The Return of the King Trivia

I caught the last 45 minutes of The Return of the King film, the third installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, on HBO last night, and I thought that you might find it more interesting to watch if you had some trivia at the back of your mind. These facts were gathered from the commentaries and appendices of the Return of the King Extended DVD version.

Peter Jackson, the director, saw the finished edited film of The Return of the King for the first time during the world wide premiere at Wellington, New Zealand.

You can hear Liv Tyler, aka Arwen, singing on the Return of the King Extended DVD during the added Houses of Healing scene where Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) heals Eowyn (Miranda Otto). Liv’s singing voice, like her speaking voice, is angelic.

When Gollum finally comprehends Frodo’s mission, which is to destroy the ring, Peter realized during editing that an extra shot was needed to show Gollum’s reaction. Fortunately, Andy Serkis, the actor who provided Gollum’s voice and movements, was visiting him at the time in London where he was also supervising the film’s musical score, so Peter filmed reaction shots of Andy right there on the floor of his London home and sent them to Weta Digital in New Zealand.

The Black Gate scene had to be shot where the New Zealand Army habitually tests its artillery of weapons, so the shooting day started with a safety lecture from a couple of army officers.

When Aragorn and his friends ride their horses to go near the Black Gate, the actors went beyond the safety boundaries set by the New Zealand Army, which caused everybody to get worried they might accidentally blow themselves up.

Originally, Aragorn was supposed to have a fight with Sauron, but Peter Jackson decided it was moving away from the movie’s focus, which was Frodo; so, he deleted it, choosing instead to edit the scene with Aragorn fighting a troll, which had been added digitally after erasing the actor playing Sauron.

While shooting the Sam-Frodo scene where Sam staunchly declares, “I can’t carry it [the ring] for you, but I can carry you,” Peter Jackson was so moved, his tears made his eyeglasses fog up.

One version of the Mt. Doom scene where Gollum has finally gained possession of the ring by biting off Frodo’s finger had Frodo pushing Gollum over the edge. But Peter thought that it looked like Frodo was murdering Gollum so he gave new instructions how Frodo should grab Gollum with the intent of getting back the ring, and, as they struggle, both topple over the edge accidentally.

Aragorn and Arwen’s kiss at the coronation scene was supposed to be simple and proper, as befits a royal couple, but Peter felt that since the two characters have been separated for a long time, the audience will want them to display more passion so they shot the scene with a different attack.

The last scene together of the four actors playing the hobbits was the coronation scene.

Jack Nicholson, who viewed the film, found the ending so long he went out 30 minutes before it finished, so he never knew if Frodo lived or died.

Sean Astin, the actor playing Sam, has a wife who doesn’t like the fact that her husband’s job sometimes requires him to kiss other women, so Sean requested everybody to tell her that the wedding scene kiss was done in one take (not true), but, in the end, Sean reported that it was the only kissing scene he has ever done in his career that his wife said that she can watch.

Elijah Wood’s last scene to be shot for the trilogy was when Frodo was shown writing in the Red Book at Bilbo’s desk at Bag End. Elijah Wood remembered vividly how Peter hugged him afterwards and kept saying, “Thank you.”

To the actors’ dismay, the heavily emotional scene of farewells at the Grey Havens had to be shot three times. The first day’s shots were rendered useless because Sean Astin forgot to put back his vest after they had a break, and, unfortunately, nobody caught it. The second day proved to be no better because the shots turned up blurred, but, the third time’s the lucky charm, and the shots turned out well at last.

The children playing Sam and Rosie’s children during the final scene are their real-life children. That’s Sean Astin with his daughter, and the actress playing Rosie with her baby son.

Peter always intended to end the movie just like in the book, with Sam getting home from the Grey Havens and saying simply, “Well, I’m back.”

Peter was only interested in attending one party after the Oscars —The One Ring party— which is a site dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien, and has been a very staunch supporter of the three Lord of the Rings films.

Peter and the rest of the team went back to their hotel suite to continue celebrating privately, where they lined up the gleaming Oscars they won on a table.

Catch the other Return of the King screenings on HBO Philippines on:

08 Feb 2006 3:15 AM
19 Feb 2006 11:30 AM

20 Feb 2006 12:05 AM

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