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A series of books that are required reading for teenagers that enjoy the fantasy genre, The Lord of the Rings was first published in between 1954 and 1955. Able to connect with people born decades after they were written, there is a timeless struggle at the core of the books that speaks to people. First seen in the live-action format when The Fellowship of the Ring was released, to say that these movies took the world by storm is an understatement.
Massive productions that broke the mold, the fact that the first 3 movies in the series were all filmed at that the same time is enough to make the series fascinating. Far from the only interesting thing about how these movies came to be, somehow Peter Jackson and the producers of these films managed to keep things under control. Of course, there were loads of other people working on them that all worked tirelessly and did fascinating things to make these movies a reality. With that in mind, it is time to look at 20 behind-the-scenes things you didn’t know about the Lord of the Rings films.
In order for a fact to be considered for possible inclusion on this list, it first and foremost needs to relate to behind the scenes information about the Lord of the Rings movies in one way or another. For instance, you could find details relating to the production of any of the many Lord of the Rings movies that have made it to the big screen. On top of that, anything related to planned crossovers or other attempts to extend the franchise could end up here too.
Several Other Celebrities Almost Appeared in the Movies
Considering how beloved the Lord of the Rings movies have become, it is understandably difficult to imagine any other actor playing one of the major roles in these films. Despite that, as is the case with a lot of movies, there were several other actors that were seriously considered to play many of the biggest roles at the core of these films.
For instance, Kate Winslet as Eowyn, Lucy Lawless as Galadriel, Ethan Hawke as Faramir, Uma Thurman as Arwen, and Jake Gyllenhaal as Frodo, on top of Nicolas Cage, Vin Diesel, and Daniel Day-Lewis as Aragorn.
In fact, Stuart Townsend was actually hired to play Aragorn but was fired the day before filming commenced. Finally, when it comes to Gandalf, Sam Neill, Patrick Stewart, David Bowie, and Sean Connery were considered for the role.
An Aragorn VS Sauron Scene Was Filmed
Such an abstract idea that it seems somewhat surprising that audiences went along with it, having the main villain in a massive franchise of films being a huge eye is pretty out there. However, it is also incredibly meaningful and they did such a great job of showing it in these films that you almost never hear anyone complaining about it.
That said, perhaps the filmmakers were worried that audiences needed to see Sauron be more of a physical threat to their beloved heroes. No matter what the motivation, a scene was shot in which Sauron had his body, yet again, and battled Aragorn.
Clearly deleted from the final film, they did repurpose the footage by digitally replacing Sauron with a Cave Troll and briefly including that in The Return of the King.
Hobbit Feet and Ears Were Made Daily
Movies that required an amazing amount of work behind the scenes, people had to work tirelessly to create things like the many tools used in the battle scenes. Of course, as should be abundantly obvious, there was also a fantastic makeup team that worked daily to transform the way that loads of actors looked. For instance, whenever a hobbit had to film a scene, something that clearly happened constantly, an all-new set of feet and ears had to be crafted for each actor. Necessary because they found there was no way to keep them intact while removing them from the actor, this meant that more than 1,600 sets of ears and feet had to be created.
Christopher Lee Met Tolkien
Two English men who accomplished an awful lot, to say the least, there is something that just seems right about the fact that Christopher Lee and J. R. R. Tolkien met. That said, you probably would have thought that they would have come across one another at some kind of official event or something like that.
However, that is not the case at all. Instead, Lee himself revealed that he met the author of the Lord of the Rings books in a random pub of all places.
It should also be noted that if you’ve read that Tolkien gave him permission to play Gandalf in a live-action movie, Lee’s account of their one meeting makes it clear that that never happened.
Ian Holm Has Played Bilbo and Frodo
Based on a series of books that have meant a great deal to millions of people since they were first published, working on the Lord of the Rings movies was a highly sought-after gig. In fact, many people wanted to be a part of these films so badly that they were willing to uproot their lives and travel to New Zealand where they spent years working on them. For at least one of the actors that played a memorable role in these films, however, he’d already played a pivotal part in another adaptation of these stories. That is because Ian Holm, the actor that plays Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, had previously been cast as Frodo in a 1981 radio dramatization of the books.
