According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Lord of the Rings holds the record for the greatest number of false feet used in one movie: 60,000.
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In Boromir's death scene, when Aragorn puts the sword into Boromir's hand, Aragorn's finger with the ring on is covered in blood. When we see his hands on Boromir's chest a second later, the blood has vanished. See more...
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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - 68 trivia entries
Directed by Peter Jackson, starring Billy Boyd, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen (add more)
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Lord of the Rings holds the record for the greatest number of false feet used in one movie: 60,000.
When the Hobbits enter Bree, right after the wheel of the carriage passes in front of them, there is a man you see to the right who's holding a carrot and burps. That is Peter Jackson making a cameo appearance.
After Stuart Townsend was fired, Viggo Mortensen was convinced by his son, Henry, to take over the role of Aragorn.
Viggo Mortensen wasn't originally cast as Aragorn. Two weeks before shooting, Peter Jackson realized that his first choice for the role (Stuart Townsend) was too young and decided to offer the role to Mortensen.
While filming the trilogy, Viggo Mortensen got so into character, that during a conversation, director Peter Jackson referred to him as "Aragorn" for over half an hour, and Mortensen didn't even realize it.
When Merry and Pippin have just taken the dragon firework from Gandalf's cart and are in the tent tossing it back and forth, Pippin shrieks when it goes off. Apparently, Peter Jackson had told Billy Boyd it would only spark and fizzle, so he was fairly surprised when it shot off in his hands. He talks about this in the commentary on the DVD.
Lawrence Makoare, the actor who plays the Uruk-hai leader Lurtz, later plays The Witch King of Angmar in The Return of the King. He also plays Gothmog, the orc commander in ROTK, plus several other Uruk-hai and orcs throughout the trilogy.
When filming "Fellowship," the actors playing the Hobbits required hours of work just to get on their Hobbit feet. It was so long and terrible that Sean Astin (Sam) counted the amount of times they had to put their feet on when it never showed up on camera in that day of filming. The final count was 50.
When the four Hobbits are in the woods running from the Ringwraiths, they run onto the boat at Buckleberry ferry and go to Bree. Merry, Pippin and Sam get on alright but Frodo has to jump. The first time the filmmakers shot this scene, Elijah Wood jumped right over the ferry and into the water on the other side.
Peter Jackson's son Billy (seen listening to Bilbo's troll story) is the only hobbit in the movie that didn't need a wig.
The Orc blacksmiths beneath Isengard are the WETA workshop staff who made the weapons for the film.
When running away from the Balrog, Boromir is the first to reach the bottomless stairs and Legolas pulls him back to safety. When this piece was shot, there were many retakes, and each time Sean Bean would get pulled back by Orlando Bloom, Bean would land back onto Bloom's soft lap, while Bloom would slam back onto the hard steps with the full weight of the two of them. As a result, Bloom had bruising on his backside and legs, for some time. Bloom joked, "I gave Sean a few beatings for that, I can tell ya." Cast commentary, extended DVD.
The actors who played the members of the Fellowship all got the Elvish symbol for "9" tattooed somewhere on their bodies, apart from John Rhys-Davies (who plays Gimli) who sent his stunt double instead.
5000 cubic metres of vegetables and flowers were grown a year before filming started to make the Hobbits' village.
In all the close-up shots of Galadriel, you can see a reflection of a ball of white Christmas lights that was held up near the camera. The filmmakers did this to make her eyes look deeper and more complex.
Parts of the Rivendell scenes were shot as pickups, after filming was done. Sam in those shots is a much thinner hobbit, because after the final wrap, Sean Astin lost the weight he had gained to play Samwise Gamgee.
At the end of the shoot, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh gave each, Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Andy Serkis (Gollum/Smeagol), one of the gold rings used as the "One Ring" in the films.
Alan Lee (a Tolkien artist and conceptual designer with John Howe) has a cameo as one of the nine men who received a Ring of power in the Prologue.
When Frodo is leafing through Bilbo's Book in Rivendell, a page with dwarven runes is shown. The runes translate thus: "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole." This is a reference to the map in "The Hobbit" and the runes tell of the secret entrance into The Lonely Mountain.
