The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Trivia

Fans were offered the chance to have their names in the special edition's hugely lengthy closing credits for $39.95.
John Rhys-Davies is 6 foot 3 (which is actually the perfect proportional height for Gimli in relation to the Hobbits).
Sam Neill was considered for the role of Gandalf.
Legolas's arrows in the final battle are computer generated. It would have been physically impossible for even the most gifted archer to fire off so many arrows so quickly.
Peter Jackson has the entire Bag End set in storage, hopefully for future use.
The two most renowned Tolkien artists are Alan Lee (II) and John Howe (II), and so it was important to Peter Jackson to have those two on board. Lee was tracked down to a tiny little village in Dartmoor, England and was FedExed a package of Jackson's Heavenly Creatures and a letter outlining his intentions. They monitored the progress of the FedEx package every step of the way, but were somewhat surprised when Lee rang them only 3 hours after delivery to say he'd love to work with them. Howe meanwhile was living in Switzerland, and because someone hadn't worked out the time differences between Europe and New Zealand correctly, was rung about 2am. He says that the biggest frustration with that phone call was waiting for Jackson to finish his pitch before he could say yes.
Peter Jackson's first two choices for the role of Aragorn were Daniel Day-Lewis and 'Russell Crowe (I)'. Crowe was excited about the prospect of being involved with a major motion picture in New Zealand, but couldn't commit due to scheduling conflicts in America.
Producer Tim Sanders left the project after principal photography had commenced.
The scream of the Ringwraiths is actually Fran Walsh, the co-writer and co-producer of the film.
In one take of the Bucklebury Ferry scene, Elijah Wood overshot his jump and ended up in the river instead of on the Ferry.
The moth that Gandalf whispers to was born shortly before filming that day, and died soon after the scene was finished.
The overall budget for all 3 films was $300 million. Add another $200 million for the publicity and marketing of all 3.
A rubber puppet with a horrific face was superimposed over Ian Holm's face when Bilbo Baggins catches a glimpse of the ring again in Rivendell. Holm was so delighted with the puppet that the design team had a cast iron version of it made for his mantelpiece and gave it to him as a parting gift when Holm wrapped all his scenes on the film.
Throughout the trilogy, the color of Legolas' eyes change from blue to brown. This is because the contact lenses Orlando Bloom was wearing scratched his corneas and could not be worn every day. In some of the shots, the post production team digitally changed the color of his eyes.
Although Bill the pony is a feature of the novel, the writers initially decided not to include him as the Fellowship make their journey for the simple logistical reason of transporting a horse deep into the mountains. The problem was solved in the more difficult shots by using the classic pantomime trick of dressing two people up as a horse, one at the front and one at the back.
Gimli's line "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" was filmed after the "Toss me" line in The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers.
Composers are usually involved with films for about six to eight weeks. By the time this film was released, Howard Shore's involvement was stretching back for two years.
Eight of the nine members of the Fellowship got a small tattoo of the word "nine" spelled out in Tengwar, which is the Elvish script created by Tolkien. They got it at a tattoo parlor in Wellington, New Zealand, to commemorate the experience of the movie. The ninth member, John Rhys-Davies, declined and sent his stunt double in his place. Elijah Wood's tattoo is on his lower stomach. Sean Astin and Billy Boyd have the tattoo on their ankles (to commemorate all those hours in the hobbit feet). Orlando Bloom, who plays the archer elf Legolas, has his on his forearm. His tattoo is visible during a fight scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Ian McKellen's is on his shoulder. Dominic Monaghan's is on his shoulder. And the eighth member, Sean Bean, has his tattoo on his right shoulder. Viggo Mortensen has his tattoo on his left shoulder. It is visible on some pictures from the movie Eastern Promises
More than 1,600 pairs of latex ears and feet were used during the shoot, each "cooked" in a special oven running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There was no way of removing the feet at the end of the day without damaging them and so each pair could only be used once. The used feet were shredded to prevent a black market in stolen hobbit feet but apparently Dominic Monaghan (Merry) kept a pair.
Dominic Monaghan (Merry), wore a fat suit made of foam. He drank three liters of water a day so he would not dehydrate.
The chapter titles "A Long-expected Party", "A Short Cut to Mushrooms", "The Bridge of Khazad-dum", "Lothlorien", and "The Breaking of the Fellowship" from "The Fellowship of The Ring" are spoken lines at their respective points in the storyline with the exception of "The Breaking of The Fellowship" which is foreshadowed during the scene at "The Mirror of Galadriel". "Riddles In The Dark" is also mentioned - the name of a chapter from "The Hobbit". In the extended version released on DVD, the prologue title "Concerning Hobbits" was mentioned by Ian Holm (Bilbo) in the opening scenes at Bag End - before the first chapter is named.
