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The Lord of the Rings film trilogy comprises three live action fantasy epic films; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). For simplicity, the titles are often abbreviated to 'LotR', with 'FotR', 'TTT' and 'RotK' for each of the respective films.[1] Set in Middle-earth, the three films follow the young Hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and a Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, and with it, ensure the destruction of the Dark Lord Sauron. The Fellowship breaks and Frodo continues his quest with loyal Sam and the treacherous Gollum. The heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, Aragorn, and the Wizard Gandalf must also unite the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the War of the Ring, as Sauron rises once more to reclaim his prize with the Wizard Saruman.
The trilogy was a large financial success, with the films being the 11th, 5th and 2nd most successful of all time, respectively, unadjusted for inflation. The films were critically acclaimed, winning 17 Academy Awards in total, as well as wide praise for the cast and innovative practical and digital special effects.[2][3][4] Each film in the trilogy also had Special Extended Editions (SEE), released a year after the theatrical release on DVD.
Cast
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy features a huge cast, owing to its enormous scope.
Spoilers end here.
Development and ScreenplaysImage:LOTRFOTRmovie.jpg The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie poster (2001) Peter Jackson first read the book as an 18-year-old, after seeing Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film version. Jackson and his wife, Fran Walsh, began enquiries about the Lord of the Rings rights in 1995 and struck a deal with copyright holder Saul Zaentz and Miramax Films in January 1997 after production stalled on their King Kong remake.[5]
Then Miramax, citing budget concerns, decided to condense the project into one film, but Jackson refused, and on August 24 1998, after being rejected by other studios, the project was sold off altogether to New Line Cinema.[5] Robert Shaye, head of New Line Cinema, immediately decided to expand the project to three films (with a budget of $270 million), replying to Jackson's offer, "Now Peter, who in their right mind would make two movies?"[7] The expansion to three films allowed a lot more creative freedom, and Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to restructure their script into three films. Each film is not exactly based on each volume of the book, but rather a three part adaptation, as Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story, whilst Tolkien retold chunks of his fictional history. Frodo's quest is the main focus, and Aragorn is the main subplot,[8] and many sequences (such as Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire) that do not contribute directly to those two plots were left out. Much effort was put into creating satisfactory conclusions and making sure exposition did not bog down the pacing. Amongst new sequences, there are also expansions on elements Tolkien kept ambiguous, such as the battles and the creatures. Above all, most characters have been altered for extra drama. Aragorn, Théoden and Treebeard have added or modified elements of self-doubt, whilst Galadriel, Elrond and Faramir have been darkened. Boromir and Gollum are (arguably) relatively more sympathetic, whilst some characters such as Legolas, Gimli, Saruman and Denethor have been simplified. Some characters, such as Arwen and Éomer, are given actions from minor characters such as Glorfindel and Erkenbrand, and generally lines of dialogue are somewhat preserved or switched around between locations or characters depending on suitability of the scenes. New scenes were also added to expand on characterization. In the meantime during shooting, the screenplays would undergo many daily transformations, due to contributions from cast looking to further explore their characters.[7] Most notable amongst these rewrites was the character Arwen, who was originally planned as a warrior princess, but reverted back to her book counterpart, who remains physically inactive in the story (though she sends moral and military support).[9] Production DesignJackson began storyboarding the trilogy with Christian Rivers in August 1997 and assigned his crew to begin designing Middle-earth at the same time.[10] Jackson hired longtime collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetics/make-up, creatures and miniatures. In November 1997,[7] famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined the project. Most of the imagery in the films is based on their various illustrations.[11] Grant Major was charged with the task of converting Lee and Howe's designs into architecture, creating models of the sets, whilst Dan Hennah worked as art director, scouting locations and organizing the building of sets. Jackson's vision of Middle-earth was described as being "Ray Harryhausen meets David Lean" by Randy Cook.[12] Jackson wanted a gritty realism and historical regard for the fantasy, and attempted to make the world rational and believable. For example, the army helped build Hobbiton months before filming began for real growth to the plants.[13] Creatures were designed to be biologically believable, such as the enormous wings of the Fell beast to help it fly.[14] In total, 48,000 pieces of armour, 500 bows and 10,000 arrows were created by Weta Workshop.[15] They also created many prosthetics, such as 1800 pairs of Hobbit feet for the lead actors,[7] as well as many prosthetic ears, noses and heads for the cast, and around 19,000 costumes were woven and aged.[7] Every prop at different scales were specifically designed by the Art Department.