Trivia: The field outside of the Mines of Moria in "The Fellowship of the Ring" is the same place that the Paths of the Dead leads out to.
Trivia: The Cirith Ungol stair ledge was built as a wet weather set on the squash court in a hotel in Queenstown. In November of 1999, Sean Astin's (Sam) close-ups were shot in the taping of the first RotK shots, and as a side note Andy Serkis (Gollum) had not been cast yet. The set remained standing on the squash court and as things would go, it wasn't until a year later on November 30th, 2000, that Elijah Wood's (Frodo) first close-ups were actually shot on that ledge.
Trivia: Faramir's exit from Minas Tirith is downhill on brick, and steel horseshoes proved to be too slippery. All the horses had to be reshod with rubber.
Trivia: Only one real beacon was used for the lighting of the beacons - it was flown up to a mountain peak by helicopter.
Trivia: The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won them all, setting a new record for winning every award it was nominated for. Before that the largest "clean sweep" was The Last Emperor, which was nominated for and won 9 Oscars.
Trivia: Elijah Wood and Sean Astin filmed their climb up Mount Doom on an actual volcano - Ruapehu. They had to be hooked up to wires because it was so steep that slipping would have resulted in a significant drop.
Trivia: The real field used for filming The Battle of Pelennor Fields has a huge rabbit population. As such every rabbit hole in the area had to be filled in to prevent any horses stepping in one and falling. The charge itself was filmed over 50 times, and more than 20% of the horses used had to drop out over the repeated takes.
Trivia: Shelob's webbing was made of latex. Elijah Wood joked that it was like being wrapped in the world's largest condom.
Trivia: Viggo Mortensen has said that he killed every stuntman about 50 times over the course of filming the trilogy.
Trivia: The foam coming out of Elijah Wood's mouth after Shelob stabs him was created by hiding a couple of Alka-Seltzer tablets under his tongue.
Trivia: John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, had frequent rashes due to the mask/makeup used. On the final day of filming the make up artists asked him if he wanted to throw his mask into a fire, and he did so immediately.
Trivia: Billy Boyd wrote the tune as well as sang Pippin's song to the steward of Gondor. The words were taken from the "Walking Song" found in chapter three of the first book of Lord of the Rings. He was asked to sing after the co-writer went on a karaoke night with the cast and discovered how good his voice was.
Trivia: The scenes at the Black Gate were shot at the army munitions training ground because of its wide, flat, desert type landscape. Before the shoot, the land had forty years worth of demolitions, land mines, mortars, grenades, etc., lying all over. The government asked the army to clear and dispose the ammunition for the filmmakers, but due to the soft ground many could've remained undetected. When the crew arrived for the shoot, an army officer lectured them and showed them different types of munitions to warn them of the possibility of finding more on the site, as dirt was kicked up during battle sequences. There were bomb disposal people surrounding them and sure enough shooting halted as things were discovered and cleared. The cast and crew were told that if they strayed from the designated areas and lost limbs, the army was not responsible.
Trivia: Andy Serkis, in one of his interviews said that the sound Smeagol makes, when it sounds like he is choking the word "Gollum," comes from watching and listening to the sounds that cats make, when coughing up a hairball.
Answer: There are only five wizards. Saruman and Gandalf are heavily involved, as we see. Radagast, while not mentioned in the film, has a particular affinity with the birds and animals - it is he who sends the Eagles to the last battle, and to rescue Gandalf from Isengard. The final two, Alatar and Pallando, known as the Blue Wizards, went into the far eastern regions of Middle-Earth and never returned. Tolkien felt that they would ultimately have fallen from grace, much as Saruman did.
Tailkinker ★