Sean Bean (Boromir) was deathly afraid of riding in the helicopter that had to take the actors to and from the many filming locations. After the scene on Caradharas, the one where Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo, Bean refused to go anywhere else by helicopter. Many times he had to take a ski lift and climb many hundred feet in full Boromir gear to get to the set.
In the Mines of Moria, in Balin's Tomb, there are a few shots where it only shows profiles of Aragorn's face. That's because Viggo Mortensen had gone surfing with the Hobbit actors, and his surfboard came up and hit his face. The right side of his face was swollen and he had a black eye. For about a week, the filming crew was only able to shoot his profile.
During the scene before Bilbo's party, when Gandalf and Bilbo are inside Bag End, Gandalf hits his head on a beam upon entering Bilbo's study. This was actually unintentional, but Ian McKellen did such a good job of acting through it that Peter Jackson left it in the movie.
When the Fellowship leave Rivendell, Sean Bean (Boromir) wasn't there for most of it - he was home in England. He was digitally added afterwards.
A pictorial cameo: The two portraits in oval frames hanging above the fireplace in Bag End are of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.
Arwen and Aragorn are actually related. Arwen's father, Elrond and his brother Elros were half-elven. They were given a choice of whether they would like to become elves and become immortal; or be mortal and become the kings of Men. Elrond chose the elf option, and his brother the mortal one. Elrond had Arwen, while his brother's family tree went on for thousands of years, eventually resulting in Aragorn making Arwen Aragorn's first cousin many-times removed.
When Frodo falls over in the snow and loses the Ring, there's a close-up of the Ring, with Frodo in the background. A giant ring of six inches in diameter had to be used to keep both Frodo and the Ring in focus.
According to the book, Frodo is the oldest of the Hobbits in the Fellowship, but Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo, is actually the youngest of all the Fellowship actors - he was seventeen when filming began. The actors who played the younger Hobbits (Merry, Samwise and Pippin) - Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin and Billy Boyd - ranged in age from 23 to 31 at the beginning of filming. Ironically, in the book Pippin is the youngest of the four Hobbits, whereas Billy Boyd, who played Pippin was actually the oldest of the four actors portraying the Hobbits.
Christopher Lee (Saruman) reads "The Lord of the Rings" once a year, and is the only cast member to have actually met J.R.R. Tolkien.
During a fight scene with the Orcs, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) got hit in the mouth with a sword and it broke a tooth. He tried to convince the crew to put it back with superglue, but for obvious reasons Peter Jackson didn't let him. He went to the dentist that afternoon to get it fixed.
In the scene where Frodo and Sam are leaving the Shire and walk through a cornfield, you may notice (a very subtle touch by the filmmakers) that the Scarecrow is covered in crows. Seems it wasn't doing a very good job.
Galadriel's opening narration was originally supposed to be provided by Frodo. Gandalf was also considered.
Elijah Wood (Frodo) filmed his audition out of the casting office. He memorized the script there (he wasn't allowed to remove it), bought a Hobbit-ish costume, and had a friend of his film his audition in the Hollywood Hills. Jackson chose him because he looked like what a Hobbit should look like - in a costume with no shoes, sitting on the side of a hill, giving lines like he should be giving them.
Not a mistake, but a wonderful in-joke. When Boromir is teaching Merry and Pippin to use their swords, you can hear him counting numbers as he delivers the blows to be parried. These numbers - "2, 1, 5" - are in fact the correct numbers for the system of parries used by the Society of American Fight Directors, and many stunt coordinators and fight masters worldwide. Boromir even matches the numbers to the correct locations. The numbering system is supposed to have been based on historic European fencing manuals, but if the folk of Middle-Earth knew it, it must have be a good deal older!
Ian Holm, who plays Bilbo Baggins, was the voice of Frodo Baggins in a radio play version of "Lord of the Rings."
Extended version - At the party, Bilbo hides from Lobellia Sackville-Baggins. Look closely and you may recognize the actress as Lionel's zombie mother from Peter Jackson's film "Brain Dead"/"Dead Alive."