[7] CastingAuditions began in April 1999 with calls for 15,000 extras:[5] in total 20,000 would be used. Jackson admitted that he was under no pressure to cast big names for the trilogy, due to the popularity of the book securing an already large audience.[15] Popular rumours before filming included Sean Connery as Gandalf,[16] who was actually approached but declined.[17] Then couple Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman were also rumoured for Faramir and Éowyn. Auditions provide an interesting insight into what could have been: Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies auditioned for Faramir and Denethor respectively,[18] and Stuart Townsend was cast as Aragorn and set for filming.[citation needed] Elijah Wood was the first cast member cast, on July 7, 1999.[19] By the time filming began, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Liv Tyler, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Brad Dourif, Ian Holm and Cate Blanchett had been cast.[20] During 2000, casting would continue for the likes of Miranda Otto, Hugo Weaving and John Noble.[21] Before filming began on October 11, 1999, the principal actors trained for six weeks in sword fighting (with Bob Anderson), riding and boating. Jackson hoped such activities would allow the cast to bond so chemistry would be evident on screen as well as getting them used to life in Wellington. For example, Astin, a father of one, took it upon himself to look after 18 year old Wood.[7] They were also trained to pronounce Tolkien's verses properly.[18] FilmingPrincipal photography for all three films was conducted concurrently in New Zealand from October 11, 1999 through to December 22, 2000 for 274 days. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004. The trilogy was shot at over 150 different locations[15], with seven different units shooting, as well as soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown. As well as Jackson directing the whole production, other unit directors included John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie Osbourne, Rick Porras and any other assistant director, producer or writer available. Jackson monitored these units with live satellite feeds, and with the added pressure of constant script re-writes and the multiple units handling his vision, he only got around 4 hours of sleep a night.[9] Due to the remoteness of some of New Zealand's untamed landscapes, the crew would also bring survival kits in case helicopters couldn't reach the location to bring them home in time.[7] Special effectsThe first film has around 540 effects shots, the second 799, and the third 1488 (2730 in total). The total moves up to 3420 with the Extended cuts. 260 visual effects artists worked on the trilogy, and the number would double by The Two Towers. The crew, led by Jim Rygiel and Randy Cook, would work long and hard hours overnight to produce special effects within a short space of time, especially with Jackson's overactive imagination. For example, they produced several major shots of Helm's Deep within the last six weeks of post-production of The Two Towers, and the same amount of shots for The Two Towers within the last six weeks on The Return of the King. Post-productionPost-production would have the benefit for a full year on each film before their individual December releases, often finishing in October-November, with the crew zooming immediately into the next film. Later on, Jackson would move to London to advise the score and continued editing, whilst having a computer feed for discussions to The Dorchester Hotel, and a "fat pipe" of internet connections from Pinewood Studios to look at the special effects. He had a Polycom video link and 5.1 surround sound to also organise meetings, and listen to new music and sound effects generally wherever he was. The Extended cuts also had a brief schedule at the start of each year to complete special effects and music. EditingTo avoid pressure, Jackson hired a different editor on each film. John Gilbert worked on the first film, Mike Horton and Jabez Olssen on the second, and longtime Jackson collaborator Jamie Selkirk and Annie Collins on the third. Daily rushes would often last up to four hours, with scenes being done throughout 1999–2002 for the rough (4 1/2 hours) assemblies of the films.[7] In total, six million feet of film (over 1,800 km)[15] was edited down to the 11 hours and 23 minutes (683 minutes) of Extended DVD running time. This was the final area of shaping of the films, when Jackson realized that sometimes the best scripting could be redundant on screen, as he picked apart scenes every day from multiple takes. Editing on the first film was relatively easygoing, with Jackson coming up with the concept of an Extended Edition later on, although after a screening to New Line they had to re-edit the beginning for a prologue. The Two Towers was always acknowledged by the crew as the most difficult film to make, as "it had no beginning or end", and had the new problem of intercutting storylines appropriately and Jackson even edited the film when that part of the schedule officially ended. So much so, scenes including the reforging of Andúril, Gollum's back-story, and Saruman's demise were moved to The Return of the King, the latter controversially cut when Jackson felt it was not starting the third film effectively enough.[22] As with all parts of the third film's post-production, editing was very chaotic. The first time Jackson actually saw the completed film was at the Wellington premiere. Deleted scenesMany filmed scenes still remain unused, not included even in the Extended Editions. The main reason they weren't included was because they tended to change the plot from Tolkien's original storyline, therefore being unfaithful to the books. Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Spoilers end here.
