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What It Costs: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which will take
three years to complete, is expected to cost $130 million. That's just
over $43 million per flick--a bargain by current Hollywood standards.
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When It's Coming: The first of the three films, which will be
based on The Fellowship of the Ring, is expected to hit theaters in
December of 2001.
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When It's Coming, Redux: Shooting for Parts 2 and 3 will
finish in March 2001, with the movies scheduled to reach cineplexes by
December 2002 and December 2003, respectively. Lunch boxes, T-shirts and
video games should arrive much sooner.
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Where It's At: Filming will take place at outdoor locations
throughout New Zealand and at director Peter Jackson's Three Foot Six
Studios (a former paint factory) in Wellington. In case you're
unfamiliar with New Zealand, the South Pacific island country is
renowned for sheep, spectacular landscapes, sheep, burly rugby players
and sheep. It's also home to a burgeoning film industry.
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And...Action! After months of preparation, international
auditions, extensive location scouting and carefully hidden rehearsals,
filming began October 11, 1999.
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Feeling Blessed: Before the cameras even started rolling on
the Wellington set, elders from a local Maori tribe said a blessing over
the location.
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Aloha, Dude: Peter Jackson is directing the entire trilogy.
The maverick filmmaker, who sports a badger-like beard and has a
penchant for Hawaiian shirts, is a New Zealand native. He also directed
Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners.
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The Write Stuff: Jackson and writing partner Frances
Walsh--who penned the LOTR screenplay, along with Wellington-based
writers Philippa Boyens and Stephen Sinclair--earned an Oscar nomination
for Heavenly Creatures, the film that opened Kate Winslet's cinematic
career. (Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction screenplay took home the
little golden man that year.)
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Why We Should Be Glad Jackson Is Doing LOTR: The director was
about to embark on a remake of King Kong when the opportunity came along
to put the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy to film.
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The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor of
medieval English literature at Oxford University in England. He
originally created The Hobbit as a bedtime story to tell his son. He
followed that with three novels: The Fellowship of the Ring (first
published in 1954), The Two Towers (1954) and The Return of the King
(1956). The books have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide in 25
languages.
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The Force Is with Frodo: George Lucas has cited LOTR as a
major influence for his Star Wars trilogy. No, Jar Jar Binks is not a
mutant Hobbit.
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But First...: The Tolkien classic novel The Hobbit--which
tells the story of how Bilbo Baggins discovered a powerful
ring--predates Lord of the Rings.
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The Setup: LOTR is set in an imaginary medieval world called
Middle Earth. It's a place populated by humans, wizards, orcs, elves,
goblins, dwarves, Hobbits and the evil overlord Sauron.
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The Storyline: Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit, inherits a ring from
his older cousin Bilbo. He learns it is one of 20 ancient rings with the
power to enslave the world. Frodo goes on a quest to destroy it before
it falls into the hands of Sauron, the dark lord of Mordor. He is aided
by Gandalf the wizard; Hobbit friends Samwise Gamgee, Merry and Pippin;
and Aragorn, the lost human son of the true king of Gondor. Think epic
struggle between good and evil. Think journey of self-discovery. And, of
course, think love story.
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Playing It Straight: Jackson and his cowriters vow to stick
closely to their literary source, but they will probably play up the
romantic interest between Aragorn and Elven princess Arwen to make the
female characters more significant. They likely won't play up a
potentially homoerotic scene in which Sam holds an injured Frodo's hand
and tells him how much he loves him.
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Young Guns: LOTR has attracted a veritable who's who of hot
young talent, including Elijah Wood (in the lead role of Frodo), Liv
Tyler (Arwen) and Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett (elf queen Galadriel).
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Old Guard: Because somebody needs to balance out these kids,
LOTR has signed on veterans like Oscar nominee Sir Ian McKellen (good
wizard Gandalf) and Christopher Lee (bad wizard Saruman).
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Thanks, Anyway: Irish actor Stuart Townsend, originally cast
as Aragorn, was fired the week before filming. Officially,
"creative differences" between Townsend and Jackson were the
cause. But sources suggest the producers were unhappy with the
diminutive Townsend's lack of physical prowess. He's been replaced by
the more robust Viggo Mortensen.
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Casting About: With several main parts (Elrond, Denethor,
Faramir, Eowyn, Theoden) yet to be cast, rumors abound. Sources say
Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman are being considered for the roles of
Faramir and Eowyn. Hawke worked in New Zealand once before, in a film
version of White Fang.
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Behind the Scenes: LOTR boasts quite a backstage pedigree. The
film's producers are Barrie M. Osborne (The Matrix, Face/Off), Tim
Sanders (The Frighteners) and Jackson. Executive producers are Saul
Zaentz (Amadeus, The English Patient) and Bob and Harvey Weinstein from
Miramax.
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Oops: This is not the first LOTR movie. Ralph Bakshi directed
an animated version, released in 1978. Almost universally loathed by
audiences and critics, the film was based on only the first half of the
book, and the characters moved like they needed hip replacements.
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Help Wanted: LOTR will employ 15,000 extras. Jackson had hoped
to use members of the New Zealand Army for battle scenes, but the forces
were called in to help clean up the recent civil war in East Timor,
creating a shortage of buffed-up army boys. Casting agents have also
advertised widely for experienced horse riders for battle scenes.
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Hey, My Mom Can Do Costumes: All gear for the film will be
made from scratch. Jackson's WETA Ltd. workshop is supervising
construction of the weaponry and props, including 900 suits of armor
being hammered into shape from red-hot steel on anvils in the WETA
workshop. A factory in India is making the chain mail.
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Ladies' Aid: Also contributing to the cause: A group of
elderly women (members of the Wellington Knitting Club) have been
employed to knit string chain mail for the background suits of armor.
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In Case You're Wondering: Hobbits are similar to humans, but
they're about four feet tall and have hairy, padded feet. They prefer to
live in immaculately furnished holes in the sides of hills; they love
food, smoking pipes, food, storytelling, more food and long naps. Actors
playing Hobbits will wear a kind of foam-padded slipper to create the
hairy-feet effect.
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Really Special Effects: Alex Funke, the Oscar-winning F/X
director of Total Recall, is supervising construction of giant and
miniature set models. Footage of the models will be superimposed onto
live-action shots, using clouds of smoke to give the illusion of depth.
There will be extensive use of computer-enhanced scenes.
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Dark Secrets: The character of Gollum will be completely
computer-generated, with a voice supplied by actor Andy Serkis. Details
of how Sauron is represented are more sketchy; Jackson promises it will
be more than two red eyes hovering in the darkness, but he is coy about
revealing any more. Famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe
have been employed as conceptual artists.
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Coming Up Short: Seven little people (all professional actors)
have been hired as stunt doubles for scenes where Hobbits appear with
larger characters. Costume designer Ngila Dickson (Xena, Hercules,
Heavenly Creatures) is making two of everything--one for each big actor
and one for each little person/stunt double.
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Speaking in Tongues: Most of the characters will speak in
British accents. Jackson plans to utilize the different languages
described in Tolkien's book, and some of the film will be in ancient
Elvish dialect! (Subtitles will be provided for non-Elvish-speaking
members of the audience.)
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Hope They're Using Steadicams: After a month of filming, cast
and crew had already consumed $200,000 (that's in New Zealand dollars)
worth of coffee.
