| The Lord of the Rings Fun Facts |
| ~Sean Bean (Boromir) has an extreme fear of flighing. When they were shooting the scenes of the Fellowship crossing Caradhras, he'd get up early, start crawl up the mountain side and arrive late for shooting just to avoid flighing in the helicopter. ~Legolas, for portions of The Two Towers, is seen with brown eyes instead of his usual blue. Although it is said that Elves' eyes change colors with their mood, the rumor is that Orlando forgot his blue contacts for a day of the shooting. ~J.R.R. Tolkien has many similarities to his characters. He and Frodo both were orphaned at 12. And as a child, he was chased by a farmer for picking mushrooms. ~The name "Tolkien" means "foolishly wise" or "stupidly clever" ~Orlando Bloom had more than 8 blond wigs costing $3000 each for his part as Legolas ~Sean Astin's hobbit feet were applied by a man named Sean Foot ~Orlando Bloom was dislexic as a kid, and say that he is still mildly dislexic. ~In the books, Frodo Baggins is the oldest of the four hobbits and Pippin is the youngest, however, Elijah Wood is the youngest of the four actors and Billy is the oldest ~Several colleges in the US (including Harvard) offered Tolkien honorary diplomas. He never made the trip to receive them though, because his wife was sick. ~The Orc blacksmiths shown beneath Isengard are actually the Weta Workshop staff who made the weapons used in the film. ~Viggo got so into his character that director Peter Jackson once addressed him as Aragorn for over half an hour, and Viggo didn't even realize it. ~Viggo made the Weta designers create sharpening stones he could carry in his belt pouches since Aragorn would have needed them. ~Alison Doody, most famous for playing Dr. Elsa Schneider, the beautiful blonde in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989) was asked to play Éowyn but refused because of the 18 month commitment. ~Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf but turned it down. "I had never read Tolkien," he says, "and I didn't understand the script when they sent it to me. Bobbits? Hobbits?" Hmm... just imagine it. "Ish it shecret? Ish it shafe?" ~Bernard Hill (Theoden) made his own audition tape which he directed himself in a friend's barn. ~When it was announced that Elijah Wood would play Frodo at there was an immediate backlash from Tolkien fans. Over 50 percent of readers strongly disagreed with Peter Jackson's choice. Elijah says, "People saying, essentially, 'kill me now. This could never work. The movie's ruined.'" ~The original plan was to film "The Hobbit" starring Warwick Davis. ~The only actor not wearing a wig in the party scene in FOTR is Billy Jackson, the director's son, who played one of the "cute little Hobbit children" and happens to have perfect, natural Hobbit hair.~ ~The voice of the Ringwraith when he says "Shire... Baggins..." is Andy Serkis, who did the voice for Gollum. ~ ~Though the movie sets are routinely destroyed once filming is complete, Peter Jackson couldn't bear to have that happen to the Bag End set so he kept it.~ ~The scream of the Ringwraiths is actually Frances Walsh, the co-writer and co-producer of the film.~ ~In the scene of Bilbo's Long Expected Party. Bilbo's cake caught fire as he was about to leave.~ ~The portraits hanging above the fireplace in Bag End are based on the likenesses of director Peter Jackson and producer Frances Walsh.~ ~Gandalf's painful encounter with a ceiling beam in Bilbo's hobbit-hole was not originaly in the script-- Ian McKellen banged his forehead against the beam accidentally during filming, and Peter Jackson decided to keep it in.~ ~1,460 eggs were served to the cast and crew for breakfast for every day of shooting.~ ~New Zealand's national army was cast as extras for battle scenes, but couldn't do it becuase they had to serve as peacekeepers in East Timor during the time of filming.~ ~Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York) turned down the chance to play Aragorn.~ ~Director Peter Jackson asked for the blessing of indigenous Maori people over the production before the filming started. The leader of the local Iwi tribe went over to LOTR's Wellington studio and gave blessing with Waiata (song) and Inoi (prayer).~ ~During filming The Battle of Helm's Deep, Viggo Mortensen shouted when kicking an orc helmet. Peter Jackson found out later, that that shout was not act. Viggo had broken his toe on the helmet~ ~Cate Blanchett was absent from the Fellowship premiere because of the birth of her son. Dashiell John.~ ~A year before doing the Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom fell 3 stories off a friend's porch while trying to open a jammed door and broke his back. The doctors said he'd never walk again~ ~Peter Jackson fired the first actor for Aragorn, Stuart Townsend , who was fired four days into filming for "creative differences between actor and director"~ ~Starting October 11, there were 274 days of shooting. ~ ~The first scene shot was the black rider, when the four hobbits hide from the ringraith. ~ ~On set of the two towers, Orlando Bloom fell from a horse and broke a rib with John Rys-Davies landing on top of him. ~ ~48,000 props were used in the films. ~ ~Sean Astin gained 30 ponds in order to get the part. ~ ~Over 10,000 costumes were created. ~ ~Eventually, John Rys-Davies developed an allergy to his make up and had to take of many days of shooting. ~ ~While filming the scene where Sam rushes through the river after Frodo, Astin, Sean stepped on a shard of glass that was sticking up from the riverbed. It pierced his foot, even through the prosthetic foot, which bled so much he had to be airlifted to hospital. This occured on the 197th day of shooting.~ ~Peter Jackson plays an extra in all three movies. ~ ~In the middle of a sword fight scene, Viggo Mortensen got part of his tooth chopped off and asked if they could super-glue it back on just so he could finish the scene. ~ ~This Lord of the Rings is the first trilogy in history to be shot all at once. ~ ~It took Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philipia Boyens almost 5 years to complete the srcipt for the trilogy. ~ ~Elijah Wood got the part of Frodo by (as Peter Jackson put it) "dressing up in a cheesy, little hobbit costume" and filming his own scenes from Lotr then sending them to Peter Jackson. ~ ~Orlando Bloom originally tried out for the part of Faramir, Boromir's brother; Gimli originally tried out for the part of Denethor, Boromir's father. ~ ~Christopher Lee (Saruman) has met J.R.R. Tolkien as well as all of his children. ~ ~Every prop and costume seen in the trilogy was made by hand. Metalworkers hand-forged more than 10,000 buckles for the orcs alone.~ ~Orlando Bloom admits he's accident-prone and has an injury list to prove it. He has broken his back, his ribs, his nose, both his legs, his arm, his wrist, a finger and a toe, and has cracked his skull three times.~ ~Cate Blanchett insists she made the Rings trilogy for the opportunity to wear pointy elf ears. When filming ended, Peter Jackson had them bronzed and now they're on Blanchett's mantelpiece.~ ~Frodo falls down, on average, every 10 minutes in The Fellowship Of The Ring.~ ~Ian Holm, who plays Bilbo Baggins, played Frodo Baggins in a 1970s radio production for the BBC.~ ~Christopher Lee, who plays evil wizard Saruman, was the first actor cast for the trilogy.~ ~Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, officially changed its name to "Middle-earth" for the film's premiere.~ ~In 1961, The Observer newspaper described Lord of the Rings as "dull, ill-written and whimsical". Oh, if only they could see it now!~ ~The preferred greeting of the Tolkien Society of America is, "May the hair on your toes never grow less".~ |