17 Interesting Facts About My Favourite Film of All Time

THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

You may know some (maybe all), but prior to posting, I was not aware of a good number of these facts; but, the major thing here is to somehow share the enthusiasm I specially have for this marvellous experience.

Sean Connery

1. Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf, because he had never read the books and “didn’t understand the script;” even though he was offered up to 15% of the film’s total box office receipts, which would have been about $400 million (more than any other actor has ever been paid for a single role).
2. J. R. R. Tolkien (author of the book) typed all 1,200 pages of The Lord of the Rings with two fingers.

   

   Christopher Lee as Saruman

3. Sean Astin's character, Samwise Gamgee’s daughter in The Return of the King is played by his real-life daughter, Alexandra.
4. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf’s standoff scene with the Balrog, was actually Ian McKellen acting to a ping pong ball.
5. Christopher Lee, the actor who plays Saruman, is the only cast member to have met Tolkien, whom he met him by chance at a bar in Oxford.
6. Tolkien believed Sam was the “chief hero” of the story, (him and everyone else who saw the movie!)

   

   Samwise Gamgee & Daughter

7. The Nazgul’s screeches were made by sound technicians scraping plastic cups together.
8. Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood never actually filmed a scene together in person.
9. Andy Serkis said he based Gollum’s desperation and cravings on the withdrawal of heroin addicts.
10. In The Two Towers, The Battle of Helm’s Deep (The Battle of the Hornburg) took four months to shoot, all of it at night.
11. The Return of the King holds the record for highest movie body count, tallying in at 836 (excluding animals).
    
12. Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) bonded with the two horses that he rode in Lord of the Rings, so he purchased them from their owner.
13. The length of time from when Frodo first gets the ring to when he actually sets out on his adventure is 17 years, not a few weeks like the movie makes it seem.
14. Daniel Day-Lewis turned down the role of Aragorn.
15. It is estimated that filming of the trilogy pumped about $200,000,000 into the New Zealand economy. The New Zealand government even created a Minister for Lord of the Rings.

    

    J. R. R. Tolkien

16. Peter Jackson’s two children, billy and kate, are in every film in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
17. Viggo Mortensen’s son, Henry appeared in the movie, as the first orc that Aragorn kills at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in ‘The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King’ was played by Mortensen Jr.

Hope you enjoyed it. 

I'll be doing more of this with other classics.