An Inside Look at
Lord of the Rings

" It has every sort of geographical, gological formation, landscape, it's got everything you know."

Wood, who lived in New Zealand for eighteen months while filming the Tolkien classic says the movie has allowed cast and crew to go places most people don't get to see.

"We fly to locations in helicopters, to tops of mountains and to remote locations...It actually feels like the adventure that's taking place in the film." Wood adds.

Before signing up for the job, Wood and all the other actors commited themselves to live on location, learn how to swordfight, ride horseback, canoe, climb mountain peaks, speak Elvish and oh yes, act Middle earth-style.

Viggo Mortensen who plays Aragorn, King of Gondor, (the mythical kingdom whose gates are shown at the right) went so far into method acting that people actually thought him and his character inseparable. "I'm Celtic and Scandinavian, so I was raised on the myths Tolkien used to inspire The Lord of the Rings," he says.

However, more than the acting, which was stylized to suit the fantasy myth, it is the complex production that deserves a closer look.

Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, wanted as realistic a feel to film as yet seen on screen. Of the production design he says, "it actually makes it feel very real and historical takes it away from fantasy."

Jackson was hesitant at first to apporach the project despite being a Tolkien fanatic. But when no one else dared take the challenge he decided to consult Richard Taylor of New Zealand's premier physical effects house, WETA Limited. The task was clear and challenging: The creation of Middle Earth's physical reality.

A year before filming, 5,000 cubic meters of vegetables and flowers were planted to create Hobbiton, or what Hobbits more fondly call "the Shire."

Many of the sets such as the Prancing Pony Inn and the gates of Minas Tirith were created by a polyurethane spraying machine originally used to spray rubber in North sea oil rigs.

"We were able to do in a week what might have taken months to build in a traditional manner," says Richard Taylor. The machine had them churning out 100 helmets a day for the armies of the Dark Lord Sauron.

Production designer Grant Major, oversaw the creation of the life size sets, many of which were built in the Three Foot Six Wellingtion Studios of drector Peter Jackson.

"You had thousands of people trampling through these sets, and sometimes people were hucking axes through the floor, so they had to withstand a lot! Our sets had to withstand 60 pounds per square foot."

The Elven dialect was an unusual task for creative language coach Andrew Jack to take on. The base of the Elven language created from scratch was Celtic. Language coaches even created various accents for each of the cast. A month before filming, actors needed to undergo language and speech workshops to prepare to speak Elven and other of the many Tolkien dialects. Tolkien was also a scholar of liguistics.

Finally, each creature was carefully thought up to be as true as to the books as possible. Except for a scene wherein Arwen, an Elven princess saves Frodo Baggins, the movie does manage to remain faithful to the book. Peter Jackson answers frustrated fans in this way, " I've read a lot on the Internet to do with the character of Arwen.. and all I can say is that I don't think people are going to be too upset when they see the film. Arwen was NOT part of the Fellowship, Arwen will NOT be a warrior princess... everyone just relax, and stay calm![laughs]

So far The Lord of the Rings has garnered Best Film, Best Special Visual Effects, Best Make Up and Hair and the Orange Film of the Year at the BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Academy Awards. What happens though on the 23rd of March at this year's Oscars is anybody's guess. With the intricate and costly production behind the Lord of the Rings, one cannot deny that their winning in technical categories is almost assured.

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