The MTV Council of Elrond spoof easter egg does not appear on the UK version of the 4-disc set. This is because the BBFC would have required a "12" certificate for the set had it been included, instead of a "PG" certificate. For the same reason one of the documentaries has had some swearing cut out.
1800 Hobbit feet were made for the production.
In each film in the trilogy, the subtitle of the film is incorporated as dialogue. In this instance- Elrond: "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of The Ring".
During one take of the Buckleberry Ferry scene, a very strong splinter found its way through Dominic Monaghan's prosthetic foot and into his own causing him considerable pain. While crew members took the splinter out of his foot, Monaghan bragged to his fellow hobbits as to how large the splinter would be, but it ended up being very small. From that point on Billy Boyd would tease him about splinters whenever something happened to Dominic, much to Dominic's frustration.
During the fight between Lurtz and Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen successfully parried the dagger thrown at him on his first attempt.
Cate Blanchett joked that she took the role of Galadriel because, "I've always wanted pointy ears".
Large amounts of hair had to be imported into New Zealand for all the wigs. They found some women in Russia who were cutting their hair and selling it to film-makers.
Sean Astin's father, John Astin, auditioned for the role of Gandalf.
Boromir's speech at the Council of Rivendell is read from a sheet of paper sitting on Sean Bean's lap as it was only given to him the night before.
The voices of the Black Riders (Heard when they reach the shire, before Gandalf returns, and when Arwen carries Frodo across the river) were provided by Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum.
Gandalf's painful encounter with a ceiling beam in Bilbo's hobbit-hole was not in the script - Ian McKellen banged his forehead against the beam accidentally, not on purpose. But Peter Jackson thought McKellen did a great job "acting through" the mistake, and so kept it in.
New Line insisted on a prologue of two minutes. What they got was one that lasts for seven and a half.
In the extended DVD edition of the film, during the "Concerning Hobbits" prologue, there is a brief shot of Sam holding up a bunch of flowers by the rootball for planting. This is the only place in the trilogy where Sam - Bilbo and Frodo's gardener - is actually seen gardening.
Co-producer Rick Porras's wedding ring was the template for the One Ring.
When Christopher Lee and J.R.R. Tolkien were in correspondence, Tolkien gave Lee his blessing to play Gandalf if there ever was a film version of Lord of the Rings. Years later, Lee campaigned for the part of Gandalf in this production, but was offered the part of Saruman instead. Lee, who wanted to participate in the project anyway he could, accepted the role of Saruman.
Howard Shore used the music of Richard Wagner as his primary influence for the films' musical scores.
New Zealand's army was cast as extras for large battle scenes in the film, but was forced to back out due to having to serve as peacekeepers in East Timor.
The New Zealand government brokered a new tax deal when New Line threatened to pull the production.
The Tolkien estate was never in favor of Peter Jackson's film adaptation but seeing as J.R.R. Tolkien signed the rights away in 1968 for $15,000, there was nothing they could do about it. Tolkien's grandson Simon came out in support of the production and was disowned by his relatives. Tolkien's son Christopher Tolkien later retracted any opposition.
There is a second hidden extra in the 4-disc version of the DVD. It is the preview of The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers, that was attached to theatrical prints of Fellowship of the Ring near the end of its cinema run. You can find it by going to the chapter index of the second disc, going to the last chapter "Official Fan Club Credits" and pressing "down". An icon of The Two Towers appears. Press play and you'll see Peter Jackson presenting this feature.
There were supposed to be 144 Hobbits at Bilbo Baggins's party. Due to budgetary constraints, there are actually only 100.
Daniel Day-Lewis turned down the role of Aragorn.
Before production began, it had to be determined whether computer effects could convincingly create battle scenes featuring thousands and thousands of warriors. Peter Jackson invested his own money in the pursuit of this software.
The scripts were essentially being rewritten every day of the 15 month shoot, most of which with the added input from the actors who were all now heavily involved with their characters.
Peter Jackson shot many scenes directly from the earlier, animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings directed by Ralph Bakshi.
When Bilbo finds the Ring at the start of the movie Gollum shouts "My Precious" however Andy Serkis wasn't on set that day so Dominic Monaghan stood in for him.
Sometimes when there is a close-up of the ring you can hear a gruff voice chanting. This is the voice of Sauron and the words he is chanting are, "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them," in the language of Mordor.
After the New Zealand premiere, director Peter Jackson joined the actors who played the nine members of the Fellowship by getting a commemorative tattoo of his own. While their tattoos were the Elvish symbol for "9", Jackson received an Elvish "10".
Bill Bailey auditioned for the role of Gimli.