John Rhys-Davies Pranked Peter Jackson On Set
Cleary a difficult task, even though working on the Lord of the Rings was hard, the cast and crew were able to keep their spirits up most of the time. Of course, people are only human and there is no doubt that there would have been tense moments on set, but there were obvious attempts to keep things light. One of the best examples of the spirit of levity that was created on set is the prank that John Rhys-Davies played on Peter Jackson. Having suffered an injury to one of his middle fingers due to a farming accident while he was young, when playing Gimli, he wore several prosthetic fingertips. Deciding to prank his boss one day, he cut one of the prosthetic fingertips open, filled it with fake blood and told Jackson he’d suffered a serious injury.
Several Bearded Ladies Were Used
The kind of project that takes an army both figuratively and literally, Lord of the Rings’ producers had to hire legions of people to be seen on screen during several major battle scenes. As such, they sought out anyone that could be a credible part of the many armies that appear throughout the trilogy. Based in a world in which men did the vast majority of the fighting, audiences did get to see Eowyn in action, but that was an exception. That may lead you to believe that only the fellas could have been cast as army extras, but that was not the case. Instead, several women were hired and given fake beards to wear so they blended in.
Shooting for The Return of the King Kept on going
One of the strangest things you will ever read about the making of the Lord of the Rings is that footage was shot for The Return of the King a month after it first hit theatres. In fact, by the time filming finished, the movie had already swept every Academy Award category it was nominated for. If you are wondering how that is possible, then reading two words will likely answer that for you — extended edition. Deciding it would be funny to shoot footage for a movie that had already won Best Picture, they filmed one final shot that appeared in the extended edition of the movie. Just in case you are curious, they filmed one shot that led up to Aragorn going to find the Army of the Dead.
Gandalf hitting his head Wasn’t Planned
A moment that comes early in the first Lord of the Rings movie, you’d think that Gandalf banging his head against a beam would be pretty easy to forget. Despite that, most fans of these movies can picture the scene in their heads with ease. That is because it effortlessly elicited a laugh and allowed audiences to understand how different in size Gandalf is to his hobbit friend. On top of that, a big part of the moment’s charm is that there was something about it that felt astonishingly real and Gandalf seemed really pained and surprised. Turns out that is the case for a good reason, considering Ian McKellen had hit his head by accident, but Peter Jackson saw the potential in the footage and included it in the movie.
They Preserved the Environment as Best They Could
A series of films that were shot in New Zealand, the beauty of that country had a large hand in the movies coming out so well. While that is the case for many films, there are instances of filmmakers showing little regard for the local environment. On the other hand, the way things played out while working on these films is remarkable, especially when it comes to the location where they chose to build Edoras. Shot amid wide open spaces, to shoot there, New Zealand made them agree to one condition — everything would be left in the same condition it was found in. True to their word, producers set up buildings they ran for the 18 months so they could store all of the vegetation and grass they uprooted to build sets and then took it all back.
Some Wanted to Make The Lord of the Rings a Single Movie
One of the most fascinating stories about the peculiar decisions that often get made by Hollywood powerhouses, Lord of the Rings almost ended up extremely different. Passionate about adapting these stories, Peter Jackson went around pitching turning them into a trilogy of films, but most studio heads instead wanted to condense the whole thing into 1 movie. Eventually broken down by this to a degree, when he met with New Line’s Bob Shaye, he pitched him on making 2 films. However, Shaye expressed that he thought it made more sense to adapt 3 books into 3 movies and that is exactly what they did. Of course, in the ultimate twist of fate, Jackson then adapted a single book with some side stories from other novels into 3 films with The Hobbit trilogy.
The Balrog Was Represented by a Ping Pong Ball
The kind of thing that has only become more common in the last few decades, since the popularity of CGI grew, many actors spend time reacting to things they can’t see. Certainly a difficult feat, they rely on their imagination to make sure their reactions fall in line with the incredible things they will be sharing the big screen with. In an attempt to make that easier, many directors now have some kind of visual representation on set for actors to play off. Unfortunately, when it came time to shoot scenes with The Balrog, they only chose to hold up a ping pong ball for Ian McKellen to act with.
The Beatles Wanted to Adapt The Lord of the Rings
One of the most powerful bands in the history of music, at the height of their popularity, it seemed like there was nothing The Beatles couldn’t accomplish. Despite that, Peter Jackson confirmed a long-standing rumor that they wanted to adapt The Lord of the Rings into a movie which obviously never came to fruition.
The reason they failed was two-fold — the director they wanted to work with, Stanley Kubrick, turned them down, and J.R.R. Tolkien wasn’t a fan of their plan.