Peter Jackson has stated that he would like to include some of these unused scenes in a future 'Ultimate Edition' home video release (probably High Definition) of the film trilogy. They will not be re-inserted into the movies but available for viewing separately. This edition will also include outtakes.[26] MusicHoward Shore composed the trilogy's music. He was hired in August 2000[27] and visited the set, and watched the assembly cuts of Films 1 and 3. Although the first film had some of its score done in Wellington,[7] the trilogy's score was mostly recorded in Watford Town Hall and mixed at Abbey Road Studios. Jackson planned to advise the score for six weeks each year in London, although for The Two Towers he stayed 12. As a Beatles fan, Jackson had a photo tribute done there on the zebra crossing.[9] The soundtrack is primarily the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and many artists such as Ben Del Maestro, Enya, Renee Fleming, Sir James Galway and Annie Lennox contributed. Even actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto (extended cuts only for the latter two) and Peter Jackson (for a single gong sound in the second film) contributed to the score. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens also wrote the lyrics to various music and songs, to which David Salo translated into Tolkien's languages. The third film's end song, Into the West, was a tribute to a young filmmaker Jackson and Walsh befriended named Cameron Duncan, who died of cancer in 2003.[12] Shore composed a main theme for the Fellowship rather than many different character themes, and its strength and weaknesses in volume are depicted at different points in the trilogy. On top of that, individual themes were all given to represent different cultures. Infamously, the amount of music Shore had to write for the third film every day increased dramatically to around seven minutes.[12] SoundSound technicians spent the early part of the year trying to find the right sounds: animal sounds like tigers and walruses were bought, and sometimes human voices in the mix, such as Fran Walsh as the Nazgûl scream and David Farmer as some Warg howls. As noted, they also hired voices for the Ring, and some sounds were unexpected: a donkey screech is the Fell Beast, and the mûmakil roar comes from the beginning and end of a Lion. In addition, there was ADR for most of the dialogue. They worked with New Zealand locals to get the right sounds. They re-recorded sounds in abandoned tunnels for an echoey effect in the Moria sequence. 10,000 New Zealand cricket fans provided the sound of the Uruk-hai army in The Two Towers, with Jackson acting as conductor within a single cricket break.[9] They spent time recording sounds in a graveyard at night, and also had construction workers drop stone blocks for the sounds of boulders firing and landing in The Return of the King. Mixing generally took place between August and November at "The Film Mix", before Jackson commissioned work on a new studio in 2003. Annoyingly, building wasn't fully completed as they started mixing on The Return of the King.[12] ReleasesThe online promotional trailer for the trilogy was first released on April 27 2000 and shattered records for download hits, registering 1.7 million hits in the first 24 hours of its release.[28] The trailer used a selection from the soundtrack for Braveheart, and The Shawshank Redemption among other cuts. In 2001, 24 minutes of footage from the trilogy, primarily the Moria sequence, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, to great reception.[29] The showing also included an area designed to look like Middle-earth.[15] A full description of the footage can be found here: [1] The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released December 19, 2001. It grossed $47 million in its U.S. opening weekend and made around $871 million worldwide. A preview of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was attached at the end of the theater showings for the film.[30] A promotional trailer was later released. The trailer contained some music re-scored from the film Requiem for a Dream.[31] The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released December 18, 2002. It grossed $62 million in its first U.S. weekend and outgrossed its predecessor with $926 million worldwide. The promotional trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was debuted exclusively before the New Line Cinema film Secondhand Lions on September 23, 2003.[32] Released December 17 2003, its first U.S. weekend gross was $72 million, and became the second film (after Titanic) to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Each were released onto standard two disc edition DVDs containing previews of the next film. The success of the theatrical cuts brought about 4 disc Extended Editions, with new editing, added special effects and music. With the films and special features spread over two discs apiece, they were issued as follows:
The Special Extended DVD Editions also had in-sleeve maps of the Fellowship's travels. They have also played at movie theaters, most notably for a December 16 2003 marathon screening culminating in a midnight screening of the third film. On August 28 2006 both versions were put together in a Limited Edition 'branching' version plus a new feature-length documentary by Costa Botes. The complete trilogy was released in a 6 Disc set on November 14th, 2006. Public and critical responseThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy [33] is verified to be the currently highest grossing motion picture trilogy worldwide of all time, besting such other film franchises as the Star Wars original trilogy and Harry Potter. The film trilogy also tied a record for the total number of Academy Awards won. The majority of critics have also praised the trilogy, with Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times writing that "the trilogy will not soon, if ever, find its equal".[34] In particular, performances from Ian McKellen,[35] Sean Astin,[36] Sean Bean, Andy Serkis and Bernard Hill stood out for many in audience polls, and special effects for the battles and Gollum were praised. A few critics such as Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times did not rank the trilogy so highly, and while praising the special effects, Ebert was critical of the story, regarding it as "silly to carry the emotional weight" [2], and as such none of the films appeared in his "Top 10" lists for their respective years[37]. Some were also critical of the film's pacing and length, "It's a collection of spectacular set pieces without any sense of momentum driving them into one another" according to the Philadelphia Weekly.[38] Overall however, the films received a positive 93% critics rating on rottentomatoes.com, (93% for FotR and RotK, 98% for TTT) a consensus amongst film critics. The trilogy appears in many "Top 10" film lists, such as the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association's Top 10 Films, Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies, James Berardinelli's Top 100,[39] and The Screen Directory's "Top Ten Films of All Time" (considering the trilogy as "one epic film split into three parts").[40]. Comparison of worldwide box office figuresThe following movies were all released with but a few years of each other:
Academy AwardsImage:Rotk poster.jpg The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie poster (2003) The three films together were nominated for a total of 30 Academy Awards, of which they won 17, a record for any movie trilogy. On its own, The Return of the King tied the previous record of eleven academy awards and won in every category it was nominated in, an extremely rare feat. The film trilogy also tied a record for the total number of Academy Awards won, with Ben-Hur and Titanic. Although the three films failed to win any acting awards from the Academy, Ian McKellen earned the series its sole Academy acting nomination for the 2001 release of The Fellowship of the Ring.
As well as Academy Awards, each film of the trilogy scored MTV Movie Awards' Best Film, and the Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation categories. The first and third films also won the Best Film BAFTAs. It must also be noted that the soundtrack for the Two Towers did not receive a nomination because of the rule prohibiting a soundtrack including music from a previous soundtrack to be eligible for nomination. This rule was overturned in time for The Return of the King to receive the Oscar for Best Music Score. Reactions to changes in the movie trilogy from the bookSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
While the films were generally well received, some readers of the book decried certain changes made in the adaptation, including changes in tone and themes;[42][43] various changes made to characters such as Aragorn, Arwen, Denethor and Faramir, as well as to the main protagonist Frodo himself;[44] changes made to events (such as the Elves participating at the Battle of Helm's Deep, and Faramir taking the hobbits to Osgiliath);[45] and the deletion of the next to the last chapter of Tolkien's work, "The Scouring of the Shire",[46] a part he felt thematically necessary. For example, Wayne G. Hammond, a noted Tolkien scholar, has said of the first two films:
Some fans of the book who disagreed with such changes have released their fan edits of the films, which removed many of the changes to bring them closer to the original. The theatrical version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has received this treatment, and a combined 8-hour version of the trilogy exists, called "The Lord of the Rings: The Purist Edition".[citation needed] Supporters of the film trilogy assert that it is a worthy interpretation of the book, most changes stemming from the filmmakers putting the book into a modern context; connected to this is their perceived need for developing characters further. [48] It is important to note that many who worked on the trilogy are fans of the book, including Christopher Lee, who alone among the cast had actually met Tolkien in person,[49] and Boyens once noted that no matter what, it is simply their interpretation of the book. Jackson once said that to simply summarize the story on screen would be a mess, and in his own words, "Sure, it's not really The Lord of the Rings... but it could still be a pretty damn cool movie."[50][51] Other fans also claim that despite any changes, they do not matter within the context of stand-alone films, and nonetheless they serve as a tribute to the book and yet appeal to those who have not read it, and even lead some to. The Encyclopedia of Arda's Movie Guide states:
Spoilers end here.