When the four Hobbits fall down the hill, Merry says "That was just a detour, a shortcut." Sam asks "A shortcut to what?" and Pippin says "Mushrooms!" This is a reference to a chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring called "A Shortcut to Mushrooms." A number of chapters are referred to within the dialogue in various places. Others include: "A Long-expected Party," "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony," "A Journey in the Dark" and "The Breaking of the Fellowship." All of those chapter names except "A Shortcut to Mushrooms" and "A Long-expected Party" were also used by composer Howard Shore to name a piece on the LOTR soundtrack.
After asking about second breakfast, Pippin is hit in the head with an apple by Aragorn. The apple was really thrown by Viggo Mortensen, and he had to throw it 15 previous times before he hit the spot Peter Jackson wanted.
The original cut ran four and a half hours.
In order to make people believe that Ian McKellen is taller than the four Hobbits, Peter Jackson and the production crew used a technique called forced perspective. This was achieved by placing McKellen consistently closer to the camera, and the eye is tricked into believing that McKellen towers over the Hobbits. A good example of this is when Frodo is riding with Gandalf in Gandalf's cart. Elijah Wood was sitting about 2 feet behind Ian McKellen.
In the scene near the end when the Fellowship is canoeing down the river, Legolas and Gimli's boat capsized because of a crew member trying to prevent them from floating downstream. Gimli started to sink because of the chain mail, and rescue boats came swarming out to save them.
In the scene right after Bilbo leaves, Gandalf is sitting by the fire thinking to himself about how Bilbo acted when asked to give the Ring to Frodo, calling it his "precious" and all. While Gandalf is thinking, he mutters, "Riddles in the Dark." "Riddles in the Dark" is actually the name of the chapter in "The Hobbit" where Bilbo finds the Ring.
After being cast as Peregrin Took, Billy Boyd was advised by Peter Jackson to tone down his Scottish accent because it stood out from the other hobbits' English accents, so during rehearsals he used a Gloucestershire accent. However, PJ and crew decided that Pippin's lines sounded funnier in his normal accent, so he returned to it.
The costume department filled Bilbo's vest pockets with small stones so that the fabric would sag and look 'used' rather than new.
Gil-Galad shows up in the movie during the prologue. He has armor like all the other elves, but he is wearing a blue cloak. He is the one who pins an orc to the ground with a spear.
At Bilbo's party, when he is giving his speech, the cake actually got set on fire (this is pointed out in the extended version) but as Ian Holm carried on acting, Peter Jackson decided to leave it in.
The book of The Two Towers begins with the chapter, 'The Departure of Boromir', where he's found dead. The filmmakers decided to end the cinematic version of The Fellowship of the Ring with Boromir's death to provide a full arc for the character within the single film, whereas the book ends with his fate unresolved.
Two of the children Bilbo is telling his troll story to are Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's children.
The scream of the Nazgul (Ringwraiths) is actually Fran Walsh, co-writer with Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson (director) on the film.
Supervising Sound Editor Mike Hopkins makes a cameo appearance in the film as Farmer Maggot, in the cornfield scene. He notes on Commentary Track 3 that it was difficult to sound angry and spout profanities without ever repeating himself and without actually swearing.
Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum, also voices the Ringwraith who says, "Shire...Baggins" to the hobbit outside Hobbiton.
Sean Bean used to play a Napoleonic-era army officer on TV known as Richard Sharpe. Ever since then, he has made subtle comments about Sharpe in his movie appearances. The one in this is in Rivendell, when he handles the broken sword of Elendil and accidentally cuts himself. He whispers, "Still sharp."
The scene in which the Fellowship mourns Gandalf in Moria was filmed, ironically, before the group had even met Ian McKellen.
On the 2 disc DVD, theatrical version of the movie, when the fellowship is leaving Lórien in the boats, the entire time Frodo is sitting at the front of the boat with Sam behind him, and Aragorn behind Sam. But when they pass the Argonath, Aragorn taps Frodo on the shoulder. He is sitting right in front of him and Sam is in the front of the boat. However, this is corrected in the extended version because there is a scene right before they see the Argonath where they get out of the boats. They spend the night on shore, so it is actually a different day from when they left Lórien to when they see the Argonath. So it is assumed that Sam and Frodo just switched places the next day.
