THE LEFT LANE
'Rings' numbers
| • | Generations of fans hail 'King' |
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Details from the making of "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy:
7 total years of development for all three movies.
1,600 pairs of prosthetic Hobbit feet created.
114 total speaking roles.
20,602 background actors cast.
48,000 swords, axes, shields and other weaponry used.
15,000 costumes made by wardrobe department.
42 tailors, cobblers, designers and others in wardrobe department.
3 million feet of film shot during production.
100 real locations in New Zealand used for backdrops.
2,400 behind-the-scenes crew members at height of production.
10,000 crowd participants at New Zealand cricket game who made orc army grunts.
200 handmade orc masks created.
180 computer special-effects artists employed.
30 actors trained to speak fictional dialects and languages.
Casting change
Did you know that Viggo Mortensen was never supposed to be the man who would be king? When director Peter Jackson started filming "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in October 1999, he cast 26-year-old Stuart Townsend as the warrior Aragorn, a reluctant hero whose courage and royal bloodline help defeat the ancient evil of Sauron.
But once work began, Jackson said it became clear that Townsend was too youthful to convey the sense of wisdom and world-weariness needed for Aragorn. So he dropped him for the rugged, soft-spoken Mortensen, then 41.
Saruman subplot held
Hard-core Rings fans will walk away from "The Return of the King" with one question in mind: What happened to traitorous wizard Saruman?
Christopher Lee's wicked character never appears in the final leg of the trilogy. He's dealt with by saying he's now powerless, and the show moves on.
In J.R.R. Tolkien's books, Saruman escapes his tower and overtakes the Shire, a peaceful Hobbit homestead. His death comes when Frodo and company try to eject him from their village.
That particular subplot was never filmed by director Peter Jackson. After an elaborate battle sequence in the mountain stronghold of Helm's Deep, the director said he felt audiences would want "to finish ("The Two Towers") off as quickly as we could."
A sequence that ends Saruman's storyline was held for use in the extended DVD edition of "The Return of the King." That explanation hasn't satisfied many fans. An Internet petition asking Jackson to reinstate the Saruman footage has gathered more than 40,000 signatures.
