Trivia: Patrick Stewart and Sean Connery both declined the role of Gandalf.
A nameless member
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Trivia: Gollum's appearance in this film is different from the other two in the trilogy, as an earlier design was used due to scheduling issues. Partly for this reason he's only seen in brief glimpses. Peter Jackson has joked that he might create a "Special Edition" in the future and fix the discrepancy.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Trivia: Bilbo's birthday cake really had 111 candles on it. The cake was polystyrene, and eventually caught fire because of them.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Trivia: Orlando Bloom auditioned for Faramir, but instead won the larger role of Legolas.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Trivia: When Bilbo drops the ring, a magnetic ring and floor were used to stop it from bouncing, emphasising its weight and significance.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Trivia: The puppet used for physical shots of Treebeard was 14 feet tall.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Trivia: Edoras' filming location was a national park. They could only film there under the condition it was left exactly as they found it. As such a lot of the natural vegetation had to be carefully removed and stored for the 16 months of filming, then replaced.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Trivia: The raw fish Gollum eats was in reality a fish shaped lollipop.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Trivia: Andy Serkis' role as Gollum was initially intended to be 3 weeks of voice over work. Peter Jackson was so impressed he then used Serkis' physical performance too.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Trivia: To limit the danger to horses and riders, a horse was fitted with a motion capture suit like that used by Andy Serkis as Gollum and various activities were stored digitally, to be inserted into battle sequences with CGI.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Trivia: To make the inside of the Orcs' mouths black, the actors playing them used a liquorice mouthwash just before filming.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
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.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Trivia: Only one real beacon was used for the lighting of the beacons - it was flown up to a mountain peak by helicopter.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Trivia: The helmet worn by Miranda Otto proved a challenge to design. Unlike the book, where her real identity is a surprise to the reader, the filmmakers realised there was no way to fully conceal this from the audience (or Merry). As such they needed a helmet which hid enough of her face that she would be believably disguised from everyone, but exposed it enough that the viewer could identify her clearly.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
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.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
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.
13th Jul 2020
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
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.
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