Still, it is amazing to imagine what their version would have been like. What is known about their idea is this, the plan was for John Lennon to play Gollum, George Harrison would have been Gandalf, Paul McCartney was intended to be Frodo, and Ringo Starr would have been Sam.
They Used a Magnetized Floor
Probably the first Lord of the Rings moment in which viewers know things are not what they seem, by the time Bilbo gives up the ring, he’d already gone invisible and the fireworks looked amazing. That said, both of those moments were the kind of thing fans had seen in previous movies. On the other hand, when the ring fell to the ground and failed to bounce, as all viewers instinctually knew it would in real life, it provides them with a feeling of foreboding. An effect that was created by using something incredibly simple, in order to make sure the ring landed with a thud, a powerful magnet was placed under the floor to make it stay still.
Viggo Mortensen Broke His Tooth and Had An Unusual Reaction
So perfect in his role that viewers could easily picture themselves following his lead, it is hard to imagine anyone else playing Aragorn better than Viggo Mortensen. In fact, Mortensen became incredibly skilled at many of the tasks his character needed to pull off, like wielding a sword and riding horses. Extremely dedicated to his part, he still wanted to work even after being hurt, including the time he chipped one of his teeth. A serious and painful injury he suffered during the filming of the Battle for Helm’s Deep, Mortensen asked to have his tooth glued back together so he could keep working. A reasonable human being, Peter Jackson insisted on sending him to the dentist, but Mortensen returned to set that afternoon.
Bill the Pony Isn’t What You Think
Easily dismissed as nothing more than a means of transportation for those that have not read the Lord of the Rings books, long-time devotees know there is a lot more than that to Bill the Pony. Very briefly seen in the Fellowship of the Ring, many viewers were disappointed to see that his on-screen tenure was so short. However, since Bill was two people wearing a pony suit, that was a marvelous decision.
A horrible effect they must have hated on set, they went that route because of how difficult it was to have a real pony walk through the marshes.
Such a ridiculous effect that it could never have held up if Bill appeared on screen longer, it is a good thing it came and went so quickly.
Andy Serkis Was Only Meant to Work for 3 Weeks
One of several actors whose careers went to a whole new level after working on the Lord of the Rings movies, in the case of Andy Serkis, that is incredible for at least two reasons. The first amazing part of that is there is only a single sequence in which Andy Serkis himself can be seen on screen, when Smeagol first comes into contact with the One Ring and does dastardly things to keep it. The second is that he was initially hired for a mere 3 weeks of work. Brought in strictly to provide his voice to the hugely popular character Gollum, Jackson was so impressed by Serkis’ acting and physicality that he spent months on set performing motion capture.
Sean Bean Did A Lot of Walking During the Production
Movies that required its cast and crew to travel all over New Zealand, the country had many gorgeous landscapes, but getting to them was something of a pain. For that reason, helicopters were used at times to transport the necessary people and equipment to whatever far away set was next on the production schedule.
However, Sean Bean “used to be a bit terrified of flying” so he instead opted to travel by foot to these locations, some of which took several hours to get to.
Worse yet, he would go on these lengthy hikes while fully dressed in his heavy Bormoir costume. If that doesn’t sound like a difficult workout then we don’t know what does, especially since he took these treks twice a day and also had to work as an actor in between.
Sean Connery Could Have Made a Fortune
As previously mentioned on this list, Sean Connery came somewhat close to playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies. There is more to it than that, however, as they tried really hard to have him take part in the movie, even though his over-powering accent would have been a very strange fit for Gandalf. In fact, they wanted him to play the part so badly that they offered him $10 million per film and 15% of the box-office receipts. Considering the series ended up bringing in $2.9 billion, that payday alone would have made Connery uber rich.
Unfortunately for his pocketbook, he turned down the role because “he did not understand the script.”
It's okay, he's got his James Bond money.
One Scene Was filmed Over A Year
Arguably the most emotional movie in the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, when Frodo tells Sam to go home, it tends to hit audiences hard. After all, even though Frodo’s mental health had consistently been deteriorating over the run of the movies, seeing him turn on his faithful friend is still a very hard pill to swallow. Played to perfection by Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, when you find out how the scene was shot, their performances are far more impressive. Movies that were shot completely out of order for a variety of logistical reasons, Frodo and Sam’s parts of the scene were shot on different days. More than that, Peter Jackson revealed that “every time we cut to and from between Frodo and Sam, we are actually jumping back and forth across a year-long gap.
References: mentalfloss.com, screenrant.com, ew.com, huffingtonpost.co.uk, businessinsider.com
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