Is it a trilogy?Because the films were shot together and then edited into three separate films released theatrically over a span of three successive years, a significant number of fans and critics have come to regard the trilogy as a single film. They argue that similar to the book, which is a single novel, but was first released in three parts for marketing and budget reasons (leading to the common but erroneous label of "trilogy"), Jackson's trilogy is one long 10-hour film. Tolkien wrote the story as six books produced in three volumes. When Time magazine placed the trilogy in its top 100 list it was done under a single heading. While this grouping into a single entity is debated it is not unusual as Krzysztof Kieślowski's The Decalogue was originally released as ten separate short films with intersecting themes and characters but now is regarded by the majority critics as a single work. Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy is also grouped together quite often. The character development, continuity, look and feel of all three films are regarded by its fans as seamless and consistent and that unlike other trilogies where sequels often stand apart, each entry is completely dependent on the earlier and successive entry and cannot exist on its own. This is one of the reasons why critics have regarded the Oscar sweep of the third film as a proxy award. Recently, when coming top of an Australian film poll, the trilogy was regarded as one.[53] LegacyThe release of the films saw a surge of interest in The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's other works, vastly increasing his impact on popular culture.[54] For example, in 2003, the BBC conducted a poll to find the U.K.'s favourite book, and The Lord of the Rings won, at the height of anticipation for the third film.[55] Despite higher sales, the Tolkien family became split on the trilogy, with Christopher Tolkien and Simon Tolkien feuding over whether or not it was a good idea to adapt.[56] Capitalizing on the trilogy's success, a musical adaptation of the book was launched in Toronto in 2006, but it closed after mostly poor reviews. Many other merchandise, such as toys and video games, were produced following the success of the films. Jackson has become his own mogul like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and has befriended some industry heavyweights like Bryan Singer, Frank Darabont and James Cameron. He founded his own film production company Wingnut Films, and Wingnut Interactive, a video game company. He was also finally given a chance to remake King Kong in 2005, although it was not as successful, it nevertheless still received critical acclaim. On a personal level, he found it hard to leave the trilogy and still keep the Bag End set (as a guest house) and Rivendell miniatures.[57] He has also become a "favourite son" of New Zealand.[58] Howard Shore also found leaving difficult, and in 2004 toured with The Lord of the Rings Symphony, consisting of two hours of the score. Alongside the Harry Potter films, the trilogy has also renewed interest in the fantasy film genre. Around the same time, fellow New Zealand director Andrew Adamson began The Chronicles of Narnia film series, credited by many to be stylistically influenced by The Lord of the Rings, being also shot in New Zealand and having art direction from WETA, as well as its own extended edition. MGM wishes to make an adaptation of The Hobbit in co-operation with New Line, although Jackson is not signed on due to a dispute with the studio.[59] Motion capture was used for characters in King Kong, I, Robot and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Kingdom of Heaven is one of many epics to use the MASSIVE technology. In non-filmic terms, tourism for New Zealand is up, possibly due to its exposure in the trilogy,[60] with the tourism industry in the country waking up to an audience's familiarity.[61] Notes
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