John Rhys-Davies developed an allergic reaction to his makeup.
I really liked the subtlety of this and thought I'd share it - there's a part in the book, 'The Fellowship of the Ring', just after Frodo has been grabbed by the Watcher in the water outside the gates of Moria. Gandalf thinks, but does not say, that 'whatever it was that dwelt in the lake, it had seized on Frodo first among all the Company' ie. the implication being that the ring draws attack and evil from all around. This happens in the film too - the first Ringwraith is able to separate Frodo from the other three hobbits, when they're running for the Bucklebury Ferry, the Watcher grabs him, as in the book, and even the Cave Troll singles him out.
John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) is actually the tallest member of the Fellowship (Christopher Lee's the tallest member of the cast).
When Legolas is on the Troll, only some shots of the lower part of his body are CG, the rest of him is real. Whereas, when Merry and Pippin are seen on the Troll, they are entirely CG. Commentaries, extended DVD.
When the Fellowship start poking their heads out of the snow after they've been buried on the mountain, Orlando Bloom (Legolas) is coming out of real snow (the rest are on a set).
In the prologue there is a shot of Bilbo picking up the Ring. For this, Ian Holm had to have his face taped back to make him look younger.
When Merry and Pippin light the firework, Billy Boyd was so shocked by the firework going off when it was being filmed that he actually let out the high pitched shriek that is heard when the tent goes up. In some of the behind the scenes stuff, Dominic Monaghan makes fun of Billy by calling him 'a slightly feminine character', while poor Billy tries to defend himself.
Towards the end of the film, Sam runs to catch up with Frodo when he's in the boat, but during one of the takes, Sean Astin stepped on a piece of glass in the water, that cut through his fake hobbit foot. Astin had to be taken to the hospital for stitches via helicopter. This was all caught on tape and can be seen on the appendices.
During Bilbo's party, right after Merry and Pippin set off the dragon rocket, we see Pippin's blackened face, then Merry's blackened face, then a shot of four Hobbit guests looking up at the sky, three males and one female - the female Hobbit is on the right side of the screen. I may be completely wrong, but I think she might have been played by Philippa Boyens, one of the movie's screenwriters. There are some shots of Boyens on the behind-the-scenes disc, especially in the feature called "A Passage to Middle Earth," and she and this Hobbit sure look alike to me.
You may notice that in every shot of the Hobbits after the Shire scenes, they are always walking from the left side of the shot to the right. This was done to give the impression that they are journeying eastward towards Mount Doom.
When the trailer was released on the Internet on April 7, 2001, it was downloaded 1.6 million times in the first 24 hours.
When the Fellowship is taking the path of Caradhras, there is a shot of Saruman shouting on the top of Orthanc, and the camera swoops around closer to him. If you slow it down or pause it you can see a huge white bandage on one of the fingers of his left hand. Christopher Lee (Saruman) had hurt his finger shutting it in a door. This is confirmed by the DVD audio commentary.
Christopher Lee, who plays Saruman, recalls an incident which left him rather baffled. A fan walked up to him and asked if Dracula [one of Lee's well-known cinematic characters] and Saruman were to fight each other, who would win? Lee was flabbergasted. He said, 'I just looked at this man. What a ridiculous thing to say. I mean, really, it was absolutely idiotic.'
When the Ring speaks to Aragorn, the subtitles say, "Aragorn, Aragorn, Elessar." However, when listening to the words spoken, it sounds like the Ring says, "Aragorn, Aragorn, bless us." Even on the audio commentary, Elijah Wood (Frodo) says, "I love that the Ring actually speaks to Viggo, as it tempts him, 'bless us', that's amazing, I didn't pick that up until the third time I saw the movie." The other three Hobbit actors (Sean Astin, Dominic Monahan, and Billy Boyd) seemed to concur.
When they are on the ledge of the snowy mountain, notice that Legolas is walking on top of the snow while the others are trudging through it.
You may also like: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Titanic | Star Wars
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