Actors can be capricious, rightly or wrongly, and seek to impose their ideas and desires on directors. The actors of the excellent trilogy of Lord of the Rings are no exception: on the set and upstream of it, Peter Jackson had to face more or less appreciated requests from its cast. We made you an anthology below!
a bonus please
As with regard to Harry Potterthe cast of Lord of the Rings was largely made up of new faces. Two sagas that have become social phenomena, known and respected worldwide, whose previously unknown actors have become real stars in the eyes of the public overnight. For example, Elijah Wood was only 19 when he appeared as Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. Even Dominic Monaghan or Orlando Bloom, whose names we already knew, really became famous thanks to the Lord of the Rings. We therefore imagine that the stamp at the time of their casting was really low… At least that’s what their request to the president of Time Warner in 2003 to demand higher salaries suggests! A letter signed by 18 cast members who felt aggrieved. Considering the huge financial success of the trilogy, their work was well worth a bounty.
Christopher Lee wanted to play Gandalf
Gandalf is on point! Christopher Lee, who died in 2015, absolutely wanted to slip into the robe of the nice mage, as revealed by Peter Jackson in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. It turns out that when the actor learned that an adaptation was planned for the cinema, he contacted the director directly to explain why he would be the ideal choice for the role of Gandalf. He even forced him to record him declaiming a few lines! Bad luck, the filmmaker was already in talks with another actor to play the famous magician… And yes, it was finally Ian McKellen, whom we adored as Magneto in the saga X-Men, who landed the role of this mage. As for Christopher Lee, he ended up playing his enemy Saruman in the trilogy of Lord of the Rings ! Peter Jackson contacted him some time after his audition to offer him the role. A bad for a good.
Christopher Lee upset
As we told you above, Christopher Lee wanted to play Gandalf. Bad luck, it was his colleague Ian McKellen who got the role! However, the actor was obviously such a big fan of the Lord of the Rings that he re-read the books every year, making himself an expert on Tolkien’s text. Problem : too passionate about the work, he constantly talked about it to Peter Jackson, constantly giving him rewrite suggestions for his character. We imagine hell for the director! Moreover, according to The Spectator, Christopher Lee worked in the Special Air Service during the Second World War and then as an intelligence officer for the Royal Air Force. And during The king’s returnwhen his character was killed, the director understood that he must have seen terrible things at that time: he described to Peter Jackson the sound a man actually makes when stabbed in the back. The filmmaker listened to his suggestion and we imagine that he had nightmares! However, if Christopher Lee never failed to point out certain points to Peter Jackson, this example proves that it helped make movies better.
Andy Serkis refused to be just one voice
Andy Serkis did not become THE motion capture pro by chance! It is thanks to his work in the trilogy of Lord of the Rings that he has built up quite a reputation in this area. Whereas in The Fellowship of the Ringhis Gollum character is 100% CGI – he is content to provide his voice to the starving creature -, this changes for the other two parts of the saga. An evolution due on the one hand to Peter Jackson’s dissatisfaction with Gollum’s appearance, and on the other hand to Andy Serkis himself, who reproduced the physical behavior of the character during his audition. His performance would have been convincing enough for the filmmaker to bring him on set wearing a jumpsuit to capture his movements. He did well to insist, since Andy Serkis’ Gollum was hailed by critics and helped set a new standard in motion capture!
Viggo Mortensen and his stallion
In terms of horses, Viggo Mortensen, the interpreter of the courageous Aragorn, has the requirements of a king. The actor only wanted to ride stallions while filming the Lord of the Rings, not geldings. The difference ? The former are able to father offspring, while the latter have been castrated. How do we know that? Miranda Otto, portrayed onscreen as Éowyn, revealed in a 2006 Q&A that the gelding she rides in the trilogy was originally purchased for Viggo Mortensen. In the end, he got what he wanted, he rode two different stallions during the shoot and even ended up buying them at the end of the adventure! About them, he told Brego.net “I just feel calm when I’m around them, interacting with them“. A true enthusiast.
Too heavy a suit
Poor John Rhys-Davies suffered martyrdom on the set of Lord of the Rings – and we are hardly exaggerating. It’s not unusual for actors to wear bulky prosthetics or stuffy makeup, which forces them to get up extremely early to prepare for their upcoming day on set. In the case of the actor, who plays Gimli, the poor thing was really unlucky. In effect, he had a severe allergic reaction to the facial prostheses used to turn him into a dwarf! This is why you see more of his lining Brett Beattie on screen than him, John Rhys-Davies only being called upon for close-ups. Besides, the actor flatly refused to appear in the trilogy of Hobbit for this reason, as he told Empire in 2009.
I have already ruled it out completely. There’s a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. But I’m not sure my face can take that kind of punishment anymore [sic].
A delayed production for Martin Freeman
To conclude, let’s take a short tour of the side of the Hobbit with this anecdote on participation – essential! – from Martin Freeman to the trilogy. The actor plays a younger version of Bilbo Baggins there, from 2012 to 2014. At the time of the filming of the saga, he is already a star, having starred in small screen hits like the excellent Sherlock or the hilarious The Officebut also hits from the big screen such as Love Actually et Shaun of the Dead. However, Martin Freeman must have been busy filming Sherlock when the production of Hobbit had to start on the sets. The comedian revealed to Vanity Fair that he desperately wanted to play Bilbo Baggins but his BBC schedule made it impossible, so Peter Jackson messed up his schedule for him. Martin Freeman therefore began filming the Hobbit in New Zealand, he returned to the United Kingdom to take care of Sherlock then he went back to finish The Hobbit on the other side of the world! When we love, we don’t count…
If you liked this article, do not hesitate to tell us, and perhaps we will dedicate a sequel to it! In the meantime, we recommend that you read our file on the most monstrous creatures in Tolkien’s work.