VIGGO MORTENSEN TOOK SEVERAL BEATINGS.Ī variety of injuries beset the cast during production, but Mortensen had it particularly hard: in The Two Towers, that scream he let out upon kicking a helmet after discovering the burnt corpses of the Orcs who abducted Merry and Pippin might have something to do with the fact that he had just broken two of his toes. “I remember getting the phone call from his agent and being told that he had just finished another film which involved him having to have a sword and armor- Gladiator! Russell was flattered by the approach, but he had other films he was committed to and it obviously wasn’t going to work out.” 5. “We sent a script and he did read it and was fascinated,” said Jackson. Had Mortensen turned down the role of Aragorn, there were two other actors Jackson had in mind as replacements: Jason Patric and Russell Crowe. RUSSELL CROWE WAS A POTENTIAL BACKUP FOR ARAGORN. In need of an older actor, Jackson went to Viggo Mortensen, who took the role at the urging of his son Henry, who was a fan of the books.
Nicolas Cage was offered the role of Aragorn, which he turned down due to “ family obligations.” Famously, the role then went to up-and-coming Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who you probably don’t remember seeing in the final trilogy: “I was there rehearsing and training for two months, then was fired the day before filming began,” the actor later recalled. ARAGORN WAS AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT ROLE TO CAST.
Incidentally, the entire trilogy went on to earn just shy of $3 billion worldwide.
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I still don’t understand it … I would be interested in doing something that I didn’t fully understand, but not for 18 months.” Connery’s deal, if he had taken the role, would have been for a small fee plus 15 percent of the films’ income. Sean Connery read for the role of Gandalf but admitted that, “I never understood it. SEAN CONNERY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPT. Miramax also suggested that the one-movie version be presented as a flashback, with an older Frodo “covering by saying something like, ‘So then we went on a dangerous journey through the Mines of Moria and lost Gandalf!,’” recalled Jackson. At various points in the scripting process, Arwen, not Éowyn, was the one to dress up as a man, ride into the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and kill the Witch-king and Rohan and Gondor were combined into one kingdom.
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Later, concerned about the ballooning budget, producers tried to persuade Jackson to condense the movie into a single film. When The Lord of the Rings started out, it was originally going to be two movies. IT WENT THROUGH A TON OF SCRIPT REVISIONS. Tolkien's birthday, here are 20 facts about the Oscar-winning trilogy. The trilogy that changed the face of fantasy films tackled a number of challenges along the way, but it all worked out in the end. Between on-set injuries, extensive script changes, and one whopper of a casting process, at various points in the life of The Lord of the Rings trilogy it seemed as if director Peter Jackson might have bitten off more than he could chew.