Published on 10.10.2022
Estimated reading time: less than 1 minute
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If you’ve seen the famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, you’ve heard the no less famous cry of the Nazgûls, those creatures serving the Big Bad Sauron. What had not been my surprise when I learned the origin of these sounds that would make howler monkeys and hedgehogs turn pale (yes, yes, go listen to their cries). Far from being a cross between fingernails crunching on a blackboard and the yelp of a fox in heat, it is a performance by director Peter Jackson’s wife: Fran Walsh, also writer and producer of the trilogy. The poor woman was suffering from… angina! She would have simply opened her mouth and screamed, which would have convinced the whole team. And these Nazgûls remain full of surprises, I heard them again in Fribourg. I assure you, right on the station platform. OK, the ‘Ringwraiths’ weren’t visible, but everyone could hear them when the train pulled up and… braked. Try, listen, even if it doesn’t work