. 

Where did all the props go?

Source: Trip Advisor 

It's not just elves who disappear off with their props; wizards do it too. Ian McKellen reportedly confided in Elijah Wood that “I keep Glamdring in my hatstand and the pointy hat in the basement, often worn by visiting youngsters. Gandalf’s staff is behind the bar in my Thames-side pub The Grapes, in East London. Don’t tell Peter, but the keys to Bag End are hanging up at home.” Sneaky. We're off to The Grapes. 

Peter Jackson: What a legend 

Source: Screencrush 

So a golden Hollywood rule of making sequels is: make sure the first one/two don't bomb before committing to the rest. That was, until Peter Jackson tore up the rule book. No one had ever filmed a trilogy adaptation all at once before. But Peter, it seems, is an all-or-nothing kind of guy. And boy are we glad about that! 

It's super hard to react to something which isn't happening 

Source: Quora

....and hasn't happened for a whole year. Remember that heartbreaking scene towards the end of

Return of the King 
when Gollum convinced Frodo to tell Samwise to get lost? Well, hats off to Sean and Elijah as their reactions were filmed a whole year apart. Those scheduling issues are a right pain in the creative juices, right? 

The advantage of close ups 

Source: Digital Spy

One of the problems with such simultaneous film making is, of course, that the actors get very little time to memorise their lines. Sean Bean totally took advantage of his primarily close up shots in the Council of Elrond by simply having his script on his lap. One does not simply learn lines one has just been handed. 

Viggo is Aragorn 

Source: lotr.fandom.com

Although not mentioned in the book, Brego is certainly an unsung hero of the movies. The bond between Aragorn and his Rohirrim horse runs deep, which is understandable, after Brego rescues a severely injured Aragorn after his fall in 

The Two Towers. 
Their bond was real off set too, and Viggo bought Uraeus (who played Brego) and two other horses from the film so he'd 'have a friend.' Sweet. 

Christopher Lee is a total bada**

Source: Daily Hind News 

Forget his esteemed acting accomplishments, Sir Christopher Lee CBE was a total legend in almost every way. His step-cousin, Ian Fleming, literally based his protagonist James Bond on the guy. He was in the precursor to the SAS and tracked down Nazis during WWII as well as staring in more than 250 films on the side. Anyway, when Jackson directed him to scream when Wormtongue stabs him in the back, Lee refused, stating he knew what it sounded like when that happened to someone, and punctured lungs stopped them from screaming. Jackson let it drop. 

Please, just let the hobbits live! 

Source: Polyon 

We've saved this for last as it actually makes us pretty angry. It's a good thing Peter Jackson had the courage to stand up to his producers as Bob Weinstein demanded he kill off one of our pint-sized heroes. Even the notion. "We’ve got to kill a Hobbit! I don’t care which one; you can pick—I’m not telling you who it should be: you pick out who you want to kill, but we’ve really got to kill one of those Hobbits!" No sir. Na ah. Never. Hobbits forever! 

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